Guide 3 of 5 in Level 5: Grow

Facebook ads optimization: act on budget and pause suggestions

Blackbox (blackbox.plus) reads your running Meta campaigns and suggests changes in the Inbox: raise or lower a daily budget, pause a campaign that spends without results, turn one back on, move money between campaigns, change an audience or plan new ads. Click Inbox in the left menu, open your brand and click Campaigns. Each card’s headline is the change. Under it are the reason and each number per week: now, and roughly next week if you approve. Click Show the numbers and what to do for four weeks ahead with a likely range, then What to do and why for the plan, what to watch and what you can change, such as the new daily budget. The main button names the change, for example Raise to $20 a day, and sends it to Meta Ads. Not now snoozes a card for a day or dismisses it. Nothing changes until you approve, and Undo puts it back.

You'll need
Time
About 5 minutes 7 steps Updated
You'll end with
A budget or pause change approved on Meta Ads, with Undo on the card
Do it in Blackbox Open the Inbox, after you sign in
Example
A budget raise on a running campaign, approved, with Undo

How to facebook ads optimization: act on budget and pause suggestions in Blackbox

  1. Step 1:Open your campaign suggestions

    Click Inbox in the left menu, open your brand and click Campaigns.

    You'll see: Cards about your running campaigns, each headed by the change it suggests.

    Open this in Blackbox

  2. Step 2:Read a card

    Read the headline, the reason under it, and each number per week: now, and next week if you approve.

    You'll see: The change beside each number, such as +31% or about the same.

  3. Step 3:Open the numbers

    Click Show the numbers and what to do.

    You'll see: Last 7 days, If you do nothing and With the new budget, then four weeks ahead with a likely range.

  4. Step 4:Change the budget

    Click What to do and why, then type your own figure under New daily budget.

    You'll see: The estimate updating as you type, and the main button showing your figure.

  5. Step 5:Approve it

    Click the main button. It names the change, for example Raise to $20 a day.

    You'll see: The card marked Done, with Undo on it.

  6. Step 6:Or put it off

    Click Not now, then Snooze or Dismiss.

    You'll see: Snoozed on the card, or a box asking why you are dismissing it.

  7. Step 7:Undo a change

    Click Undo on a card you approved.

    You'll see: The budget or status back as it was, and the card open again.

Good to know

  • Cards come in a few kinds: raise or lower a daily budget, pause a campaign, turn one back on, move budget between campaigns, change an audience, or plan new ads.
  • Approving sends the change to Meta Ads straight away. Plan new ads changes nothing on Meta: it opens Studio to make them.
  • Snooze brings the card back after a day. When you dismiss, the reason you type helps avoid suggesting the same thing again.
  • The first 2–3 days after a budget change can look worse while Meta adjusts. What to watch on the card says when to go back.
  • Each approved card shows how it is going, week by week, for four weeks.
  • Ask about this answers questions about a card before you act. For the cards that make new campaigns, see Approve and start a campaign in the Inbox.

If something doesn't work

I have no campaign suggestions

They need a connected ad account with campaigns running for a week or more. A card appears only when the numbers point to a change.

It says The budget didn’t change

Meta refused the change; the reason is under Technical details. A campaign with a lifetime budget can’t be raised this way. Click Try again once it is fixed.

It won’t take the budget I typed

A new budget has to be at least $1 a day, at least a tenth of today’s budget, and at most 5 times it.

I approved something by mistake

Click Undo on the card. Undoing something that created a campaign deletes it, so only an admin can do that.

The results look worse a day after I raised the budget

That is common for the first 2–3 days while Meta adjusts. The card’s What to watch says when it is worth going back.

Stuck at any step? Send us a message and we'll do it with you on a call. All of Level 5: Grow