¶ Overview
With Custom Automation, the only limit to the actions you can automate is your imagination. Custom Automation is a complete sandbox—allowing for limitless creation. You can create tactics to automate any task you do regularly, saving you valuable time and allowing you to scale your account.
This tool is especially useful for advertisers who manage larger budgets or multiple accounts. If you’re just starting out, you should start out with our easier and optimized Automation Tactics tool.
Once you have it mastered, you'll be able to build more complicated rule sets with our Custom Automation tool.
All of the regular Automation Tactics can be recreated through the Custom Automation tactics, but you'll also have the ability to fine-tune them to a much greater degree. There are dozens of different criteria and KPI’s that users can now utilize to mold any tactic to fit their needs; ranging from ROAS and CPM, to Custom Conversions. Each function listed can be fully customized to trigger on even the most specific criteria.
¶ Step-by-Step Guide
¶ Step 1
Select Custom Automation from the sidebar menu or Create your own automation from the Automation Tactics panels.
A menu will pop up, asking you to choose the level at which you’d like to set the Custom Automation: Ad, Ad Set, or Campaign. Click the panel that best suits your needs.
¶ Step 2
This is the main automation screen. This is your sandbox, where you can create any automation you wish. 
First, set the action dictating what will happen when the condition is met. You have a long list of actions to choose from, including changing the budget, setting a bid, changing the asset's name, etc. The list of actions you can automate is about as long as the list of actions you can do as a media buyer.
Select the action you want the automation to perform from the drop-down menu.
¶ Step 3
Next, create the conditions, and the relationships between conditions.
To set each condition, you need to decide on a trigger metric, time frame, operator, and value. So if the trigger in the time frame is greater than/less than/equal to the value, then the tactic will trigger.
You can select any of your KPIs to use as a trigger by clicking on the drop-down menu.
Use the time drop-down menu to set a time range for measuring the KPI you've chosen. For example, last month, today, or in the last 7 days.
Select the mathematical operator between the trigger and value by selevting either equal to, greater than, or less than.
Insert the value of the metric that would trigger the tactic here. Click on the icon on the right to switch between static and dynamic metrics.
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You can create multiple conditions and create relationships between them by clicking on the âž• sign to create new conditions, or groups. Keep in mind, you can make as many conditions as you’d like. 
Click on the sidebar to change the realtionship between the conditions to AND or OR.
An AND relationship means that both conditions need to be true for the tactic to trigger, while an OR relationship means that just one condition is enough for the tactic to trigger.
All conditions will be checked from the bottom-up; so the tactic will check for the conditions from the inside out, or from right to left.
¶ Step 4
Next, you should select when the tactic will run. You can choose to let the tactic Run continuously or On specific days/hours. If choosing the later, you can set the date and time ranges for the tactic.
This feature helps you make a decision on when to run the tactic by showing you your average performance over every hour of the week. To discover the best insights for you, change the time frame and the metric used to measure performance.
When you've finished creating your automation, click Next.
¶ Step 5
Now you can select the assets that your custom automation will apply to. You can choose from a list just like other automation tactics, or use a Tactic Filter, which allows you to filter the assets that the tactic will work on.
The filters let you apply Custom Automation rules to assets that meet specific criteria, such as status, name, funnel type, etc. You can create filters with one or more conditions in order to ensure the right type of tactic matches the right asset.
Choose the assets you want, or use the drop-down menus to create a tactic filter. When you're done, click Next.
That's it! In a few clicks you’re able to create complex rules that will help automate all levels of your account. This allows you to optimize your account in real time 24/7, even while you're sleeping. 
¶ Step-by-Step Guide: Pause and Unpause Campaigns at Set Hours
You might notice when analyzing your account that your campaigns rise and fall in profitability at specific times throughout the day. For example, your ROAS may often drop between the hours of midnight and 7AM.
That makes sense, since there is a decrease in the amount of potential clients awake during that time. Therefore, you need a solution to stop your account from spending during these low times.
You can create a custom automation that will turn off all the campaigns at midnight so that you're not wasting your budget on ineffective hours.
¶ Step 1
Our first step will be to press the Create Tactic button in the top right corner of the Automation tab.
Once on the tactic selection page, we will select Custom Automation. Be sure to select the campaign level as we want this tactic in particular to affect campaigns.
¶ Step 2
Next, you should select the task. Click the drop-down menu and choose Pause Campaign for Today.
You should also choose the time you want your campaigns to unpause. For this example, the unpause time is 7AM.
¶ Step 3
Our next step will be to choose what will cause the tactic to trigger. You want the tactic to start running at midnight, and always trigger, so that it always pauses the assets.
To do this, first press Select Trigger. In the search bar directly below, type: Random Number from 0 to 100. Set it as greater than or equal to 1. This condition is always true, so the tactic will always trigger when it is active.
¶ Step 4
At this point, the tactic is set to unpause the campaign at 7AM and trigger whenever it is active. The only thing left to do is choose when the tactic will be active.
Under Date Schedule, select Run Continuously.
Under Day and Time Schedule, select On Specific Days/Hours. Next, select Every Day, and set the hour range to 12AM-1AM.
On the left side of the timeline, you can add more time frames. For this, however, you only need one.
This tactic should become active and trigger at 12AM, pause the campaigns, and then unpause them at 7AM. When you're done setting the tactic, click Next.
¶ Step 5
Here you can choose which campaigns this tactic will be applied to. For this example, choose all campaigns.
To select all campaigns, you can click on âž• Filter and create a filter. Change the filter to say Campaign Status Is Active. Now, the tactic will apply to every active campaign.
Finally, you may want to change the name of the tactic so that it's easier to find it in the future. To do this, simply edit it in the Name panel.
When you're done, click on Next to complete the process. That's it! 
¶ Step-by-Step Guide: Custom Stop Loss on the Ad Set Level
Stop Loss is an automation tactic that stops an asset when it's not profitable. You can use the Madgicx tactic, but if you want to adjust it to your needs, this guide will walk you through creating a custom Stop Loss tactic which you can personalize as you wish.
¶ Step 1
First, choose the action. Either Pause Ad Set or Pause Ad Set for Today.
- Pause Ad Set: Will stop the ad set indefinitely. Unlike Madgicx's standard Stop Loss Automation, this action will stop the ad set until it's manually turned on again.
- Pause Ad Set for Today: Will pause the ad set for the day, until an hour you choose.
The tactic will check if the condition is true. If it is, the tactic will pause the ad set.
¶ Step 2
Create the condition for when should the tactic trigger to pause the adset.
When choosing the event for the Custom Stop Loss tactic, it's crucial to pick an event that occurs at least once a day. It's even better to choose an event that happens more than once a day for better optimization. Additionally, make sure the event you picked indicates a critical trigger that the ad set performed poorly, such as add-to-cart, purchase, etc.
To check if an event, such as a purchase, add-to-cart, or click, is suitable for the tactic, you should make sure that the average cost-per-conversion for acquisition is more than the average ad set spend allowance.
For this example, the event that detremines that an ad set is not profitable is when it spends over $10 but doesn't get a conversion (purchase).
To create that tactic, select:
- Action: Pause Ad Set for Today
- Condition 1: Website Purchases Today are Lesser Than/Equal To (<=) 1
- Relationship: AND
- Condition 2: Spend Today is Greater Than/Equal To (>=) $10
¶ Step 3
The automation will either run continuously starting from the moment you set it up, or within the date and time range you specify. For this example, keep it on Run Continuously.
When you're done setting the tactic, click Next.
¶ Step 4
There are two methods to select your ad sets: Manual Selection and Selection by Filter.
- Manual Selection: The default will be Apply to all Acquisition ad sets, which means that the automation will automatically apply to all future ad sets. You can also apply only to existing ad sets by changing your selection from Auto-Selected to Selected.
- Selection by Filter: You can apply the automation only to ad sets that are currently active, as seen below. To do this, select the âž• Filter button and set to Ad set status is Active.
To finalize the process, click Next.
¶ Use Cases
There's really no end to the list of actions you can automate with custom automation tactics. Here's a list of a few examples to get your imagination going. ✨
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To optimize your results quickly, apply tool tasks to all your Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads.
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If the ready-made automation tactics do not perfectly fit your needs, you can recreate them using a custom automation and be in complete control of every nuance.
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Streamline and optimize your account according to your needs. Unlike Automation Tactics, you'll be able to create multiple complex tasks with a one-rule setup.
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Create custom rules for Campaigns, Ads, and Ad Sets, and ensure that budgets are being allocated correctly. This will save you from overspending and will increase your budget when performance is at its peak.
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Customize everything from the rate of increase and frequency, to the scheduling of when the tactic will be active.
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Set a Campaign, Ad Set, or Ad to pause indefinitely or turn off during certain hours of the day.
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Set your rules to work in unison by selecting "If x AND y are relevant, then trigger the tactic." Otherwise, you can also set the rule to trigger when at least one criteria is activated by selecting, "If x OR y are relevant, then trigger the tactic."
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Automatically change the name of your campaigns that are performing or under-performing.
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For the Campaign and Ad Set levels, you can increase or decrease the budget according to performance.
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Set your automation tactics to run only on certain days or during specific time frames.
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When scheduling based on time frames, you have the option to add as many increments as you'd like. This allows the tactic to be active only when you need it to be.
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You can even schedule all your campaigns to be turned off during certain hours so that you're not wasting budget.
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When selecting which Ad, Ad Set, or Campaign the tactic will apply to, we have incorporated a selection by filter in addition to our previous standard selection option. The filter selection will allow you to apply the tactics to assets based on criteria like campaign status or ARR segmentation, as opposed to manually selecting the assets.