Guide 4 of 11 in Level 5: Grow

Optimize Facebook ads: act on budget and pause suggestions

To optimize Facebook ads with Blackbox (blackbox.plus), click Plan in the left menu, pick your brand and open a card under Suggestions for now, then approve the changes it suggests for your running Meta campaigns. They raise or lower a daily budget, pause a campaign that spends without results, move money between campaigns, change an audience or plan new ads. Under the headline 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, what to watch and what you can change. A raise assumes the extra money buys a little dearer, so the forecast cost per result rises slightly, and a card is shown only when its forecast beats doing nothing at a cost the brand can pay. The main button names the change and sends it to Meta Ads. Not now snoozes or dismisses a card. 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 Plan, after you sign in
Example
A budget raise on a running campaign, approved, with Undo

How to optimize Facebook ads: act on budget and pause suggestions in Blackbox

  1. Step 1:Open your campaign suggestions

    Click Plan in the left menu, then a campaign card under Suggestions for now.

    You'll see: The card beside the calendar, 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

    On the Results tab, click the change’s name, then Undo on its card.

    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.
  • A raise assumes the extra money buys a little dearer: a 20% raise forecasts about 10% more per result on the extra spend, and the card says so. The card is withdrawn if the cost per result would pass what the brand can pay — your strategy’s target cost, or the account’s usual.
  • A Meta campaign with a lifetime budget is changed in Ads Manager. On LinkedIn, Blackbox raises a campaign’s lifetime total instead, when it is spending on pace, and the card shows the old and new total with the days left.
  • The first days after a big budget change can look worse while Meta relearns; small changes don’t restart it. 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 — see How to measure marketing effectiveness.
  • The Campaign tab shows an open suggestion under its campaign’s row; Approve ✓ there opens its card. Ask about this answers questions about a card before you act. For the cards that make new campaigns, see Approve and start a campaign card by card.

Official docs

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 Meta campaign with a lifetime budget can’t be raised this way (on LinkedIn, Blackbox raises the lifetime total instead). Click Try again once it is fixed.

Why does the cost per result go up when I raise the budget?

Because the extra money buys the next, dearer people. The forecast adds about half the raise as a higher cost on the extra spend, so a raise is suggested only when it still brings more results at a cost the brand can pay.

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 in the first days after a big change, while Meta relearns. 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