When Should You Turn Off a Facebook Ad?
Turn off a Facebook ad based on money spent against your KPI, the target cost per result your numbers can afford, not on days. In a new Proof of Concept test, turn it off after spending 1x your KPI with zero results, or when its cost per result rises above 150% of your KPI.
I've managed more than $121 million in Meta ad spend since 2013.
Why isn't there one Facebook ad kill rule?
There isn't one kill rule because every campaign moves through three phases, and each phase asks a different question.
Those phases are:
- Proof of Concept
- Validation
- Scaling
Every new campaign starts in Proof of Concept. At this point, you are trying to find out whether the campaign can produce the result that pays you at a cost your numbers can afford.
If it does, the campaign moves into Validation. The job of Validation is to find out whether that performance holds for seven days.
Once it does, the campaign moves into Scaling. The question is no longer whether the campaign works. The question is whether it is ready for more budget.
That is why a single kill rule applied to every campaign causes problems. A new test with zero purchases after spending its full target cost is different from a proven campaign that has one bad day.
Set your KPI before you launch. If you can afford to pay $40 for a purchase, your KPI is $40 per purchase. If your target is $25 per lead, your KPI is $25 per lead.
Everything that follows is measured against that number. “In KPI” means the cost per result is at or below your target.
What is the 150% rule for Facebook ads?
The 150% rule is our name for the Red line: turn it off when cost per result is above 150% of your KPI.
I use a Traffic Light to make the decision clear:
- Green: Cost per result is at or below 100% of KPI.
- Yellow: Cost per result is between 101% and 150% of KPI.
- Red: The ad has zero results after reaching its spending checkpoint, or its cost per result is above 150% of KPI.
Green means the ad is meeting the target for its current phase.
Yellow means leave it running and watch it. It is outside the target, but it has not crossed the kill line.
Red means turn it off, except when you are looking at a proven lifetime winner that needs to be investigated for fatigue.
The line is 150% instead of 100% because daily results swing. An ad can move above its target for a short period and come back without any intervention.
If you shut down everything the moment it reaches 101% of KPI, you do not leave room for that normal day-to-day variance. The Yellow range gives the ad room to move without giving it unlimited permission to keep spending.
The campaign phase still matters. Green in Proof of Concept moves a campaign toward Validation. Green in Validation moves it toward Scaling. Green in Scaling can lead to a budget increase once the full budget has been spending consistently.
How much should you spend testing a Facebook ad before judging it?
In Proof of Concept, judge the campaign after it has spent 1x your KPI, then turn it off if it has produced zero results.
If your KPI is $40 per purchase, the first checkpoint is $40 spent.
At that checkpoint, ask three questions in order:
- Did the campaign produce the result shown by your tracking?
- What did each result cost?
- Is that cost at or below your KPI?
If the answer to all three is yes, the campaign can move into Validation.
If the campaign has spent $40 and produced zero purchases, turn it off. It reached the checkpoint without producing the result that pays you.
If it produced a purchase but the cost per purchase is above 150% of KPI, turn it off. With a $40 KPI, that means a cost per purchase above $60.
If the cost is between $41 and $60, leave it running and watch it. That is the Yellow range.
If the campaign is in KPI but has not spent 1x KPI yet, keep spending. It has not reached the Proof of Concept checkpoint.
Do not make individual per-ad cuts while the Proof of Concept period is still running. Judge the campaign at the required checkpoint before you start removing individual ads.
You also have to judge the result that matters to the business. Add-to-carts and other soft actions can make an ad look active without producing a sale.
Creative can persuade people to click, watch or add something to a cart without getting them to buy. If your KPI is based on purchases, judge the campaign on purchases.
Meta gives a new ad its best traffic out of the gate. A test that cannot produce a result at the initial spending checkpoint rarely starts producing results because you let it spend far beyond that point.
How long should you test Facebook ads?
Test Proof of Concept campaigns by money spent, not days, then require seven days in KPI during Validation.
A campaign might reach the Proof of Concept checkpoint in one day or three days. That depends on its budget.
The amount of time does not decide whether the initial test worked. The amount of money spent against the KPI does.
Once the campaign proves it can produce results in KPI after spending at least 1x KPI, it moves to Validation. It must then remain in KPI for seven days before it passes into Scaling.
The same Traffic Light still applies during Validation:
- At or below KPI: continue validating.
- Between 101% and 150% of KPI: keep watching.
- Above 150% of KPI: turn it off.
This prevents you from calling a campaign scalable because of one inexpensive result. Proof of Concept establishes that it can work. Validation checks whether that performance holds for seven days.
You can also stop an ad too early. Killing a Yellow ad because of one daily swing gives it no chance to settle. The 150% line leaves room for normal variance while still putting a firm limit on the test.
When should you turn off ads during Scaling?
In Scaling, leave the campaign alone when it moves out of KPI and stop scaling it, while judging individual ads after each has spent 3x the campaign KPI.
A campaign in Scaling only scales when it is in KPI and the full daily budget is spending.
Before raising the budget vertically, wait until the campaign has spent its full daily budget for three straight days. In my own automated rules, budget increases are capped at 20% per 24 hours.
If the campaign moves out of KPI, leave it alone and do not increase the budget. Do not react to every daily movement by switching the whole campaign on and off.
Individual ads inside Validation and Scaling have their own checkpoint. Judge each ad after it has spent 3x the campaign KPI, unless that campaign has a different minimum set.
At that checkpoint:
- Zero results: turn the ad off.
- Cost per result above 150% of KPI: turn the ad off.
- Cost per result between 101% and 150% of KPI: keep it and watch.
- Cost per result at or below KPI: keep it.
For a campaign with a $40 KPI, the normal per-ad checkpoint is $120 spent.
That higher checkpoint applies only to individual ads inside Validation and Scaling. It does not replace the 1x KPI checkpoint used to judge a new Proof of Concept campaign.
Should you turn off an ad that stopped getting results after doing well?
Do not automatically turn off a proven lifetime winner because it went one week with zero results. Investigate it first.
A strong lifetime record changes the diagnosis. The ad has already shown that it can produce results, so a weak week does not make it the same as a new test that never worked.
Check frequency, audience exhaustion and tracking.
The ad may be fatigued, the available audience may be exhausted or the tracking may not be recording results correctly. That calls for investigation, not an automatic kill.
A loser fails its spending checkpoint without producing results at an acceptable cost. A fatigued winner has a strong record and then stops producing. Treating those two situations as identical can cause you to turn off an ad that has already proved its value.
What does the Facebook ad kill rule look like with a $40 KPI?
With a $40 cost-per-purchase KPI, the Proof of Concept checkpoint is $40, the 150% kill line is $60 and the per-ad checkpoint in Validation and Scaling is $120.
Here is how the rules apply across all three phases:
| Phase | What happens | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of Concept | $40 spent with zero purchases | Turn it off |
| Proof of Concept | Cost per purchase above $60 | Turn it off |
| Proof of Concept | Cost per purchase from $41 to $60 | Leave it running and watch |
| Proof of Concept | Cost per purchase at or below $40, with at least $40 spent | Move to Validation |
| Validation | Cost per purchase stays at or below $40 for seven days | Move to Scaling |
| Validation | Cost per purchase from $41 to $60 | Keep watching |
| Validation | Cost per purchase rises above $60 | Turn it off |
| Scaling | Campaign is in KPI and spends its full budget for three straight days | Eligible for a budget increase |
| Scaling | Campaign moves out of KPI | Leave it alone and stop scaling |
| Validation or Scaling | Individual ad reaches $120 with zero purchases | Turn the ad off |
| Validation or Scaling | Individual ad reaches $120 with cost per purchase above $60 | Turn the ad off |
The mistake that costs the most is letting a dead test continue spending far beyond its checkpoint.
If the campaign spends $40 with zero purchases, spending another $40 does not improve the original test. It means you ignored the decision point and doubled the amount exposed to a campaign that had not produced the result you needed.
That wasted spend also starts feeding the belief that nothing works. In reality, the testing process failed because the checkpoint was not enforced.
Set the KPI before launching. Calculate 150% of that number. Then make the decision when the campaign or ad reaches the correct spending checkpoint for its phase.
Frequently asked questions
When should you turn off a Facebook ad?
Turn off a new Facebook ad after it spends 1x your KPI with zero results, or when its cost per result rises above 150% of KPI. The exact checkpoint depends on whether the campaign is in Proof of Concept, Validation or Scaling. Judge it by money spent against the target, not by the number of days it has run.
How much should you spend testing a Facebook ad before judging it?
In Proof of Concept, let the campaign spend 1x your KPI before judging a zero-result test. If your target cost per purchase is $40, the checkpoint is $40 spent. In Validation and Scaling, judge an individual ad after it spends 3x the campaign KPI, which would be $120 in this example.
How long should you test Facebook ads?
The initial Proof of Concept test lasts until the campaign reaches its spending checkpoint, not for a fixed number of days. That could take one day or three, depending on the budget. After passing Proof of Concept, the campaign must remain in KPI for seven days during Validation before moving into Scaling.
Can you stop a Facebook ad too early?
Yes, you can stop an ad too early by killing it before its spending checkpoint or as soon as it moves slightly above KPI. Results swing from day to day, so ads between 101% and 150% of KPI stay on and get watched. Turn them off only after they cross the Red line for their phase.
What is the 150% rule for Facebook ads?
The 150% rule means an ad turns Red when its cost per result rises above 150% of your KPI. If your target cost per purchase is $40, the Red line is above $60. The space between $40 and $60 allows for normal daily swings without letting an underperforming ad spend indefinitely.
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