Getting Started with Ad Campaigns

Why AdRoll?

AdRoll makes it easy for you to launch campaigns, place your ads where they’ll make the most impact, personalize your customer experience, and take action from your AdRoll insights.

Meet Your AdRoll AI Assistant

Modern advertising is complex, but you don't have to manage it alone. The AdRoll AI Assistant acts as your strategic partner, helping you simplify your workflow and launch with confidence.

• Guided Setup: Use the Campaign Creation Assistant to translate your strategy into live web and social campaigns in minutes.
• Smarter Optimizations: Look for the sparkle icons in your dashboard to receive proactive tips on budget, ad sizes, and new targeting opportunities.
• Instant Insights: Use natural language to build reports or ask questions like "What does CTR mean?" to get instant answers without leaving your dashboard.

Before You Start

1. Review the Ad Content Guidelines

Before creating ads, familiarize yourself with our Advertising Policies to ensure compliance with our exchange partners. Content to avoid includes:

• Adult content, alcohol, or graphic body images
• Violent, shocking, or misleading content
• Other companies' branding
• Overly distracting visuals or messaging that implies personal knowledge of a user
   

2. Connect Your E-commerce Platform

If you use a supported E-commerce platform, connect it first. This streamlines setup and unlocks features like Dynamic Ads.

3. Install the AdRoll Pixel

Your AdRoll Pixel connects your website to the AdRoll platform; it's the foundation for audience targeting and conversion tracking.

Create Your Campaign

Connect Google Analytics

Linking Google Analytics gives AdRoll read-only access to your site data, so we can understand your audience and recommend a campaign plan tailored to your traffic. No GA? No problem, we'll build recommendations as we learn from your campaigns.

Track Conversions

Define what a 'win' looks like for your business; whether it's a purchase, sign-up, or download. By tracking these outcomes, you create Conversion Audiences that allow us to optimize your campaigns toward the goals that matter most.

Choose a Campaign Channel

Your audience isn't on just one channel. We recommend running ads across Web, Recipes for Social, and Web, CTV, or DOOH to stay top-of-mind wherever your customers are. We'll suggest a plan based on your site traffic, and you can adjust channels as needed.

Set Your Budget

To get your ads in front of the right people, you’ll need to establish your Campaign Budget & Spend parameters. Set an average daily budget; the minimum is $2.50/day.

We'll aim to spend as close to that amount as possible, and may go up to 20% over on high-opportunity days, but we will never exceed your total weekly budget. For more guidance on how to allocate your funds effectively, check out our Budget Tips.

Set Your Campaign Schedule

We recommend running campaigns continuously with no end date for maximum reach; however, you can use Campaign Day Parting Settings if you need to control specific days or hours your ads appear. Each campaign must run for a minimum of 5 days.

Regarding the Ad Review Process, most ads are reviewed within 1 business day. Once approved by us, please allow up to 72 hours for our partner ad exchanges to complete their final review before your ads begin serving.

Define Success

By default, we use Bid IQ to optimize for maximum conversions at the lowest cost. You can further refine Your Campaign Strategy by choosing between various Bid Strategies to meet your specific Performance Goals, whether that’s maximizing clicks and impressions or targeting a specific CPA, CPC, or CPM.

Connect Social Channels

Expand your reach across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest by linking your accounts through the Social Ads Add-on. Simply navigate to Integrations in your AdRoll dashboard to connect your profiles and begin Managing your Social Ads in AdRoll for a unified view of your campaign performance.

Choose Your Ads

When building your first campaign, you can upload your own assets or use the AI-Powered Ad Builder: Create Ads with AdRoll to design new ones in seconds. If you’d prefer a professional touch, you can also Get Free Ads created by our expert design team.

To ensure your campaign is optimized for success, explore Types of Ad Formats supported by AdRoll and creative best practices for Web, Social & CTV.

Billing & Payment

To find a plan that fits your business, review our AdRoll Pricing and Service Tiers and AdRoll Managed Services.

Depending on Our Billing Styles and Add-Ons, you’ll typically be billed for ad spend via Credit Card or PayPal. Please note that a Temporary Hold in AdRoll is placed before launch to verify available funds.

Before You Launch

Complete these two essential checks to ensure your account is compliant and your tracking is accurate:

• Privacy & Security: Ensure your website meets global standards by updating your Privacy Policy. If you serve ads in Europe, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) & ePrivacy Directive by displaying an approved cookie consent banner. Additionally, verify your status with the California Consumer Privacy Act and review our Data Security standards to protect your customer information.
• Pixel Check: Confirm your AdRoll Pixel is active and firing correctly across all pages. You can verify this by Checking your pixel status and PixelPal in your dashboard to ensure data is flowing before you spend.

After You Launch

What to Expect

After your ads go live, keep in mind that Your Campaign's First Month: Learning and Optimizing Phase is a critical period for data collection. It takes about 4 weeks for AdRoll to fully learn how your audience behaves on the site, which ads perform best, and how to apply those insights to reach high-intent users. Expect performance to improve as the technology ramps up.

Reporting & Attribution Insights

Gain a holistic view of your marketing impact by leveraging our advanced analytics tools to identify what drives revenue.

• Campaign Reports: Go beyond basic clicks. Access granular reports on ad placement, geography, and frequency to identify your highest-performing segments. You can schedule these to your inbox or share custom exports directly with stakeholders.
• Measuring Performance: Evaluate your success using the metrics that matter, like ROAS and CPA. Our dashboard helps you establish performance baselines so you can confidently scale your budget on winning campaigns.
• AdRoll Attribution: Understand the true path to conversion. By toggling between different attribution models, you can see which ads initiated the customer journey and which ones closed the sale.
• Cross-Channel Visibility: Un-silo your marketing stack. By connecting your social and search platforms, you can see how your AdRoll, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest campaigns work together to drive a single conversion.
• Reporting & Attribution FAQ: Have technical questions about data discrepancies or UTM tracking? Our deep-dive resources provide the clarity you need to trust your numbers.
   

Need help?

Our Customer Support team is here. Reach out anytime if you have questions about your campaign setup or account.