Tracker Rules

Applies to: Tracker & affiliate users · Optional feature — available when your network has it switched on

Rules watch your tracker numbers for you and react when a threshold is crossed: alert you, pause or re-activate a source at its traffic platform, change a bid, or block losing placements. Every rule can run in a safe "record only" mode first.

What this is#

Rules (tracker menu) are automation checks over your traffic. A rule has:

• a Scope — what it looks at: offer, source, campaign, adgroup, ad or placement;
• one or more Conditions (all must match) — a Metric, an Operator, a Value, a Time window and Min clicks, for example EPC < 0.25 over 24h with at least 500 clicks;
• one Action — what happens when it matches;
• a Schedule — how often it is checked: 5min, hourly or daily.

Active rules are checked automatically. An alert rule notifies you when it matches. Pause, activate and bid-adjust rules are checked too, but they only change something at the traffic platform when you switch on Apply this action automatically to the traffic source; until then each match is just recorded in the rule's Execution history for you to review.

To act on a platform, the tracker needs your account there connected on API Integrations.

When you'll use this#

• Stop paying for a source that stopped converting, without watching reports all day.
• Get an alert the moment CPA or ROI goes outside your range.
• Cut the bid on a campaign whose EPC dropped, or raise it where profit is strong.
• Block the individual placements (zones) on a network campaign that lose money.

Step by step#

Create a rule#

1. Open Rules and click New rule.
2. Give it a Name (for example Pause EPC < $0.25 after 500 clicks) and, if you like, Notes on why it exists.
3. Choose the Scope and the Schedule.
4. Add Conditions: pick the Metric, Operator and Value, the Time window and the Min clicks that must be reached before the condition counts. Use Add condition for more; all of them must match.
5. Choose the Action:
   • pause — pauses the target at its traffic platform;
   • activate — re-activates a previously paused target;
   • bid_adjust — changes the bid by the % change you enter (negative lowers it);
   • alert — notifies you; under Alert destination pick My notification preferences or a specific channel;
   • block_source — placement rules only: blocks the losing zones on the network campaign behind one tracking link.
6. Leave Apply this action automatically off for now and Save.

Test it before letting it act#

Click Test rule (dry run) on the rule's row. It evaluates the rule against current stats right now and tells you how many targets match — "Test (24h) — 3 of 40 target(s) match" — without notifying anyone or changing anything. Use Test window to try the rule over a different window than its own.

When the matches look right, edit the rule and switch on Apply this action automatically.

Placement rules#

A placement rule blocks zones (placements) on one network campaign:

1. Set Scope to placement.
2. Pick the Target tracking link — a link bound to an external campaign on the Tracking Links page. The editor checks that the network supports placement blocking and which sub-ID slot carries the zone.
3. Use a window of 24h or longer: zone-level data is daily, so shorter windows aren't offered.
4. Choose block_source (or alert).

Options reference#

The rules list shows each rule's Scope, Schedule, Status (Active / Paused) and Last run. Execution history lists every run with When, Target, Action and Outcome (OK, Skipped, Error), with a 30-day trend. Rules can be exported and imported with Export CSV / Import CSV.

Example#

Tom runs push traffic on two networks. He creates a source rule: EPC < 0.20 over 24h, min clicks 1,000, action pause, hourly, with apply-automatically off. For three days he checks the execution history: the matches are the sources he would have paused himself. He switches Apply automatically on. He adds a second rule — ROI > 50% over 3d, bid_adjust +10% — and an alert rule for conversions = 0 over 6h so he hears about a broken postback quickly.

Tips#

• Always set Min clicks — without it a rule can fire on a handful of clicks.
• Start every write-back rule in record-only mode and test it.
• Keep one rule per purpose; it makes the execution history easy to read.

Troubleshooting#

Related#

• Traffic Sources and API Integrations — connect the accounts rules act on
• Performance Reports — the numbers rules read
• Notifications & Alerts — where alert rules send to
• Agentic Media Buying — automated placement management for bought traffic