Task Library
Cut every ad set that misses its target cost per result – on schedule, without sentiment – so budget concentrates on winners and losers cost $7 instead of $700.
Category: Dollar a Day Campaigns
Use this when the day-7 analysis has bucketed losers – the kill is the discipline that makes cheap testing cheap; skipping it quietly converts tests into waste.
Inputs
- Bucketed day-7 analysis (winners / watch list / losers)
- The kill criteria written before launch (target cost per result, minimum engagement)
- The test log, open for lessons
Steps
- Pre-commit kill criteria before launch, from Goals: cost per result above target at day 7, near-zero engagement, or falling relevance/quality. Criteria decided after the fact get negotiated.
- Kill on schedule (the day-7 review), not on mood. The calendar, not your patience, decides when judgment happens.
- Pause every loser without sentiment – typically the large majority of cells. Cheap tests exist so you can afford cheap funerals.
- Harvest the lesson before moving on: did the audience, the creative, or the offer fail? One line per kill in the test log – a paid lesson left unwritten is paid twice.
- Never "fix" a loser mid-flight. Edits reset learning, and a failed combination is information, not a repair project. Build a new test next week instead.
- Reallocate the freed dollars: winners get gradual increases (≤2× per adjustment), and ~10% keeps funding next week's fresh $1/day tests.
- Keep killing after the test phase: survivors are reviewed weekly, and rising cost per result or frequency fatigue revokes immunity – yesterday's winner earns no pension.
Definition of done (QA checklist)
- Kill criteria documented before launch and applied unmodified at review
- All below-target ad sets paused at the scheduled review date
- One-line lesson logged per kill (audience vs creative vs offer)
- Freed budget reallocated to winners and new tests, with the change logged
- Linked back to the definitive article and relevant siblings
- Complies with Blog Posting Guidelines (if it publishes content)
Example(s)
- Example needed – run the Meta-Article Prompt after first real run (document one kill cycle: the before/after budget table and the lessons column).
File in the zip: skills/dollar-a-day/kill-underperforming-ads.md. Download the Task Library zip.
Index: Task Library. Article guidelines.