You'll find the target monitoring part of TrueClicks in the navigation menu on the left-hand side:
Create targets
To create a new target monitor, click on one of the buttons in the top-right corner:
Efficiency target
CPA
ROAS
CPC
Pacing target
Cost (budget)
Clicks
Conversions
Conv. value
Each target monitor in TrueClicks has six components:
Account - the account(s) and campaign (types) involved
Schedule - the (repeating) time frame for the target
Target value - the target value (per time frame)
Priority - set the priority in order of importance
Target name - give your target a unique and descriptive name
Additional options - notification thresholds and notes
We'll explain how to use each of these below.
Account
This section allows you to choose which account(s) or campaign(s) the target applies to.
You can select one account from the dropdown or enable a "cross-account target" by turning on that switch.
Once you made your account selection, you can choose to which campaign(s) within the account(s) the target applies to:
All campaigns
Campaign labels: enter the words the campaign labels in Google Ads should contain. You can enter multiple label values by separating them with a comma.
Campaign Label Ownership (Account vs. MCC): TrueClicks requires campaign labels owned by individual advertising accounts, not MCC accounts. Labels owned by MCC accounts are inaccessible in TrueClicks. Set labels at the account level for optimal performance.
Campaign name contains/doesn't contain: if you have a consistent naming convention, this is a great option to create targets for all campaigns containing (or not containing) a value of your choosing in their name.
Tip: This is why you should never call your branded campaigns "branded" and your generic campaigns "non-branded" as both contain the word "branded," making it impossible to filter one out from the other.
Campaign type: by selecting one of the listed campaign types, we'll automatically recognize which campaigns should be included. Campaign type isn't available for cross-platform targets (so combining Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising accounts in one target) as each platform has their own set of campaign types.
Google Ads campaign types we currently auto-detect:
Search
Shopping
Display
Video (YouTube)
App
Smart
Local
Hotel
Performance Max
Local Services
Discovery (Demand Gen)
Microsoft Advertising campaign types we currently auto-detect:
Audience
Dynamic Search
Search & content
Shopping
Schedule
In this part, you can select the time frame the target applies to. You can choose between:
Weekly
Monthly
Quarterly
Custom (one-time, with start and end date)
Please note that the weekly, monthly, and quarterly options don't have to start on the first day of the week, month, or quarter and will auto-repeat once you've set them.
If you don't want to repeat a weekly, monthly, or quarterly schedule for this target, just turn on the 'Don't repeat indefinitely' switch. Also, the start date of your target can be a date in the past.
Target value (i.e. CPA, ROAS, Cost)
This is what it's all about: what is the value of the target you want to stay close to?
If you've selected a weekly, monthly, or quarterly schedule and you already know that your target will be different next week/month/quarter you can enable "Enter different monthly target values"
This opens a new input field where you can enter your target values one per line:
You can choose the currency you want to use. If any of the selected accounts use a different currency, we will convert it to your chosen currency using the current exchange rate.
Target name
Please enter a name that makes it clear to everyone what the target is about, including the (repeating) time frame.
Some examples:
{Client name} monthly search budget
{Region} quarterly display CPA target
{Brand} Black Friday - Cyber Monday ROAS target
Additional options
In this part, you can further customize the target with the following:
Priority
Tolerance: These are the percentages you (or your client/manager) are comfortable with when it comes to deviating from your target. Choose a number between 1 and 99, or go with the default value of 5%. We'll email you if you're about to exceed these thresholds.
You can set a priority level of your choosing, which will help once you (and your team) have set up multiple targets in TrueClicks.
If not every target is equally important, this is the place to indicate this as follows:
Critical
High
Medium
Low
Insight
You can set up your targets and budgets with two priority levels, which will give you a more accurate picture and help you prioritize better. Example:
10% off target = medium priority
20% off target = high priority
Here's what this setup will look like:
Notifications
In addition to the tolerance, we can also email you about reaching your progress. Default limits are at 25%, 50%, and 75%. You can set your own between 5% and 95% or remove them.
To also receive email notifications for auto-imported budgets, go to ‘My Profile’ and toggle to ‘Enable email notifications for auto-imported budgets.’
Note: you'll only get emails for selected My Accounts.
Notes
You can enter any details about this target you want to remember or share with your colleagues in this section.
Next up: How to stay on top of your targets