Introducing CruiseControl: AI-Driven PPC Budget Optimization

Animated tie-dye logo of Shape CruiseControl budget pacing tool

The modern PPC marketer is looking to automate every process they can to free up time to develop new strategies and deepen client relationships.

The PPC budget pacing process is one we have focused on automating since the early days of Shape. We've taken learnings from years of analyzing PPC budget data and packed it into this new feature.

CruiseControl utilizes artificial intelligence to make granular daily budget adjustments to keep campaign spend on pace.

Graph showing how PPC campaign using CruiseControl have even spend pacing across an entire budget cycle

⬆️ Results of an actual budget utilizing CruiseControl during testing. ⬆️


CruiseControl has been in beta mode for a couple months. Early adopters report that they have automated the previously monotonous tasks around budget pacing while happily dropping their old spreadsheets and scripts.

What is CruiseControl?

CruiseControl is an automation setting you can choose to apply to campaigns when creating or editing a Budget in Shape.

Shape platform interface showing where to enable CruiseControl automation

CruiseControl helps Digital Advertisers hit their target budgets (without manual budget adjustments) even if campaigns frequently under- or overspend.

Automation with Thresholds: How CruiseControl Works

Each campaign's daily budget will be raised or lowered according to CruiseControl's AI-driven algorithms. The algorithms analyze how closely campaigns are following the ideal spend pace needed to hit the Budget target, and then make iterative adjustments to keep campaigns on track.

But most importantly, CruiseControl works within spend thresholds you set for your campaigns.

When setting up CruiseControl, a user will select each campaign's default daily budget, minimum daily budget, and maximum daily budget. Shape uses these settings (or thresholds) to apply automated daily budget increases or decreases within tolerable ranges for each campaign.

Image showing min, default, and max daily budgets thresholds that PPC advertisers are required to implement when using Shape's CruiseControl

Settings:

  • Default: Campaign daily budgets are raised or lowered from the default daily budget when a budget is off pace. If spend is on track, the daily budget will revert to the default.
  • Min: The Min setting is the lowest possible amount that CruiseControl may set a daily budget.
  • Max: The Max setting is the highest possible amount that CruiseControl may set a daily budget.

CruiseControl then makes granular daily budget adjustments for every campaign within these ranges. View a detailed example of how CruiseControl makes decisions.

AI Has Your Back

CruiseControl is powered by artificial intelligence that quickly adapts to recent changes in each campaign’s performance and spend.

  • Accurately pace campaigns with irregular spending patterns.
  • Hit budget targets whether you are at your desk or not.
  • Enable powerful automation with peace of mind thanks to threshold settings.

AUTOMATE BUDGET PACING

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