Two minutes to read.
Before you start#
- Know your ad account's currency. Every figure in Madder is in it; the currency is locked when the workspace is created.
1. Daily budget#
The Daily budget in the brief is what the platform may spend per day on that campaign. Platforms pace it: some days run a little over, some under, so a daily budget of 50 lands near 350 for the week, not exactly 350.
2. The weekly view#
The Campaigns page shows spend and leads for Last 7 days by default, and the analytics page for longer ranges. Expect the seven-day spend to be roughly 6.4–7.2 times the daily budget for a campaign that ran the whole week. If it is far lower, the campaign was paused, learning, or capped by the platform.
3. Most you'll pay per win#
Most you'll pay per win is your target cost per lead. Madder uses it two ways: as the bid guidance it sends to the platform where the objective supports one, and as the line it judges campaigns against. A campaign running well over the target is a candidate for Lower budget or Pause campaign; one well under it is a candidate for Raise budget. Leave it blank and Madder judges on trend alone.
4. How a budget proposal reads#
A budget proposal names one campaign and one new daily budget. In Needs your call the card reads Raise budget or Lower budget, the platform and account, and the size of the change with its sign, for example +USD 200. The agent's reason sits in the write-up. Approving sets the campaign's daily budget to the new absolute amount — from what it is today to the figure proposed. It changes nothing else.
5. Daily ceilings#
Every workspace has a ceiling on how much upward change Madder may apply per day, per action, and in total exposure. The ceiling is checked when you approve and checked again when the executor applies the change, so a change that slipped past one check cannot pass the other. A lowering or a pause never counts against the ceiling; only increases do. If a proposal is over the ceiling you see Not approved: authority exceeded — the ceiling resets with the account's day.
As of September 2026 the self-serve ceilings are set by Madder and not editable in Settings. If you need a higher ceiling, write to hello@madder.ai.
If it doesn't work#
- Seven-day spend is far below 7× the daily budget — check the campaign's status; paused or learning campaigns underspend.
- "Not approved: authority exceeded" — split the change or wait for the next account day.
- The currency looks wrong — Settings → General shows the workspace currency; it is locked at creation, so a mismatch means the ad account is in another currency. Check the source's currency under Settings → Sources.