Custom notifications for Google Ads are essential for marketing and PPC pros who manage multiple campaigns or high-budget accounts. These alerts let you stay on top of performance anomalies, budget shifts, and other crucial metrics without the need for constant manual checks. But setting up custom alerts often requires scripts, which can be complex and time-consuming to maintain. 

This article will show you how to set up custom notifications for Google Ads using Shop story – without any scripts or coding. Discover how no-code alerts can help you stay informed, optimize campaigns faster, and keep your advertising efforts on track with ease.

TL;DR

Setting up custom notifications in Google Ads lets you receive timely alerts about critical campaign changes. In this guide, we’ll explore setting up these notifications, the triggers PPC experts should consider, and how tools like Shopstory can elevate your alert capabilities with no coding required.

1. Why Set Up Custom Notifications?

For marketers managing hundreds of campaigns or accounts, keeping up with sudden shifts and anomalies in performance metrics can be overwhelming. Custom notifications help PPC pros stay informed without manual checks, offering:

• Real-time insights: Get immediate alerts for key metric anomalies, such as rising CPCs or dipping CTRs.
• Proactive adjustments: Early alerts empower you to make impactful changes before anomalies affect performance.
• Optimized workflow: Automate routine monitoring, freeing up time to focus on high-value optimizations.

2. Key Notifications to Consider

Choose metrics that align with your campaign goals and help identify potential performance issues. Here are essential triggers:

• Conversion rate fluctuations: Alerts you if conversions drop below a set level, helping you spot performance anomalies early.
• Budget monitoring: Get notified when campaigns exceed a defined budget threshold.
• CTR drops: Sudden dips in CTR can point to relevance issues—this notification helps you address them promptly.
• Impression share loss: Alerts you if ads aren’t reaching potential audiences due to budget or rank constraints.

3. Challenges with Google Ads Custom Notifications

While Google Ads offers a basic setup for custom notifications, PPC professionals often find it limiting for several reasons:

• Limited Customization Options: Notifications are restricted to specific metrics (e.g., budget spend, CTR), lacking flexibility for nuanced insights like conversion anomalies or product availability tracking.
• Manual Setup and Maintenance: Setting up and managing rules for each account or campaign can be time-consuming and requires ongoing adjustments, especially in multi-account setups.
• Lack of Cross-Platform Insights: Notifications are limited to the Google Ads ecosystem, making it difficult to monitor cross-channel performance across platforms like Meta Ads.
• Delayed Alerts and Reporting Limitations: Notifications may not always be immediate, especially for high-volume accounts, potentially leading to missed optimization opportunities.

Additionally, starting in 2024, Google introduced a policy that pauses certain Google Ads campaigns autonomously, reducing critical control for performance marketers. To address these limitations, many PPC experts rely on custom scripts to create notifications tailored to their campaign needs. However, maintaining these scripts requires coding expertise and ongoing maintenance.

4. Set Up Custom Notifications with Shopstory

For PPC professionals managing multiple campaigns, Shopstory offers a new, no-code solution to set up custom notifications that go beyond the limitations of Google Ads scripts. With Shopstory, you can create and customize alerts that capture complex anomalies and cross-platform insights, all delivered directly to Slack or email – without the need for scripts.

Key Custom Notifications in Shopstory

Shopstory offers a robust selection of notifications specifically tailored to the needs of marketers and PPC pros. Here are some critical notifications, grouped for maximum usability:

Performance Anomalies and Deviations

• Conversion Value Deviations: Get alerts when conversion value fluctuates, indicating potential anomalies in ad performance.
• Actual vs. Expected Ad Spend: Receive notifications when spending deviates from planned budgets at the account or campaign level.
• ROAS, Clicks, or Budget Changes: Stay informed when return on ad spend, clicks, or budgets deviate significantly, allowing you to address issues quickly.
• Conversion Rate Drops Despite Steady Spend: Alerts you if conversions drop even though spending remains consistent, signaling a potential anomaly in user engagement.

Inventory & Availability

• Out-of-Stock Bestsellers: Receive alerts if high-performing products go out of stock, so you can adjust your ads to avoid wasted spend.

Budget Monitoring

• 80% Budget Spend Warning: Be notified when your campaigns approach budget limits, giving you time to adjust before ads stop.
• Significant Campaign Budget Increases: Alerts you to major budget increases, allowing you to control ad spend effectively.

Approval & Status Changes

• Disapproved Ads: Receive alerts if an ad is disapproved, enabling you to address any issues before performance suffers.
• Unexpected Ad Group Pauses: Notifications let you know if an ad group stops running without your intervention.
• Campaign, Ad Group, or Keyword Status Changes: Track any status updates for campaigns, ad groups, and keywords to stay updated on account changes.

Clicks, Impressions & Cost Monitoring

• Significant Deviations in Clicks, Impressions, or Costs: Receive alerts for significant deviations in clicks, impressions, or costs, helping you quickly identify and respond to anomalies in ad engagement.

Conversion Tracking

• Conversions with a Value of 0: Alerts you if conversions are tracked but report a value of zero, helping you maintain accurate tracking.
• Conversion Tracking Errors: Notifications inform you if conversions stop being tracked altogether, signaling issues with your setup.

Weekly Summaries

• Weekly Campaign, Ad Group, and Keyword Changes: Get a summary of significant account changes to stay informed about optimizations and ensure you don’t miss any important updates.

These pre-built notifications are just a starting point – you can easily create additional custom alerts for detailed insights and receive them directly in your Slack or email to ensure timely responses to any anomalies or updates. Explore more in our Flow Library.

Conclusion: Take Control with Custom Notifications (No-code, No Scripts)

For PPC professionals, custom notifications in Google Ads are a fundamental tool for managing campaigns at scale. While scripts offer limited customization and require significant upkeep, Shopstory simplifies notifications with a no-code, ready-to-use approach. 

From tracking budget anomalies to monitoring product availability, Shopstory enables you to automate essential tasks, saving you time and keeping your campaigns on course.

Try custom notifications FREE with Shopstory today and experience how fully customizable, no-code notifications can keep your campaigns performing at their best.

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