Add actions to an automation

Not availableActions are the “then” part of your automation: what the system does when your conditions are met.

How actions work

Available actions depend on the level you selected for the automation. If you’re not sure how levels are defined, see Create an automation from scratch.

You can add multiple different actions to the same automation, but each action type can be used only once in that rule. All actions run based on the same set of conditions. To understand how conditions are structured, see Set conditions for an automation.

One scope works differently. When you set Apply Rule To to All Ads, the automation runs at the ad level, and the only available action is Activate, which turns on a custom product page. See Activate a custom product page (Ad-level automations) below.

To review past action results, see How to read automation logs.

Action availability by level

Action	Campaign group	App	Campaign	Ad group	Ad	Keyword	Search term
Send email notification	Available	Available	Available	Available	Not available	Available	Available
Send Slack notification	Available	Available	Available	Available	Not available	Available	Available
Pause	Not available	Not available	Available	Available	Not available	Available	Not available
Activate	Not available	Not available	Available	Available	Not available	Available	Not available
Add labels	Not available	Not available	Available	Available	Not available	Available	Not available
Change daily budget	Not available	Not available	Available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available
Change bid	Not available	Not available	Not available	Available	Not available	Available	Not available
Add as keyword	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Available	Available
Add as negative keyword	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Available	Available
Activate custom product page	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Available	Not available	Not available

Note: Ads is an ad-level scope. You select a single ad group, and the Activate action turns on the ad linked to a custom product page you choose. This is the only action available in this scope. See Activate a custom product page (Ad-level automations) below.

Activate a custom product page (Ad-level automations)

When you set Apply Rule To to All Ads, the automation works at the ad level and activates the ad linked to a custom product page when your conditions are met. This lets a market signal control which custom product page is live, down to the individual ad.

How to set it up:

Set Apply Rule To to All Ads. The automation runs at the ad level, and you select a single ad group to apply it to.
Under Actions, Activate is selected by default and is the only available action.
Select the custom product page to activate. The selector is single select and shows the custom product pages for the app of the selected ad group. The default product page is not listed.
Set your schedule and save.

Keep in mind!

If there is no ad for the custom product page you select, MobileAction creates one automatically when the automation runs. Auto-created ads follow the naming convention Automation_CPPName.
If you have no eligible custom product pages for the ad group, the selector shows the message "No eligible custom product pages available to use for this ad group" and you cannot save the automation.
If you try to set the automation active or save it as a draft without selecting a custom product page, you will see the validation "Please select a custom product page."
The automation will not activate a custom product page that is in a running or scheduled A/B test. When this happens, no action is taken and a warning is written to the automation logs: "The automations did not take any action as there is active CPP A/B Testing." This keeps your test data clean.

Common action patterns

These are the most common ways teams use actions in Automations:

Change bid (keyword level): Increase or decrease bids based on performance signals and volume trends. Often paired with Apple SOV conditions for brand protection.
Change daily budget (campaign level): Keep budget consumption healthy by comparing spend against daily budget (or using a budget consumption metric).
Change bid (ad group level): Common for Today tab and Product page campaigns to help spend a fixed budget productively.
Add as keyword (search term level / keyword level): Keyword discovery by promoting promising search terms into keywords. Also used to move coverage between campaigns (add keyword to a target area, then negate in the original).
Add as negative keyword (search term / keyword): Exclude budget-wasting traffic using Apple performance metrics.
Activate a custom product page (ad level): React to market movement by activating the custom product page that fits the moment. Commonly paired with cryptocurrency, commodity (Gold), and volatility index (VIX) conditions. See Set conditions for an automation.
Pause (campaign / ad group / keyword): Stop spend on low-performing entities. A common best practice is to apply a label when pausing so you can revisit later.
Slack / email notifications: Stay informed whenever an automation takes action (either as the only action, or alongside bid/budget changes).

Need more help?

If you have questions about your setup or the best rule structure for your account, contact your dedicated Customer Success Manager or reach out to the support team via live chat.