How to stop ads on Facebook simply and effectively

Over the past seven days, we have run ads for a client with a total spend of approximately $3,000, resulting in an average cost per purchase (CPP) of $33. Compared to the initial goal of $30, the current result is off by $3, a small number that is extremely significant when multiplied by hundreds of orders. So, how to stop ads on Facebook to get the cost back on target? In this article, Optimal will provide a detailed analysis of the performance of each adset, determining which ones need to be turned off and which ones should be kept, to optimize the budget Facebook ads and increase ad effectiveness in the smartest way possible.

When should you consider stopping Facebook ads?

On your journey to running Facebook ads, many of you will ask: When should you turn off an ad to avoid wasting your Facebook ad budget while still ensuring long-term effectiveness? In reality, the decision to turn off or keep a campaign, ad set, or individual ad shouldn’t be based on a gut feeling; it requires a clear strategy. Below is a practical guide that we and many other advertisers have learned from experience.

At the Campaign level

We almost never completely turn off a campaign when it’s active, with the special exception of taking over an account from someone else. In that case, we usually turn off all old campaigns and create a new campaign with a clearer, easier-to-manage structure.

Our operating principle is simple: Each business objective corresponds to its own separate campaign.

For example:

• One campaign for the women’s collection.
• One campaign for the men’s collection.
• If we’re running in 3 different countries, there will be a total of six separate campaigns.

This approach makes it easy to monitor, compare, and accurately allocate the budget for each product group and market.

At the Ad Set level

The strategy we apply today generally consists of two main parts:

• Maintain a main ad set to create stable results and ensure a continuous revenue stream.
• Use DCT (Dynamic Creative Testing) to continuously test new ideas, from images and videos to copywriting.

When implementing DCT, we usually use broad targeting (no interests, no retargeting) and turn on Dynamic Creative. Then we upload:

• 3 video or image creatives.
• 2 pieces of ad copy.
• 2 headlines (one new, one old for comparison).

We usually let the ads run for about 3 days and then evaluate:

• If the CPA does not decrease and the ROAS does not improve -> turn it off immediately.
• If the DCT takes up a lot of Facebook’s spend and actually improves performance -> keep it, and even scale it aggressively.

A real-world example:

• On May 12, we ran DCT #116, and after 3 days, we saw it was ineffective, so we turned it off.
• On May 16, we ran DCT #123, and after just 1–2 days, it took up the majority of the budget, the CPA decreased, and the profit increased, so we kept it and doubled the budget.

This method helps us continuously discover “winning ads” to expand, instead of wasting the budget on ad sets that don’t provide value.

At the Ad level

Unlike many new advertisers, we very rarely turn off individual ads within the main ad set.

The reason is that if you turn off ads that are spending a lot but are not yet effective, Facebook will automatically reallocate the budget to smaller ads that have a good-looking ROAS but can’t be scaled. As a result, overall performance decreases, causing the entire campaign to decline.

We accept a short-term “5-10% inefficiency” because we know that this is a necessary expense for Facebook to gain more machine learning data. At the same time, we continue to test to find a new, superior ad, rather than being too impatient and damaging the optimization process.

How to stop ads on Facebook to effectively optimize your budget

When running Facebook ads, we often face situations where some ads “gobble up” a lot of the budget but don’t perform as expected. If we let them continue to run, the entire campaign’s costs will increase, shifting it away from the initial objective. Therefore, knowing how to stop ads on Facebook at the right time is an important skill that every advertiser needs to master. Here’s the method we often apply when optimizing our budget.

Step 1: Check the spending to see the amount spent

When we open an ad account, the first thing we always do is click on the Amount Spent column to sort the adsets from the highest spend to the lowest. This approach allows us to quickly see where the money is “flowing,” which helps us identify which ad groups need to be looked at more closely.

Next, we filter only for the adsets that are in an active state to avoid data distortion from ads that have been paused.

In a recent account, we had multiple tests (140, 150, 147B, 140…) that were launched last week. After 7 days of continuous running, the results were very clear: none of the tests spent enough time or improved performance. For us, if an ad has been running for 7 days and still hasn’t spent its budget, it’s a sign that Facebook considers that ad to have low potential. Therefore, the first step is always to turn off all the ads that haven’t spent enough.

Step 2: Check ads that have spent a lot

Next, we focus on ads with a high spend. For example, an ad with the code 137 spent almost $993 in just 7 days, or nearly $1,000. However, the cost per purchase (CPP) was as high as $39, which is $9 over the target.

This indicates that the ad is still being heavily distributed by Facebook, but the performance is low. At this step, we always ask two important questions:

• Is there an ad in the same account that has spent less but has a better CPP?
• Is there an ad that has both spent a lot and is more effective?

Upon analysis, we found that ad 103 spent twice as much but had a much lower CPP, proving it was a high-potential ad. Additionally, another ad only spent $138 but brought in a CPP of $19, which was significantly more effective than ad 137.

This brings up a major issue: Why isn’t Facebook distributing more good ads? This is precisely why we need to manually optimize instead of leaving everything up to the algorithm.

Step 3: Analyze Frequency

One of the important metrics when evaluating ad performance is Frequency – the display frequency.

For example, ad 137 had a frequency of 1.68 in 7 days, meaning 68% of users had seen the ad at least twice. In contrast, a higher-spending ad only had a frequency of 1.23, meaning it was repeated less often.

Based on our experience, the ideal frequency should be around 1.0. When the frequency is too high and the CPP is still poor, it indicates that the ad content is not engaging enough or that Facebook is having a hard time finding more suitable audiences, leading to inflated costs.

To help you visualize this, imagine you make a 30-minute video with a rambling and unillustrated script. The audience will leave after just a few minutes, and the platform (YouTube or Facebook) will understand that the video isn’t engaging and will limit its distribution. Conversely, if the content is well-structured and meets the market’s needs, the frequency will be stable and costs will decrease significantly.

Step 4: Decide whether to stop or keep the ad

After analyzing the spending, CPP, and frequency, we will make a decision. For ad 137, the reason to turn it off is very clear:

• The CPP is higher than the goal.
• The Frequency is high.
• Other ads are much more effective.

Turning off this ad helps reallocate the budget to ads with a better CPP, for example, $30 and $19. As a result, the average CPP for the entire account is brought down to about $29, meeting the initial goal.

Automated features you should turn off on ads

When running ads, Facebook (or Meta) provides us with many automated features to help optimize ad displays. However, these features are not always suitable. In some cases, they can make ads more dynamic and engaging, but sometimes they can backfire, reducing the brand experience and directly impacting results. Below is a detailed analysis of each feature that advertisers should consider turning on or off.

Relevant Comments

Meta doesn’t display comments in chronological order but prioritizes showing comments with high engagement first. This is generally beneficial because customers will see the most valuable comments first. However, if the product is prone to criticism or receives a lot of negative feedback, leaving this feature on could make “bashing” comments prominent and cause a loss of trust. Therefore, the advice for advertisers is to check the comments section at least once a day and delete or hide negative content promptly.

Music

Meta sometimes automatically adds background music to images to turn static pictures into a “video-like” format. This idea can make an ad more dynamic, but the chosen music may not always match the brand or message. Fortunately, you can manually customize and select the genre and melody that fits the brand’s style to ensure consistency.

Image Filter

Meta’s AI can automatically adjust the brightness, contrast, and color of an image to make it “look better.” For many advertisers, this is very helpful. But if you have already invested in professionally processed photos from a designer or photographer—especially in large campaigns with a fixed color guideline—it’s better to turn this off to preserve the brand’s identity.

3D Animation

Meta can turn a static image into a simple animation, such as text flying in or objects moving. If it runs well, this format makes the ad dynamic, almost like a video. However, the downside is that this feature is often buggy or doesn’t display correctly. If you want to experiment with it, you should preview it carefully before launching to avoid “strange-looking” images that reduce professionalism.

Visual Touch-ups

Unlike filters, this feature focuses on adjusting the image’s aspect ratio. For example, the system can automatically crop a square image into a vertical one to display on Reels. However, you need to check the preview very carefully: if text or a logo gets cut off, you should turn it off to avoid ruining the layout.

Text Improvements

Meta can automatically swap headlines, descriptions, and the primary text. For new advertisers, this is a useful feature because Meta will help test different versions to find the most effective content. But for experienced advertisers who want complete control over the reading flow and customer journey, it should be turned off. This is because the text swapping can break the original train of thought, reducing the effectiveness of the storytelling.

Expand Image

AI will automatically expand the image background to fit different placements. For example, a horizontal image can have a sky added to the top to become a vertical image when displayed on Reels or Stories. This is a very useful and time-saving feature, but it doesn’t always look good. You should always preview the final product—if the added background looks fake or unnatural, you should turn it off.

An important note: Even if you turn on all the above features, Meta doesn’t necessarily display them all at once to everyone. The system will use machine learning to choose the right version for each user. This means one person might see the image with a headline template, while another sees the original image. This is how Meta personalizes the experience to optimize ad results.

This is the method we regularly apply to our Facebook Ad campaigns. Advertisers should remember that running an ad forever won’t necessarily lead to results. On the contrary, knowing how to stop ads on Facebook at the right time will help your budget “flow” to the right places, where it will generate a profit. You should try applying this right away!

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