SlackMinute zero: stop the spend
- Post the problem in the team channel with the time, the account and what was seen.
- Name one incident lead, usually the account lead. Only that person changes the account, and every change is logged before and after.
- Pause the affected campaigns, or lower the budget to a safe level the lead agrees.
First hour: find the cause
- Check the usual suspects in order: a budget change, a tracking break, a changed or rejected ad, a billing problem. Start with the change log for the last 48 hours, since most incidents follow a change.
Same day: tell the client and fix
- Tell the client what happened, the money at stake and when the next update comes. Say what is not known.
- Apply the fix as an approved change, read it back, and check it over two reporting periods, not one day.
Made-up scenario: a budget was raised by mistake late on a Friday. The change log showed it, the pause took ten minutes, and the client heard the amount spent before the end of the day.
After the incident
- Write a short review: timeline, cause or 'cause unknown', money lost, what worked, and what changes.
- Give each change an owner and a due date.
Checklist
- Spend stopped, every change logged, and the cause recorded with its evidence or marked unknown.
- Client told the same day, and the review written within a week.
