Creating and managing Microsoft Advertising campaigns with Autopilot

Your store needs to meet the following requirements to use Autopilot for Microsoft Advertising:

• You must have Autopilot set up and with Microsoft Advertising connected as a channel in Growth > Autopilot.
• Your store must be located in a region where Microsoft Advertising operates. There are no additional Shopify plan or product category restrictions beyond the requirements for setting up Autopilot.
• You must have a Microsoft Advertising account.

Before you use Autopilot for Microsoft Advertising, review how Autopilot creates Microsoft Performance Max campaigns, interacts with your other marketing on Microsoft Advertising, allocates budget, and reports performance.

Microsoft Performance Max campaigns

Autopilot provides recommendations for Microsoft Performance Max campaigns. Autopilot presents each recommendation as a tactic until you approve or dismiss it.

Microsoft Performance Max is Microsoft's automated campaign type that serves ads across the Microsoft Advertising network. Autopilot configures Performance Max to reach potential customers who are likely to purchase from your store.

After you approve a tactic, Autopilot creates the live campaign on Microsoft Advertising. The campaign keeps running and optimizing as long as it stays active and within your guardrails. You can dismiss pending tactics or stop running tactics from Growth > Autopilot.

If you turn off Autopilot, then Autopilot-managed ad campaigns are paused on Microsoft Advertising until you resume them there.

Autopilot ads and your other Microsoft Advertising campaigns

Autopilot ad tactics create campaigns that you own on Microsoft Advertising. Autopilot manages those campaigns separately from any other marketing that you run on Microsoft Advertising, and doesn't modify your other campaigns on Microsoft Advertising.

If you edit an Autopilot campaign directly in Microsoft Advertising, then Autopilot might overwrite your changes on the next update.

When you turn off Autopilot, it pauses your active ad campaigns on Microsoft Advertising. Resume them in Microsoft Advertising if needed.

Budget and billing for Autopilot Microsoft Advertising campaigns

You control how much Autopilot can spend by setting guardrails and spending limits. Autopilot allocates budget across your connected channels based on performance. Allocation amounts can vary between different Shopify stores.

Microsoft Advertising bills ad spend directly, so it isn't added to your Shopify bill. Keep an active payment method in your Microsoft Advertising account.

Monitoring performance for Autopilot Microsoft Advertising campaigns

To review Autopilot tactic performance in Shopify, refer to Monitor Autopilot tactic performance. You can review tactic status, activity, and high-level outcomes in Growth > Autopilot.

For detailed metrics such as impressions, clicks, conversions, and spend, use your Microsoft Advertising reporting.

When you set up Autopilot, you connect Microsoft Advertising from Growth > Autopilot. Autopilot handles the technical setup. You might need to complete additional account or verification steps directly in Microsoft Advertising to finish connecting.

When you connect Microsoft Advertising, you need to acknowledge that your ads aren't political advertising. Microsoft prohibits political advertising across its advertising network for all campaign types, including Microsoft Performance Max, in every region where Microsoft Advertising operates.

Before Autopilot launches an ad campaign, you can review the campaign details and decide whether to approve or dismiss it.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Growth > Autopilot.

2. In the Pending actions section, click the ad campaign tactic that you want to review.

3. Review the campaign details, including the ad platform, campaign type, target audience, and proposed budget.

4. Approve or dismiss a campaign:

   • To approve the campaign, click Approve. Autopilot creates and launches the campaign on Microsoft Advertising.
   • To dismiss the campaign, click Dismiss. The tactic is removed from your pending actions.

If a Microsoft Advertising Autopilot ad tactic doesn't behave as you expect, then review the following troubleshooting checks.

Ads not delivering after approval

• Confirm that a valid payment method and any required advertiser or account verification steps are complete in Microsoft Advertising.
• Confirm that the tactic is approved and not stopped, and that guardrails aren't blocking spend.
• In Microsoft Advertising, review campaign status, policy flags, and account restrictions that can delay delivery.

Connection or account errors

• Confirm that your Microsoft Advertising account is active and any advertiser verification or domain verification steps are complete in Microsoft Advertising.
• Reconnect Microsoft Advertising from Growth > Autopilot if the connection is interrupted.
• For issues that happen only in Microsoft Advertising, contact Microsoft Advertising support.

Use the following guidance to decide where to get help:

• Contact Microsoft Advertising for anything within the Microsoft Advertising surface or your Microsoft Advertising account, including advertiser verification, account restrictions, and domain verification.
• Contact Shopify for questions about how Autopilot works, a guardrail or setting that isn't respected, or any issue within the Shopify admin.