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Kill Active Waste

This doc is for users who want to confidently identify, analyze, and cut underperforming campaigns to stop wasted spend and reallocate budget effectively in Wicked Reports.

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Introduction

This document explains how to use the Kill Active Waste view in Wicked Reports to quickly identify campaigns that are draining budget without delivering results. It covers locating or creating the view, customizing filters to match your goals, and duplicating views for all high-spend channels. It also explains how to interpret results and get team alignment on what to pause or cut.

Who this doc is for:

  • Users making Kill budget decisions

  • Teams who need alignment on what to pause or cut

  • Strategists (weekly routine) and Media Buyers (tri-weekly)

What is the Scale/Chill/Kill Framework?

  • Scale = Increase budget on profitable campaigns

  • Chill = Keep budget steady on stable performers

  • Kill = Cut budget on unprofitable campaigns (unless they can be fixed)

This framework works with ROAS, CAC, or NCAC depending on your optimization preference.

How to Set Up Your Kill Active Waste View

Purpose: Find campaigns wasting ad spend so you can cut losses fast and reallocate budget to winners. If you have Five Forces AI enabled, this routine runs for you automatically every day.

  1. Find or Create the View
    1. Go to your FunnelVision Report.
    2. Check Pinned Views for Kill Active Waste.
    3. If it is not visible, click + View → Five Forces tab →Kill Active Waste view
    4. Leave the default filters and click Create and Apply View.
  2. Customize Filters
    1. Decision #1: Choose your metric
      This will adjust the FB campaigns will show up in your view, based on your brands goals.
      1. Keep the default (e.g., ROAS < 1)
      2. Or, switch to CAC/NCAC (e.g., CAC > 40)
    2. Decision #2: Define your Kill Zone (e.g., ROAS <1)
      This value will tell WR to put any FB campaign under this ROAS  in the view for kill analysis.
    3. Click Save Changes to View to apply.
  3. Apply to Different Channels
    1. Rename your Meta view:

      1. In your pinned views at the top of your screen, click on the ellipses. 

      2. From the dropdown menu, press edit
      3. Edit the view name (e.g., Kill Active Waste - Meta)
      4. clicking Save and Apply.
    2. Duplicate for other high-budget channels:
      1. In your pinned views at the top of your screen, click on the ellipses
      2. From the dropdown menu, press duplicate
      3. Edit the view name (e.g., Kill Active Waste - Meta Copy -> Kill Active Waste - Google)
      4. Now, go to the filters and update the channel (e.g. if you're creating a google view, update the channel to be google)
      5. Press Create and Apply View

Making Confident Kill Decisions

At the top of the view, you’ll see summary metrics like total ad spend and overall returns. At the bottom of the view, you’ll see campaigns in the Kill Zone based on the filters and thresholds you set. These campaigns are underperforming and represent wasted spend unless fixed.

  • For ROAS users, reduce or pause campaigns below your threshold unless you can diagnose and lift performance.
  • For CAC or NCAC users, the Kill Zone highlights campaigns with costs above your acceptable range.

When a campaign appears in the Kill Zone, decide whether to cut spend immediately or attempt to repair it. If you choose to repair, follow the Diagnose and Improve training and review these five areas:

Fixing the weak area can often bring a campaign back into the Chill or Scale zone.

Ultimately, The Kill Active Waste view makes this decision process quick and reliable. Combined with Diagnose and Improve or Five Forces AI, it helps you stop waste, protect ROI, and reallocate spend to better opportunities.