Investigate paid-media spend and conversion anomalies

Why use this

1. A marketer may notice unexpected ad spend or conversion changes only after routine reports accumulate. A spike can indicate a real issue, but it can also arise from attribution delays, reporting windows or a changed event definition.

2. This job could focus attention on exceptions with enough context to investigate them. Keeping the alert separate from budget action lets the account owner decide whether intervention is justified rather than letting a noisy metric trigger spending changes.

Why an agent / simpler alternative

Useful judgment

Compare aligned spend/conversion evidence, distinguish anomalous patterns from reporting artifacts and propose bounded investigation questions.

Simpler alternative

Use platform alerts when clear thresholds reliably identify the issue.

Unsuitable when

The system would change budgets, pause campaigns or assert fraud without explicit authorization and adequate evidence.

Proposed inputs

1. Name

   Channel reports

   Owner

   Authorized marketer

   Minimum scope

   Aggregate spend and conversion data for comparable windows

   Quality check

   Check currency, timezone, attribution and partial periods

2. Name

   Exception rules

   Owner

   Account owner

   Minimum scope

   Materiality criteria and known changes

   Quality check

   Separate alert thresholds from automatic intervention

Access and setup — proposed or unknown

Proposed minimum

1. Read scoped exports and prepare a private anomaly note; no advertising writes, spend changes or messages.

Compatibility unknowns

1. Current platform access, reporting latency, cross-channel comparability and runtime compatibility are unknown.

External actions requiring approval

1. Budget/campaign changes, account access expansion and external alerts require explicit approval.

Expected deliverable and review checks

Proposed artifact

Exception report with observed change, baseline, data caveats and owner-review questions.

Critical checks

1. Reconcile spend units and dates; check conversion lag; distinguish observed anomalies from causal explanations.

Missing output evidence

This overlay adds no new output inspection, execution or validation; consult the referenced canonical source outcome limits.

Failure signals and proposed responses

1. Signal

   Yesterday's conversions are incomplete

   Why it matters

   A temporary reporting lag looks like failure

   Proposed response

   Label the incomplete window and defer conclusions.

2. Signal

   Currency conversion changes the comparison

   Why it matters

   Spend movement may be arithmetic rather than delivery

   Proposed response

   Use consistent currency treatment or separate the series.

Effort and cost — unknown

Setup work

1. Define comparable windows and meaningful exception criteria.

Ongoing review

1. Owner reviews material alerts and approves any intervention.

Unknowns

1. Reporting lag, attribution changes, investigation effort and service costs are unknown.

First check — proposed, unexecuted

Status

proposed_unexecuted

Synthetic fixture

Invent two channel series with a spend spike, delayed conversion updates and mixed currencies; prepare a tentative alert.

Acceptance checks

1. Flag all comparability issues; separate observed change from cause; authorize no budget action.

Stop conditions

1. Stop if evidence cannot distinguish incomplete reporting or any intervention lacks permission.

Limits

1. An anomaly report cannot establish wasted spend, fraud, causal campaign impact or the right budget response.