AdRoll Platform Help

Help the user with AdRoll platform questions — from retargeting pixel setup and audience building through cross-channel campaign management, ecommerce integrations, RollWorks ABM, and the NextRoll API.

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. What area of AdRoll do you need help with?
   - A) Retargeting — pixel setup, website visitor retargeting, dynamic ads
   - B) Campaigns — creating display, social, native, CTV, or DOOH campaigns
   - C) Audiences — segmentation, lookalikes, CRM audiences, exclusions
   - D) Email — AdRoll email retargeting campaigns
   - E) Ecommerce integration — Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix
   - F) RollWorks ABM — account-based marketing, account lists, intent
   - G) Reporting & attribution — cross-channel analytics, ROAS, conversions
   - H) API — NextRoll API, automation, data access
   - I) Billing & account — plans, pricing, budget management
   - J) Something else — describe it

2. What's your business type?
   - A) Ecommerce / D2C brand
   - B) B2B SaaS or services
   - C) Agency managing multiple clients
   - D) Publisher / media
   - E) Other

3. What are you trying to accomplish? (describe your specific goal or question)

If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to a specialized skill, route:
- B2B advertising strategy → /sales-b2b-advertising
- General retargeting strategy → /sales-retargeting
- Email marketing strategy → /sales-email-marketing
- Audience growth / list building → /sales-audience-growth
- Tool integration architecture → /sales-integration
- Email deliverability → /sales-deliverability

Otherwise, answer directly using the platform reference below.

Step 3 — AdRoll platform reference

> Full platform guide: See references/platform-guide.md for the company overview, core modules
> (retargeting/pixel, campaign types incl. CTV + DOOH, audiences, ecommerce integrations, RollWorks ABM),
> pricing, and key settings. Read it before answering module, plan-gating, or configuration questions.

Orientation — the facts that steer most answers:

• AdRoll (ecommerce/D2C retargeting) and RollWorks (B2B ABM) are separate products under NextRoll,
  priced separately. RollWorks is quote-only and is the one with HubSpot-deep ABM + intent data.
• Pricing is pay-as-you-go and CPM-based, not flat-rate — platform fees sit on top of media
  spend, with a $5/day minimum spend ($10/day budget) to launch. The widely-cited "$36/mo Starter"
  is not confirmed on the official page — verify at adroll.com/pricing before quoting it.
• The pixel needs ~48-72 hours and ~1,000 visitors before audiences populate — the single most
  common "it's broken" report is actually a pixel that hasn't collected data yet.
• CTV and DOOH are gated to the higher/Advanced plans.

API (NextRoll)

> Full API reference: See references/adroll-api-reference.md for complete endpoint documentation,
> authentication details, and request/response examples. Always point users to this local reference file
> — never refer them to external URLs like apidocs.nextroll.com.

Key capabilities:
- CRUD API (action/RPC-style endpoints) for campaigns, ad groups, ads, and advertisables — base https://services.adroll.com/api/v1/
- GraphQL Reporting API for cross-channel analytics — POST https://app.adroll.com/reporting/api/v1/query
- Audience and User Lists APIs for segment management
- Geotargeting API and Site Traffic Revealer (firmographic visitor data)
- Universal Campaigns API for cross-channel campaign creation
- Server-to-Server (S2S) event/conversion tracking — POST https://srv.adroll.com/api

Auth: PAT via Authorization: Token {token} header plus an apikey query param (not Bearer).
Default quota is 100 requests per service per day.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Quick-start: First retargeting campaign

1. Install the pixel — Add AdRoll pixel to your website (or install via Shopify/BigCommerce/WooCommerce app)
2. Wait 48-72 hours — Let the pixel collect enough visitor data for audience building (minimum ~1,000 visitors)
3. Create your first audience — Start with "All website visitors, last 30 days" as your retargeting segment
4. Upload creative — Create 3-5 ad variations in standard IAB sizes. Include your logo, a clear CTA, and a compelling offer.
5. Set budget — Start at $10-20/day for retargeting. AdRoll's AI optimizes allocation across channels.
6. Exclude converters — Create an exclusion audience of recent purchasers (last 14-30 days) to avoid retargeting people who already bought.
7. Monitor for 7 days — Check ROAS, CPA, and frequency. Adjust budget and creative based on early performance.

Dynamic retargeting for ecommerce

1. Ensure product feed is synced (automatic via Shopify/BigCommerce/WooCommerce)
2. Create a "Product Viewers" audience (viewed product but didn't purchase)
3. Create a "Cart Abandoners" audience (added to cart but didn't purchase)
4. Set up dynamic creative templates — AdRoll auto-populates with viewed/carted products
5. Offer escalating incentives: product viewers get brand awareness, cart abandoners get a discount code

ABM campaign with RollWorks

1. Upload or build your target account list in RollWorks
2. Sync with HubSpot (if applicable) for bidirectional account data
3. Create account-based display campaigns targeting your list
4. Layer intent signals to prioritize high-intent accounts
5. Coordinate with sales — share which accounts are seeing ads and adjust outbound timing

Gotchas

Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.

1. Pixel must be on ALL pages — not just product pages. AdRoll needs full site coverage to build accurate visitor profiles and attribute conversions. Missing the pixel on checkout/confirmation pages means lost conversion data.

2. Dynamic retargeting requires a product feed — if your ecommerce integration isn't syncing properly, dynamic ads will show generic creative instead of product-specific ads. Check product feed status in AdRoll dashboard → Ecommerce.

3. Minimum audience size — AdRoll requires a minimum number of matched users to run campaigns (typically 100-500 depending on channel). New sites with low traffic may need to wait before launching retargeting.

4. RollWorks is separate from AdRoll — despite being under the same parent company (NextRoll), RollWorks has separate pricing, login, and feature sets. Don't confuse consumer AdRoll features with B2B RollWorks features.

5. CTV and DOOH are plan-gated / spend-gated — connected TV and DOOH are premium channels typically gated behind higher commitment or qualifying ad spend (e.g. the Managed Services Advanced Package, annual). AdRoll restructured its plans, so confirm current channel availability and any associated fee at adroll.com/pricing rather than assuming a fixed "$36/mo" tier.

6. Email retargeting is not email marketing — AdRoll email sends are retargeting-focused (triggered by website behavior), not broadcast email campaigns. For full email marketing, use a dedicated ESP and hand off: "This is an email marketing strategy question — run: /sales-email-marketing {your question}".

7. Attribution overlap with other ad platforms — if you're running Google Ads, Meta Ads, and AdRoll simultaneously, each platform will claim credit for overlapping conversions. Use a third-party attribution tool or compare incrementally.

• Self-improving: If you discover something not covered here, append it to references/learnings.md with today's date.

Related skills

• /sales-retargeting — Retargeting strategy across all platforms (not just AdRoll)
• /sales-b2b-advertising — Account-based B2B advertising strategy (covers RollWorks alongside Demandbase, 6sense, Terminus)
• /sales-email-marketing — Email marketing strategy (for email campaigns beyond AdRoll's retargeting emails)
• /sales-audience-growth — Grow your email/subscriber list (AdRoll retargeting as a list-growth channel)
• /sales-integration — Connect AdRoll to other tools (CRM sync, webhooks, Zapier)
• /sales-deliverability — Email deliverability (if AdRoll email retargeting has delivery issues)
• /sales-funnel — Funnel strategy (AdRoll fits into retargeting stage of funnel)
• /sales-checkout — Checkout optimization (reducing cart abandonment that feeds retargeting)
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do

Examples

Example 1: Shopify retargeting setup

User says: "I just launched a Shopify store and want to retarget visitors who didn't buy. How do I set up AdRoll?"
Skill does: Walks through Shopify app installation, pixel verification, automatic product feed sync, creating "All visitors" and "Cart abandoners" audiences, setting up dynamic retargeting with product-specific ads, and recommending a $15/day starting budget with converters excluded.
Result: User has a working retargeting campaign driving visitors back to complete purchases.

Example 2: RollWorks ABM for HubSpot

User says: "We use HubSpot and want to run display ads against our target account list. Is RollWorks the right tool?"
Skill does: Explains RollWorks as the ABM-focused arm of NextRoll with deep HubSpot integration. Covers syncing HubSpot company lists to RollWorks audiences, creating account-based display campaigns, and viewing account engagement data back in HubSpot. Notes that RollWorks pricing is separate from AdRoll consumer plans.
Result: User understands the RollWorks-HubSpot workflow and can evaluate if it fits their ABM needs.

Example 3: Cross-channel campaign with CTV

User says: "I want to run AdRoll retargeting across display, social, and connected TV. What plan do I need?"
Skill does: Explains that CTV is a premium channel typically gated behind higher commitment / qualifying ad spend (e.g. the Managed Services Advanced Package), and that AdRoll restructured its plans so the exact tier/price should be confirmed at adroll.com/pricing. Recommends starting with display + social retargeting on pay-as-you-go self-service, validating ROAS, then layering CTV for brand awareness. Covers cross-channel budget optimization and attribution settings.
Result: User has a phased plan for cross-channel retargeting with clear plan requirements.

Troubleshooting

Pixel not tracking visitors

Symptom: AdRoll dashboard shows zero or very low visitor counts
Cause: Pixel not installed correctly, blocked by ad blockers, or placed after page load
Solution: Verify pixel is in the <head> tag (not <body>). Check with AdRoll Pixel Helper Chrome extension. Ensure no Content Security Policy (CSP) headers are blocking the pixel domain. Note: ad blockers will prevent some visitors from being tracked — this is normal (expect 15-30% loss).

Dynamic ads showing generic creative instead of products

Symptom: Retargeting ads show your brand but not the specific products visitors viewed
Cause: Product feed not synced or not matching product URLs
Solution: Check Ecommerce → Product Feed in AdRoll dashboard. Ensure product URLs in the feed match the actual product page URLs on your site. For Shopify, disconnect and reconnect the integration. For manual feeds, verify CSV/XML format and re-upload.

Low ROAS on retargeting campaigns

Symptom: Spending budget but not seeing enough conversions
Cause: Audience too broad, frequency too high, or creative fatigue
Solution: Narrow audience to high-intent segments (cart abandoners > product viewers > all visitors). Check frequency — if above 5 impressions/day, reduce cap. Rotate creative every 2-3 weeks. Ensure conversion tracking is correctly firing on purchase confirmation page. Exclude recent purchasers.

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