Meta value rules: how they work, their limits and what percentage to set
Meta value rules raise bids by up to 1000% or cut them by up to 90% for chosen audiences and placements. Limits, setup, and where Meta's pages disagree.
- Hristijan Jankulovski
- 8 min read
Value rules tell Meta how much more or less a conversion is worth from a chosen audience, placement or conversion location. You can raise bids by up to 1000% or cut them by up to 90%, with up to 10 rules in a set and 2 criteria in a rule. When rules overlap, only the first one applies. They don't work with bid cap, and Meta says advertisers who use bid multipliers and want to keep expressing value this way will have to move to value rules by 2027.
What are value rules in Meta Ads?
They are a way to bid differently for different people or placements inside one ad set. About value rules in Meta Ads Manager:
Value rules allow you to express value across audience, placement and conversion location criteria and consolidate campaigns to drive performance. When you use value rules, your campaigns can adjust delivery toward criteria and outcomes you value more.
Meta's example uses lifetime value. Say men aged 25 to 44 have a 60% higher lifetime value than your other customers, and women aged 25 to 44 have a 20% lower one. You raise your bid by 60% for the first group and cut it by 20% for the second. "People outside of these value rules will receive a non-adjusted bid."
Meta pitches them as a way to run fewer campaigns. Its page on audience labels in value rules says you "don't need to create separate ad sets for each type of customer", and advises: "Consolidate instead of splitting."
What can a value rule target?
| Criteria | Notes |
|---|---|
| Age and gender | Restricted in special ad category campaigns |
| Location | Cities and market areas are restricted in special ad category campaigns |
| OS and device platform | |
| Placements | "select placements" only. Can also be set up under placement value rules |
| Conversion locations | Can also be set up under conversion location value rules |
| Audience labels | Customer list, website or mobile app custom audiences that carry a label |
On special ad category campaigns, Meta warns that restricted options "may appear selectable during the ad creation process", but choosing one "will result in an error and subsequent ad rejection."
For WhatsApp Status, value rules based on age and gender "will not apply to people whose WhatsApp accounts are not linked to Facebook or Instagram."
What percentage should you set for a value rule?
Meta's pages give two starting points. Best practices to choose the right value rules percentage says to begin with your own numbers and "testing small adjustments", and if you have no number in mind, "you could start with a 50% adjustment for your high-value audience." The audience labels page says "Start with smaller bid adjustments (±20-30%) and increase them over time based on performance."
Your own data settles this better than either figure. Meta's method is to compare what each group is worth. If one group brings in $115 for every $100 from another, "women may be worth 15% more to your business", in its example, so you set +15%. Lifetime value, ROAS or margin all work as the measure.
Use the fixed figures only when you have nothing better. The audience labels page also says that if your groups are similar in value, "bid adjustments may not improve results."
What happens when two value rules overlap?
Meta uses the first rule that applies, and the order of the rule set decides which that is. "If you create rules with a criteria overlap, Meta will only use the first applicable rule to adjust the bid."
Meta's example has rule 1 at +20% for women in California and rule 2 at +50% for women on a particular mobile operating system. A woman in California on that system gets +20%. The adjustments don't add up, and the larger one doesn't win.
So put your most specific or most valuable rule first, and check the order with Change rule order before you save.
Which bid strategies work with value rules?
Meta's pages conflict on one of them.
| Bid strategy | What Meta's pages say |
|---|---|
| Highest volume | Works. The setup page says to choose "Highest volume or value or Cost per result" |
| Highest value | Works, on the same line |
| Cost per result goal | Works, on the same line |
| Bid cap | Not available |
| ROAS goal | Conflicting |
The conflict is in the wording. About value rules says "Value rules are not available for manual bid strategies such as ROAS goal or bid cap." But About bid strategies files ROAS goal under goal-based bidding, and its FAQ says you can use value rules "on top of goal-based bidding". The setup page's list also leaves ROAS goal out, so assume it isn't supported and check what your own ad set offers. Our bid strategies guide explains what each one does.
The performance goal also has to fit. The setup page lists Maximize number of conversions or Maximize value of conversions.
Do value rules lower your cost per result?
Not necessarily. Meta's note on the first page: "you may see more conversions from your preferred audiences, placements and conversion locations, but your overall cost per result may increase." The best practices page adds that value rules "don't guarantee more conversions."
That's expected, because you've told Meta to pay more for some conversions. Judge the rule on whether those conversions are worth the extra. Meta says "Your lower-funnel metrics should reflect when you've acquired more valuable audiences", and that "You may need to utilize other analytics tools to further validate improvements towards lower funnel indicators."
How do you see value rule results?
In Ads Manager, open a campaign that uses value rules, click the Breakdown dropdown and choose Value rules. It shows outcomes such as conversions for each rule, but only at ad set and ad level: "This breakdown only shows performance for ad sets and ads."
Can value rules exclude an audience or placement?
No. The lowest you can go is a 90% cut, so people or placements in a rule can still get your ads. To stop delivery in a placement, use an account-level exclusion, which our placement settings guide covers.
Meta argues against excluding in the first place: "Instead of excluding audiences entirely, consider including them with a reduced bid." And exclusion-only custom audiences can't be used in a rule, "even if an audience label has been added."
How do audience labels work with value rules?
They let a rule target your own customer groups. You give a custom audience a label, such as recent purchasers or lapsed customers, then set a bid adjustment for that label.
Meta's examples of how you might use them:
- Bid higher for local buyers who are likely to visit your store again.
- Bid lower for recent purchasers who are "likely to come back on their own".
- Bid higher for lapsed customers to win them back.
A label by itself does nothing to bidding. Meta's comparison table says a standalone label has "No direct effect on bidding", while a label in a value rule "Directly adjusts bid amounts". See audience labels.
How do you set up a value rule?
There are two places, per How to set up value rules:
- Advertising settings. In Ads Manager, click Advertising settings on the left, then Value rules below Your business, then Create a rule set.
- In a campaign. Under Budget, choose your bid strategy. After you pick your performance goal and conversion event, you can create a rule set under Value rules, Placement value rules or Conversion location value rules.
The page opens with "This feature may not be available to you yet", so you might not see it in every account.
What happens to bid multipliers by 2027?
Meta says they're being replaced. The notice runs across its value rules pages:
Advertisers who use bid multipliers and want to continue expressing value for outcomes from certain audiences will be required to use value rules by 2027. If you're using bid multipliers, you should start replacing them with value rules.
Meta gives no exact date, and 2027 is close, so if your bidding relies on multipliers, start moving them across now.
Sources
- About value rules in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- How to set up value rules in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- Best practices to choose the right value rules percentage — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- How to use the value rules breakdown for reporting in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- About audience labels in value rules — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
- About bid strategies — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
Meta revises these pages without notice, so check the source before acting on any of it.
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