Budget Front-Loading
Overview
Budget front-loading refers to a spending strategy where you allocate more of your budget to the first half of a budget cycle (e.g., the first 15 days of a monthly budget) and less to the second half. This approach can be useful for campaigns that need to establish momentum early or when you want to capture early-month opportunities.
Current Platform Capability
**Budget front-loading is not currently supported** within a single budget cycle. The Shape platform uses a linear pacing algorithm that distributes your remaining budget evenly across the remaining days in your budget cycle.
How Budget Pacing Works
The platform calculates daily budget targets using the following formula:
Daily Target = Remaining Budget ÷ Remaining Days
This ensures your budget is spent evenly throughout the cycle, preventing overspending early in the month and underspending later.
Workaround: Using Two Budgets
To achieve a front-loaded spending pattern, you can create two separate budgets with a transition date:
Setup Steps
1. Create the First Budget (Higher Spending Period)
- Set your desired total budget amount for the front-loaded portion
- Set the start date to the beginning of your cycle
- Set the end date to your desired transition date (e.g., the 15th of the month)
- Configure this as a one-time budget (non-repeating)
2. Create the Second Budget (Lower Spending Period)
- Set your desired total budget amount for the remainder of the cycle
- Set the start date to your transition date (e.g., the 15th of the month)
- Set the end date to the end of your cycle (e.g., the last day of the month)
- Configure this as a one-time budget (non-repeating)
3. Add Campaigns to Both Budgets
- Add the same campaigns to both budgets
- The campaigns will automatically transition from the first budget to the second budget on the transition date
Example
If you want to spend $10,000 in January with 70% ($7,000) in the first half and 30% ($3,000) in the second half:
- Budget 1: $7,000 budget, January 1–15 (one-time)
- Budget 2: $3,000 budget, January 16–31 (one-time)
Important Considerations
- Campaign Management: You'll need to manage campaigns across two budgets, which may require additional monitoring
- Reporting: Budget reports will be split between the two budgets, so you may need to combine them for full-cycle analysis
- Automation Features: Auto-pilot and cruise control settings will need to be configured separately for each budget
- Manual Setup Required: This workaround requires manual setup each cycle if you want to repeat the pattern