Advertiser question: My ExoClick campaign says ‘Won’t Run’, what does it mean?

Advertisers occasionally see their campaigns display a “Won’t Run” status upon creation. This often leads to questions like: What’s wrong with my campaign? How can I fix this?

Let’s walk through some of the reasons why your ExoClick campaign ‘Won’t Run’:

🔍 Your Account is Under Review

Account verification is a standard process for all new Advertisers. When you create your first campaign, both your account and campaign undergo a review with our Compliance Team.

During this period, your campaign may temporarily show the status “Won’t Run”; this is a normal step in the account creation process. Once your account is verified and all checks are complete, your campaign will be able to start receiving traffic as expected.

❌ Your Campaign was Rejected

This status means your campaign won’t run because it has been rejected. This usually happens when your landing pages are approved but your marketing creatives are rejected, or vice versa.

Normally, you’ll receive an email from our Compliance Team explaining the reason for the rejection in detail. If your campaign is rejected automatically due to campaign elements like creative sizes or landing page errors, you will not receive an email. You can check the approval status directly in Step 2 of your campaign settings. For more information on the elements that need adjustment, simply click the status label to view the specific reasons: 

If you have questions or doubts about the campaign rejection, feel free to get in touch with our compliance team: https://www.exoclick.com/contact/ – Select “Compliance” – “Campaign Review”. 

✔️✔️ My campaign is running, why am I not receiving traffic?

Your campaigns might be approved, targeting the correct traffic, and even show a “Running” status — yet still not receive any traffic. In such cases, there are a few things you should double-check:

Behavioural Retargeting

Behavioral Retargeting allows you to target users based on their past interactions with your campaigns. However, in order to use retargeting, you must use pixel tracking, as retargeting relies on cookies. Ideally, you should run the campaign with pixel tracking enabled for a minimum of three days before enabling retargeting. The reason is simple: if pixel tracking hasn’t identified any users, you won’t be able to re-target them. 

Keyword Targeting 

We recommend using this feature with caution, as too many restrictions can limit your traffic. To increase reach, consider avoiding this feature when your campaign is first created or targeting broader keywords.

Please note: Our system only recognizes keywords assigned by Publishers to a website domain or tag. This is not based on what end users search for. To correctly set up your keyword targeting, kindly visit our FAQ: Keywords. 

Check your campaign labels and your zone targeting

When your campaign is reviewed, labels may be applied to your creatives or offers:  My campaign has labels. What does it mean? If your campaign’s label is blocked by the zone or site you are targeting, it will not receive any traffic from that zone or site. This may be because of the targeting settings you have chosen.  For example, you may receive a warning like this:

To check the label assigned to your campaign, simply click the 🔍 icon in Step 2 of your campaign settings: 

If you have questions or doubts about the labels of your campaign, please reach out to our compliance team: https://www.exoclick.com/contact/ – Select “Compliance” – “Campaign Review”. 

Video Campaigns and Friendly URL 

Friendly URL is now a mandatory field for video campaigns. If you haven’t set up a Friendly URL, your video campaign will not receive traffic:

How to run a campaign on ExoClick

Now you know all the reasons why a campaign might say ‘Won’t Run’ and how to fix it. You have also learned the reasons why a campaign can appear as ‘running’ but not receive traffic. If you have checked all the reasons why a campaign says ‘won’t run’, and require a thorough review of your campaign status, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your Account Manager or with our Customer Success team here!