Metrics Alert

Get pinged the moment a metric crosses a threshold or changes by more than you'd expect. Build the alert once and SMAQ checks it on your schedule.

A Metrics Alert checks one or two metric conditions on a schedule and sends an email when any condition triggers. Use it for "let me know when X happens" cases — not for digests (use Daily Brief for those).

If you need to combine more than two conditions or use AND/OR logic, use Multi-Metrics Alert instead.

[Screenshot needed] Example Metrics Alert email — clear headline ("ROAS dropped below 2.0 — current 1.74"), the condition that triggered, and a one-line context note.

Conditions

You can add up to two conditions per alert. For each condition, pick:

• Database connection — GA4, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.

• Metric — depends on the connection (Spend, Sessions, ROAS, Conversion Rate, etc.).

• Condition type — one of four:

Value Higher Than

Alert when the metric exceeds a number.

• Threshold: a number (e.g. 50,000 for sessions, 5,000 for spend).

Use case: "Tell me when daily Meta spend tops $5,000 — that means something's pacing wrong."

Value Lower Than

Alert when the metric drops below a number.

• Threshold: a number (e.g. 1,000 sessions, 2.0 ROAS).

Use case: "Tell me when ROAS drops below 2.0 — that's our pause threshold."

Change since yesterday

Compares today's value to yesterday's.

• Threshold type: Percentage or Absolute.

• Direction: Increase, Decrease, or Either.

• Threshold value: e.g. 20 for "20% change."

Use case: "Tell me when conversions drop 30%+ overnight — probably tracking is broken."

Change over fixed period

Compares the current value to the value N days ago.

• Threshold type: Percentage or Absolute.

• Direction: Increase, Decrease, or Either.

• Threshold value: as above.

• Period (days): 1–30.

Use case: "Tell me when 7-day Google Ads CPA is 25%+ higher than the previous 7-day CPA."

[Screenshot needed] Add Condition dialog showing the connection picker, metric picker, condition type "Change over fixed period," and the threshold fields.

Schedule

Pick how often SMAQ should evaluate the conditions:

• Daily — most common.

• Weekly — for slower-moving metrics like organic CTR.

• Monthly — usually too slow; use Weekly instead.

The alert only fires when the condition is true at evaluation time. If you check daily and ROAS recovers between checks, you won't get a delayed alert.

Recipients

Standard email list.

What the alert email contains

• The headline (which condition triggered, current value)

• The metric value at evaluation time

• The threshold and direction

• Optional: a small chart of the metric over time (for "Change" conditions)

Tips

• Set thresholds based on a real day. Look at the metric over the last 30 days, pick a value 1.5–2× outside the normal range.

• Use Direction: Either sparingly. Most actionable alerts are one-directional — drops in ROAS matter; spikes in ROAS usually don't.

• Start with one condition. Two conditions in a single alert AND together — both must be true. If you want OR logic, create two separate alerts.

• Don't alert on noisy metrics daily. If your daily ROAS naturally swings ±50%, a daily ROAS alert will fire constantly. Switch to weekly or use a tighter threshold.

Alert fatigue

If you're getting more than a couple alert emails per week, tighten the thresholds. Alerts you ignore are noise, not signal.

Tier availability

• All tiers — Metrics Alert is included on Starter and up.

Related

• Multi-Metrics Alert — for more than two conditions with AND/OR logic.

• Anomaly Digest — statistical outlier detection (lets SMAQ pick the thresholds for you).

• Budget Pacing Alert — specifically for budget over/underspend.