What Are Meta Value Rules and When to Use Them?

Value rules let you bid more for the customers worth more to you, and less for those worth less, inside one ad set. They do not narrow who sees the ad; they change how hard Meta bids for each kind of conversion. That makes them useful when your own orders show one segment is worth more, and risky when you are guessing, because a raised bid on the wrong segment buys dearer conversions.

What are Meta value rules?

A value rule is a percentage adjustment to your bid for conversions that match a set of criteria. Meta’s description: value rules “allow you to express value across audience, placement and conversion location criteria”, so your campaigns adjust delivery toward the outcomes you value more (About value rules). People who match no rule get the normal, unadjusted bid.

The criteria Meta lists are age, gender, location, operating system, device platform, and select placements and conversion locations. Meta’s campaign steps add that you can also set up rules with audience labels, so a labelled audience gets its own adjustment (Create a campaign using value rules). The developer reference lists the placements available, including Facebook and Instagram Feed, Stories and Reels, and Audience Network (Value rules, Marketing API).

Meta’s own example: if men aged 25 to 44 have a 60% higher lifetime value and women aged 25 to 44 a 20% lower one than your other customers, you set +60% for the first group and -20% for the second.

What are the limits of a value rule set?

Rules live in a rule set, and the rule set is attached to an ad set. The limits come from Meta’s help pages and developer reference, all checked on 2 Oct 2026.

Order matters. When a person matches more than one rule, Meta applies only the first matching rule in the set. In Meta’s example, rule 1 adds 20% for women in California and rule 2 adds 50% for women on a particular mobile operating system; a woman in California on that system gets 20%, because rule 1 comes first.

Which campaigns can use value rules?

Not every setup qualifies. Check these before you build a rule set:

• Bid strategy. Meta says value rules are not available for manual bid strategies such as ROAS goal or bid cap. Its setup steps use Highest volume or value, or Cost per result goal.
• Performance goal. The campaign steps pair value rules with Maximize number of conversions or Maximize value of conversions (Create a campaign using value rules).
• Audience. Meta advises a broad audience. If your audience controls conflict with a rule, you get an error and the rule cannot be applied.
• Special ad categories. Age, gender and certain locations are restricted. Picking them can lead to an error and the ad being rejected.
• Availability. Meta’s setup page notes the feature may not be available to every account yet.

If you still use bid multipliers through the API, Meta says advertisers who want to keep expressing value by audience will have to move to value rules by 2027.

When should I use value rules?

Use them when you can put a number on why one segment is worth more, from data outside Ads Manager. Meta’s guidance on choosing a percentage works the same way, from your own results. Its worked example is $115 of ROAS from women against $100 from men, which suggests a +15% rule for women (Choose the right value rules percentage).

Four store situations where that test is usually met:

1. Repeat buyers differ by segment. Your order history shows one age band or region reorders far more often, so its first purchase is worth more than its first order value.
2. Existing customers would buy anyway. If you label recent purchasers as an audience, a negative rule bids them down, so budget leans toward new customers without excluding anyone.
3. You split campaigns only to bid differently. One campaign per country or age band, built just to control spend per segment, can become one ad set with rules. Meta lists consolidating campaigns as a main use; see when should I split Meta campaigns instead of pooling them?
4. A placement converts at lower value. If your own data shows a placement brings lower-value orders, a small negative rule shifts spend without excluding it.

Start with a modest percentage and let your own margin data set the final number; a large raise on a guess buys dearer conversions.

When should I not use value rules?

Skip them when the gap between segments is a guess, a short-run blip or something only Ads Manager reports. Meta warns that with value rules “your overall cost per result may increase”, because you are deliberately paying more for some conversions. That trade only pays if those customers are worth more in revenue you keep.

Do not use them for compliance either. Meta’s developer guide separates the tools: audience controls are for “must comply with regulations”, value rules for “willing to pay more for higher value audiences”, and audience suggestions for guiding Meta toward likely converters. If a group must never see an ad, that is a hard audience control, not a -90% rule. For how suggestions and controls differ, see should I use Advantage+ audience or interest targeting?

Value rules are also a different decision from choosing a performance goal. Whether to optimize for purchase count or purchase value is covered in should I use value optimisation or purchase optimisation?

How do I set up value rules in Ads Manager?

Meta gives two routes: build a rule set in Advertising settings, or build it inside the ad set (Set up value rules). The Advertising settings route:

1. Open Ads Manager, click Advertising settings on the left, then click Value rules below Your business.
2. Click + Create a rule set, tick the box in the pop-up, and click Create a rule set again.
3. Select up to 2 criteria for your first rule, such as age and location.
4. Choose whether the rule increases or decreases the bid, and enter the percentage.
5. Click Add rule for each further rule, up to 10 in the set.
6. Click Change rule order to put your most specific rule first, then click Done.
7. Review the summary, name the rule set, and click Create.
8. Attach it in the ad set under Value rules, Placement value rules or Conversion location value rules (Create a campaign using value rules).

How do I check whether value rules are working?

Use the value rules breakdown. In Ads Manager, select a campaign that uses value rules, open the Breakdown drop-down and choose Value rules; it shows outcomes, such as conversions, for each rule at the ad set and ad level (Value rules breakdown). Meta adds that you may need other analytics tools to confirm gains in lower-funnel results. In practice, compare repeat rate, average order value and margin for the boosted segment in your store data, and keep the rule only if the gap holds.

FAQ

Do value rules exclude anyone from seeing my ads?

No. Value rules adjust the bid for matching conversions and leave everyone else on the normal bid. A -90% rule lowers the bid for that segment sharply, but it is not an exclusion. If a group must not see your ads for legal or policy reasons, Meta points you to audience controls instead.

Can I use value rules with a ROAS goal or bid cap?

No. Meta’s help page says value rules are not available for manual bid strategies such as ROAS goal or bid cap. Its setup steps use the Highest volume or value strategy or a Cost per result goal, with the performance goal set to maximize the number or the value of conversions.

How many value rules can I create?

Up to 10 rules in one rule set, with up to 2 criteria per rule in Ads Manager. Meta’s developer reference allows up to 6 rule sets per ad account and 4 criteria per rule through the API, although rule sets with more than 2 criteria can then only be edited through the API.

What happens if two value rules match the same person?

Meta uses only the first matching rule in your rule set’s order. Put narrow, high-confidence rules above broad ones, and use Change rule order in the rule set editor to move them. Rules lower in the list apply only to people who matched nothing above them.

Sources

Sources: Meta Business Help Center, About value rules, Set up value rules, Create a campaign using value rules, Choose the right value rules percentage and Value rules breakdown; Meta for Developers, Value rules (checked 2 Oct 2026).