FAQ

Short answers to common questions, with links to deeper articles.

Getting started

How do I sign in?

Click Continue with Google, or type your email address and click Continue with email. With email, Hero Marketer sends you a six-digit code, and you type it on the sign in page. There is no password, no magic link, and no SSO. For the same email address, both methods open the same account. See Sign up.

Do I need a Google Ads account before I sign up?

Yes. After you sign up, the next step is Pick an ad platform, where you click Connect Google Ads. The rest of the app opens only after you connect a Google Ads account. You can connect with any Google account that can open your Google Ads account, even if you signed up with a different one or with an email code. If you have no Google Ads account, create one at ads.google.com first. See Sign up and Connect Google Ads.

What does Hero Marketer cost?

Hero Marketer is pay as you go. There are no plans and no monthly fee. One credit costs $1. You buy credits in packs of 20 for $20. Credits do not expire.

Credits pay for AI work and for daily checks. Daily checks cost 0.25 credits a day for each connected account, about $7.50 a month. The charge starts when you buy credits for the first time. The dashboard and the free scan do not use credits. See How credits work.

Does Hero Marketer charge me for ad spend?

No. You pay Google directly for clicks through your own Google Ads account. Hero Marketer charges credits for AI work and for daily checks. See How credits work.

How long does it take to set up?

Onboarding takes a few minutes. You connect Google Ads, choose an account, and get a free scan. The free scan takes less than a minute.

If you want a new Search campaign, the campaign wizard takes about 10 more minutes. Before the first campaign for a product, Hero Marketer reads your product website. That read uses less than half a credit. See Add your website.

Credits and billing

What is a credit?

A credit is the unit that you pay with in Hero Marketer. One credit costs $1. Credits pay for AI work and for daily checks (0.25 credits a day for each connected account). See How credits work.

Why do credits cost what they cost?

Each AI action costs what its AI work uses, so the same action can cost different amounts. The price also carries a margin. The margin keeps Hero Marketer self-funded, so we answer to customers and not to investors.

Daily checks cost 0.25 credits a day for each account, about $7.50 a month. One pack of 20 credits pays for about 80 days of checks on one account, before any AI use.

How can I try Hero Marketer before I commit?

There is no free trial, and there are no free credits. Sign up, the first account connection, the free scan, and the dashboard are free. You can also create reports and dashboards at no cost.

Your first dashboard AI summary on each Google Ads account is free. The AI brief on a saved report always uses credits. When you buy credits, unused credits are refundable within 90 days of the purchase. See Refund policy and How we operate.

Why are you not priced like ChatGPT or Claude at $20/month?

Hero Marketer has no flat monthly fee. You pay for what each AI answer uses, and for the daily checks on your connected accounts. Hero Marketer is independent and customer funded, so credit purchases pay for the AI work and for the company. See How we operate.

Do unused credits roll over?

They do not expire. Credits stay in your balance until you spend them. See How credits work.

Can I get a refund?

Yes. Unused credits are refundable within 90 days of the purchase that bought them. Credits that you already spent are not refundable, because the work is done. To ask for a refund, email support@heromarketer.io. Paddle refunds the money to your original payment method. See Refund policy.

Can I cancel anytime?

There is no plan to cancel. Two things can still charge you: daily checks, which use your balance, and auto top up, if you turned it on.

• To stop daily checks, turn off all 17 alert types and all automations. This setting applies to all your accounts. Or disconnect the account.
• To stop card charges, turn off Auto top up in Settings > Billing. This cancels the yearly credit subscription. Your credits stay.

To open Settings, click your profile picture at the bottom of the sidebar, then click Settings. See Monitoring and the daily rate and Set up auto top up.

Campaigns

How long until my campaign goes live?

When publishing is complete, the campaign is on in Google Ads. Google then reviews the ad before the ad can show. Most reviews complete in less than a day. Some take up to two business days, especially in regulated categories. See What happens after you launch.

Why does my campaign not serve impressions?

Most likely it is still in Google's review. Check status in Google Ads. If it is eligible but not serving, the cause is usually the budget or the bid. Ad strength does not stop an ad from serving, because Google does not use ad strength in the auction. See Campaign not live yet.

Why does Google Ads show a daily budget when I set a monthly budget?

Google Ads uses daily budgets. The campaign wizard sends your monthly budget as a daily budget: the monthly budget divided by 30.4, rounded down to the cent (or to a whole unit in currencies that Google Ads takes without cents, such as yen and won). For example, $500 a month becomes $16.44 a day. In one month, Google does not charge more than 30.4 times the daily budget. So Google does not charge more than your monthly budget. See Set your monthly budget.

Why did keywords move to Over budget when I lowered the budget?

Your monthly budget is below the recommended budget of a Search campaign. Below the recommended budget, the wizard keeps only the keywords that the budget can show your ad for on 80% of their searches. The other keywords move to the Over budget list on the Choose keywords and budget step. They do not go to Google Ads. To run all of them, raise the budget, or click the button of the list, for example Cover all 10 for $500, or Cover it for $500 when the list has one keyword. A Performance Max campaign has no Over budget list: it keeps all of its keywords as search themes at any budget. See Set your monthly budget.

Can I move a keyword to a different keyword cluster in the wizard?

Yes. On a Search campaign, use the Archive on the Choose keywords and budget step. Click the archive button of the keyword. Select the other cluster. Then click Add to group on the keyword in the Archive. The Archive is one list for all of the clusters. On Search, you cannot type a new keyword. On Performance Max and Demand Gen, you can type your own keyword of up to 80 characters and 10 words in the Add a search theme or Add a search field, up to 25 keywords. See Choose keywords and budget.

Why can I not click Launch on the Check your ad step?

The launch bar at the bottom of the step lists what stops the launch. Click a line to open the tab that fixes it. For example, a headline that is too long stops the launch: the bar shows Fix the headlines that are too long, empty, or repeated. The ad copy needs no approval. A Performance Max campaign also needs at least one part of the audience signal, and at least 5 images of each size. Every headline, long headline, and description must be different. A retargeting campaign needs at least one list that it can use. While Hero Marketer loads your lists or your images, the launch waits, and the bar shows Loading your lists… or Loading your images…. See Check your ad.

Does the wizard add an audience signal to a Performance Max campaign?

Yes, one audience signal. On the Check your ad step, open the Extras tab and click Choose lists in the Audience signal box. Select your website visitor lists or customer lists. When your account has a list that can go in the signal, the launch waits for at least one list. Hero Marketer also adds the people who search on Google for your search themes. A list must be open and enabled, allowed by Google on Search or Display, with 100 or more people or no size from Google yet. The signal is a hint for Google, not targeting. The wizard does not add interests, demographics, or exclusions. See Create a Performance Max campaign.

Can Hero Marketer create a Demand Gen campaign?

Yes. On the Choose what to target step, set Campaign type to Demand Gen. A Demand Gen campaign shows image ads on YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Display. Hero Marketer writes a Demand Gen ad of 5 headlines and 5 descriptions, and you pick at least 5 images of each size. The audience always holds the people who search on Google for your keywords, and you can add your lists. Google shows the ads to that audience first, then finds people like them. The budget starts at a test budget of about 100 US dollars a day in your account's currency. Bidding is Maximize clicks or Maximize conversions. See Create a Demand Gen campaign.

Can I retarget people who visited my website?

Yes, with a retargeting campaign. On the Choose what to target step, set Campaign type to Search or Demand Gen. Click the second setting under the sentence: Everyone who searches on Search, or New people on Demand Gen. Select Only people on my lists. Then, on the Extras tab of the Check your ad step, click Choose lists in the Your lists box and select at least one of your website visitor lists or customer lists. Search becomes Search retargeting (Search ads when people on your lists search). Demand Gen becomes Demand Gen retargeting (image ads on YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Display). Only people on those lists see the ads. Retargeting is not a type in the Campaign type menu. A list needs 100 or more people on its network. Retargeting has no recommended budget, so you type the monthly budget. The wizard uses the lists that your Google Ads account already has. It does not add the Google tag to your site or create lists. See Create a retargeting campaign.

Why does the launch say that a campaign with this name already exists?

Google needs a different name for each campaign that is not removed. The launch stops with Google Ads already has a campaign with this name. Check Campaigns first: it can be this one. To launch another, change the campaign name. First, look on the All campaigns page: an earlier launch can have created this campaign. To launch another campaign, click the Campaign name row on the campaign card of the Check your ad step, and type a different name. The automatic name includes the search term, the keyword cluster, and the country code, so two clusters of the same search term get different names. See What the campaign wizard creates.

Why does the wizard write my ad copy again?

The wizard writes new ad copy, which uses credits, when the keywords of the cluster change, when you change the campaign type from Search to Performance Max or to or from Demand Gen, and when you switch between Demand Gen and Demand Gen retargeting. Your draft holds the ad copy of one cluster at a time. On Search and Performance Max, saved copy of an earlier cluster loads at no credit cost, with the message Loaded your saved ad copy at no credit cost. On Demand Gen, copy for an earlier cluster is written again. After a change from Search to Performance Max, Hero Marketer adds to the Search ad. If the keywords of the cluster did not change, Hero Marketer keeps the saved Search ad and your edits. Then Hero Marketer writes only the 5 long headlines. If no call to action headline has 15 characters or fewer, Hero Marketer makes the shortest one shorter. If no description has 60 characters or fewer, Hero Marketer makes the shortest one shorter. This uses fewer credits than new ad copy. It is true only for a Search ad with Category search, because Performance Max uses Category search only. See Check your ad.

Where do the ratings and offers in my ads come from?

From two lists of your product context: What proof does your website show? and What offers can visitors get?. Hero Marketer fills them when it reads your home page and your pricing page, and you check them before you save. Your ads state a rating, an award, a certification, a customer count, or a result only as the proof list states it. They promise only the offers in the offers list. Hero Marketer does not read G2, Capterra, or other review sites, or a badge that your site shows only as an image. To add or fix a line, open Settings > Products, click the product, and click Edit. See Update a product.

Can I edit a campaign after I create it?

Yes. Pause or enable a campaign directly from the All campaigns page. Ask Hero AI in chat to change keywords, negatives, the daily budget, bidding, ad copy, or the status of ad groups, ads, and keywords. Each change waits on an approval card until you click Approve and apply.

Hero AI cannot change keyword or ad group bids, locations, devices, ad schedule, networks, Performance Max assets, or a shared budget. Make those changes in Google Ads. See Pause or edit a live campaign.

Can I run multiple campaigns at once?

Yes. You can run several campaigns at the same time, for example one for each keyword cluster. Publishing a campaign is free. The AI steps in the campaign wizard use credits, based on actual usage.

Can I target multiple regions in one campaign?

Not in Hero Marketer. The campaign wizard targets one country for each campaign. To reach several countries, build one campaign for each country. This is also the recommended setup for B2B SaaS. To add regions to an existing campaign, edit its locations in Google Ads. Hero AI cannot change locations. See Choose what to target.

Create images

Can Hero Marketer make ad images?

Yes. Create images makes ad images for one of your products, for Google, Meta, and LinkedIn ads. Each image is a finished ad with a headline, one button, and your logo. Hero Marketer reads the product website and your logo one time. It builds three ad styles and three looks, and you pick one look. Then you type what the ad promotes. Hero Marketer makes 1 to 10 ideas in up to 4 aspect ratios, up to 20 images in a batch. Each idea starts from something true about your buyer. Three images use about 0.6 credits. See Create ad images.

Does Hero Marketer upload ad images to Google Ads?

Only for a Performance Max or Demand Gen campaign from the campaign wizard, Demand Gen retargeting included. On the Choose what to target step, set Campaign type to Performance Max or Demand Gen. Then, on the Check your ad step, select images on the Images tab: at least 5 landscape, 5 square, and 5 portrait images, and up to 20 in total. Hero Marketer sends the images that you select to Google Ads when you launch. See Create a Performance Max campaign and Create a Demand Gen campaign. For other ads, you download each image and upload it to Google Ads, Meta, or LinkedIn yourself. Create images does not make Display assets, and it does not change your ad accounts. Hero Marketer deletes an image 30 days after it was made or last changed. Download the images that you want to keep.

Can I use my own images in a Performance Max campaign?

Yes, on Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Demand Gen retargeting. On the Images tab of the Check your ad step, click Upload images. You can upload up to 20 PNG, JPEG, or WebP files at a time, up to 10 MB each. Uploads are free. Each upload goes in the size nearest to its shape: landscape, square, or portrait. It must be at least 600 by 314 pixels (landscape), 300 by 300 pixels (square), or 480 by 600 pixels (portrait). Uploads do not show on the Create images page. See Create a Performance Max campaign.

Can I edit an ad image by hand?

No. There is no manual editor. Open the image, type the change in Ask for a change, and click Make a new version. A change uses about 0.1 credits. Hero Marketer keeps every version. A new version keeps its content credentials. If you edit a downloaded image in a tool that does not support content credentials, the tool removes them. See Create ad images.

Do ad images from Create images show an AI label?

Every image from Create images has Google's invisible SynthID watermark and content credentials that say AI made it. Hero Marketer does not remove them. LinkedIn shows a content credentials icon on a single-image ad. Meta can show AI info in the menu of the ad. When Google labels an ad as made with AI, it shows the label in About this ad. In the European Union, India, and New York, Google also shows the label on the ad itself. Hero Marketer cannot set Google's AI label for you. See AI labels on ad images.

Hero AI

What can Hero AI see?

Hero AI reads live data from your active Google Ads account. It also sees the name and website of your product. When Hero AI writes ad copy or a landing page wireframe, it also reads your full product context.

Hero AI can read public pages that you link in the chat, your product website, and images or PDFs that you attach. It cannot see your CRM, sales pipeline, age and gender data, ad schedule, Shopping or video data, or city and region locations. See What Hero AI does.

How many Hero AI chats can I have?

You can have up to 10 chats per Google Ads account. Each account keeps its own separate list. Your chats are private to you. When you reach 10, delete an old chat to start a new one. See Manage your chats.

How long does a Hero AI answer take?

A lookup, such as a number, a list, or a setting, takes a few seconds. A diagnosis with a recommendation (a deep dive) takes about 3 minutes. You can go to a different tab, and the app plays a sound when the answer is ready. See Ask Hero AI for recommendations.

Does Hero AI make changes for me?

Yes, when you approve them. Hero AI can:

• Pause or enable a campaign, an ad group, an ad, or a keyword.
• Add or remove keywords, and add or remove negative keywords.
• Change a daily budget.
• Switch the bidding strategy, or change Target CPA or Target ROAS.
• Create or update a responsive search ad. A new ad starts paused. An updated ad stays live.

Each change shows first as an approval card in the chat. It runs only when you click Approve and apply.

Hero AI cannot change keyword or ad group bids, locations, devices, ad schedule, networks, Performance Max assets, or a budget that several campaigns share. It cannot create campaigns or ad groups. Make those changes in Google Ads. You build new Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and retargeting campaigns in the campaign wizard.

Undo is available for budget changes, Target CPA and Target ROAS changes, bidding strategy switches, keyword pauses, new negative keywords, and applied ad copy. Landing page work is a wireframe that you copy or download. It does not change your account. See Actions Hero AI can take.

Why does Hero AI cost credits?

Hero AI charges for the AI work each answer uses. Most questions cost 0.2 to 1.5 credits. A diagnosis that reads more of your account costs more. You must have at least 1 credit to send a message. See How credits work.

How much should I trust Hero AI's recommendations?

Hero AI pulls its numbers from your account. But check each number in Google Ads before you act on it. Causal claims and recommendations are inferences. Verify them yourself. See Understand its recommendations.

Alerts and automations

How often does Hero Marketer check my account?

Hero Marketer checks each account at 06:00 in the account's time zone. It checks budget pace and spend spikes every hour from 09:00 to 22:00. Hero Marketer finds an expired Google login within about an hour. See What alerts do.

How do alerts reach me?

Alerts reach you in the app, by email, and in Slack. Every alert shows in the bell and on the Alerts page. By default, 10 of the 17 alert types also send an email. If you connect a Slack channel, the same alerts also post to Slack by default. There is no SMS, push, Microsoft Teams, or webhook delivery. See What alerts do.

Can alerts go to Slack?

Yes. In Settings > Alerts, click Add to Slack, and select one channel. By default, Slack gets the same alerts as email. You can turn Slack on or off for each alert type. Everyone in the channel can read the alerts. Reports and dashboards do not post to Slack. See Connect Slack.

Do alerts and automations cost credits?

Daily checks cost 0.25 credits a day for each connected account. This one charge pays for alerts and automations together. The charge starts when you buy credits for the first time, because all 17 alert types start on. The Alerts inbox is free. See Monitoring and the daily rate.

Do automations change my account without asking?

Only the automations that you turn on. All five recommended automations start off. Before you turn one on for the first time, you see a preview. A custom automation runs as soon as you save it.

Each automation has daily caps and cooldowns. Each action that an automation applies has a Revert button in Automation history. See What automations do.

Reports

What is a report?

A report is one saved chart, table, or KPI row for one Google Ads account. An AI brief above the chart tells you what changed and one recommended next step. You build the report from one of 7 data sources in the report builder. There are no report templates. See What reports do.

How is a report different from a Hero AI chat?

A report is the saved, reopenable, exportable deliverable. A Hero AI chat answer is a one off in a conversation. Make a report for the thing you keep and send. Ask Hero AI for a quick answer in the moment. See What reports do.

Can I schedule a report or send it to Slack?

No. Reports have no schedule, no email, Slack, or Notion delivery, and no public link. The author of a report can download it as a PDF. KPI summary, Performance over time, and Campaign breakdown reports also export to CSV. Teammates who connect the same Google Ads account see the same report library. See Read and share a report.

Does a report measure CAC or LTV?

No. Reports read Google Ads metrics only. Hero Marketer has no CRM integration. So a brief uses Google Ads figures, such as conversions and cost per conversion. It never measures CAC or LTV. See What reports do.

Does a report cost credits?

The AI brief on a saved report uses credits. There is no free report brief. The report builder, the chart, and CSV export are free. PDF export does not use credits. But you must have a balance above 0 to export a PDF. Only the author of a report can export it as a PDF. See How credits work.

Accounts and products

What is the difference between a business, an account and a product?

A business is the company that you advertise, and it holds your products. An account is a Google Ads account, and it is in one business. A product is something that the business sells. All the accounts of a business use its products. See Businesses, accounts and products.

Can I keep several clients apart?

Yes. Put each client in its own business. When you connect the first account of a client, pick A new business and type the client's name. Each business keeps its own products, up to 10. When you have more than one business, the account switcher shows a Business row. See Add another Google Ads account.

Can I add multiple Google Ads accounts?

Yes, up to 10 Google Ads accounts on one login. Each account has its own Hero AI chats, dashboard, and reports. To change the active account, use the account switcher at the top of the sidebar.

Daily checks cost 0.25 credits a day for each connected account. There is no switch to turn off checks for one account. To stop the charge for one account, disconnect it. See Add another Google Ads account.

Can I use a manager (MCC) login?

Yes. With a manager login, the account list shows the enabled client accounts directly under the manager. You connect them one at a time. Clients under a sub-manager do not show. There is no cross-account view. See Connect Google Ads.

Can I share an account with my team?

There are no seats, invites, or roles. Each person signs in with their own Google account or email address and has their own credits. Do not share one sign in. The Terms of Service do not allow it.

When teammates connect the same Google Ads account, they share its saved reports and named dashboards. Only the author can change a report or a dashboard. Hero AI chats, AI summaries, product context, and alert and automation settings stay with each person. Each person who keeps daily checks on pays the daily rate for that account.

One login covers up to 10 Google Ads accounts. There is no cross-account view and no client login.

Data and security

What data do you store?

Hero Marketer stores your profile, your products and product context, and your Google Ads tokens. It also stores your Hero AI chats and the files that you attach, and the logo and the ad images that you make in Create images. It stores your dashboards and reports with their AI text, your alerts, and your automation history. The database encrypts stored data at the disk level.

Hero Marketer reads performance data live from Google Ads. It keeps figures only where they show in a chat, a summary, a brief, an alert, or an automation record. See Data and security.

Where is my data hosted?

The database runs on Supabase in US data centers. The app runs on Cloudflare. Hero AI attachments are stored in Cloudflare R2. Billing runs on Paddle. See Data and security.

Can I export my data?

Campaign performance data is in Google Ads. You can export it there. You can also ask for an export of your Hero Marketer data, such as your products, their product context, and Hero AI chats. To ask, email support@heromarketer.io.

Can I delete my account and data?

Yes. Email support@heromarketer.io from your sign in email, and ask us to close your account. There is no button in the app to delete your account. See Close your account.

Before you ask, turn off Auto top up in Settings > Billing. Credits in your balance end when the account closes, so ask for a refund of unused credits in the same email. After you close your account, your data can stay for up to 30 days. Then we delete or anonymize it. To have your data deleted earlier, ask in the same email. See Data and security.

Other

Do you support languages other than English?

The product UI is English. Each campaign that the wizard builds targets English-language users, and the AI writes English copy. To target a different language, change the language setting of the campaign in Google Ads after you publish.

Do you have an iOS or Android app?

Hero Marketer has no mobile app and no push notifications. The web app works on mobile browsers, but the campaign wizard works best on desktop. Alerts reach you in the app, by email, and in Slack if you connect a Slack channel.

Does Hero Marketer integrate with my CRM or billing system?

No. Hero Marketer has no CRM or billing integration, for example with HubSpot, Salesforce, or Stripe. It reads your Google Ads data only. So it cannot measure CAC or LTV, and it cannot connect Google Ads conversions to closed won revenue. Hero AI can discuss CAC and LTV, but it does not measure them. See What is Hero Marketer.

Do you have an API?

Hero Marketer has no public API at the moment.

What is your roadmap?

There is no public roadmap. To send a feature request, email support@heromarketer.io.

Where do I get help?

Ask the support chat (the chat button on each page), check Troubleshooting, or contact support. The support chat answers from these docs. It cannot see your account. To reach a person, email support@heromarketer.io.