What is the creative recommendation?

The creative recommendation is the REFRESH / SCALE / MONITOR badge next to each creative — the fatigue analysis compressed into an action word. REFRESH means the creative shows real wear and should be replaced or re-cut. SCALE means it is improving and can take more budget. MONITOR means neither signal is strong enough to act on yet.

Formula

spend < €50                → MONITOR   (too little data to judge)
fatigue score ≥ 0.7        → REFRESH
fatigue score ≥ 0.4        → MONITOR
CTR trend > +5%            → SCALE
otherwise                  → MONITOR

The rules apply top to bottom; the first match wins.

Worked example

A creative has a fatigue score of 0.55 and a CTR trend of +9%. The +9% looks like a SCALE case, but the 0.4-to-0.7 fatigue band catches it first: MONITOR. The order is deliberate — a creative can post a good week while its frequency climbs into fatigue territory, and scaling it would spend into the decline. SCALE is only reachable when fatigue is below 0.4.

How Saldo Metrics computes it

v_creative_fatigue computes the inputs per creative: the fatigue score (frequency pressure plus week-over-week CTR decline, each capped at 0.5 — see the fatigue-score page for the construction) and ctr_trend_pct, the last-7-active-days CTR against the prior seven. The badge is a CASE over exactly the thresholds above. The €50 lifetime-spend gate comes first so a brand-new creative's noisy first days can't trigger REFRESH or SCALE; it reads MONITOR until enough money has bought enough evidence. The creative ranking view carries the same badge alongside spend and true ROAS so the action word sits next to the money context.

Why it matters

Creative fatigue is gradual, and the honest response to most creatives most weeks is "do nothing yet". The badge encodes that: it stays MONITOR through the ambiguous middle and only commits to REFRESH or SCALE when the thresholds are crossed. That makes the creatives worth acting on stand out from a table of dozens.

Common mistakes

• Treating MONITOR as "healthy". MONITOR also covers the 0.4–0.7 fatigue band — a creative drifting toward REFRESH. Check the underlying score, not just the badge.
• Scaling a SCALE badge without checking true ROAS. The badge sees CTR mechanics only; a creative can trend up in clicks while attracting margin-poor orders.
• Expecting the badge to move daily. Both inputs are 7-day windows over active days; a single good or bad day rarely flips it, by design.

Where you see this in the app

Marketing → Creatives, as the badge on each fatigue card and the recommendation column of the creative ranking.