# What is alert severity?

> Alert severity is the urgency label on an alert, usually High, Medium or Low. What each level means for ad alerts and how fast someone should respond.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-11-07
- **Category**: Alerts
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-glossary/alert-severity

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Alert severity is the urgency label on an alert, usually High, Medium or Low. It tells the team how fast to respond, so a cost spike gets looked at today and a slow CTR slide waits for the weekly review.

## The three levels

| Severity | What it means | Respond within | Ad examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Money is being wasted right now | A few working hours | Cost per result far over target, spend with no results |
| Medium | A problem is building | This week | CTR falling on an ad, frequency rising |
| Low | Worth knowing, not urgent | Next weekly review | Monthly pace slightly off, small swings |

These response times are a starting point. Agree your own with the team and write them into an escalation plan.

## A worked example

Say two alerts fire for Wanderlast Holidays on the same morning.

1. **High:** Goa retargeting, cost per result INR 1,420 against a INR 900 threshold over the last 3 days. At INR 2,400 a day of spend, each day of waiting costs money. The media buyer checks it before lunch.
2. **Medium:** Monsoon reel 02, CTR down 31% over the last 7 days. Cost per result is still under target. The media buyer adds a new creative brief to this week's list.

Without severity, both look the same in Slack, and the urgent one can wait behind the other.

## How to set severity

- **Ask what one day of waiting costs.** If it is real money, it is High.
- **Keep High rare.** If High fires every day, people stop treating it as urgent. That is alert fatigue.
- **Match severity to the channel.** High where the responder works all day, Low in a weekly report or email.
- **Review monthly.** Move alerts down a level if they never needed fast action.

We make Marxx. Its alerts use High, Medium and Low, and a Slack digest leads with the count, such as "2 alerts triggered, High 1, Medium 1". See [Meta ads alerts in Slack](/guides/how-to-set-up-meta-ads-alerts-in-slack). The metrics behind most alerts are [CPA](/glossary/cpa) and [CTR](/glossary/ctr).

## FAQ

### Should there be a Critical level above High?

Three levels are enough to start. Add a fourth only if you need to wake someone up, such as a broken checkout during a big sale.

### Who decides an alert's severity?

The person who sets up the alert, agreed with whoever responds to it. Write it down so new team members know what each level means.

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- [More Alerts articles](https://marxx.ai/library-glossary/category/alerts)
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