Understanding and Complying with HEC Requirements

Advertisers in industries related to Housing, Employment, and Credit Services (HEC) are subject to additional compliance requirements enforced by The Trade Desk (TTD). These standards are designed to ensure fair and non-discriminatory practices in ad targeting and delivery.

What are HEC Requirements? HEC-related campaigns must meet two key criteria to remain active:

Minimum Reach Threshold: Each ad group must have at least 1,500 active user IDs
Minimum Geographic Targeting Size: Ad groups must meet a geographic size threshold. This means narrow geo-targeting (e.g., very few ZIP codes) may not be sufficient.

Note: We strongly advise against enabling any ad groups in Choozle that have been disabled for this reason, as they are likely to be disabled again unless fully compliant

Common Causes for Non-Compliance:

Using narrowly defined geo-targets (e.g., only a few ZIP codes).
Low daily website traffic, resulting in insufficient retargeting pool.
Retargeting-only strategies without ongoing top-of-funnel efforts.

Note: If a campaign contains multiple ad groups and only one is non-compliant, the campaign will remain live. Only the affected ad group will be disabled.

How to Stay Compliant:

Expand Your Targeting:	Broaden geo-targeting to include additional states, DMAs, or regions. Avoid overly narrow ZIP-based targeting.
Increase Reach	Drive more traffic with prospecting campaigns to grow your retargeting pool.
Review Tag Placement	Make sure the Smart Container Tag (SCT) is firing on all high-traffic pages.
Build Supplemental Audiences	Consider building a modeled (lookalike) audience using your retargeting segment. Supplement with 3rd-party segments to increase reach and meet minimum thresholds.

*For any additional support or questions, reach out to your Choozle account manager, or feel free to contact us at help@choozle.com.

Our team is committed to making sure your campaigns run smoothly and successfully at every stage.