Outbrain — Update User Access, Roles & Campaign Permissions

Update Access & Roles

Use this checklist when Outbrain roles or marketer scopes need to change. Updating access allows you to adjust permissions without removing and re-adding users, which preserves their login history and activity audit trails.

Role and scope changes take effect immediately in Outbrain. Users don't need to log out - permissions update on their next page load or action.

When to Update Access

Update user access when:

• A role changes: A marketer is promoted to Admin, or an Admin steps down to a marketer role.
• Marketer scope expands or contracts: An agency wins a new brand or loses a client; an internal team member takes on additional marketers.
• Billing visibility changes: Finance needs invoice access added, or a user who previously handled billing transitions to a media-only role.
• Temporary elevation: A user needs Admin access for a one-time task (e.g., conversion pixel deployment) and should be downgraded afterward.
• Security or compliance requirement: An audit reveals a user has more access than their job requires, necessitating a role downgrade.
• Agency contract amendment: The scope of work changes mid-contract, requiring marketer list adjustments without full offboarding.

Pre-Update Assessment

Before making any changes, answer these questions to ensure the update is appropriate and won't disrupt operations:

Clarify the change

• Role change or marketer scope change? Determine if you're adjusting the role (e.g., Marketer → Read Only) or the marketer list (e.g., adding 2 new marketers to an existing Marketer user).
• Is this permanent or temporary? If temporary (e.g., covering for a colleague), document the planned revert date.
• Does the user still need billing access? Review whether the user's new role requires billing visibility or if it should be toggled off.

Review current state

1. Go to Account Settings → User Management and open the user's profile.
2. Note their current role, marketer assignments, and billing status.
3. Screenshot this page for your "before" record in the access log.

Identify owned assets

If you're reducing permissions (e.g., downgrading Admin to Marketer, removing marketers):

• Check if the user owns any campaigns, conversion pixels, or audiences that will become inaccessible after the change.
• If reducing marketer scope, ensure campaigns under removed marketers are transferred to another user first.
• If downgrading from Admin, audit any conversion pixels or account-level settings they configured. Ensure another Admin can manage these going forward.

Obtain approval

For role elevations (e.g., Marketer → Admin) or billing additions, obtain approval from:

• The user's manager or the account owner.
• Finance or security if adding billing access or Admin rights.
• Save the approval email or ticket reference for compliance.

Change Execution

Once you've completed the assessment, follow these steps to update the user:

Step 1: Access user management

1. Sign in to Outbrain as an Admin.
2. Go to Account Settings → User Management.
3. Locate the user in the table using the search box or by scrolling.

Step 2: Open user profile

1. Click the user's name or the Edit icon to open their profile.
2. Review their current role, marketer list, and billing toggle one more time before making changes.

Step 3: Adjust marketer list (if needed)

If the user needs access to more or fewer marketers:

1. In the Marketers section, check or uncheck the relevant marketers.
   • Adding marketers: Check the boxes for the new marketers they should manage.
   • Removing marketers: Uncheck the boxes for marketers they should no longer see.
2. Avoid granting "All marketers" unless the user truly needs account-wide visibility.

Best practice: Always edit the marketer list before changing the role. This prevents a scenario where you accidentally grant Admin access to too many marketers.

Step 4: Change role (if needed)

If the user's responsibilities have changed:

1. In the Role dropdown, select the new role:
   • Admin: Full control over the account including users, billing, and conversion pixels.
   • Marketer: Campaign management without admin privileges.
   • Read Only: Reporting access without editing campaigns.
   • Billing: Invoice and payment access without campaign editing.
2. Consider the impact:
   • Upgrading to Admin: The user will immediately gain access to billing settings, user management, and conversion pixel configuration. Ensure this is intentional.
   • Downgrading from Admin: The user will lose the ability to invite users, manage billing, and edit conversion pixels. Ensure another Admin can handle these responsibilities.
   • Downgrading to Read Only: The user will lose all editing rights and can only view data. Confirm they don't have active campaigns that need management.

Step 5: Toggle billing access (if needed)

If billing visibility should change independently of the role:

1. Enable or disable the Billing option.
   • Enabled: The user can view invoices, payment history, and billing contacts.
   • Disabled: The user has no billing visibility.
2. Adding billing: Record a second approval if your organization requires finance sign-off for billing access.
3. Removing billing: Confirm another Admin or Billing user can handle invoice downloads and payment reconciliation.

Step 6: Save and verify

1. Click Save to apply the changes.
2. Refresh the User Management page and verify the user's updated role, marketers, and billing status appear correctly in the table.
3. Screenshot the updated state for your "after" record in the access log.

Step 7: Notify the user

1. Email or message the user to inform them of the change:
   • New role and what it allows or restricts.
   • Updated marketer list (if changed).
   • Billing access status (if changed).
   • Any updated procedures or guidelines for their new role.
2. Provide a contact for questions or issues.

Post-Update Validation

After saving the changes, complete these validation tasks:

User confirmation

• Ask the user to log in and confirm they can access the expected marketers and no others.
• If they were downgraded, verify they cannot access features of their old role (e.g., a former Admin should not see conversion pixel management).
• If they were upgraded, verify they can access new features (e.g., a new Admin should see User Management and billing options).

Asset review

If the user's marketer scope was reduced:

• Confirm any campaigns, conversion pixels, or audiences under the removed marketers were transferred to another user.
• Verify the user can no longer edit those assets.

If the user was downgraded from Admin:

• Review and ensure another Admin can access conversion pixels and account-level settings the user previously managed.
• Confirm the downgraded user can no longer access Account Settings → User Management.

Documentation

• Update your access log with the following details:
  • User email and name
  • Date of change
  • Role: old → new
  • Marketers: old list → new list
  • Billing: old status → new status
  • Reason for change (e.g., "Promoted to team lead," "Agency lost client X")
  • Approver name
• Update internal rosters or SSO groups to reflect the new role.
• Add a note to your ticketing system or change log for audit purposes.

Monitoring

• Set a follow-up reminder for 1-2 weeks to check if the user is experiencing any issues with their new permissions.
• If the change was temporary (e.g., elevated for a one-time task), set a calendar alert to revert the change on the planned date.
• Include this user in your next quarterly access review to ensure the updated permissions are still appropriate.

Troubleshooting

User can't see new marketers after update:

• Verify the marketers were checked and saved in the User Management page.
• Ask the user to log out and back in, or clear their browser cache.
• Check if the user is logging in to the correct Outbrain account (if your organization has multiple accounts).

User still has old role permissions after downgrade:

• Refresh the User Management page to confirm the role change was saved.
• Have the user log out and back in to force a session refresh.
• If the issue persists, contact Outbrain support.

User lost access to campaigns they were managing:

• This happens when you remove a marketer from their scope and forget to transfer campaign ownership.
• Edit the user and re-add the marketer temporarily.
• Transfer campaign ownership to another user, then remove the marketer again.

User was downgraded from Admin but can still edit conversion pixels:

• Verify the role change was saved correctly in User Management.
• Have the user log out and back in.
• If the issue persists, contact Outbrain support to verify the role update was processed.

User was upgraded to Admin but can't see billing:

• Some Outbrain accounts have granular permissions that separate Admin from billing visibility.
• Verify the Billing toggle is enabled for the user.
• If still blocked, contact Outbrain support to review account-level permission settings.

Best Practices

• Edit marketer list before changing role to avoid accidentally granting a new Admin access to too many marketers.
• Always verify another Admin exists when downgrading a user from Admin. Don't leave the account with zero Admins.
• Screenshot before and after every change for compliance and audit trails.
• Document the reason for each change in your access log. This is critical during security audits.
• Set revert reminders for temporary elevations (e.g., a Marketer who needs Admin for one day to deploy a conversion pixel).
• Notify the user immediately after making changes so they aren't surprised by permission shifts.
• Run a quarterly review of all users to catch roles that should have been downgraded but weren't.

Common Use Cases

Promoting a marketer to Admin (permanent):

1. Obtain approval from the account owner or finance team.
2. Edit the user and change role from Marketer to Admin.
3. Verify they can now access Account Settings → User Management and billing.
4. Document the promotion in your access log with approver name.
5. Notify the user of their new responsibilities (e.g., onboarding new users, managing conversion pixels).

Downgrading an Admin to Marketer (permanent):

1. Confirm the user no longer needs billing or user management access.
2. Review any conversion pixels or account settings they configured and ensure another Admin can manage them.
3. Edit the user and change role from Admin to Marketer.
4. Disable Billing if they no longer need invoice visibility.
5. Save and verify they cannot access User Management or billing settings.
6. Document the downgrade and notify the user.

Temporarily elevating a marketer to Admin (for conversion pixel deployment):

1. Obtain approval with a planned revert date (e.g., "Admin for 48 hours to deploy conversion pixel").
2. Edit the user and change role to Admin.
3. Notify the user and ask them to complete the task within the time window.
4. Set a calendar reminder to downgrade them back to Marketer on the revert date.
5. After reverting, verify the conversion pixel is properly configured and owned by a permanent Admin.

Expanding marketer scope (agency wins new client):

1. Confirm the new client is covered by the agency's contract.
2. Edit the agency user(s) and check the box for the new marketer.
3. Leave their role unchanged (likely Marketer).
4. Save and notify the agency that they now have access to the new marketer.
5. Document the change in your access log and include the contract reference.

Reducing marketer scope (agency loses client):

1. Confirm the client is leaving or the contract is ending.
2. Transfer any campaigns under that marketer to an internal user or new agency.
3. Edit the agency user(s) and uncheck the box for the marketer.
4. Save and notify the agency of the access reduction.
5. Document the change and update your vendor contact list.

Adding billing access to finance team member:

1. Confirm the finance team member needs invoice visibility.
2. Edit the user and enable Billing.
3. Leave their role as Billing or Read Only (do not upgrade to Admin unless they need user management rights).
4. Save and notify the finance user they can now access invoices.
5. Document the change with finance approval reference.

Removing billing access after role change:

1. Confirm the user no longer handles billing tasks.
2. Edit the user and disable Billing.
3. Verify another user can handle invoice downloads and payment reconciliation.
4. Save and notify the user they no longer have billing visibility.
5. Document the change in your access log.

Changing from Marketer to Read Only (employee transitioning to analytics role):

1. Confirm the employee no longer needs to edit campaigns.
2. Transfer ownership of any campaigns they created to another Marketer.
3. Edit the user and change role from Marketer to Read Only.
4. Keep their marketer scope the same so they can continue reporting on those brands.
5. Save and verify they can view reports but cannot edit campaigns.
6. Notify the user of the change and explain their new read-only access.
7. Document the role change in your access log.