When launching a new Facebook ad campaign, it’s important to be patient and give the ads time to optimize and find the right audience. Many advertisers make the mistake of giving up too quickly if they don’t see results immediately. The truth is, Facebook ads typically require a learning period before they start performing well.
What is the learning phase for Facebook ads?
The learning phase refers to the initial period when a new Facebook ad is launched and Facebook’s algorithm is still collecting data and optimizing to find the best audience and positioning for your ad. During this phase, your ad metrics like CTR, relevance score, and conversion rates will fluctuate quite a bit as Facebook experiments to find what works.
This is completely normal and expected! The length of the learning period will vary depending on factors like your target audience size, competitiveness of your niche, complexity of your offer, budget, and optimization tactics. But typically you need to budget at least 3-7 days for the initial learning phase when testing any new ad creative or campaign setup.
Why is there a learning period?
Facebook’s sophisticated ad delivery algorithm needs time to collect data on how users are responding to your new ad, in order to optimize who it shows your ad to for the best results. When your ad first launches, the algorithm is still exploring different audience segments and placements to gauge engagement and relevance.
It takes time for statistically significant data to be collected on the performance of your new ad. Facebook needs hundreds or thousands of ad impressions before it can confidently understand which types of users are most likely to click, convert, or take your desired action in your ad.
How long should you run Facebook ads during the learning period?
As a general rule of thumb, most experts recommend giving new Facebook ads at least 5-7 days in the learning phase before evaluating performance or making major changes. Some complex ads may require an even longer learning period of up to 2 weeks to collect enough data.
Here are some guidelines for how long to keep Facebook ads running during the initial phase:
- Give new ad creatives 7-10 days before assessing performance or doing A/B testing.
- Give broad, awareness-driving campaigns 10-14 days to optimize reach.
- Give conversion-focused ads driving purchases or other bottoms-of-funnel actions 10-14 days to optimize.
The most important thing is resisting the urge to constantly change elements or pause/relaunch ads. Consistent and stable delivery during the learning period allows the algorithm to truly optimize based on robust data.
How can you optimize ads during the learning phase?
While it’s best not to make radical changes during the initial learning period, there are some light optimization tactics you can use to help ads converge on optimal targeting and positioning faster:
- Duplicate higher-performing ads and creatives, while pausing lower-performing ones.
- Make minor tweaks to ad copy and creative elements while keeping the core message consistent.
- Create new ad variations to test different messaging angles.
- Tighten up audience targeting slightly if needed to reduce irrelevant reach.
- Adjust bid strategies and budgets moderately in response to initial data.
The key is making intentional, incremental optimizations rather than drastic overhauls during the learning phase. This allows the algorithm to continue building on its existing learning, rather than having to re-learn everything about your ad from scratch again.
How do you know when the learning phase is over?
There’s no definitive signal that suddenly appears alerting you the learning phase is complete. But in general, look for these signs that your Facebook ad is out of the initial learning period and has converged on more optimal, stable performance:
- Cost per result metrics (CPC, CPM, CPA etc.) have stabilized and are consistently within expected ranges.
- Relevance scores remain consistently 7+ out of 10.
- Click-through-rate finds a consistent baseline average.
- Conversion and purchase metrics stabilize and improve over initial results.
- The audience size reached daily stabilizes around a consistent range.
As the algorithm fine-tunes performance, you’ll notice fewer wild fluctuations in both cost and outcome metrics. When the results your ad delivers get more predictable day over day, that’s a good sign you’re out of the learning period and can start drawing conclusions on actual performance.
What if metrics don’t improve after the learning period?
If you’ve run your new Facebook ad for at least 7-14 days faithfully during the learning period, but the metrics are still far below your targets or not showing signs of optimizing further, then it may be time for some bigger changes or even starting over.
Some troubleshooting tips if ads still underperform after the initial learning phase:
- Try testing a completely new ad creative, offer or angle.
- Broaden your target audience and see if a wider reach improves results.
- Tighten your audience targeting significantly if relevance is low across demographics.
- Lower your bid/budget significantly if your cost per result is too high.
- Raise your bid if you think your budget it too low to get traction.
- Pause the campaign for a few days, then relaunch fresh.
Don’t continue running consistently poor-performing ads indefinitely in hopes the results may improve. If you’ve given the initial learning period a fair test, move on and try a new creative approach or audience targeting tactic.
How long should you run an ongoing optimized campaign?
Once a Facebook ad is through the initial learning period and achieving your target metrics consistently, it’s safe to consider it an optimized, stable campaign. But optimized campaigns still require ongoing monitoring and small adjustments to keep performance on track. Here are some best practices for managing optimized Facebook ad campaigns:
- Run optimized ad sets indefinitely, until metrics show fatigue or deterioration.
- Pause/refresh ad creatives every 3-6 months to keep messaging fresh.
- Re-evaluate audience targeting every 6-12 months as interests/demographics evolve.
- Continually A/B test new ad variations to win back lost relevance.
- Monitor daily metrics and optimization suggestions to catch dips quickly.
Even well-optimized campaigns see dips over time or need refreshing to keep momentum. Plan to re-enter short 1-3 day learning periods when testing refreshes. But stay committed to give your changes time to optimize before overreacting.
In summary:
- Expect a learning period of at least 7 days for new Facebook ads to optimize.
- Allow complex ads driving conversions 10-14 days before drawing conclusions.
- Stick to minor optimizations during initial learning phase.
- Watch for metrics like relevance, CTR, conversions to stabilize and improve.
- If ads still underperform after 2 weeks, try new creative or audience.
- Keep optimizing relevant campaigns indefinitely for continued success.
Patience and persistence during the Facebook ad learning phase is crucial. Give your campaigns time to find the right audience fit before making big changes or giving up. With enough data, Facebook’s algorithm can efficiently optimize most ads to meet your KPIs. Stick with the winners while culling losers decisively.