Facebook ads stuck in the learning period?

What is the learning phase of Facebook advertising?

The learning phase refers to the process in which Facebook searches for the best combination of factors by testing different times, locations, optimization functions, and other factors in the early stages of advertising. However, during this phase, advertising performance usually fluctuates greatly, daily results may be unstable, and the average cost per result is often higher than in the regular delivery phase.

What triggers Facebook ads to enter the learning phase?

There are two types of actions that will trigger ads to enter the learning phase:

1. Creation of new ad campaigns: The creation of any new ad campaign, ad group, or ad creative will enter a learning phase, as Facebook needs to relearn how to optimize its performance.
2. Major edits: Any operation deemed as a “major change” by Facebook will cause the ad to re-enter the learning stage. These major edits include large adjustments to budgets or bids (usually changes of more than 20%), changes in bidding strategies, modifications to advertising creatives, adjustments to target audiences or advertising placements, etc. Each change will have a significant impact on ad serving, causing Facebook’s algorithm to need to relearn.

How to avoid frequent learning phases?

Avoiding the learning phase is not the goal of Facebook ads. To fully utilize Facebook’s machine learning capabilities, advertisers need to allow the algorithm to learn the goals of the campaign. Therefore, it is impossible to completely avoid the learning phase. However, there are a few ways to help reduce frequent learning phases:

1. Limit the number of major edits, or group them together to ensure that the learning phase is more uniform.
2. Aim for 50 or more conversion events within 7 days, which will help you exit the learning phase quickly.
3. Avoid pausing campaigns or ad groups for more than 7 days, otherwise you may re-enter the learning phase. 4. Make sure the target audience size is large enough to support the achievement of conversion goals.
4. Make sure the budget is sufficient to achieve the conversion goal and exit the learning phase.

What if the ad has not been able to exit the learning phase?

If the ad is in the learning phase for a long time and cannot exit, it may be because the target audience is too small or the budget is insufficient. In this case, the ad status will be displayed as “Learning Limited”, which means that Facebook believes that even with more time, it cannot ensure enough data to optimize the ad performance.