Most ad platforms have something called a “learning period.” This is not a period for the marketer to observe and learn from the performance. Instead, it’s a period of time ranging from 48 hours to two to four weeks when the ad platform is learning how the campaigns should behave based on conversion rates and auction prices of targets.
There is a lot of debate in the industry around learning periods and how much they impact or don’t impact performance at various stages of an account’s life. This post will:
- Outline exactly what’s covered in learning periods.
- What can reset learning periods, and whether you should be concerned about that.
- Strategies to work with learning periods at various stages of an account.
Note: This is written by a Microsoft employee, and the content is intended to be a platform-agnostic take on learning periods.
What Is Covered In Learning Periods?
Learning periods revolve mostly around conversion tracking and bidding. However, they can also be impacted by ad creative.
Campaigns in learning periods might under- or overbid in the first few days of going live. This is because the algorithm is learning what auction prices (CPCs or CPMs) will serve the campaign based on the targets chosen. However, if the campaign is in an older account, it might clear this learning faster. Additionally, if there is a lot of data (either historical data from other campaigns or spend to gather data more quickly) it’s possible to clear learning periods faster.
Ad creative learning periods revolve around which creative is served more often and paired with other supplied creative. While you can pin creative to force it to serve in specific spots, that may limit the placements available to you.
What Triggers Learning Periods And How Concerned Should You Be?
Lots of things can trigger learning periods, though how “severe” the learning period is depends on historical data as well as the specific changes being made.
Here is a list of common actions a marketer can take that would trigger learning periods:
- Pausing a campaign for more than 72 hours.
- Changing the budget more than 15% in a 7-day period.
- Pausing a keyword/ad that has conversions to launch a new one.
- Changing TCPA/TROAS goals (especially if they are large changes).
- Adding a new campaign (learning period contained in the new campaign).
Note that changing creative in an existing ad, as well as small pauses, are not enough to trigger a learning period. This is because there’s enough data to counteract a small interruption.
However, if you’re making changes to all creative, that creative will still need to go through editorial. If you will be making that kind of wholesale change to an ad, it might be better to create a new ad and then change the rotation to rotate indefinitely.
Learning periods typically mean spend fluctuation (i.e., spending more per click or not serving as often as you were before). Ideally, you would make any needed changes to your campaigns before a major event like seasonal shopping events or major times for your service. However, if you can’t avoid those changes, these are the signs to look for that you might need to build in an extra 15-20% “learning period budget” to clear it faster:
- Impression share lost to rank goes up by more than 30%. If your impression share lost to rank is on the rise, that’s a sign you’re being forced to underbid for your targets. This is very common in learning periods as ad platforms wrestle with new conversion data.
- Average CPCs rise/fall by ~50%. While related to impression share, the most obvious sign of learning periods is fluctuating CPCs. Many understandably find it frustrating when CPCs rise, the more insidious change is when they drop. This is a sign you’re likely not serving for previously attainable queries.
- Drops in CTR, especially if drops in conversion rate follow. Learning periods in creative mean your headlines, descriptions, image assets, and other components of your ads may not serve in ideal pairings. If your ad was previously getting decent CTR and that has fallen, it could be a sign that learning periods are causing less-than-ideal pairings. This also could be a sign that the creative you’re testing are not ideal.
How To Work With Learning Periods At All Stages Of An Account
It’s important to put learning periods in context: They’re not monsters, and they’re not imaginary. They’re akin to taking a nap in the middle of the day or taking it easy if you get a migraine. Successful account management requires us to work with learning periods, but not allow them to dominate our strategy.
In new accounts, it’s fair to be fearless. Everything is new, and there’s a built-in expectation that campaigns will take extra time to ramp up. This is the time to make any needed changes and be bold in structure choices. Once the account finds its rhythm (i.e., consistent conversion volumes), it will be much harder to make bigger changes without initiating learning periods.
Accounts with at least 90 days of data should embrace the historical data they have. It means new campaigns will ramp up faster, and you likely can lean into conversion-based bidding. However, any major budget change (more than 15%) will likely cause fluctuations. This is why week-over-week increases until you reach the ideal budget are better.
Once you have more than a year of data, you should be pretty stable and able to launch new entities without issue. Major changes to existing entities with conversions should only be undertaken if absolutely necessary, and even then, you may want to use data exclusions to help the algorithms recover.
Learning periods are a normal part of managing campaigns. The key is to understand what triggers them and how to work with them.
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Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal