The TikTok Learning Phase is a key step in getting your ads to perform their best. In this phase, the platform will learn the right audience for your ads. This post will guide you through what you need to know and share some easy tips to help you get the most out of your budget. Let’s dive in now!
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What is TikTok Learning Phase?
TikTok Learning Phase begins as soon as you set up a new campaign in TikTok Ads Manager. In this phase, TikTok’s algorithms go through an experimental process to learn how your new ad performs.
The system continuously analyzes data and interactions from new users in different segments to see which ones respond best. The goal here is to help your ad group reach the most suitable audience for the campaign.
TikTok Learning Phase is key in the ad delivery life cycle because it helps TikTok Ads Manager optimize future ad placements based on the data it collects.
How long is the learning phase for TikTok Ads?
The TikTok Learning Phase usually lasts about 7 days for automated campaigns, much like the learning phase on Facebook ads. The key to pass this phase is to hit 50 conversions.
Once you start, you have to scale, tweak, and optimize your ads to improve results. Just keep in mind that the learning phase is all about testing, so you won’t see its effects directly in your TikTok Ads Manager yet.
TikTok Learning Phase Mechanism
During Learning Phase
During the learning phase, TikTok uses the data collected to train its ad delivery and improve for better performance.
Results at this stage can be a bit inconsistent, but don’t worry if your ads aren’t doing as well as you wish right away. As can be seen in the figure, your CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) might fluctuate initially but will stabilize as more learning data comes in.
To complete the learning phase, one ad group needs at least 50 events within 7 days. For conversion campaigns, these “events” mean 50 purchases. If an ad group struggles to hit at least 20 conversions in the first 10 days, it’s unlikely to pass the learning phase. Then, you need to review your TikTok Ads Strategy thoroughly.
After Learning Phase
Once you’ve completed the Learning Phase, there’s nothing more you need to do.
The system will now deliver your ads more stably because it has a better understanding of your audience and what works. This means it will spend your budget more efficiently, with less waste on strategies that don’t perform well.
As shown in the figure, the Cost Per Conversion starts to align closely with your target CPA, indicating that the system has stabilized and learned which approaches are most effective.
You might still see the occasional spike in costs like the red dot above the target CPA, but these are likely outliers and nothing to worry about.
Tips to Pass the TikTok Learning Phase
Passing the TikTok learning phase can be tricky. But it’s totally achievable with the right approach. Here are some simple tips to help your ads move through this stage smoothly and start performing at their best.
1. Avoid Making Adjustments
Remember not to make any wrong edits to the bid, audience, or creative during the learning phase because it can limit the system’s ability to gather data. It might also cause your CPA and estimates to fluctuate even more.
It’s best not to change your ad settings at all for the first 3 days. After that, make changes only one at a time. If your CPA is too low during this phase, do not make adjustments until you hit at least 20 conversions.
Also, if you pause your campaign for more than 24 hours, it’ll reset and go back into the learning phase when you restart it.
2. Run Campaign for At Least 7 Days
TikTok Ads need at least 7 days to complete the Learning Phase. Running shorter campaigns disrupts this process, leading to unstable performance and higher costs.
In a 7-day duration, TikTok has enough time to gather enough data, stabilize results, and deliver optimized performance. Hence, you should monitor results patiently without stopping the campaign prematurely.
3. Use a High-Quality Pixel
The TikTok Pixel is a code in your website that will help you share events with TikTok and track user behavior. It can work with other TikTok for Business tools to monitor things like visits, actions, and purchases, so you can optimize your ads better.
Without enough data, your ads are like taking a shot in the dark. The more data you gather, the better Pixel gets at finding your ideal audience.
Make sure to set up the TikTok Pixel correctly and add relevant events like “Add to Cart” or “Purchase.” To boost tracking accuracy, enable TikTok’s Enhanced Matching feature.
4. Group Your Best Creatives Into One Ad-Set
When you’re ready to scale, create a high-performing ad set by combining all of your winning creatives and headlines into one Automated Creative Optimization (ACO). This allows TikTok’s system to optimize delivery and performance for you.
Here’s how to set it up:
- Start with a higher daily budget, around $500-$1000, to give your campaign enough headroom to gather data and execute.
- Include your winning headlines and destination URLs to maximize results.
- Monitor performance closely. If the campaign performs well with an increased budget, double it to scale even further while performance remains strong. If you hit a threshold, don’t worry, just repeat the process. Test new creatives, identify the best performers, and launch another scaled ad set to keep growing.
Why Do You Fail the Learning Phase?
Struggling to get past the learning phase on TikTok Ads? Here are the common reasons why campaigns fall short during this crucial stage:
Your Ad Isn’t Competitive Enough
It’s hard to gain traction if your ad is not outstanding enough because TikTok’s algorithm favors ads that perform well in engagement and relevance. If your content does not stand out to potential audience segments, the system won’t gather enough data needed to optimize effectively.
You Make the Wrong Adjustments
Changes like lowering your bid, reducing the budget, deleting a creative, or narrowing your audience during the learning phase can disrupt the data accumulation process. These adjustments confuse the system, making it harder for TikTok to learn which strategies and audiences work best for your campaign.
>>> Read more: What is TikTok Algorithm? How to Stay Ahead of the Competition?
What to do if you fail the Learning Phase?
If your ads aren’t making it through the TikTok learning phase, don’t worry because it’s not the end. You can follow these steps to get back on track and improve your campaign performance.
1. Optimize Your Creative
TikTok suggests having at least 3-5 ad creatives in each ad group. You should make sure these creatives are directly relevant to the promoted product.
If your ad group still doesn’t pass the learning phase after 5 days of optimizing, it’s time to turn it off and start a new ad group with completely different creatives. Avoid reusing creatives that didn’t work the first time.
Before starting over, try optimizing your creatives. Rethink about your hook, catchy problem statement, the way you phrase the solution, and your Call-to-Action (CTA).
2. Broaden Your Targeting
If your ad group fails the learning phase, consider broadening your targeting. The learning phase relies heavily on users’ data, so sometimes narrowing your audience too much is not a good idea. Expanding your targeting means the system will reach more potential users.
Instead of focusing on a particular audience, you should loosen up some of the targeting restrictions such as age, interests, or demographics. This gives the system more room to experiment and find the best audience for your ad.
However, broadening your targeting doesn’t mean completely disregarding your ideal customer, but it’s about giving the algorithm more flexibility to test different audiences and determine what’s most effective.
3. Raise Your Bid
If your ads aren’t performing well, you should adjust your bid. Bidding means deciding how much you’re willing to spend on your campaign. This decision will influence when and where your ads appear.
Higher bids can help you stand out among competitors and secure top spots in your market but it also makes your budget run out faster. On the other hand, lower bids make your ad budget last longer, though your reach and engagement might be hard hit.
When you restart the learning phase, you can increase your bid by about 30% at a time. Also, make sure that your Minimum Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) bid is at least 80% of your account’s performance from the past seven days.
Ways to Optimize Ad Spend in the TikTok Learning Phase
Optimizing your ad spend during the TikTok learning phase is crucial to getting the best results. There are several effective strategies to make the most out of your budget during this key stage.
1. Optimize Ad Set Volume
Having too many ad sets can slow down the learning process of TikTok algorithms. You should adjust the ad set volume by grouping similar ad sets together.
Simplifying your account in this way helps you speed things up and improve the delivery system.
2. Pause Underperforming Ad Groups
If an ad group does not perform well during TikTok’s learning phase, don’t be afraid to hit pause.
Underperforming ads can waste your budget and slow down the overall optimization process. By temporarily pausing these ad groups, you can free up your resources to focus on the more effective resources.
Closely monitor metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversions, and ROAS. If an ad group falls way below expectations, analyze what’s not working, and shift the budget toward better-performing campaigns.
3. Leverage Ad Set Budget
Imagine you’re running ads with a daily budget of $50. Try increasing it to $100 and watch how it performs. If it’s still delivering good results, you can double it again to $200. Once you’ve seen consistent conversions at around $500 per day for at least two days, you can bump the budget up again.
Keep following this doubling rhythm as long as your conversions retain a positive Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) or your results keep improving.
However, you must still keep an eye on your frequency score. If it goes above 10, your campaign might start losing its effectiveness.
If that really happens, the key is to refresh your ads by adding new creatives. Also, make sure your daily budget for each ad group is at least 30–50 times your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) bid.
Wrap Up
TikTok learning phase is a crucial period for your ads to find the target audience. By understanding how this phase works and following the right strategies, you can take your campaigns to long-term success.
Remember, patience is key during this process. You should give your ads the time and resources needed to gather data. Besides, stay proactive, monitor your results, and be ready to adjust things if needed. With the right approach, you’ll turn the learning phase into a strong foundation for profitable campaigns.
