I’m getting a ‘learning limited’ message, what should I do?
Welcome to the Learning Limited club.
It's not as exclusive at it first appears.
Fret not. Learning limited is often just a phase.
Here's the definition from Facebook:
If your ad set isn’t getting enough optimization events to exit the learning phase, the Delivery column reads Learning Limited.
Learning Limited isn’t a penalty – it’s an indication that your budget isn’t being spent effectively because the ad delivery system can’t optimize performance with your current setup.
An ad set becomes Learning Limited when it is unlikely to receive around 50 optimization events in the week after your last significant edit.
This diagnosis can happen any time after you create an ad set or make a significant edit to an existing one.
What is an optimization event?
This is goal of your ad but specifically it's the result you're measuring.
So if you're doing a Conversion -> View Content ad it's the number of times a View Content action/event takes place. Which for a store would be when a product page is viewed.
If it's a Traffic -> Landing Page ad then it's the number of times the pixel fired after a landing page event, which is when a page is fully loaded.
If it was a Like Ad then yep...you guessed it, a Page Like event is registered.
This is why it's important to choose the right goal for your ad and for your audience and to include the 'Results' column in your custom ad report.
It's also why it's important to be looking at the right data columns in your ad manager report.
Why am I getting the learning limited message?
When you start an ad Facebook needs to learn where your audience is.
This takes time as well as a data pool to work with.
Facebook needs 50 of the optimization events you’ve set in your ad to exit the learning phase in a week. E.g.: 50 view contents in a week if it's a view content ad.
If you get this message Facebook is predicting it's not going to get 50 events within 7 days.
Do I need to turn off my ad?
Probably not. Especially if your ad has been running for less than 5 days.
You can continue and your ad won’t stop but there might be things you can do to reduce the click cost/increase number of clicks or events required.
So first action is to wait a bit.
Your ad might not be compromised but Facebook is just letting you know that from the data it's getting it's predicting you aren't going to get the required 50 actions within 7 days.
How to get out of or exit the learning limited phase?
There are many things you can do.
You can:
- Do nothing and see what happens, it may exit the learning phase of its own accord
- Critically look at your creative. Can it be improved to make the ad more enticing and get more clicks
- Critically look at your copy, is the link to your site clear and above 'see more', is there a call to action e.g.: View all the colours here
- Add a button such as 'shop now' to make it clear how to get to your site
- Check audience size - is it too small, too big, not defined enough?
- Change the goal to higher up the funnel. For example, if it's a purchase ad, perhaps add to cart or view content might work better for you
- Add more budget. Look at your result costs and calculate how much budget you'd need to get 50 event results in a week. Be realistic with your budget.
Or, simply do nothing and see what happens.
It might right itself and you can move on to fretting about something else with your ads!
No seriously, Learning Limited isn't a deal killer for most people.
Want to work together to run your Facebook Ads?
Find out more about my Monthly Ad Coaching and Support service.
If you're tired of running your ads by yourself but not ready for a fully outsourced option I am your nerdy e-commerce ad friend here to work with you.
I offer a hybrid solution to support you to manage your ads, transfer skills to you, and help you get the best out of your ad spend.