Start Adspert Optimization: Step-By-Step Guide
Starting Adspert optimization is directly related to creating at least one Performance Group, assigning campaigns to it and setting a goal. This is why this step-by-step guide explains not only how to create a Performance Group but also covers all related basics.
The process of creating a New Performance Group is divided into a few parts:
Campaigns - add campaigns to a Performance Group
Name
Goal - choose a suitable optimization goal and set its value
Attention: Learning Phase - Keep All Campaigns in One Performance Group
When you first start with Adspert, the algorithm needs a bit of time to learn about your account and campaigns. The learning phase takes approximately 2 weeks for Amazon, Google Ads, Bing Ads and 4 weeks for eBay Ads. During the learning phase, we strongly advise you to keep all campaigns in one Performance Group.
Transcript - Video - What is a Performance Group?
Transcript - Video - What is a Performance Group?
As a first step: What is a Performance Group?
First of all, let me explain the term "Performance Group," which is specific to Adspert. A Performance Group refers to a group of campaigns that are optimized towards a common optimization goal. The idea is to group campaigns with similar goals together within a specific Performance Group. For example, if you have multiple campaigns aiming to maximize conversions or achieve a common ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) goal, you should place them in the same Performance Group.
If you are just starting to use our tool, we strongly recommend creating only one Performance Group and assigning all your campaigns to it. Let it run for two or three weeks. Why? Because, like anything or anyone, our AI needs some time to learn about your campaigns—a short learning phase.
How to initiate the learning phase?
Here are three simple steps:
1. Create one Performance Group.
2. Add all your campaigns to this Performance Group.
3. Set the cost per day goal and let it run for two to three weeks.
The learning phase typically takes around two weeks for Amazon and Google Ads, and four weeks for eBay ads. During this time, our AI learns and adapts on its own. As long as you follow these three steps, you don't need to do anything else. Just give it time to learn, similar to training a new employee.
It's important to note that this learning phase setup applies to about 95% of cases. However, there are exceptions to consider. If your case doesn't fall into either of the exceptions I will mention, please feel free to ask your question in the chat, and myself or one of my colleagues will be happy to assist you.
The first exception is when you have connected multiple advertising accounts to Adspert, with some being e-commerce accounts (such as Amazon and eBay) and others being search accounts (such as Google and Microsoft Bing Ads). E-commerce and search campaigns have different goals and costs. In this scenario, I recommend creating two Performance Groups—one for e-commerce-related campaigns and another for search-related campaigns.
The second exception is when you have various marketplaces with specific goals or a fixed budget for two or more different marketplaces. For example, if you have a budget of €500 for Germany and €1000 for the UK, putting campaigns from both marketplaces in the same Performance Group may result in Adspert allocating more budget to one of them. To ensure that you spend €500 for Germany and €1000 for the UK, it is recommended to create two Performance Groups—one for Germany-specific campaigns and another for UK-specific campaigns.
So, what's the bottom line of the learning phase?
By allowing our AI to learn about your account, you will achieve better results in the long run. Our algorithm gains more bidding flexibility, learns faster, and improves its understanding of the factors that enhance the performance of your campaigns. When Adspert works better, it optimizes your ads, leading to increased sales and profits. All of this happens automatically, saving you time and allowing you to focus on your core business and its growth.
If you ever encounter any difficulties while using Adspert, please visit our help center, which contains a wealth of articles and videos explaining different functionalities. Alternatively, you can get in touch with our support team for further assistance.
Afterwards, you can create more Performance Groups and divide the campaigns based on their similarities. See this article to learn best practices of dividing campaigns between several Performance Groups with different goals.
0. Choose “Control” from the main navigation bar and select “Goals” from the drop-down list. Click the “Create a New Performance Group” button on the right.
A new page opens up. Read the explanation and click “Next”.
1. Campaigns = add Campaigns to a Performance Group
a. On the left, there is a list of all available campaigns that are not yet optimized. Click on the campaigns that you want to add to the Performance Group you are creating.
b. Selected campaigns appear on the right. Click “Next” to confirm the selection and add campaigns to the Performance Group.
2. Name
c. Name the Performance Group. Type a name into the box and click “Next”.
3. Goal- choose a suitable optimization goal and set its value
d. A Scenario view opens up. The chart displays possible results related to the selected goal and its values. When creating a new Performance Group, we strongly recommend you to start with a Cost per Day goal. This is why Cost per Day is a default suggestion and highlighted with yellow.
Bear in mind that Scenario does not guarantee results. It displays a forecast of plausible results and gives you an approximate idea of what you can expect with different goals and their values.
Note: If you would like to optimize campaigns that do not have historical data, Scenario will not show up in this step because there is no data to display. For this reason, we recommend you to manually set the Cost per Day goal.
Discover more about Scenario and see how it can support you in the decision-making process - see this article.
Note: In case you do not want to follow the pre-set recommendations, you can set the goal manually. Click “Set goal manually” from the top right.
e. After choosing a goal, scroll down and click “Set as Performance Group goal”.
Note: If you would like to optimize towards revenue-based goals suchs as ACoS, ROAS or Cost per Conversion, see this article.
f. Review the Performance Group goal settings. In the attached screenshot, both goal values are marked green. This means they meet the following criteria:
Selected value is in the 30 days Scenarios range.
Selected value is in +/- 20% range of the historic value.
Is the difference of the target maximum 20% from the real value
If the goal values are marked red, they don’t meet some or all the criteria. In those cases check the goal’s conditions and if necessary correct them based on Adspert’s recommendations. Click “Back” and adjust the goal. If the values are marked yellow they guide you to enhance your goal setting. However, this is merely a hint towards suggested enhancement, and you can freely set the goal.
When everything is ok, click “Set as Performance Group goal”.
g. A pop-up opens up. Review the goal and the goal value you have set for the new Performance Group and click “Confirm”.
h. Congratulations, you have successfully created a Performance Group, assigned campaigns to it and set the optimization goal!
What is next?
First, let Adspert complete the Learning Phase. This means you should let the optimization run without adjustments for approximately 2 weeks.
After the Learning Phase is finished, you can review the Performance Group results, create additional Performance Groups, adjust the goals and more. See this article to learn how to check and adjust goals.