Just last week, Microsoft Ads announced the launch of experiments, which is a welcomed addition to the platform!
Experiments are copies are your campaigns in which you can evenly test one component (landing page, ad copy, bids, etc). Previously, if you tried to test in this platform, you had to use best guesses on your best workarounds for testing. For example, for landing page tests, I would duplicate the ads in an ad group, then change the landing page and hope all the ads would be served evenly.
Now, I can rest assured knowing they will be!
Experiment Set-Up in Microsoft Ads
1. Click on the Experiments Tab after you login.
2. Click the “Create experiment” button.
3. Complete the information including campaign you’re testing, experiment (campaign) name, start/end dates and the percentage of the budget and click save.
4. Wait for the experiment to be created. You’ll see updates in the “Experiment status” section. Once you see “Active”, you’re ready for the next step.
5. Navigate to your experiment campaign. You’ll be able to quickly recognize it because you’ll see green flasks where you typically see the green enabled circles next to campaign names. Make the changes that are needed for what you want to test.
Monitoring Your Test Results
Microsoft Ads makes this really easy for you. You’ll see a summary at the top of any tab in your experiment campaign. My results are empty since I just started the experiment shown.
Once you’re declared a winner, you can either apply the experiment results to any campaign by clicking the “Apply…” button above or click on the “End experiment now” button if you don’t want your experiment to run any longer. If you selected an end date, the experiment will end on its own.
Friendly Reminders for Experiments
1. When you make a change in your original campaign, the change won’t automatically be made in the experiment campaign. So, if you need to change anything, be sure to make the changes in both the original and experiment campaign to keep parity between the two.
2. Microsoft Advertising Editor is a great place to look for a double-check that your experiment campaign really differs from the original campaign.
3. Try not to end the campaign until you know your results are statistically valid. I like to use Neil Patel’s Significance Calculator to be sure.
4. You CANNOT change the budget in the experiment campaign, but only in the original campaign (which will then update the experiment campaign based on your split).
5. You can also create experiments in Google Ads.
That’s it! From here, go crazy experimenting over and over again!
Comment below on what type of experiments you like to run the most or any other tips you have!