TikTok Works: Measuring the Full-Funnel Impact of TikTok Campaigns

In our previous TikTok Works blogpost, we explored how TikTok enables brands to meaningfully connect with their audience at scale, and turn attention into tangible and measurable business impact.

Next, we want to dive deeper into the details. As marketers, it's important to understand campaign performance fully, and how to continually optimize future campaigns for better results. That's why in this blog post, we'll take you through some of the finer details of how measurement works on the platform. Specifically, we'll look at the solutions you can access through TikTok to maximize sales and return on investment (ROI).

Introducing TikTok Measurement Framework

To aid marketers in their mission to optimize campaign performance and business impact, TikTok has developed a multi-layer measurement framework. With a host of solutions and tools to assist marketers at every stage of the funnel, and across a wide range of KPIs, this framework is customizable according to your specific needs.

TikTok Measurement Framework has three primary purposes:

1. Be Safe & Seen

TikTok Measurement Framework is packed with solutions that ensure brands' ads are seen by real people in a safe, fraud-free environment. For example, TikTok's Inventory Filter gives advertisers more control over where their ads run on the platform, ensuring a brand-safe environment.

2. Build Performance

The innovative tools in the framework set up the right signals, to help advertisers accurately attribute campaign impact and optimize campaign performance. For example TikTok Pixel, a first-party attribution tracker, is pre-built, simple to set up, and easy to maintain. We'll discuss this solution again later in this blogpost.

3. Analyze Impact

With TikTok Measurement Framework, brands can better understand and unpack the impact of different media investments. In addition to measuring via brand and sales lift studies, TikTok also provides support via Media Mix Modeling, giving a robust view into the value of ads on the platform.

Remember, the right signals spell success

Signals are the fuel that our optimization algorithm runs on. Collecting signals helps the algorithm learn which advertisements to serve to which people on TikTok. And getting this right increases the likelihood of a conversion.

The more signals the platform collects, the better our algorithm learns, and the more conversions are generated. More signals also help advertisers to target the right audiences across devices and browsers, from page view through to payment.

Simply put: better signals lead to better campaign optimization. Therefore, a full-funnel strategy requires signal products to be in place for optimal return on ad spend (ROAS).

As a best practice, site-wide tagging is a must for any full-funnel strategy. First, plan out the sequential steps your customers take to convert. Then map all those actions with the appropriate event types on TikTok Event Manager. Ensure at least three events are tagged. For example, select: * The "View Content" action from the upper funnel, * ≥ 1 event(s) from the mid funnel, and * ≥ 1 event(s) from the lower funnel.

Taking these steps first will set you off in the right direction, with a full-funnel strategy that's bound for success.

💡 Learn how Quad Lock achieved higher ROAS and conversion with performance testing

Leading smartphone mounting provider Quad Lock had been running traffic and conversion activities on TikTok, and was keen to learn more about best practices to supercharge their sales. Quad Lock partnered with TikTok to launch performance activity simultaneously across different countries, with a 90 day Performance Onboarding plan for their motorcycle products. This included creative and audience best practices and recommendations. After just 60 days, they drove +172% higher ROAS compared to their previous campaign, 253% higher conversion rates, and 42% lower Cost per Action.

Access Advanced Matching with TikTok Pixel and Web Events API

TikTok Pixel has an advanced matching feature that enables you to leverage email addresses or phone numbers to match more website actions with TikTok users. The data is always hashed and deleted shortly after the matching process. Here are the three types you can choose from:

1. Automated Advanced Matching - Choose this for simple and fast implementation, especially if you don't have a development team or access to your website's codebase

2. Manual Advanced Matching - Offers higher match rates for stronger performance, however advertisers will need to access their codebase to implement this solution

3. Web Events API- Allows advertisers to leverage match keys such as Click ID, IP address, and User Agent, to match web visitor events with TikTok users. While this provides more control over the data shared, advanced developer expertise is required

While building out your full-funnel strategy, you'll want to consider which of the above advanced web solutions best fits your needs.

💡 Learn how Tops Online made TikTok Pixel work for them

Thai supermarket chain Tops Online used TikTok Pixel Developer Mode with Advanced Matching enabled. The campaign goal was to boost conversions via their website while reducing cost per action (CPA). The brand optimized its campaign for the "place an order" action. Signals, attribution, and identity matching all improved, thanks to TikTok Pixel Developer Mode with Advanced Matching. Overall conversions and audience size also grew. Tops Online saw a 107% uplift in conversion rate, 71% drop in CPA, and 77% lower cost.

Check out Attribution Manager to edit attribution windows

As TikTok is a video entertainment platform, much of the user journey is driven by video views. TikTok users consistently discover new products while browsing content on the platform. But did you know, close to 58% of users* delay their visit to a brand's website or app? Instead of immediately taking action, they choose to finish what they're watching, and return to considering the brand later on.

That's why it's important for advertisers to also measure views, on top of clicks, in order to have a holistic view of campaign performance. Based on our internal tests conducted across various client types, enabling Viewthrough and Clickthrough attribution leads to 113% faster campaign learning completion, and a 79% increase in conversion rates.

Different brands and businesses have differing conversion objectives and consideration windows for the various products and services they offer. The great news is that advertisers using TikTok Pixel and Web Events API now have access to Attribution Manager, which enables customizable attribution windows. The available attribution windows are 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days etc, and they are also editable by event type, for both clicks and views.

Advertisers across different verticals can now toggle on different sets of attribution windows. This allows advertisers such as finance brands to access the longer windows required for their products, as compared to e-commerce brands where buying is often more spontaneous. Extending your attribution windows in length gives TikTok more conversion data to fuel our downstream algorithms across bidding, targeting, and optimization. More data means that the delivery system is able to optimize in a shorter time frame and reduce the learning period. Ultimately, more conversion data allows TikTok to more efficiently deliver ads to people that are likely to convert and increases the overall number of conversions.

*Source: TikTok commissioned survey by Toluna in SEA, among 3,900 social media users, Apr 2021

Test, measure & learn to drive full-funnel success on TikTok

Measurement is not a one-size fits all solution. That's why our growing suite of customizable measurement solutions are designed to help advertisers see the impact of each and every campaign they run. We have lots of exciting and innovative solutions in the pipeline, so watch this space!

As a committed partner to businesses around the world, we're helping brands make smarter advertising decisions through a suite of measurement solutions and our team of experts. Reach out to your TikTok measurement partner today to build learning agendas and start testing!

About TikTok Works

TikTok is a global entertainment platform that enables brands to meaningfully connect with people at scale. And as a committed partner to advertisers, our team of experts helps brands make smarter advertising decisions through a suite of measurement solutions.

Our global research and measurement partners have proven TikTok delivers measurable business impact across the user funnel. So, to inspire advertisers to achieve more on the platform, we've launched TikTok Works. In this blog series, we'll explore the full-funnel impact that TikTok can drive for your business, with tips, tricks, and success stories.