30 day

starter guide
for TikTok
Shop ads
What is
TikTok Shop
TikTok Shop is a full-service (end-to-end) e-commerce solution that combines
entertainment and shopping, allowing merchants to sell directly from their TikTok
account. Through Seller Center, you can set up your TikTok Shop to organically
showcase your brand and products on TikTok or through paid ads to reach new
customers, increase sales, and grow your business.

1 in 2 65 %

of TikTok users are

TikTok users discover planning to buy from
new product/ brand via TikTok Shop because of
#ForYou page.¹ the in-app, seamless
shopping experience.¹

63 %

of TikTok users did a

search after seeing an
ad on TikTok.¹
Here are some of the benefits business owners like
yourselves can have for their brands by having a
TikTok Shop:

A frictionless shopping experience that

improves conversion rates by reducing barriers
between discovery and purchase.

Enhance discovery of your brand or product as

it appears on the For You feed.

Additional content created through affiliates

who advocate for your brand.

LIVE experiences that bring a personal touch

and enjoyable real-time interaction into shopping.

Shop Tab is an online marketplace within the

TikTok app where shopping-inclined users can
browse and purchase products.

TikTok Shop Prohibited

Products Guidelines
However, while TikTok is here to help grow your business, some products are
prohibited from being sold and promoted on TikTok Shop. Sellers must adhere to the
guidelines to ensure a smooth experience on TikTok, as enforcement actions can be
taken against sellers or creators who breach these guidelines. You can visit our
TikTok Shop Academy to learn more about TikTok Shop, including an in-depth
guide on our policies and the full list of prohibited and restricted products.
Introduction to
Shopping Ads
To better drive brand awareness and sales conversion, TikTok has a set of shopping
ads solutions to help you promote your product or services to highly relevant
audiences with shopping intent to grow and expand your business.

While you can drive sales organically to your TikTok

Shop through your livestream and video content

+112 %
without spending any money on amplification,
there are ways to elevate your sales through TikTok
Shopping Ads. Statistics have shown that sellers
who pair their organic content with ads observed a
27% increase in brand recall⁶, and the usage of
Higher median GMV
Shop Ads saw a greater increase in their monthly
was achieved by
and organic GMV.
sellers who ran Shop
Ads.⁵

Here are the 3 shopping ads solutions

that you can leverage on to get started

Video Shopping Product

Ads (VSA) Shopping Ads
Promote your products (PSA)
from your TikTok Shop
Promote your product to
and drive consideration
high-intent shoppers
and in-ad purchases directly on the Shop
through hyper-relevant Tab's search and
shoppable videos
recommendations by
across TikTok For You
leveraging assets from
Feed.
your product listing.
LIVE Shopping
Ads (LSA)
Drives incremental
traffic and sales to LIVE
shopping sessions,
driving interest and
checkouts with
real-time interaction on
the TikTok For You Feed.
Here are some of the benefits TikTok
Shop sellers observe when they use
shop ads:

+129 %
Higher median total GMV for
sellers who use Shop Ads
versus sellers who don't.²

+98 %
Higher ROAS observed for
sellers using PSA, LSA, and
VSA than for sellers using
one or two ad formats.³

+89 %
TikTok Sellers observed an
uplift of +181% in their
organic Daily Average GMV
(DAGMV) after using Shop
Ads.⁴
Small business spotlight
Zoo Berry
Malaysian snack brand Zoo Berry offers customers
a range of Halal-certified high-quality gummies at
wallet-friendly prices. With TikTok’s vast user base
and diverse demographics, they saw the platform’s
potential to grow their business and decided to
elevate their marketing strategy with advertising
solutions on TikTok to amplify their reach and boost
product sales through TikTok Shop.

“
As the architect of sweetness, I lead our gummy empire
with a dash of passion, creating bites that spark joy in
every chew. Our business has experienced remarkable
growth since starting TikTok, increasing in profit margins
by 85% over the past year.
Jasmine Chew
Project Manager

Through a series of LIVE Shopping Ads (LSA) and Video Shopping Ads (VSA), they
were able to reach new users and convert viewers into purchasing customers. They
also opted for the Maximise GMV bid strategy to target users who were more likely
to make purchases, hence, maximising the potential for higher revenue. Their efforts
led to a remarkable 15.2 times Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), over 5.1K total products
sold and over 1.6 million impressions – all within a month.

15.2 ROAS
x
>5.1 Product Sold
K
>1.6 Impressions
M
30-Day Starter Guide

Before you start your TikTok Shop ads journey, here is a checklist to ensure
you are all set up.

Creation of Seller Center account

Understand the TikTok Shop ads policy

Set up TikTok Shop

Understand the TikTok Shop ad solutions (VSA, LSA, and PSA)

Now that you have setup your TikTok Shop, and understand more about our TikTok
ads solutions, you are now ready to get started. For first-time advertisers, running
ads might be a daunting experience, filled with uncertainty about how they will
perform and whether you will see any return of investments. Here is a guide to help
you through your first 30 days.

Now that you have set up your TikTok Shop, it is time

to get it up and running with the right content
strategy before we explore using shop ads to grow
your business further. Here are some of the
suggested steps to reach the "shop readiness" stage.
● Keep a regular posting cadence of 3-5 videos
per day
● Run livestreams for at least 2 hours, 4 times a
week
● Constantly update and optimize your Product
Detail Page (PDP) of advertised products with
additional images and information to increase
the PDP score
● Engage with Affiliates to have them help
promote your products to the right audience
● >$0 GMV in the last 30 days

Once you have these up and running and driving

substantial GMV organically, you are now ready to
get started on TikTok Shop ads. For first-time
advertisers, running ads might be a daunting
experience, filled with uncertainty about how they will
perform and whether you will see any return of
investments. Here is a guide to help you through your
first 30 days.
Congratulations on taking the leap and kickstarting
your TikTok Shop ad journey. With this guide, we
hope to see Shop Ads bring you and your business
higher visibility and sales to your shop. While you
are looking to find quick success on the platform, it
is important to note that it is all about long-term
success, and we're here to help you achieve that,
starting with the learning phase. During these 7
days, set up and launch your first ad campaign
with sufficient budget and allow the system to learn
and explore new customer segments to identify
your most suitable audiences. During the learning
phase, it is normal for results to fluctuate, and it will
become more stable and improve over time.
Usually, it takes 30 conversions for VSA, 40
conversions for LSA, and 20 conversions for PSA for
the ad group to pass the learning phase.

After going through the Learning Phase during the

first 7-days, you should know if your ad group
has/hasn't passed the learning phase based on the
number of conversions you had. Here is how you
can tell if you have passed the learning phase for
your ad group.

● VSA conversions >30

● LSA conversions >40
● PSA conversions >20
Did not pass
The learning phase
Your ad group needs to pass the learning phase for your ad
group to perform effectively. Here are some ways you can
optimise your campaign for learning phase completion

Increase the ad group budget and duration

Ensure sufficient budget and ad group duration to achieve
the number of conversions necessary to pass the learning
phase

If using Cost Cap or Minimum ROAS, increase the

cost cap value or lower the ROAS target value
Consider switching to Maximum Delivery or Highest Gross
Revenue if you are unsure how to set cost cap value or ROAS
target value.

Increase ad creatives if needed while ensuring

that they are relevant to the products advertised
and the target audience.

Broaden the target audience if it is too narrow

If using PSA, consider adding more products to

the PSA ad group or advertise all products
Ads underperforming
after the learning phase
You can tell if your ads are underperforming when your ROAS < benchmark ROAS
across your country and category. Here are some optimisation suggestions you can
implement depending on your ad solution.

VSA Optimisation
● Prioritise bestsellers For advertising. Consider advertising
products with a promotional offer (e.g. Discounted price,
vouchers or free delivery) as Well.
● Optimise the Product Detail Page (PDP) of advertised products
with additional images and information to make them more
compelling for purchase.
Products ● Ensure the price of advertised products is competitive across
its competitors.

● Consider switching to GMV Optimization Goal if you haven't

used it.
● Consider using Highest Gross Revenue if you want to prioritize
GMV for every dollar spent.
Bidding
● Consider using a Minimum ROAS bidding strategy if you wish
Strategy to prioritize control towards a minimum target ROAS value.

● If CPM is too high, check if your target audience is too narrow

and broaden your targeting.

○ Try targeting Lookalike Audience using your past buyers as

seed audience.
Audience ○ Deduplicate your audience if there are overlapping
audiences between ads.

● Have an average of 3-5 ad creatives per ad group.

● To reduce creative fatigue, refresh ad creatives. Consider
leveraging your account's well performing organic posts as
Creatives.
● Be sure to include clear call-to-actions via text overlay, audio,
or both; Create urgency in call-to-actions.
Creative
● Point to the Product Anchor Link or Product Card in the video.
● Get inspiration from top performing ads from TikTok Creative
Centre.
LSA Optimisation

● Prioritise best-sellers for advertising. Consider advertising

products with a promotional offer (e.g., Discounted price,
vouchers, or free delivery) as well.
● Consider product appeal such as seasonal appeal, exclusive
access, & virality in TikTok.
● Ensure the price of advertised products is competitive across
Products its competitors.
● Ideal to include a mix of products with different price points
within LIVE to achieve optimal performance.

● Engage with your audience in open conversation.

● Know your advertised products well to share their benefits
and answer Questions.
● Pin the product that you are referring to during LIVE.
LIVE Best ● With every downtime, reintroduce your live stream and how
Practice viewers can explore the products you sell and checkout.
● Consider experimenting with different LIVE hosts and monitor
how well they each engage with your audience!.

● Ensure that you are only running LSA ads during your LIVE
duration.
Scheduling ● Ensure the LIVE session is at least two hours.

● Consider switching to GMV Optimization Goal if you haven't

used it.
● Consider using Highest Gross Revenue if you want to prioritize
GMV for every dollar spent.
Bidding
● Consider using a Minimum ROAS bidding strategy if you wish
Strategy to prioritize control towards a minimum target ROAS value.

● If CPM is too high, check if your target audience is too narrow

and broaden your targeting.
● Try targeting Lookalike Audience using your past buyers as
seed Audience.
Audience ● Deduplicate your audience if there are overlapping audiences
between ads.
PSA Optimisation

● Create at least one ad group where all products are included

for PSA ads Targeting.
● If you are selecting products for the ads, prioritise best-sellers
for advertising. Consider advertising products with a
promotional offer (e.g., Discounted price, vouchers, or free
delivery) as well.
Products ● Optimise the Product Detail Page (PDP) of advertised
products with additional images and information to make
them more compelling for purchase.
● Ensure the price of advertised products is competitive across
its competitors.

● Consider using Highest Gross Revenue if you want to prioritize

GMV for every dollar spent.
Bidding ● Consider using a Minimum ROAS bidding strategy if you wish
Strategy to prioritise control towards a minimum target ROAS value.

● If CPM is too high, check if your target audience is too narrow

and broaden your targeting.
● Try targeting Lookalike Audience using your past buyers as
Audience seed audience.
● Deduplicate your audience if there are overlapping audiences
between ads.
 Congratulations on the first 14 days of your TikTok ads
journey. Now that your ads have passed the learning
phase and have been running for about a week, it is time
to learn how to measure your ad results and optimise your
good-performing ads to drive stronger results. This is the
generic way for you to visualise the effectiveness of your
ad campaign and see if your optimisations set in place
are working.

Your Ad solution (VSA,

LSA or PSA) has
generated $X GMV and
Y orders. For every $1
spent, your ads have
generated $Z in GMV.

Here are some of the recommended

tips you can implement for each of
the Shop Ads solutions.
VSA Optimisation
If you would like to read more the reporting metrics for VSA, click here

● Add a new creative into the ad group ideally once a week or

when noticing creative fatigue (e.g. Decreasing CTR or
engagement with ad).
Creative

● Ramp up budget by 20- 30% for the well performing ad

groups/ campaigns, if your ads are spending at least 80% of
Budget the set budget.

● If your budget utilization is below 80%:

○ If using Cost Cap or Minimum ROAS, consider increasing

the cost cap value or lowering the ROAS target.
Bidding ○ You may also consider switching to "Highest Gross
Revenue" to maximize GMV or "Maximum Delivery" to
maximize conversions.

● Check if the target audience is too small and broaden the

target audience accordingly.
Targeting

● If you have set an end date to this ad, consider removing it so

the ads can continue to run indefinitely to bring incremental
Schedule GMV for your shop.

● Continue to optimize PDP to ensure that the products are

compelling and relevant towards buyers.

○ Update product images and ensure that they are relevant

and compelling to buyers.
○ Optimize product title by including relevant hot search
keywords, and highlight the most compelling selling points
Product clearly in product descriptions.
○ Update price of products to ensure price competitiveness.
○ Collect more positive ratings and reviews for the products.
LSA Optimisation
If you would like to read more the reporting metrics for LSA, click here

● Ramp up budget by 20- 30% for the well performing ad

groups/ campaigns, if your ads are spending at least 80% of
Budget set budget.

● If your budget utilization is below 80%:

○ If using Cost Cap or Minimum ROAS, consider increasing

the cost cap value or lowering the ROAS target.
○ Or consider switching to:

Bidding ■ Highest Gross Revenue prioritize maximizing GMV.

■ Maximum Delivery to prioritize maximum conversions.

● Check if the target audience is too small and broaden the

target audience accordingly.

● Continue to optimize PDP to ensure that the products are

compelling and relevant towards buyers.

○ Update product images and ensure that they are relevant

and compelling to buyers.
○ Optimize product title by including relevant hot search
keywords, and highlight the most compelling selling points
Product clearly in product descriptions.
○ Update price of products to ensure price competitiveness.
○ Collect more positive ratings and reviews for the products.
PSA Optimisation

● Ramp up budget by 20- 30% for the well performing ad

groups/ campaigns, if your ads are spending at least 80%
Budget of set budget.

● If your budget utilization is below 80%:

○ If using Minimum ROAS, consider lowering the ROAS target

or consider switching to Highest Gross Revenue to
maximize GMV.
Bidding ○ Check if only few products have been selected for the PSA,
consider selecting all products. If products need to be
selected, consider selecting at least 10 products.

● Check if the target audience is too small and broaden the

target audience accordingly.
Targeting

● Continue to optimize PDP to ensure that the products are

compelling and relevant towards buyers.

○ Update product images and ensure that they are relevant

and compelling to buyers.
○ Optimize product title by including relevant hot search
keywords, and highlight the most compelling selling points
Product clearly in product descriptions.
○ Update price of products to ensure price competitiveness.
○ Collect more positive ratings and reviews for the products.
Small business spotlight
The Beauty Story
Based in Singapore, The Beauty Story is a Korean
skincare reseller that offers a range of beauty
products. After launching their TikTok Shop and
experiencing some success on the platform, they
decided to ramp up their efforts and explore the
various tools that were available. They tapped into
Video Shopping Ads (VSA) to engage with audiences
through authentic, educational content created by
collaborators from the TikTok Creator Marketplace.
Besides that, they leveraged on LIVE Shopping Ads
(LSA) to have real-time interaction with users. Through
a Lowest Cost bidding strategy with broad targeting,
they were also able to reach many users at the lowest
cost per action possible while prioritising users who
were more likely to make a purchase.

The Beauty Story saw success through their concurrent

campaigns which ran for half a month on TikTok,
resulting in 12.5x ROAS on VSA and 6.6x ROAS on LSA, as
well as reaching more than 66K users on average.

12.5x 15.2% >66K

ROAS sa VSA CVR sa LSA Average Reach
References
1. TikTok commissioned a study on consumer behavior during Mega Sales
conducted by Toluna among n=4500 TikTok users and non-users in SEA,
2023. Internal TikTok Analysis, May-Jul, 2023, SEA: TikTok Shop Sellers who did
not use TikTok Shop Ads versus TikTok Shop Sellers who used TikTok Shop Ads

2. Internal TikTok Analysis, May-July, 2023, SEA: TikTok Shop Sellers who used all
three ad formats versus TikTok Shop Sellers who used only one or two ad
formats

3. Internal TikTok Analysis, Sep-Dec, 2022, SEA: TikTok Shop Sellers who did not
use TikTok Shop Ads versus TikTok Shop Sellers who used TikTok Shop Ads

4. Internal TikTok Analysis, May-Jul, 2023, SEA: TikTok Shop Sellers who used
different formats of TikTok Shop Ads

5. Internal TikTok Analysis, Sep-Dec, 2022, SEA: TikTok Shop Sellers who did not
use TikTok Shop Ads versus TikTok Shop Sellers who used TikTok Shop Ads

6. Neurons, TikTok Marketing Science Global Organic + Paid Study, 2021

Start Your
TikTok
Shop Ads
Journey
Today!
Click here to
get started