3 Month TikTok Case Study

Author

Rankster Team
March 23, 2023

3 Month TikTok Case Study

TL;DR:

  • TikTok Ads are effective….. but tough to track

Breakdown:

  • TikTok Ads

    • This brand had been running ads since 1st Jan ‘23

    • They fluctuated between $20 - $60 in daily TikTok Ad spend over that period

    • Ad campaign consisted of TikTok TRAFFIC ads (when the user clicks, they are redirected to the Amazon listing)

    • The received 10,732 clicks from TikTok Ads

  • Software

    • Zonguru - They released a new feature that allows us to track the external traffic and summarises the Amazon traffic (sessions, page views, conversion rate, etc).

    • URLgenius - The is used for Deep Links with Amazon Attribution (discussed later)

  • Amazon Attribution

    • All the links were from Amazon attribution

    • But, you can’t trust the reporting when it comes to attribution….. over 10,000 clicks and not any sales?

    • It doesn’t make sense add so I have not included any of the Attribution data.

  • Amazon Sponsored Ads

    • This brand is running Sponsored Ads, but not at its full capacity and as this brand was a former DTC brand, they don’t focus on Amazon PPC.

    • So for this reason, as the numbers are low, I have not included it.

How we assessed the data:

We start by looking at the TikTok ads.

We then create 3 periods to compare against:

  • High TikTok Ad Cost: $40 - $60 per day

  • Low TikTok Ad Cost: Under $40 per day

  • No TikTok Ad Cost: No TikTok ads were run

Metrics per period:

When we combine all that data……

At first glance, it doesn’t look good but…..

⚠️ Spoiler Alert ⚠️: The TikTok traffic was effective…. but with different metrics

My old stats professor always use to say “never judge the data on the first attempt” (Just a heads up…. I failed Stats 101 for 4 years at uni….so what do I know 🤔).

We need to look at the data from a different perspective….

If we overlay the TikTok data with the Amazon sales… that’s a start:

TikTok Data vs Sales

Summary:

  • The product is gift-able and had a sales rise at the start of the year (most likely Amazon customers using their Xmas money).

  • We can see a gradual decline in sales but peaked and maintained after a High Ads period.

  • The TikTok Delayed Effect

    • I have seen this a ton in all my campaigns…..

    • You send traffic from TikTok to the Amazon listing and the sales increase is delayed… This delay could be hours, days, weeks… I can’t tell, but I always see an increase in sales, just a matter of ‘when’, not if.

TikTok Data vs Sales vs Sessions

Summary:

  • Why doesn’t the TikTok traffic effect the Daily Sessions?

    • We flooded the listing with TikTok Traffic… but it had no effect on the daily sessions? Over 400 clicks per day….

    • Does Amazon not feature external traffic in the Daily Sessions reporting?

  • The conversion rate remained unchanged

    • If we send traffic from TikTok…. surely it should effect the conversion rate?

    • This product has maintained a 5% conversion campaign throughout the campaign

TikTok Data vs Sales vs Sessions vs Deep links

To prove that the links were going to the correct destination, I used Deep links with Amazon Attribution Links.

Deep Links: These are links that open up the app instead of the browser. IE. If they click an Amazon Deep link it will open up the Amazon app on their mobile, not the Amazon site on their mobile browser (eliminates friction as they will automatically be logged in on the app).

I used URLgenius as they are the Amazon preferred service for using Amazon Attribution with Deep Links

Conclusion

  • Sales declined when TikTok traffic declined

    • I see this all the time, a rise one sales (often delayed) after receiving an influx of TikTok traffic

    • Amazon now expects this product to constantly bring traffic, but once the traffic declines or stops, Amazon now assumes the product is over it’s viral period (where social signals are the strongest)

    • Meaning, we need to maintain traffic… much like Amazon Ads. An Amazon PPC campaign is ongoing, so should your external traffic.

  • Sales impact is delayed

    • This is the frustrating part…a each brand’s sales react differently 🤬 

    • Some brands perform from REACH campaigns (no clicks, purely getting your video seen by as many users as possible). whilst other with TRAFFIC campaigns (clicks to the Amazon listing)

    • There is no way of knowing how your brand will perform and what ad type works best…. we just have to split test.

  • TikTok had zero impact on the conversion rate

    • The listing was receiving around 400 additional views per day… even at a 5% conversion rate, that should be an additional 20 daily sales (remember, the customer is already ‘pre-sold’ as they clicked on a video that featured your product in use and on Amazon)

    • I have sent traffic with aver 1,000 additional views per day and the conversion rate remained unchanged.

    • Which makes me think: “TikTok traffic can only ‘help’ a listing, not ‘hurt’ it.”

Big thanks for reading

Any questions let me know…

- Paul

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