[Case Study] 9+ Winning TikTok Ad Examples and Why They Work
TikTok is fast becoming a popular eCommerce ad choice, and we’ve got the TikTok ad examples to prove it.
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With over a billion monthly active users and three billion downloads, TikTok surpassed Twitter, Telegram, Reddit, Pinterest, and Snapchat in monthly active users in 2021 and is still growing quickly.
And with increasing reach and popularity, comes growing advertising interest.
Therefore, when it comes to building a robust marketing strategy for eCommerce retailers, there is no doubt serious eCommerce brands should be adding TikTok ads for eCommerce to their marketing portfolios.
Bonus Content: How to Build a Winning eCommerce Ads Strategy
The secret to capitalizing on TikTok’s unique audience engagement is to match the right brand or product to the right format to drive the best ROAS.
In this post, we will show you top retailers who have done just that across a variety of TikTok ad formats. We will cover the following:
- TopView and In-Feed TikTok ad examples
- DSA TikTok ad examples
- Branded Hashtag Challenge TikTok ad examples
- TikTok Brand Takeover ad examples
TopView and In-Feed TikTok Ad Examples
1. K18 Uses In-Feed TikTok Ads to Boost Brand Awareness and Gain 20K+ Followers
K18 is an online biotech haircare brand that was founded in 2019. Looking for a way to develop brand and product awareness quickly, they turned to TikTok. Their goal was to grow their organic followers and increase views, monitoring three key engagement metrics:
- Hashtag views
- Follower growth
- Video views
They used TikTok’s Reach and Frequency TikTok ad buying method and partnered with TikTok creators like Heidi D’Amelio and Mikayla Nogueira, and launched tutorial-style videos.
And the results?
According to TikTok, within a month of launching their TikTok campaign, K18 saw a 70% increase in daily average sales. Additionally, they saw:
- An increase in followers from 2,000 to 20,000
- 27 million video views
- 73 million views for the #K18Hair hashtag
Main Takeaway: By combining the power of TikTok influencer marketing with strategic paid advertising, K18 gained a lot of brand awareness in a short amount of time. You can find out more about TikTok’s Creative Marketplace here.
2. Smyth Jewelers Generates 779K Views Spending $ 40/Day on In-Feed TikTok Ads
Another eCommerce brand that has had a lot of success driving awareness with TikTok In-Feed ads is the online jewelry store Smyth Jewelers.
Smyth Jewelers is a hundred-year-old brand that turned to TikTok to reach new, younger customers. They grew their organic presence on the social media platform to almost 19k followers but wanted to boost awareness for their wedding and engagement rings on TikTok.
Leveraging their own content, they ran In-Feed traffic campaigns to reach and drive new viewers to their TikTok profile, bidding just $ 40/day in budget.
With this campaign, Smyth Jewelers used geo-targeting TikTok ad options to reach relevant audiences in Maryland and DC while personalizing their video series as much as possible to encourage audience engagement.
And the results?
According to TikTok, their TikTok traffic campaign reached just under 800,000 views which cost on average just:
- 2 cents per like
- 35 cents per CPM
Overall for this campaign, Smyth Jewelers found that their TikTok ads drove results at 1/10 of the cost of other social media marketing platforms.
Main Takeaway: Creative, unique videos go a long way when driving user engagement on TikTok. When a brand creates meaningful conversations with engaged users like Smyth Jewelers did, they can drive product sales long-term – high-end products like engagement rings included!
3. The Farmer’s Dog In-Feed TikTok Ad Sees 31% CTRs
The Farmer’s Dog is an online dog food subscription service offering personalized, freshly made pet food to pet owners. Looking to reach and convert more potential customers, they turned to TikTok ads to target adults aged 25 and older in the US.
Collaborating with creators, The Farmer’s Dog pushed their core message: The most convenient dog owner’s choice for healthy living. Then, using In-Feed TikTok Spark Ads to reach users who were interested in pets, they tweaked their campaign audiences and creatives to lower CPAs at scale.
And the results?
According to TikTok, The Farmer’s Dog spends $ 100,000 per month on TikTok advertising budget alone, and the platform now accounts for most of its newly acquired customers. For this campaign alone, they saw:
- 33 million video views
- 62% reduction CPAs
- 5% increase in conversion rate
all in just two months.
Main Takeaway: There is no doubt that interest targeting is a must-have for eCommerce brands looking to expand their market and reach. However, it’s The Farmer’s Dog’s tweaking, optimization, and campaign management that ensures their TikTok campaign success. To duplicate this, you can either do this manually or use StoreYa’s full PPC management service.
4. James Allen Harness TikTok Ads to Drive Email Newsletter Sign-Ups at 78% Lower CPA
Another online jewelry brand that had a lot of success with TikTok ads is the bridal jewelry store, James Allen.
Always aiming to keep on the front foot of new consumer channels, they decided to test TikTok ads as a way to feed new users to conversion flows on their store, including newsletter signups for email marketing, onsite promotions, and add to cart.
Launching a prospecting TikTok campaign, they started with upper-funnel event optimization, which allowed them to optimize (with the help of TikTok’s algorithm) their main event CPA goal.
Additionally, James Allen used regular auction campaigns and Spark Ads to push campaign performance. They also incentivized TikTok users by including a unique coupon code.
Bonus Content: Are Promotions and Coupons Really Worth It?
And the results?
According to TikTok, James Allen’s TikTok campaign resulted in more than 12 million views, 175K likes, and thousands of shares. With regards to their add-to-cart objective, they saw:
- 45% lower non-bounce CPA
- 12% lower CPA compared to other social media advertising platforms
- 3,500 new newsletter sign-ups, with a 78% lower CPA
Main Takeaway: James Allen managed to navigate this newer eCommerce marketing channel like a pro. They first pushed new users to lower funnel conversions such as email marketing sign-up flows, and then to higher funnels.
Dynamic Showcase TikTok Ad Examples
5. Aerie Sees 7.88 ROAS from Pilot TikTok Dynamic Showcase TikTok Ad
As we highlighted in our eCommerce guide to TikTok Ads, Dynamic Showcase TikTok ads (DSAs) are among the newest types of campaigns available to retailers. Although new, they are already proving successful, with apparel brand Aerie seeing a 3.5X improvement in ROAS with this campaign type in their piloting plan.
Bonus Tip: Need help getting started with TikTok Dynamic Showcase Ads? Visit TikTok’s step-by-step guide on how to create Dynamic Showcase Ads.
After using a combination of Branded Hashtags (#AerieReal) which encouraged users to embrace their authentic selves and In-Feed TikTok ads, Aerie wanted to expand to the platform’s newer eCommerce solutions.
Capitalizing on their engaged audience, they used DSAs to drive conversions through personalized ad targeting to promote their large product inventory and deliver a more personalized ad experience, aiming to keep CPA under $ 50.
And the results?
According to TikTok, Aerie’s initial DSA Alpha campaign saw 27% less in CPA goals. Then, when moving to the Custom DSA TikTok template, they saw a 78% more efficient cost per purchase than their goal. Furthermore, they saw:
- An increase in ROAS from 2.24 to 7.78
- 2.93% conversion rate increase with custom DSAs
Main Takeaway: Regardless of the social media advertising platform, dynamic ads are incredibly powerful in both creating a more personalized ad experience for potential customers and being able to automate your PPC marketing, both of which resulted in improved ROAS. To see this strategy in practice on other marketing channels, visit these 4 eCommerce ad guides:
Branded Hashtag Challenge TikTok Ad Examples
6. Clearly Uses Branded Hashtag Challenges to Generate 20 Million Video Views
Clearly is a Canadian online eyewear store with a popular giveback program that has donated 570k pairs of glasses to date. Selling contact lenses, prescription glasses, and sunglasses online, they turned to TikTok to drive more brand awareness and consideration with a previously untapped demographic.
One such campaign has had resounding success, generating over 20 million views.
The #ClearlyTransform Branded Hashtag Challenge encouraged TikTok users to show off their best looks with their favorite pair of glasses, and it got a LOT of engagement. However, what they did behind the scenes in support of this campaign and to drive ROAS holds the real secret to their success.
This included:
- Allowing TikTok users creative license with the challenge, rather than focusing on branding
- Investing in a variety of branded solutions and ad products
- Creating and leveraging custom music that has catchy, viral appeal to push overall engagement
- Partnering with five high-profile TikTok creators
And the results in numbers?
According to TikTok, this branded TikTok ad example was able to generate over 20 million video views while reaching 116 million unique users globally in just six days. Additionally, over the six days of the campaign, they saw:
- 241,000 video submissions and 32.7 million engagements
- An increase of 12,000 brand followers
- An ad recall increase of 13%
Main Takeaway: Clearly were able to balance brand placement with authenticity and UGC not only to meet but exceed their overall brand awareness objective. Additionally, their investment into campaign audio and visuals helped them not only grab attention but get new users to actively engage.
7. Amazon SG Leverages the Joy of Unboxing with Branded Hashtag and Branded Effect TikTok Campaigns to Boost Engagement
To drive awareness of Amazon Prime Day in Singapore, Amazon SG used TikTok to leverage the unboxing experience to create a viral online campaign.
Creating the #UnboxAmazonPrimeSG campaign, Amazon SG inspired TikTok users to share their reactions when unboxing their Amazon package while offering potential customers a chance to win a S$ 50 Amazon.sg gift card.
Bonus Content: How to Run a Social Media Giveaway for Your eCommerce Store
To kick off the challenge, Amazon SG additionally harnessed the power of TikTok Branded Effects, TopView, and In-Feed Ads, and worked with some TikTok creators to drive awareness of the campaign.
And the results in numbers? According to TikTok, Amazon SG’s Branded Hashtag campaign:
- Reached more than 900k TikTok users
- Generated over 3.6 million unique video views
- Resulted in 9.1k UGC videos being created
Main Takeaway: By tapping into the unboxing experience and offering prize incentives, Amazon SG was able to drive awareness to their local market. Additionally, by using Branded Effects and TopView to boost their Branded Hashtag Challenge, they exceeded their campaign expectations.
8. eBay Targets the Next Generation of Sneakerheads to Reach 1 Billion TikTok Video Views
eCommerce marketplace giant eBay is a household platform for sourcing popular and rare sneakers. However, they wanted to build more awareness to younger audiences, positioning themselves as the go-to for kicks.
Commissioning a custom song, this campaign encouraged TikTok users to lace up in their favorite kicks and show them off with unique dance moves.
While using Branded Hashtag Challenge TikTok ad campaign, #LaceEmUp, to celebrate the link between sneaker culture, music, and dance, they also partnered with top TikTok creators, and used In-Feed Ads to amplify reach.
And the results?
According to TikTok, over 700k TikTok users joined in the campaign to create their own TikToks. Additionally, they saw:
- 5.2% higher engagement than their benchmark
- 1 billion+ TikTok video views
- A dramatic increase in young fans talking about their sneaker marketplace
Main Takeaway: When done right, TikTok is a powerful tool to expand into younger audiences. However, it’s important to point out that TikTok’s user age is getting much broader. According to Statista, 20% of TikTok users in the US are between the ages of 40–49 by the end of 2021.
Brand Takeover TikTok Ad Examples
9. Guess Generates 16.5% CTRs from TikTok Brand Takeover Campaign
To promote their Fall Denim Fit collection, Guess wanted to use TikTok to drive awareness during the back-to-school shopping season. Targeting millennials and Gen Z consumers, they launched the #InMyDenim Hashtag Challenge and posted various official videos accompanied by Bebe Rexh’s “I’m a Mess.”
But it’s their Brand Takeovers that were genius. They released four influencer-performed videos to demo their concept, and they went viral in just six days.
[Source: TikTok]
And the results?
According to TikTok, the #InMyDenim campaign and Brand Takeovers generated 10.5 million views. Additionally, they saw:
- 14.3% engagement rate
- An additional 12k followers
- 16.5% CTRs for their Brand Takeovers
Main Takeaway: There is no doubt that influencer marketing can be incredibly effective for retailers. The trick is finding and investing in the right influencers for your specific brand. You need influencers that speak directly to your desired target audience. Looking for the right influencers? Visit our How to Find the Best Influencers for Your eCommerce Brand guide.
Final Thoughts: The Biggest Lesson from These Top TikTok Ad Examples
There you have it; 9+ TikTok ad examples eCommerce marketers can learn from to boost their own results.
- K18 TikTok Ad Example
- Smyth Jewelers TikTok Ad Example
- The Farmer’s Dog TikTok Ad Example
- James Allen TikTok Ad Example
- Aerie TikTok Ad Example
- Clearly TikTok Ad Example
- Amazon SG TikTok Ad Example
- eBay TikTok Ad Example
- Guess TikTok Ad Example
There is no doubt that TikTok is fast becoming a leading social media platform, and their eCommerce-specific features are expanding quickly.
The trick to the success of these campaigns lies in one key element: the authenticity of the platform.
Each of these campaigns tapped into the essence of TikTok’s platform and users, working with it to drive engagement, rather than against it – something that, unfortunately, a lot of brands do with social media marketing.
They did this by harnessing the power of UGC and influencers, as well as custom content.
New to TikTok ads entirely? Let’s quickly review how TikTok’s ad manager works to ensure you’re set up for success.
Beginner Tip: How to Start Advertising on TikTok in 6 Steps
- Choose TikTok Campaign Objectives: First, retailers select whether they want to drive traffic to their stores, increase app installs, raise awareness, or attract new leads.
- Select your audience: Next, marketers choose between “Custom Audiences” and “Lookalike Audiences” to find users similar to their existing shoppers.
- Set TikTok Ad Budgets: Once the audience is set, TikTok advertisers select either a lifetime or daily ad budget.
- Create Ads: Next, TikTok PPC managers upload videos or images, or create a new video using TikTok’s intuitive video creation tool.
- Go Live: Once published, TikTok Ads Manager’s smart auction system will take over, ensuring the right ad is shown to the right TikTok user.
- Optimize: Last but not least, marketers should be taking advantage of TikTok Ads Manager’s ad performance, effectiveness, and real-life impact metrics to tweak and optimize campaigns to peak ROAS performance.
Alternatively, reach out to our eCommerce PPC team to arrange a demo of our Enterprise plan, which includes a robust TikTok ad strategy, along with automated Google and Facebook ads.
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