Tactic #16: Increase conversion rate on TikTok ads with Smart Targeting

Tactic #16: Increase conversion rate and reduce CPA on TikTok ads with Smart Targeting

Fast marketing tactic successfully tested by Matt Rupcic:

The company: Media buyer working with a DTC vitamin supplements brand.
The goal: Improve ad performance on TikTok. Specifically, reduce cost per acquisition (CPA) and ad fatigue.
The tactic: Switch to Smart Targeting and test its performance against the standard targeting mode.
The result: 23% increase in conversion rate and 30% lower CPA.

The goal: Improve ad performance on TikTok

Matt Rupcic was working with a DTC brand in the vitamin supplements industry, which wanted to improve the performance of their TikTok ad campaigns. Specifically, they aimed to reduce CPA and ad fatigue.

The fast marketing tactic: Switch to Smart Targeting

The team switched their campaigns to Smart Targeting and tested the performance against the standard targeting mode.

To do so, they first set up their initial targeting selections with audience, location, age, gender, interest and behavior, and device info.

Once the campaign starts, TikTok displays it to the initially provided targeting criteria. The Smart Targeting model then analyzes ad performance, searching for users outside the audience that are likely to convert. Finally, it expands the targeting automatically to maximize effectiveness.

To test the performance of this targeting mode, they created a split test campaign with two ad groups (one with Smart Targeting enabled, the other one without) targeting audiences that shared the same interest: “health & wellness.”

The result: 23% increase in conversion rate and 30% lower CPA

The split campaigns were run with a $300/day budget each for 14 days. These were the results for the Smart Targeting campaign:

23% higher conversion rate (to more than 7%)
30% lower CPA (cost per acquisition)
Lower CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions)

Why does it work?

TikTok’s Smart Targeting works by using your provided input and combining it with the platform’s algorithm to broaden the audience with settings that are likely to improve performance.
This ultimately helps reduce CPA and ad fatigue, stopping TikTok from showing the same ads to a narrow audience.

Meet the specialist behind this tactic

Matt Rupcic is a Growth Marketer and Media Buyer who has generated over $21M in paid ads revenue while working with various clients and agencies.

Follow Matt on LinkedIn for more insights.

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