After analyzing data from 67.5k shoppers who discovered a brand on TikTok before making a purchase, one thing is clear: brands are completely in the dark about TikTok’s true influence on their acquisition and conversions.
In other words, traditional metrics often miss the mark, and it’s difficult to track TikTok’s direct impact.
Despite these challenges, there’s a significant Halo Effect at play—where TikTok drives brand awareness and influences purchases, even if the final click happens elsewhere.
Let’s dive into our takeaways from the data we pulled and what they mean for brands today.
First, a quick overview of Knocommerce
Knocommerce provides easy-to-use post-purchase surveys to unlock valuable insights for attribution, CRO, CX, product development, and more. With features like targeted audiences, pre-built templates, benchmarking, and advanced attribution models, Knocommerce helps you understand the revenue impact of various channels, demographics, and customer motivations.
Finding #1: Tracking Challenges Impact Brand Investments
Looking at June 2024 compared to June 2023, orders with a click associated with TikTok are down a whopping 47.6%, while the number of people saying they discovered a brand on TikTok is only down 12.6%.
These tracked clicks are associated with all orders—no matter if the customer discovers the brand on TikTok or elsewhere.
Now, while brand discovery is down on TikTok this year, a 12.6% decrease is relatively modest. The most likely probable cause? TikTok has grown as a sales channel. With more brands using it this year compared to last, the space is simply more crowded.
This means TikTok is still a significant platform for brand discovery. Yet, there’s a sharp decline in orders with TikTok clicks—down 47.6% year-over-year.
It feels like the balance is off, right? That’s because it is.
The decline in clicks associated with orders is massively different compared to the decline in brand discovery.
What this data tells us: Many users might discover brands on TikTok but prefer to complete purchases through other channels or platforms. Not only does this indicate that TikTok as a sales channel is harder to track, but it also leads to less investment from brands that don’t understand its true impact.
Finding #2: Last Click is Ineffective at Measuring the Impact of TikTok
Now, what’s the difference in clicks for customers who did discover a brand on TikTok?
In June 2024, 67.5k people said they discovered a brand on TikTok, but only 4.17% of those people had a click associated with TikTok. Comparing this back to June 2023, 5.47% of TikTok respondents had a click associated with TikTok.
Click tracking appears to be more disconnected from self-reported attribution than it was a year ago—and it’s a significant discrepancy at that, down 24%.
The disconnection between discovery and clicks suggests that users might be engaging with brands on TikTok but completing their purchases elsewhere.
The implication is clear: relying solely on last-click attribution underestimates TikTok’s role in the customer journey.
But, where exactly is “elsewhere”? Let’s review in Finding #3.
Finding #3: TikTok’s Click-to-Response Gap is the Largest Among Major Channels
TikTok has the biggest click-to-response gap of all major channels we track—although YouTube, Snapchat, and Pinterest aren’t far behind.
We already established that if someone says they found a brand on TikTok, only 4.17% of them have a click associated with TikTok. Comparing this to other platforms paints a stark picture.
For instance, 27% of people who discover a brand on Facebook also click on Facebook, and 32% of people who discover a brand on Google also click through on Google.
The takeaway? TikTok isn’t always a click-and-buy scenario.
Here’s the breakdown of the percentage of each channel’s responses where the click matched the response (In other words, discovery and click both attributed to the same channel):
These numbers don’t mean that TikTok lacks influence. Data from our partners at Fospha indicate that TikTok creates a halo effect, driving 22% of sales credited to the bottom-of-funnel in the US. In fact, TikTok drove 788% more conversions in Q1 than last-click claims.
What These Findings Tell Us
There’s a need for brands to look beyond traditional click metrics. TikTok’s impact is more indirect, contributing significantly to brand discovery.
Even if the final click happens elsewhere, TikTok still drove value in guiding a shopper along in their purchasing journey.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to understand the impact TikTok has on your conversions. How?
A post-purchase survey gives you insights and attribution data by polling customers right after a purchase. For example, brands use these surveys to discover:
- Where their customers are coming from
- Whether purchases are for themselves or as gifts
- Which sales channel performs the best
This data isn’t meant to substitute other measurement methods—it enhances them, enabling advertisers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of attribution and customer behavior.
By capturing the customer’s perspective, post-purchase surveys provide authentic insights that can challenge existing ideas about attribution.
The Halo Effect of TikTok, From Pura Vida’s Perspective
Pura Vida is a beloved jewelry brand among Gen Z and their parents. To deepen their understanding of customer behavior, Pura Vida partnered with KnoCommerce to enhance their TikTok measurement strategy using post-purchase surveys.
The results were eye-opening. The surveys revealed that TikTok was an underreported but significant acquisition channel, with 32% of new customers coming from TikTok.
As the Pura Vida team put it: “Turns out, TikTok is our primary discovery channel. The value post-purchase surveys can provide is incredible. I highly recommend if you’re a small outfit without a data team like we are.”
This case study illustrates how brands can leverage post-purchase surveys to capture the indirect impact of channels like TikTok, providing a more comprehensive understanding of their marketing efforts and guiding more informed decisions.
Ready to Rethink TikTok’s Role?
Traditional click metrics fail to capture TikTok’s full value. While these traditional methods fall short, do you know what never gets old? Asking your customers directly.
Leveraging post-purchase surveys can bridge the gap of the click-to-response-data woes, offering a clearer picture of customer behavior and more accurate attribution.