TikTok Shares New Insights into How Users Respond to Promotions in the App

TikTok has shared the second installment of its ‘’Path-to-Purchase’ Report, which takes a deeper dive into how TikTok clips drive consumer action, and the key elements that improve marketing performance in the app.

The first part of the report, which TikTok published back in February, looked at how TikTok users discover and engage with brands via the app.

This second summary looks at how TikTok users feel about product promotions in their feed, and the products that they buy as a result of TikTok promotions.

According to the data, which was gathered by market research provider Material, 50% of TikTok users report feeling ‘joyful, excited, or happy’ about the products they’ve purchased via the app, while TikTok users are significantly more likely to recommend products that they find in their feed.

Celebrity and creator endorsements play a key role in this, with TikTok also noting that:

“The TikTok audience is 48% more likely to discover new brands or products from celebrities or public figures, 25% more likely to discover them through creators, and 23% more likely to discover them through trending topics or hashtags than on other platforms. They’re also 15% more likely to use TikTok to research new brands or products – and a full 55% of TikTok users do so.”

So celebrity endorsements are a big winner – as they are on every platform – but partnering with creators can also have major discovery potential in the app.

That likely aligns with the more organic approach to promotions within the app, and how TikTok users engage with content. Indeed, TikTok ads expert Savannah Sanchez recently noted that she’s seen far worse performance with TikTok ads that utilize interactive display cards on screen, because those more overt promotional approaches are not as welcome in the app.

That’s not to say that they won’t work at all, but it’s interesting to note that ads that are more organic, native-looking TikTok clips generally perform better in the app.

Also, worth taking note of the point on hashtags here. On other platforms, hashtags seem to be losing their shine, but TikTok users are still discovering content via tags in the app.

The data also shows that 58% of TikTok users report discovering new brands and products on the platform, while 47% of TikTok users also look to convince others to buy products that they find in the app – with 49% making overt recommendations based on TikTok promotions

The research also shows that over half of TikTok users look for details about where to buy products that they’ve seen on the platform, which is 84% above traditional social apps.

So the platform’s influence extends beyond the app itself, which is another note to consider in your TikTok performance tracking.

These are some interesting insights, which underline the evolving value of TikTok as a product discovery and promotion tool, and it may well be worth factoring in these data points when measuring your own TikTok campaigns.

Clearly, there’s significant brand value here, but the best campaigns, at least based on these stats, utilize organic looking content, from established creators, which can fuel big awareness effects, both on and off platform.

You can read TikTok’s full Path to Purchase (Part 2) report here.