Step 3: Scale up your exposure and GMV by content, campaigns and advertising

Content

To take advantage of TikTok's massive reach and increase your GMV, you don't need to do everything. Focus your efforts by picking a content growth path that matches what you sell and what your team is great at. Below are the key actions for 3 different types of content growth paths:
Types of Content Growth Paths
Recommended Product
Suggestions
  1. Self-Produced Shoppable Videos
  • Highly Recommended category: Phones & Electronics,Automotive & Motorcycle,Menswear & Underwear,Tools & Hardware, Books, Magazines & Audio,Shoes,Luggage & Bags,Kitchenware
  • Recommended category: Beauty & Personal Care,Womenswear & Underwear,Fashion Accessories,Sports & Outdoor,Health,Home Supplies, Cases, Screen Protectors & Stickers,Body Moisturizers,Screwdrivers,Literature
  • When choosing products to push on TikTok Shop, suggest focusing on products with the following traits when compared to the rest of your inventory:
    • Rapid Momentum: Focus on products with accelerating sales. Push items that are actively beating the rest of your inventory in week-over-week growth.
    • Low Price, High Conversion: Prioritize inexpensive products with good conversion potential. Their cost-effectiveness makes it easier to drive purchases than your mid-to-high-priced products.
    • Instant Visual Impact: Pick items with simple, clear selling points that are easier to showcase and resonate with audiences than complex-function items.
For example, comparing kitchenware products:
✅ Prioritize featuring a foldable silicone food storage bag that can instantly prove "space-saving" and "leak-proof" benefits in under 10 seconds of demonstration.
⚠️ Deprioritize featuring bulky or intricate kitchenware that requires extended time to demonstrate its benefits.
Note: Please make sure the product has sufficient stock.
As a beginner in posting short videos, you may be wondering: How to quickly find a product-fit content direction? How to get more initial exposure to reach potential buyers? Without a fan base, how to drive sales via short videos? These seemingly complex questions have practical entry-level solutions. Next, we’ll walk you through the key actions that help you get started with short videos quickly:
Wondering what high-quality video is? Check here.
First Step: Bind your TikTok official or marketing account. Each shop can bind 1 official account (no follower limitation, US region) and 4 marketing account (over 5000 followers, US region). Second step: Develop content and video shooting strategy for your account, click here.
  • Pre-Check Tool: Review content before posting to identify critical violation risks before publishing shoppable videos, enabling early issue detection and timely edits to reduce violations or penalties.
Third step: No revenue from your videos yet? Try using two key tools to identify issues:
  • Video Diagnostic Tool: Analyze published videos to identify issues like content violations, low views, low CTR, and poor GMV, providing data-driven, actionable recommendations to optimize video quality, engagement, and monetization.
Fourth step: You can choose to run ads for videos with high views, strong engagement, or those promoting best-selling products. To learn more about video ad investment, please click here. Additionally, the following AI tools may help to improve your video quality and production efficiency:
  • Video editing: Use CapCut to easily Import → Arrange → Trim → Add voiceover → Add BGM → Adjust volume → Add subtitles → Make cover → Export
  • Video quality Check [Seller Center -> Shoppable Video]: Pre-check before posting, diagnose promptly after postingimageimage
Note: AI Pre-check does not guarantee 100% issue detection.
  • Video Assistant [TikTok APP]:
The Video Assistant is a core tool designed to streamline your content production by automating 5 critical steps:
  • Script Generation
  • Product Highlights
  • Hashtag Strategy
  • Buyer Review Summary
  • Video Thumbnail Designimageimage
  1. Self-Hosted Livestreams
Recommended category: Luxury Resale, Collectibles, Women's Tops,Men's Tops,Nutrition & Wellness,Clothes Accessories,Home Decor,Costume Jewelry & Accessories,Literature & Art,Women's Dresses,Office Stationery & Supplies,DIY,Women's Bottoms,Drinkware,Women's Underwear,Trading Cards & Accessories,Women's Bags
  • When choosing products to highlight on TikTok Shop, suggest focusing on products with the following traits when compared to the rest of your inventory:
    • Rapid Momentum: Focus on products with accelerating sales. Push items that are actively beating the rest of your inventory in week-over-week growth.
    • Familiarity & Simplicity: Focus on product categories you're already familiar with or simple-function items that require minimal explanation. This makes content creation easier and clearer.
    • Prioritize visual impact: Select items built for easy, intuitive live demonstration (e.g., a portable juicer making juice in under 10 seconds).
For small and medium-sized businesses on TikTok Shop US, live streaming isn’t just a 'big brand tool'—it’s a low-cost, high-engagement way to turn viewers into buyers fast. Unlike pre-filmed content, live sessions let you connect with your audience in real time, answer questions instantly, and build trust that drives immediate sales.
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To turn this potential into tangible growth, we’ve outlined a structured Livestream Growth Model:
  • After completing product listing & Shop Tab optimization, start hosting livestreams on your linked TikTok account immediately.
  • Accelerate livestream traffic acquisition via promotional short videos teasers & ads.
  • Maintain stable product prices to gain traffic from Shop Tab (search, personalized recommendations, etc.).
Next, we’ll break down actionable growth paths, showing how to make the most of TikTok Shop livestreams:First Step: Bind your TikTok official or marketing account. Each shop can bind 1 official account (no follower limitation, US region) and 4 marketing account (over 5000 followers, US region). Second Step: Master live streaming basicsIf you’re new to TikTok Shop live streaming, use these core materials to launch smoothly: Third Step: Analyze live metrics and optimize content for better performanceTo improve live performance, focus on traffic efficiency and content tweaks:
  • Understand Live Traffics:
  • Interpret key metrics and optimize content: Learn to analyze performance data (e.g., view duration, conversion rate) and iterate strategy based on metric insights: traffic efficiency- understand live metrics
Fourth Step: increase live sales & ROI with LIVE GMV Max Campaign AutomationTo improve your livestream's reach and directly increase sales and ROI, you could tap into TikTok’s dedicated ad solution for live events. Let's dive into Live GMV Max!
  1. Creator Collaboration
Merchants select 3-4 flagship products that meet the following criteria and submit them for creator collaboration:
  • Competitive Commission rate & price:
    • Set commission rates based on product stage: ≥20% for new products (can be gradually reduced once sales volume stabilizes), and a minimum of ≥10% for stabilized products (to maintain creator motivation).
    • Product price ≤ the best price offered by industry peers.
  • Broad audience & proven performance:
    • Wide target audience (no niche limit);
    • Products with over 30 existing orders are more likely to be selected; priority is also given to those with higher accumulated off-platform GMV
  • Clear visualized/differentiated selling points:
    • Visualized: Can be intuitively demonstrated via videos (e.g., foundation with excellent concealing effect, easy-to-disassemble kitchenware, highly effective cleaning cloths).
    • Differentiated: Features superior to most competitors (e.g., floor washers that clean stains in one sweep, invention patents, high-grade raw materials).
  • Collaboration & logistics-friendly:
    • Lightweight (easy sample shipping);
Prioritize top-performing products for creator partnerships
In terms of creator collaboration, we listed the actions merchants need to take across three stages: Newcomer Stage, Cold Start Stage, and Growth Stage. You can jump to the section that matches your current stage to learn relevant strategies.
  1. Newcomer Stage [Set up your first creator collaboration]:
Before collaborating with creators, you need to complete the affiliate preset operations first. After determining the priority affiliate product, you can proceed with the following key configurations to finalize your affiliate program setup in Affiliate Center:Step 1: Set up Your Creator Collaboration Plan: To maximize your product's exposure and enable creator partnerships, you must first establish an affiliate plan.Start with the Open Plan (open to all creators) as your priority. This ensures maximum market reach for your product. You can then additionally set up a Target Plan (exclusive to designated creators) if you have specific partners you want to lock in.This step is non-negotiable: Creators cannot view your affiliate products, commission rates, or free sample information to begin collaboration until a plan is fully active.(For detailed, step-by-step instructions on plan setup, consult the Academy.)imageimage
Step 2: Enable "Auto-add new products" and configure related settings in Open Collaborations
  • Ensure the "Auto-add new products" function is turned on.
    image
  • Set commission for new products (refer to recommended range: ≥20% for priority products) and make sure to set up either free or refundable samples. Refundable sample is highly recommended at your early stage (creator refund criteria -> 1 order recommended).
    image
Step 3: Batch set ad commissions in open collaboration
  • Select priority products, then click <Edit Shop Ads commission> to set ad commissions in batches.
  • Click <Apply> to complete submission.
    image
  1. Cold Start Stage [Grow affiliate GMV from 0 to 1]
  • Suitable merchants:
    • Have already joined the affiliate program
    • Completed preset actions
    • Confirmed priority products
    • Looking to launch your first affiliate campaign for a new product, or are struggling to get momentum and break through the "cold start" for specific existing products
  • Phased goal: monthly Affiliate GMV reached $5,000
  • Merchant Actions
Based on different merchant profiles, there are two types of cold start strategy options:
  1. Conversion-Oriented
Focuses on order conversion, suitable for merchants who prioritize GMV metrics and aim to quickly incubate best-selling products to break through business bottlenecks.
Suggest using tiered commissions to overcome business bottlenecks.
Click here to view details
  1. Brand & Performance Integrated
Balances order generation with brand building, suitable for brand merchants that have a certain reputation on and off the platform, and have requirements for the quality of creators’ content as well as brand image management.
Suggest using flat-fee commissions to secure high-quality content that blends advertising with an authentic touch, driving GMV growth while building your brand.
Click here to view details
  1. Rapid Growth Stage [Pursue higher affiliate GMV]
  • Suitable merchants:
    • Have already achieved initial success and are looking to maintain their growth momentum post-cold start.
    • Are ready to explore and partner with more high-quality affiliate creators.
    • Are prepared to expand the number of products available to affiliates and uncover new GMV growth opportunities within the program.
  • Phased goal: monthly Affiliate GMV reached $45,000
Before moving on to the next step, ensure that you have taken all the recommended actions for exposure optimization:
image
  • Merchant Actions:
Merchants who have passed the <Cold Start Stage> are recommended to focus on these three priorities to sustain the growth momentum of their affiliate program:
  • High-Quality Creator Discovery: Continuously identify creators best suited for your brand through self-discovery, platform matchmaking, and other methods.
  • increase Creator Conversion: Send customized collaboration invitations to build initial trust, increase creators’ acceptance rate of your offers, and lay the foundation for future private collaboration with creators.
  • Ensure Material Supply: While gaining organic affiliate GMV through ongoing creator collaborations, provide high-quality materials for your ad campaigns to maximize revenue.
There are four main steps to connect with creators, including creator sourcing, creator selection, creator outreach, and creator invitation. Please click here for details.Below are key points to note after reaching a collaboration intent with creators, including creator fulfillment and how to measure success through creator collaboration metrics:
  • Creator fulfillment
    • Pre-Sample Shipping Check: Verify sample details (quantity, specifications, color, size), creator's delivery info (with merchant details for easy receipt)
    • During Sample Shipping Reminder: Use expedited shipping, share logistics info promptly, and remind creators to sign and note upon arrival.
    • Post-Receipt Urging: Request for creators to complete content creation within 1 week and provide them with a content reference kit. Track your performance: aim for 50% completion in the first week and 80% within a month. If you fall short, immediately strengthen your communication with reminders and direct follow-ups.
  • How to measure success:
The core logic behind creator collaborations is to cast a wide net to create bestsellers. Merchants are encouraged to pursue a high volume of creator partnerships and content productions to drive affiliate GMV. This approach increases the likelihood of finding successful content that scales your sales. Here is how you measure the success of these efforts:
  • Creator Selection Stage [Expand the leads pool]: # of creator contact information, # of reached creators, # of established connections
  • Creator Collaboration Stage [Accumulate high-quality & willing creators]: # of creators with fulfillment, Efficiency of fulfillment (i.e. time from product delivery to content posting)
  • Performance Optimization Stage [Maximize impact]: GMV per video for each creator, Ads used, and Content re-edits.
Go to Seller Center -> Analytics to check creator collaboration performance:
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Marketing empowerment

Beyond the core functions of managing your Product Assortment and Content strategy, leveraging marketing events such as mega sales or targeted campaigns, and ad investment acts as a crucial accelerator to empower your growth on TikTok Shop.

Campaigns

  1. Why Participate in Platform Campaigns? (The Benefits)

Campaigns are limited-time promotional events organized by TikTok Shop to drive sales and excitement. For merchants, these campaigns are a golden opportunity to accelerate growth. Participating is one of the most effective ways to increase your store's traffic, sales, and brand visibility in a short period.
Past campaign results suggest the following potential gains:
  • Significant Traffic increase: Campaigns are heavily promoted across the TikTok platform, which can draw massive attention. Merchants who participate might see their product views increase by up to 500% compared to typical selling periods.
  • Major Sales Uplift: Given the high purchase intent from users during these events, campaigns have the potential to drive impressive sales growth. On average, participating merchants have experienced a sales uplift around 40%.
  • Increased Conversion Rates: Shoppers are actively seeking deals during campaigns. This high motivation, combined with your offers, can lead to higher conversion rates and a strong return on your marketing efforts.
  • Enhanced Brand Exposure: Get your brand and products in front of millions of potential new customers who are exploring the campaign pages and related content.
  • Acquire New Customers: The influx of new shoppers provides a unique chance to grow your customer base and build long-term loyalty.
  • Clear Out Inventory: Campaigns can serve as an excellent method to efficiently sell through seasonal items or excess stock, clearing your warehouse for new inventory.
  1. Different Campaign Types

Typically, campaign strategies on TikTok Shop are structured around two core areas: Product Tactics and Content Tactics.
Category
Tactics
Key Features (This may vary depending on the campaigns, taking 2025 Fall DFYD as an example)
Recommended Merchants
Product Tactics
Standard Product RegistrationEligibility:
  • Shop performance score (SPS) is ≥ 3.5 or no score
  • Sellers are required to have free shipping (Shop or products have free shipping with a threshold of $30 or below)
Standard campaigns will require a campaign price which is normally the lower of these two: (a) the lowest price in the past X days, or (b) y% off the retail price.
All eligible merchants
Flash Sale RegistrationFlash Sale is very similar to standard product registration, but will have a stricter price requirement and merchants are required to reserve inventory stock. Invited merchants
Content Tactics
Key LivestreamKey Livestream registration is open to selected sellers only. Live duration is usually required to be at least 1 hour. By generating higher GMV during campaigns through live, sellers can receive more resources such as TikTok Shop funded coupons, landing page visibility and marketing support.Merchants who have experience with livestream and have achieved a certain level of live GMV
Livestream ChampionshipMerchants need to go live during the campaigns Top 20 sellers of each category with the highest cumulative GMV generated from their shoppable livestreams will receive TikTok Shop Ads credits.Merchants who will go live during the campaign period should join
Short Video ChallengeMerchants need to post shoppable videos with the campaign hashtag in the designated period. Top 20 sellers of each category with the highest cumulative GMV generated from their shoppable videos will receive TikTok Shop Ads credits.Merchants that post videos during designated period
  1. Which Type of Campaign to Join?

TikTok Shop Campaigns are categorized into four tiers based on their scale, discount requirements, and the benefits provided.
Tier
Campaign Example
Key Features
Adaptability for Merchants
SS (Highest tier)Black Friday & Cyber MondayLargest exposure, highest discount benefits, top-tier in-app placementsAll merchants are encouraged to join the highest tier campaigns
S Deals For You DaysWide audience reach, strong promotional support, high discount incentivesAll merchants are encouraged to join these major campaigns to harness the benefits provided by the platform
A Labor Day SaleTargeted seasonal promotions, solid visibility, moderate discount expectations
B (Basic tier)Treasure Finds, Fashion WeekNiche audience targeting, lower discount requirements, steady engagement opportunitiesMerchants can participate in these daily campaigns based on business needs; Treasure Finds campaigns are specially designed for emerging sellers
  1. How to join a Campaign?

Joining a campaign is a straightforward process. Follow these steps to get started and prepare for success.
Step 1: Find Upcoming Campaigns
  • Where to Look: You can find all available campaigns in your TikTok Shop Seller Center.
  • Navigation Path: Simply log in to your Seller Center and navigate to the "Campaigns" tab on the main dashboard. Here, you'll see a list of upcoming events you may be eligible for.
    image
Step 2: Register and Submit Your Products
  • Check Eligibility: Each campaign has specific criteria for participation, such as seller rating, product category, or discount requirements. Review these carefully.
  • Register for the Campaign: Select the campaign you want to join and click "Register."
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  • Submit Your Best Products: Choose the products you want to feature. Be sure to submit items that have strong sales potential and meet the campaign's discount guidelines.
    image
Step 3: Prepare for Success – The Key to Maximizing ResultsPreparation is crucial. Don’t wait until the last minute.
  • Pay Attention to the Timeline:
    • Registration Period: Typically opens 2-3 weeks before the campaign starts.
    • Product Submission Deadline: Make sure your products are submitted and approved well in advance.
    • Campaign Period: The live dates of the event.
  • Plan Your Inventory: Anticipate a surge in demand. Ensure you have enough stock for your campaign products to avoid selling out early and disappointing customers. A good rule of thumb is to have at least 2-3 times your normal sales volume in inventory.
  • Optimize Your Creatives & Promotions:
    • Product Images & Videos: Create eye-catching, campaign-specific visuals that highlight your offers.
    • Set Competitive Discounts: Your discount is a key driver of sales. Make sure your offer is compelling enough to stand out.
Step 4: Closely Monitor Closely monitor TikTok Shop Seller Center Marketing - Campaign section on a routine basis to avoid missing any major campaigns.
** Pro-Tip for New Merchants:
If you're new to TikTok Shop, consider starting with smaller, niche campaigns first. This allows you to gain experience with the process and understand customer behavior before participating in major, high-traffic events like Black Friday & Cyber Monday or Holiday sales.
  1. Auto Registration
Campaign Auto-Registration is a powerful feature designed to help you maximize your participation in TikTok Shop campaigns with minimal effort. It automatically registers your selected products into relevant campaigns based on your preferences, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to improve visibility and drive sales.
Key Benefits
  • Time Savings & Reduced Effort: Eliminate the manual work of constantly checking for new campaigns and registering products one by one.
  • Increased Visibility & Sales: By automatically enrolling your products into campaigns, you gain more exposure to millions of shoppers, helping to drive higher sales volumes.
  • Manage Campaigns Easily: Tailor your prices to different campaign tiers, or easily turn auto-registration off as needed.
Please refer to TikTok Shop Academy for detailed set-up steps.

Advertising

  1. Why place ads on TikTok Shop and when to start?

TikTok Shop ads help new sellers reach highly engaged, intent-driven shoppers within the app, reducing friction by keeping users in a native checkout flow. We observed sellers gaining +30% GMV uplift after using GMV Max.
When to start depends on your ad budget:
  • If you are a new seller with a sufficient ad budget, we suggest testing ads immediately using high-quality videos with clear product links.
  • If your budget is limited, we suggest starting with organic efforts first to build initial sales and find winning content. Use your best-performing organic videos to start small with ads, then scale your spend gradually based on proven results.
  1. Overview of Ad Types and recommended starting point

TikTok Shop offers a variety of ad formats designed to meet different seller goals and marketing needs. For new sellers just getting started, we recommend beginning with Product GMV Max campaigns. This ad type focuses on maximizing your overall shop GMV, making it ideal for sellers looking to quickly grow total revenue. Below, you'll find a table summarizing the key features of Product GMV Max & Live GMV Max to help you choose the best option for your business.
Product GMV Max
Live GMV Max
Target Sellers
  • Ideal for sellers aiming to increase sales by promoting products through in-feed short videos, product cards on the shop tab, and search results.
  • As Product GMV Max requires a high volume of creative assets, it is recommended that sellers consistently produce high-quality video assets and product images to enhance their GMV Max campaign effectiveness.
  • Ideal for sellers focused on increasing Live GMV specifically, rather than total TikTok Shop GMV. This means that only sellers who are running livestreams are suitable to utilize this ad product.
  • The recommended threshold is sellers who livestream regularly with Live GMV > 1000 USD per week.
Usability
  • Automated Ad Product: Product GMV Max automatically retrieves videos with product anchor links from available TikTok accounts, as well as Spark Ads posts from Affiliates with product anchor links that are uploaded into the ad account to be used as ad creatives.
  • Campaign Settings: Select which products to add, the budget, and the ROI target.
  • Recommended to break out campaigns by product maturity: While sellers can add unlimited products, it's recommended to break out campaigns based on product maturity for better performance:
    • Hero/Best Sellers: Separate campaigns with tailored Target ROI.
    • New/Other Products: Can be grouped together in a separate campaign.
  • Automated Ad Product: Live GMV Max automatically uses the livestream itself as the ad creative to maximize liveroom GMV. Additionally, sellers can upload short videos to help promote the live, with a particular focus on content that features the same products and host as the actual liveroom.
  • Campaign Settings: Select the LIVE source followed by the budget and target ROI recommendations.
  • Scheduling Best Practice: Be mindful when scheduling the Live GMV Max campaign to go live, with consideration for time zone and the planned time for the livestream.
Traffic Sources
  • Seamless Traffic Expansion: Product GMV Max integrates paid promotion across In-Feed, Search, Shop Tab, and Product Cards to increase existing organic reach, effectively treating organic and paid traffic as a single, holistic pool for maximum GMV.
  • Seamless Live Traffic Expansion: Live GMV Max integrates paid promotion directly with your livestream, enhancing the reach of your existing organic audience for the event. This approach effectively treats organic viewers and paid traffic as a single, holistic pool to maximize Live GMV.
ROI Definition
  • ROI = Total non-Live GMV of selected products / Ads Cost
  • ROI = Total Liveroom Gross Revenue / Ads Cost
Attribution
  • Product GMV Max Ads incorporate total paid & organic orders from promoted products when a campaign is active. Product GMV Max counts if a user views or clicks on an ad for Product A and on the same day places an order for Product A.
  • If a user doesn't click an ad or view an ad, but he places an order for products promoted by GMV Max, that is also attributed to GMV Max.
  • User enters liveroom -> buys product in liveroom -> attributed to LIVE GMV Max
  • All conversions that occur within the liveroom while the LIVE GMV Max campaign is active will be counted towards gross revenue.
  1. Getting Started with GMV Max and Key Strategies to increase Performance

GMV Max is a powerful ad format on TikTok Shop designed to help new sellers maximize total sales value quickly and effectively. To set you up for success and continuous improvement, we'll walk through three essential steps: campaign setup, enabling cold-start Logic, and tracking & optimization.
  1. Campaign setup
Step by Step
Account
Set Up
  • Bind the Primary Ad Account, Business Center, and TikTok Account.
    • Access Seller Center
      • Log into the Seller Center of the TikTok Shop.
      • Navigate to the Shop Ads tab on the left sidebar.
    • Manage Ad Account
      • Click Manage Account next to the ad account name.
      • Select Add GMV Max Account to initiate setup.
    • Business Center Permissions
      • Ensure the user has full permissions in the Business Center.
      • Go to Accounts in Business Center and verify the GMV Max ad account is linked.
    • Connect TikTok Shop
      • In TikTok Ads Manager (TTAM), click "Choose a TikTok Shop".
      • Select the TikTok Shop to promote via GMV Max.
  • Note: Only Shop Admin or Business Center Admin can perform these steps.
Creative Supply and Authorization
  • If your shop or products have little to no GMV and you want to get a head start with ads, you can use the GMV Max campaign type.
  • While not strictly required, starting with five different videos is recommended as it generally leads to better initial results. GMV Max can only capture videos with one single product anchor link, which are:
    1. Posts in TikTok Official Account of the shop
    2. Posts in Tiktok Business Accounts of the shop
    3. Posts in Authorized TikTok Accounts in the shop's TikTok Business Center
    4. Spark ads posts (authorized code videos) in the TTAM creative library from the ad account which has been selected to run Product GMV Max
  • Ensure all creatives under the Primary Ad Account have obtained the Video Code and are properly authorized.
Product Selection
  • We recommend selecting all products to truly maximize performance. GMV Max automatically promotes your highest-performing products by default. This is ideal for sellers with limited manpower or similar ROI targets across products.
  • Alternatively, if you don't want to enroll all your products for GMV Max, toggle off "Promote all products in TikTok Shop" and click "Add product" to select specific items.
    • We recommend selecting products with more than $1,500 GMV in the last 7 days or products that have a substantial volume of creatives in the TikTok Shop ecosystem.
    • If you're brand new to TikTok Shop, we suggest choosing 3-7 best sellers on TikTok Shop or from other channels like your website.
    • We recommend breaking out each best selling product into its own campaign.
Creative selection
  • Use auto-select creatives and keep Affiliate posts enabled to leverage all authorized videos for maximum reach.
  • For products that you are cold starting with, prioritize those with 5 or more videos to improve ad relevance.
ROI Target
And bidding
Cold start phase:If you are a new seller or launching new products/live rooms:
  • We suggest you use Max Delivery (prioritizes GMV over ROI). This maximizes initial traffic, tests market fit, and automates ad formats (e.g., product shopping ads) if creative resources are limited. Set a daily budget and run Max Delivery for 5-7 days to allow the system to optimize, especially when ROI targets are uncertain.
  • If you prefer not to use Max Delivery, start with a low ROI target (around 1.5–2.0). This helps to maximize ad delivery volume to test the market response, as the system's ROI recommendations may be unreliable without historical data.
For sellers with stable historical data (e.g., consistent GMV and ad spend):
  • We suggest going with the System-Suggested ROI, as it is specifically tailored to your shop's performance data and generally reliable.
  • If you are scaling aggressively in the early stages, you may test setting an ROI slightly lower than the system's recommendation.
  • Crucially, avoid setting your ROI target too high. This often limits traffic and prevents scaling (i.e., getting your content recommended to bigger & broader audiences). Remember that scaling traffic is key: prioritize bringing traffic in first, then optimize your bid and ROI.
Budget
  • When setting your ad spend, we suggest you always adhere to the in-platform recommended budgets. For GMV Max campaigns, you have the flexibility to set a higher budget. This is because GMV Max is designed to prioritize achieving your ROI goals and efficiently runs multiple creative assets under a single ad campaign. To effectively evaluate your campaign's performance, we suggest allowing it to run continuously for a minimum of 3 days before making any evaluations.
    • Frequent changes to Target ROI are not recommended as the system takes time to adjust. It's best to give time between ROI changes to see results.
  • Ensure your budget is set higher than your Historical GMV divided by your Target ROI (Budget > Historical GMV / Target ROI).
  • For example, your Historical GMV is $10,000, and your Target ROI is 3
    • Historical GMV / Target ROI = $10,000 / 3 = $3,333
    • Therefore, your budget should be higher than $3,333
  • Note: Insufficient budget may cause the system to hit delivery limits quickly when scaling rapidly. Recharge funds promptly if your ad balance runs low.
  1. Enabling cold-start logic
Avoid the frequent temptation to adjust or turn off your ads. The system is in an early "exploration" phase and may show short-term performance fluctuations. Should you accidentally turn off an ad, reopening it within 24 hours can often restore its performance quickly.
Week 1
Week 2-5
Products
  • Enroll your top 3-7 best selling products into a GMV Max campaign
  • Keep at least 3 products active on GMV Max through week 5
Bidding
  • Enable Maximum Delivery after the campaign has been created for each product
  • Suggest keeping Maximum Delivery enabled until you graduate from the cold start phase and see at least $1500 in GMV in L7D for a product.
  • If cost control bidding is preferred, consider switching to ‘Target ROI’ after 7 days. Follow the system's ROI recommendation.
Budget
  • Set a minimum budget of $150/day.
  • Target ROI budget: 10 * AOV as the initial budget
Creative
  • Continue to add creatives to your campaign either through affiliate authorized content or branded content
  • Continue to add creatives to your campaign either through affiliate authorized content or branded content
  1. Tracking & optimization
Navigate to Seller Center → Shop Ads → Product/Live GMV Max tab to monitor campaign performance, including orders, GMV, and ad spend. Adjust the date for reporting to measure the GMV uplift in your products since you began using GMV Max.
Common issues
Solutions
Budget Pacing
  • Slow Spending: Decrease ROI target slightly and...
    • Lower ROI Target:
      • If spending is too slow after monitoring for a full day, decrease the ROI target slightly to encourage more ad spend.
      • Example: If the system suggests an ROI of 3, start with 2.5.
    • Increase Budget
      • Max Delivery Campaigns: Increase the daily budget by 30-50% if consumption rate is >80%.
      • ROI-Target Campaigns: Gradually scale budgets to maximize volume while maintaining ROI.
    • Add High-Quality Creatives:
      • Ensure a minimum of 50+ videos with product links are available for the system to use.
      • Continuously produce and post new creatives with product anchor links. It's recommended that you add 5–10 new creatives per week per product.
      • Use Affiliate Creatives for Ads (ACA) to leverage influencer videos.
    • Suggest enabling Promotion Days if your budget allows
      • When creating campaigns, activate Promotion Days to automatically increase daily budget by 50% and prioritize GMV over ROI.
    • If resource & budget permits, a Campaign Splitting approach is recommended
      • Create separate campaigns for hero products and bundle others into an “Others” campaign to focus resources.
  • Fast Spending: Increase budget or ROI target if it's not aligned with actual goals.
    • Increase Budget: Only when consumption rate is >80% (system has room to spend). Incremental increases should be 30-50% at a time, with 2-3 days between adjustments.
    • Holiday Campaigns: Increase budget by 10–30% if utilization exceeds 80%.
Low ROI Performance
  • Adjust ROI Target:
    • Initial sales often require a higher ad spend, so don't be alarmed if your ROI goes lower than usual at first. Temporarily reduce your ROI target within your means to build momentum.
    • Example: If the system suggests an ROI of 3, start with 2.5.
  • Increase Budget:
    • If your current budget is < $150/day, increase budget to support optimization.
  • Optimize Creatives:
    • Ensure 50+ videos with product links are available for the system to use.
    • Continuously produce and post new creatives with product anchor links. It's recommended that you add 5–10 new creatives/week.
    • Use Affiliate Creatives for Ads (ACA) to leverage influencer videos.
  • Note:
    • For those with Max Delivery activated, please be mindful that Max Delivery ignores ROI and simply aims to spend your full budget to maximize exposure. Expect your campaign's ROI to drop because the system is no longer optimizing for profit, just for delivery speed.
    • Given that your products are still new to the platform, daily sales may be sparse and inconsistent. Therefore ROI will also be inconsistent and you should measure ROI on a weekly basis, not a daily basis. Weekly ROI attainment should be between 80-120% of your target ROI.
Further uplift Incremental GMV Despite Achieved ROI
  • Enable Promotion Days:
    • Activate Promotion Days when you first create the campaign to automatically increase your daily budget by 50% and prioritize GMV over ROI.
    • Alternatively, it will be automatically turned on during sales moments and holidays.
  • Split Campaigns:
    • Create separate campaigns for hero products and bundle others into an “Others” campaign.
  • Scale Hero Products:
    • Focus on collectibles or high-demand items with strong traction.
    • Use Target ROI mode for long-term efficiency once traction is established.