1. Open the TikTok app and tap the plus icon (“+”) at the center of the bottom tab.
   
2. Choose the “LIVE” option in the bottom carousel.
   
3. Tap the red “Go LIVE” button to start the livestream.

• Notes:
  • During your livestream, you may only add products approved before from your Product Showcase. To ensure that it can be presented, it is recommended that you sync your products to the Product Showcase beforehand.
  • The maximum number of products that can be uploaded to the Product Showcase is 50. Uploading more than 30 items may cause a delay in the upload process.
    
    
    

• Notes:
  • Only one product may be pinned at a time.
  • Pinning a product will display its badge on the user's screen as shown below. Each badge will vanish after 15-30 seconds, so please continue to pin the product if it is still being presented.
    

• LIVE Event: You can set up, manage and promote LIVE teaser in advance, inform followers of the upcoming LIVE, and keep the audience posted and ask them to subscribe to the LIVE.

• How to create a LIVE event [Video tutorial] // [PDF:'LIVE EVENT' feature intro.pdf]
• LIVE Countdown Sticker: The host needs to create a short video, add a LIVE countdown sticker, and fill in the LIVE preview details before releasing it. Users who watch the video can choose whether to accept the reminder before LIVEs.
• Instructions: Introduction of Countdown Sticker
• Video tutorial:RPReplay_Final1625582773.mp4

• Add a popular hashtag or key tagline
• Ensure the title and the cover are related to LIVE content: If your LIVE sells beauty products but the title is about 3C, this irrelevant and deceptive title is not conducive to boosting the traffic for LIVEs.
• Use emojis and punctuations wisely (eg.❗️)
• Highlight the hosts eg. celebrities/beauty KOL
• Speak to your audience eg. dedicated fashion LIVE for men
• Use eye-catching words: special event, discount, giveaways, surprise, carnival, limited edition, limited time, first debut etc.
  

• Getting connected with your viewers is the key to LIVE. Build a community with viewers through interaction with them via comments or chats.
• Use 'Block keywords' to manage comments: you can choose to add a maximum of 500 words to filter some inappropriate comments (including bullying, hate speech, malicious comments on products being "fake" products or of "poor quality", etc.)

More info: video tutorial

• Users can be encouraged to share the LIVE with their friends and forward it to other social media platforms with one click.

• The host is able to assign a maximum of 30 followers/viewers as moderators to help keep your livestream running safe and smooth.
  • Ensure the host and the assigned moderators have followed each other first.
• What can LIVE moderators do?

More info: video tutorial

• It is recommended that you add products to LIVEs by order before going LIVE.
• LIVE product management: Leverage the TikTok Streamer Desktop Platform (App & PC) to operate your LIVE conduct content marketing and product management via livestreams.
  • Benefits:
    • LIVE product management (pin, move to top, delete and add)

Products can be added via both the app and the PC. You can move, pin, add and delete products in batch via PC, which is more convenient and stable than the app (especially in OBS LIVEs).

• Adding products to livestream (from URL, targeted plan, showcase)

You can add products through multiple channels. You can directly add products to LIVEs from the showcases, direct invitations, and merchants' own shops (only available to merchants) on both the app and the PC. You can only add product URL via PC, while adding products from the Affiliate Product Marketplace is only supported on the app.

• How-to:

• Notes for managing LIVE products
  • Product sorting:
    • App: the newly added products will generally be placed on the top, and other products can be moved up only;
    • PC: you are able to add products from the top or the bottom of the listing.
  • Pin/Unpin:
    • The host needs to help the audience understand the products during the LIVE by pinning the products. When introducing each product, the host needs to pin the product in time to attract clicks, which can last 30 seconds for each product introduction.
  • Products can be deleted on both the app and the PC.
  • At present, the product cover can only be edited and selected on the PC.

• Q&A during LIVE: tap the icon with question mark at the bottom to view and answer questions from buyers. Tap the three dots in the upright corner to turn off Q&A.
• In case of any inappropriate question, you can choose "Report/Delete the Question" or "Mute/Block the User"

• The host can suspend the LIVE for a maximum of 5 minutes 3 times in one LIVE.

• Flip the camera: streamers can flip between front and back camera by tapping "Flip"
• Enhance videos: streamers can enhance the video and add filters
• Add effects: streamers can choose from different effects by tapping "Effects".

• Co-hosting (Go LIVE with someone): tap the icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen and a window of a list of friends (mutual followers who are going LIVE) and recommended hosts will pop up. Tap "Invite" to send invitations and can go LIVE together when invitations are accepted.
• Multi-guest: send voice or video requests. At present, only 3 guests at maximum can be invited to chat in the LIVE.

• Gifting: viewers can purchase virtual coins and exchange them for virtual gifts which can be sent to hosts they like.

• Any lavalier or USB mic(with stand/mount)

• High quality lavalier mic with transmitter

• Main Camera: smartphone camera with a clear picture
• Camera should be positioned 0.8 - 1.2 meters in front of the host

• High-end DSLR camera or camcorder
• Adding additional cameras:
  • Having additional camera angles showing the presenters and the products.

Phone Holder Camera Holder

• Any adjustable tripod to stabilize the camera

• Any adjustable tripod to stabilize the camera

• Additional smartphone for the host to monitor and interact with chat in real time.

• Monitoring and interacting with chat
• Managing products
• Monitoring the livestream from the users' POV

• Open and pleasant-looking
• Size: 20-50 square meters
• Clean & organized; nothing unecessary
• Decorations: paintings, plants, props, but nothing to distract viewers from the products
• Host should be 1-1.5 meters away from the background

• Higher production livestreams can experiment with larger rooms and switching between sets via OBS.
• Invest more time into the quality of props and the appearance of the room without making it distracting.
• Brands may use green screens to display a custom background to users.

• Good lighting can polish and beautify the products.
• Bright and even lighting such as Ring Light. Natural light is best.
• The stage should be well-lit and there are no visible shades. Keep adding lights until you achieve this.

• Bright and even lighting. Natural light is best.
• Ceiling lights, ring lights, panel lights, and softbox lights
• Ring lights can have strong and better lighting.

• Laptop, monitor, or tablet
• Paper prompter

• Professional teleprompter

• Any tables & chairs for rest and sample display

• Any tables & chairs for rest and sample display
  • Especially for showing a close-up of the products

• E-commerce permissions

Automatically obtain e-commerce permissions after your shop is set up (including the permissions to add product links in short videos, set showcases and go shoppable LIVEs)

• LIVE permissions

Automatically obtain LIVE permissions after your shop is set up. However, products must be added to your LIVE showcase window before they can be featured in your livestream.

• Open the TikTok app and tap “+” at the center of the bottom tab. Choose the “LIVE” option in the bottom carousel.
• On the pre-LIVE screen, tap "Products" to add products.
• During your livestream, you can also tap the shopping bag icon to add products.
• All products in the showcase window will be added by default.
• Video tutorial click here

• OBS permissions (go LIVE on PC)

• Open Broadcaster Software:

In addition to streaming on your phone, you can also go LIVE on your computer with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software).

OBS enables even casual users to learn how to use multiple cameras and switch between them, add professional-looking titles, and make smooth transitions between cameras.

• Check whether you have OBS access:

You can check whether there is a “Connect to PC/Mac” button on GO LIVE. If there is a button, it means that you have OBS access.

You can also contact your account manager to add you to the whitelist if you do not have such access.

• How-to:
  • Download and install OBS at https://obsproject.com/
  • Select "Cast on PC/Mac" to go LIVE and copy the server URL and the stream key
  • Set the streaming address. Service: Choose "Custom"; Fill in the copied server URL and the stream key.
  • Select streaming resources (local video, picture, screen, browser, etc.).
  • You are all set now. Happy streaming!

• Basic: 2-person team, host+operation / host+LIVE moderator
• Next-level: 4-person team, host+assistant+LIVE moderator+operation
• High-level(mainly brands): more than 6 people

High-level team structure for reference：

• Enthusiastic & confident: The host is good at expressing, performing, interacting and promoting products.
• Experience in selling: The host needs to be able to influence the audience to place orders.
• Lean in local: The host is willing to learn, and understands user preferences, cultures, and habits of the local market.
• On-brand: Select hosts who are compatible with your brand's image and positioning.

• You can inquire with the account manager about the host pool of TikTok Shop and find the host that meets your requirements.

• TikTok Shop Partners (TSPs) are service providers for TikTok Shop merchants, helping them manage content creation, shoppable LIVE stream production and store operation.

• Create your own style
• Definite clear segmentation
  • Branding
  • character
  • product
  • Shop

• Distinguished
• Consistent (if you have more than one account)
• Reflect your category/brand

• Use brand logo to extend your branding
• Recognizable as part of your brand if you have more than one account

• Informative, be related to your category
• Fairly concise, 1-2 sentences maximum
• Upcoming LIVEs, promotions, events
• Shop link

• Upper: 1/4 space for banners
• Middle: upper body shots
• Lower: products in front

• Price
• prices of products on your livestream need to be lower than, or at the very least competitive with, the price of those products elsewhere on the market.

• Exclusivity
• products that have garnered significant hype and interest from audience members, and are difficult if not impossible to get elsewhere.
  • Do: Ensure that the products selected are competitive.
  • Don't: Do not blindly choose virual products, and do not use price wars to lower consumers' expectations of product value.

• Credbility
• the degree to which hosts can establish themselves as people who are knowledgeable, trustworthy, and capable of making good product recommendations to viewers.

• Gain popularity and attract new customers
• Improve engagement and clicks, extend watch duration of the livestream.

• Use low-price products with benefits and discounts to attract traffic when LIVEs are just launched.
• Launch a flash sale around the end of LIVEs to drive up conversions. It is not advised to end LIVEs when traffic is low, because it will affect traffic distribution for the next LIVE.
• Brands tend to make users stay in LIVEs for a longer period by using marketing tactics like clearing inventories of products with benefits and discounts and listing certain products when the number of likes hits XX.

• Stabilize order volumes
• Help improve value for customers, customer satisfaction

• During the high-traffic period, use popular products in the industry endorsed by celebrities to retain users.

• Enrich product selection of LIVE
• Improve CTR, Product Click Rate, and conversion rates.
• Experiment and gain learnings about customer interests

• The major promoted products are products with good profitability and market reception, or new products that need to drive up consumer awareness.
• During the stable-traffic stage, list the major promoted products to increase LIVE profits.

• Tip 1: Understand the customer's accurate pain points: Clearly present the pain points before using the product and depict the wonderful life after having the product. Starting from the user's perspective, put oneself in the customer's shoes, and implement specific real-life scenarios.
• Tip 2: Emphasize the most competitive selling point: Brainstorm and list out the advantages of multiple products, and choose the most competitive one. Emphasizing the single selling point helps to reduce user understanding costs and increase impressions.

• Tip 1: Showcase product details:

• Tip 2: Reflect the value of gifts:

• Tip 3: Leverage endorsements:

• How: by setting a warm scene for girls' gathering, the host can highlight the low degree of alcohol, good taste, and high cost-effectiveness of the lychee wine.

• How: by showing customers the details of the handmade coat, the host highlights its craftmanship so as to elaborate that the coat sells for $359 in the LIVE session has the same quality as the one sells $1,690 in the offline store.

• Here is an example of the standard e-commerce livestream content structure. It has been put together based on what has been shown to work on TikTok. However, the content of each livestream may vary depending on the products and the needs of the brand.
• In addition to having a clearly defined content structure, having a full script is also very helpful in ensuring that all products and topics are covered in the best light possible.
• Apart from key information and transitions, scripts do not need to be completely word-for-word.
  • Scripts should be reviewed by both presenters and members involved in the production prior to the dry run and the live.
  • Bullet points can be used to summarize the key points of each section for the presenters.
  • During the livestream, it can be helpful to prepare bulleted slides for the presenters.

• Start earlier for at least 5 mins to get yourself well prepared

• Greet your viewers, and introduce the theme of your livestream.
• Emphasize that this is a shopping livestream, everything is shoppable.
• Ask viewers to like and share the livestream with their friends

• Briefly go through the products you plan to promote to help users to understand what to expect for the rest of the livestream.
• Highlight giveaways, and give details on the best deals and the timing of those deals to keep users interested in the livestream. This will encourage them to either keep watching, or return later for specific items.
• Highlight the discounts, promotions and let users know the discounts are time bound
• Invite users to like/flood the chat with your desired slogan to drive overall interaction

• Bestsellers

• Livestream shopping on TikTok is very new. Let us show you how to buy it.
• Host demonstrates to users how to buy using their phone

1. Pin a specific product when talking about it
2. Demonstrate how to buy/click the shopping basket every 5-20 minutes
3. Actively call for comments, and be specific

• Introduce lower priced products as part of your flash sale.
• Describe the product features, benefits, and reasons to buy
• Reveal the price and share the excitement around the flash sale price
• Pause to interact with the audience, point to the product card/shopping cart, recap product features to give viewers time to consider and purchase

• Flash sales

• Sell products and explain qualities of each one/best method of application
• Describe the product features, benefits, and reasons to buy
• Reveal the price and share the excitement around the flash sale price
• Payment last call based on real-time sales data (re-feature best selling items).

• Profitable products

• Livestream shopping on TikTok is very new. Explain to the users the theme, promotions, products of this livestream.
• Tease the viewers about the special offers and inform them how to participate
• Host demonstrates to users how to buy using their phone

• Give away free products (less than $20), in order to drive engagement and boost interest/viewership
• Call out the winners for transparency and let them know how to claim their prizes

• Freebies
• Flash sales

• Sell products and explain qualities of each one/best method of application
• Reveal the price and share the excitement around the flash sale price
• Encouraging payment for unpaid orders based on real-time sales data

• Profitable products

• Re-feature previous products based on real-time sales data and user requests
• Go through the features, selling points, and discounts of the products.

• Real-time best-selling products
• According to the real situation

• Re-feature the Top 3-5 best selling products
• Go through the features, selling points, and discounts of the products.
• Last call for users to buy and finish payment and remind them the discounts are time bound
• Include a section asking audience what their favourite products have been and what they are looking forward to seeing in the next livestream

• The top 3-5 best selling products

• Provide next livestream's information including time, product selection, promotions, potential guest stars to encourage users to revisit and order more.

• Prompt audience to follow the brand's TikTok accounts and social media accounts for upcoming livestreams and deals.
• Thank the audience for their time, and say goodbye.

How to sell a product in 3 minutes?

1. 15s: lead to the topic related to the upcoming product
2. 1min: Introduce the product with detailed information
3. 1min: Encourage viewers to place orders
4. 45s: Continuously repeat the selling points of the product
   Example: FRESH facial mask
5. 15s: Lead to the topic by saying that our skin becomes unstable during winter when the air is dry, and the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors is particularly large, resulting in peeling, acne, and redness.
6. 1min: This time we need a moisturing mask to survive through the winter. This product contains yeast extract of black tea, as well as blackberry leaves, lychee seeds and so on. It is very mild and non-irritating, which helps to soften our skin and make it look shaggy and elastic.
7. 1min: Order now! We will give you 1, 2, 3, 4 more masks as the giveaway. Again! Place order now! We will also give you a mask brush. Moreover, the first 100 customers who place orders today can also experience a free skin test at our offline stores.
8. 45s: This mask can be our winter skin rescuer for both boys and girls. Using this mask to maintain a healthy skin condition. Let it accompany you in winter to keep your skin healthy.

LIVE highlights

product selling points

Product promotions

• Hosts are ready
• Hosts' costumes, makeup, and props are good to go
• Host scripts: product info, price, product promotion process, interactive playbooks, after-sales services questions, etc.
• Hosts are familiar with the scripts and presentation cycle, process, prohibited words, etc

• The inventory and listing of products are in line with expectations. Any unexpected changes?
• The products and props of the LIVE are ready
• Product prices are consistent with the LIVE process. Product links can be added to the shopping cart and the user journey is smooth

• LIVE settings such as camera position and lens are ready
• Testing in advance. Make sure the network environment is good, the LIVE is smooth, etc.
• Stickers are ready: LIVE room background board, logo, product selling points, promotion information, price display, free shipping and other signs

• The traffic-building short video was made and has been released
• The cover, title and topic of the LIVE are correct
• The promotion playbooks of the LIVE are all set: flash deals, discount, free shipping and other background settings
• The administrators of LIVE, blocked words, and comment area of the LIVE are all set

• In addition to presenting products with enthusiasm and confidence, it’s important that the host of the livestream understands the products from the inside out to meaningfully frame them, share their benefits, and answer questions.

• LIVE Shopping is all about real-time interactions and creating an open conversation with viewers to encourage them to stay and feel engaged. Use the chat function to speak directly with viewers and answer their questions to build trust and interest for your products.

• TikTok audiences are new to this form of livestream, and most users are dipping in and out. Presenters should welcome viewers, show them how to shop by describing the process, and repeat greetings and product introductions often. This builds familiarity with this new experience and adds credibility for both the merchant and host.

• Including exclusive offers and giveaways just before introducing flagship products is a strong way to increase audience engagement and prolong viewership times.

• For a 2-hour LIVE, we suggest introducing ~20 products. And since the average watch time is ~1 min, we suggest the host spends ~5 mins introducing each product. The benefits of each product should be clearly communicated while avoiding being too lengthy.

• Certain products will have special appeal to customers—including those with seasonal appeal (eg. Christmas products), exclusive access (eg. special edition sneakers), and virality (eg. products trending on #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt).

• Results show 2-5 best-selling products can contribute up to 60-90% of all sales. Try to identify these products, make sure you have sufficient inventory, and set a price that’s attractive to viewers.

• Showcase a diverse assortment of products: some products to attract attention, some to drive conversions, and some to drive profit. Start with lower-priced products to attract new viewers and keep them engaged in your shopping livestream. Profit-driver products should be introduced later in the livestream once you have more traffic and viewership.

• Bundling products in a package deal can lead to higher order value and create a sense of exclusivity, which can drive stronger conversions.

• Compare your prices with competitor offerings across all channels, and make sure prices featured during the livestream are best-in-market. Once viewers adopt the mindset that they can always find the best price for products during LIVE shopping events, they will more regularly view livestreams and have a higher potential to purchase.

• It's best to have best-selling products in every price tier, so that every type of shopper can find products in their price range. The comparison between items of different price ranges also makes lower-priced items look more appealing, which can help drive sales of those items.

• LIVE Shopping exclusive discounts, combined with the limited duration of the livestream, can help create a sense of urgency to buy for viewers. Limited time or quantity flash sales can be an effective way to attract viewers and improve conversion rates.

• Longer streams provide more opportunities to reach and connect with viewers. Make a commitment to go LIVE at the same time every day or week to get the audience into the habit of watching. It gives you more opportunities to know your target audience and get in front of the TikTok algorithm. Ideally, you should start with going LIVE for 1-2 hours featuring 6-10 products per hour.

• Teaser videos that are posted to TikTok before livestreams, or shared to other social media platforms can help drive additional traffic to your shopping livestream. Ensure your teaser videos are well narrated with appealing captions and imagery.

• Once your teaser videos are posted, encourage your followers and friends to share or repost on other social media platforms to reach a wider audience. During your livestream, greet and ask the audience to share the livestream to help boost traffic.

Basis for the audiences to find your livestream

• Live duration = the average live duration per livestream * the number of livestreams
• There are 2 ways to prompt live duration:

1. improve the duration of a single livestream
2. improve the number of livestreams per week

• The longer the live duration, the more traffic exposure your live room will get.

Starting point for users to spend money during livestream

• When a user scrolls across a livestream in their feed and finds the content interesting, they will choose to tap to open it. When this happens, the rate of users joining livestream will increase.
• Good content is the basis for enticing users to click to open a livestream.
• There are different ways to increase your join rate, including: event guide, product appeal, brand reputation, and audience's interest matching.

Key feature for traffic to be converted into sales

• After traffic joins a livestream, that traffic can only be converted into sales by creating effective and widespread retention. Therefore, reducing the loss rate of users is the key to increasing livestream retention.
• User expectation management is the key to improving user retention.
• Use products to attract users to stay and meet their expectations for beauty, excitement, and authenticity.
• Use events to attract users to stay and meet their expectations for value

Fostering a connection with your audience.

• Interaction can be valuable for both sellers and users.
• You can increase interactions through altruistic patter, target audience, and emotional resonance.

Convert traffic into sales

• A high GPM is the key to user purchase conversion.
• You can increase conversion rate with the Creator's speech and appearance, Product attributes and construction, Create marketing campaigns.

• The LIVE data can be viewed on your mobile phones right after the LIVE
• Real-time LIVE performance and previous LIVE analysis can be viewed in [Real-time LIVE] and [LIVE Analysis] on the merchant LIVE dashboard
• Analyze the LIVE based on the LIVE metrics stated in the 'key metrics of livestream' section

• You can capture some highlight moments and turn them into short videos for future content creation and promotion, reducing the cost of making short videos.

• High volume of traffic is driven into the LIVE immediately once launched
• Historical performance will factor into the viewer peak of the launch.
• To increase the peak viewing value, consistent application of LIVE best practices is recommended.

• Make your LIVE feel relevant and engaging to the less precise traffic - for example, this could be done by showcasing wide appealing/lower cost products
• Use giveaways/sales to incentivise users to continue watching and interacting with your LIVE
• Discuss trending and relevant topics on TikTok
• Engage with comments to boost LIVE interactions

• Completion of the initial traffic ramp, typically causing a drop off in traffic
• When cold starts, the dip can initially be more dramatic because the number of users watching is less causing the graph to be more sensitive
• *Traffic dips can also be a result of limited distribution due to the livestream violating community guidelines.

• At the peak, introduce best selling products, identified from historic sales performance within or external to TikTok Shop
• Highlight the value of these hero products and why consumers may wish to purchase these (not just the price point)
• Apply engagement techniques to maximise the AVG Duration indicator metric to reduce help reduce drop off rate

• The viewing trend is now dependent on organic user interactions with LIVE.
• Subsequent waves will become more noticeable as the average viewership grows from 0-1.
• Once the account has ramped up to a significant average viewership level (>200), viewers within the ongoing waves period can even reach beyond the initial traffic ramp peak.

• Rotate which products are being pushed between:
  • Traffic drivers (discounts, new product arrivals, trending products)
  • Revenue drivers (top sellers, high value price competitive products)
  • Margin products (Low discount rate, high margin)

• Viewers and Enter UV (entering) continue to drop due to a livestream issue, with no obvious spikes observed during a specific time period.
• This happens when the livestream is deemed to be breaking community guidelines and the recommendation system will stop recommending the content in the For You Feed, which is the biggest source of traffic.

1. If it is clear that no infringement has occurred, appeal to lift the restriction as soon as possible directly within the TikTok App
2. If the issue cannot be fixed quickly enough via the standard processes, consider restarting the LIVE

Livestream Checklist

Livestream Review

Livestream Sample Script

All things Livestream - onepager

TikTok Shop US - Merchant Playbook