Purpose
The purpose was to determine whether an always-on TikTok strategy could generate a statistically significant uplift in new customer acquisition and validate the channel’s contribution to business KPIs.
The objective was to measure the incremental impact of TikTok over a defined test period.
Deliverables
The assignment included the design and execution of a GeoLift study to measure TikTok’s impact on new customer acquisition.
Test Design
A geographically based lift study was conducted using historical data to identify comparable regions.
Two groups were defined:
- Test group: regions exposed to the standard marketing mix plus TikTok advertising
- Control group: regions exposed to the standard marketing mix only
The difference in performance between the groups during the test period was used to determine incremental impact.
Budget & Flight Time
A sufficient budget was required to generate statistically reliable results.
The required budget was estimated based on:
- cost per conversion from comparable channels
- number of conversions needed to detect a measurable difference
The test budget was calculated using:
Number of conversions × Cost per conversion = Test budget
The flight time was set to three months.
In-channel Strategy
Two key assumptions were identified:
- Readly was not yet established on TikTok and needed to build baseline reach and frequency
- The in-market audience was not large enough to scale effectively due to limited historical data for algorithm training
To address this, a phased budget allocation was implemented:
Month 1 70% branding 30% performance
Month 2 50% branding 50% performance
Month 3 30% branding 70% performance
Evaluation of Results / Effect
The GeoLift analysis showed that TikTok generated:
- 3.87% incremental lift in new customers during the test period
The incremental cost per acquisition was:
- 10.3x lower than the CAC measured through multi-touch attribution
The incremental CAC was also lower than results observed in lift studies on other social platforms.
Strategic reasoning from brief to execution
The strategy was based on combining multiple measurement methods to understand the channel’s true contribution.
Three methods were used:
- Multi-touch attribution for daily optimization, budget allocation, and creative testing
- Lift studies to measure incremental impact
- Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) to understand long-term channel contribution and optimize budget allocation
A geographic test design was selected to isolate the effect of TikTok and measure its impact on new customer acquisition.
Innovation and new thinking
The approach was based on a structured measurement framework combining different methodologies to evaluate marketing effectiveness.
GeoLift was used to measure causal impact through a controlled geographic experiment.
By combining this with existing measurement methods, the approach enabled simultaneous analysis of tactical performance, incremental value, and long-term contribution.
Deliverables
The assignment included:
- Design of a GeoLift study
- Analysis of historical data to define test and control groups
- Budget and test planning
- TikTok channel strategy and activation
- Implementation of phased budget allocation
- Analysis of incremental impact on new customer acquisition
