9 Expert Strategies For Decreasing Your CPA On TikTok

If you’re advertising on TikTok, you’ll always want to make sure that you’re generating optimal returns on your investment.

However, this is often easier said than done.

While TikTok is a very accessible platform for advertisers, it can be tricky to refine your marketing strategy and maximise returns.

If you want to drive jaw-dropping results with your campaigns, then you’ll need to understand how to leverage different marketing tools, targeting tactics, and creative executions to achieve your business goals and improve cost efficiency.

Fortunately, I’m about to share 9 proven strategies that will help you to effectively decrease your TikTok CPA and deliver superior returns with your budget. Follow these best practices, and you’ll be watching your acquisition costs plummet before you know it.

Table of Contents:

• Make Consistent Data-driven Optimisations
• Leverage Smart Retargeting Tactics With Custom Audiences
• Optimise Your Website Landing Pages for Conversions
• Experiment With Multiple TikTok Audiences
• Test Different Creative Executions and Stay Agile
• Utilise the TikTok Conversion Objective
• Elevate Performance With Lookalike Audiences
• Be Patient With the TikTok Algorithm When Evaluating CPA
• Always Include a Clear Compelling CTA
• How to Accurately Track Your CPA On TikTok

Strategy #1: Make Consistent, Data-driven Optimisations

While this may sound obvious, smart optimisations are the foundation of a successful (and profitable) TikTok ad campaign. By regularly making data-fuelled optimisations, you’ll be able to remove inefficient audiences and scale up cost-effective tactics to lower your CPA.

To start with, make sure you’re comfortable using the TikTok Ads Manager. You’ll need to use this platform to create performance reports and implement optimisations, so get to grips with the interface as quickly as possible.

Once you’re familiar with the Ads Manager, aim to stay focused on your key marketing metrics throughout your campaigns.

If you’re aiming to reduce your cost per acquisition, you’ll want to regularly review metrics such as clicks, conversions, and CTR. While you’re ultimately trying to lower your overall CPA, relevant metrics like CTR, CPC, and conversion rate will help you to understand which audiences have the potential to drive more efficient results.

You should also set up a regular optimisation routine that you can stick to. The more consistent you are with analysing performance data and making adjustments, the faster you’ll be able to reduce your TikTok CPA.

Strategy #2 – Leverage Smart Retargeting Tactics With Custom Audiences

Retargeting strategies can be insanely effective when you’re trying to reduce your CPA, as they allow you to reach hot TikTok prospects that have already engaged with your brand.

Rather than wasting impressions on low-converting audiences, you can utilise Custom Audience retargeting to increase conversions – and more importantly, reduce acquisition costs.

There are several different Custom Audiences available for retargeting on TikTok, including:

• Users that have visited your website
• Users that have engaged with your TikTok ads
• Users that have downloaded/used your app
• Users that currently exist in your customer files
• Users that have completed a TikTok lead form

Experimenting with multiple TikTok retargeting strategies can help you significantly increase your conversion rate and secure new customers at a lower cost.

You should also tailor your creative assets based on the types of retargeting segments you’re using. For example, users that have reached your checkout are further along the customer journey than users that have just clicked on a TikTok ad, so it’s a good idea to adjust your messaging accordingly.

(Many retargeting segments will also require a TikTok Pixel to be installed on your website, so it’s extremely important to check that your pixel data is pulling through correctly!)

Strategy #3 – Optimise Your Website Landing Pages for Conversions

While it’s easy to obsess over your actions on the TikTok platform when discussing CPA, it’s incredibly important to consider your off-platform activity too.

For example, building a fully optimised and user-friendly website is a key part of boosting your conversion rate and ultimately reducing your acquisition costs.

Your TikTok ad campaigns are effectively a launchpad for website traffic. Once prospects arrive on-site, you need to ensure they remain engaged and motivated to purchase your products through a seamless customer journey.

Here are some quickfire tips for building a website that will generate consistent conversions:

• Focus on a website design that’s simple, clean, and visually pleasing – first impressions are very important for potential customers
• Make sure that your product pages are organised and easy to navigate for first-time website visitors
• Clearly display all of the product information (i.e. price, sizes, materials, shipping details) that users need to make a purchase decision
• Invest in effective copywriting across all of your website landing pages
• Include compelling CTA buttons on every product page to facilitate conversions
• Use strategic pop-ups (e.g. discounts, reminders) to encourage action and keep shoppers engaged with your website
• Ensure that your destination pages are relevant to your TikTok ads – consumers want to view their desired products/services quickly and easily, so think about creating the easiest route from click to conversion

If your website is expertly designed and constantly optimised, it will become a well-oiled conversion-driving machine – and this is crucial for lowering your TikTok CPA over time.

Strategy #4 – Experiment With Multiple TikTok Audiences

Identifying high-converting TikTok audiences is vital to lowering your CPA – and to discover the most profitable audiences for your business, it’s very important to experiment with different segments and targeting tactics.

A good approach is to kick off your TikTok advertising campaigns with broad audience targeting. Don’t immediately restrict yourself with layers of niche targeting – instead, cast a wider net and allow the TikTok algorithm to flag promising audience segments.

The more scale and room for experimentation you provide the TikTok algorithm, the faster you’ll be able to optimise toward effective audiences.

Once you’ve discovered a few profitable TikTok segments, you can begin to test different layers of Demographic, Interest, and Device targeting. With a consistent test & learn approach, you’ll be able to target a range of audiences that drive cost-efficient conversions.

(We’ve already explained the power of Custom Audiences, so it goes without saying that retargeting segments should also feature heavily in your TikTok plans!)

Strategy #5 – Test Different Creative Executions – and Stay Agile

The quality of your TikTok creative assets will have a huge impact on click-through and conversion rates – and this will have a direct impact on your CPA.

To ensure that you’re producing effective TikTok ads that drive action, pay close attention to what’s popular on the platform. Native, UGC-style videos can deliver sky-high levels of engagement, so aim to reflect the content that’s currently working for other brands.

You should also rotate different ‘hero’ messages to see what resonates with your target audience.

This could be various product benefits, user testimonials, or price promotions – analyse which assets generate the most conversions and adapt your creative approach accordingly.

Finally, be sure to embrace surging TikTok trends or challenges to maximise clicks and conversions. If you can react quickly to trending content, you’ll have a great chance of capitalising on a wave of user engagement.

Strategy #6 – Utilise the TikTok ‘Conversion’ Objective

Here’s a simple (but highly effective) tip that can help you to skyrocket conversions on TikTok.

When you’re setting up a new campaign, select ‘Conversion’ as your primary objective.

While this may seem obvious, advertisers often use a ‘Traffic’ objective on marketing platforms to try and maximise website visitors and conversions. However, the ‘Conversion’ objective on TikTok will automatically optimise towards your chosen action (e.g. downloads, purchases, subscriptions) which is ideal for increasing low-cost conversions.

Your TikTok campaign setup will have a major impact on campaign performance, so think carefully about the choices you’re making at this stage.

Strategy #7 – Elevate Performance With Lookalike Audiences

Seeing great success with Custom Audiences on TikTok? I have good news.

Lookalike Audiences can escalate your campaign performance even further – and help you to simultaneously reduce acquisition costs.

Lookalike Audiences allow you to build brand-new TikTok segments that share core traits with your existing customers and Custom Audiences. That means you can scale up your campaigns without worrying about sacrificing targeting quality or conversion potential.

There are three different campaign stages where Lookalike Audiences can play a pivotal role:

• Cold Start – use Lookalikes in the early stages of your campaign to accelerate information-gathering and experimentation.
• Mature Delivery – use Lookalikes at the peak of campaign delivery to maximise ROI and increase audience reach.
• Decline Phase – use Lookalikes to extend the life cycle of your campaign when conversions are slowing down.

If a Custom Audience is delivering particularly promising results, don’t hesitate to experiment with Lookalike tactics. Lookalikes enable you to balance quality and quantity, so you can steadily increase conversions while maintaining a focus on cost-efficient prospects.

Strategy #8 – Be Patient With the TikTok Algorithm When Evaluating CPA

The TikTok algorithm is a powerful ally for marketers. As you launch new campaigns, the algorithm will automatically test different audiences and bidding strategies to help you optimise your campaigns and maximise results.

However, while the algorithm can be extremely effective, it needs time to work.

When you launch a new campaign on TikTok, it can be tempting to obsess over your CPA and make constant adjustments to try and improve performance. Unfortunately, this can actually have the opposite effect – by making too many changes in the early stages of a campaign, you’ll disrupt the algorithm’s learning cycle and interrupt the optimisation process.

Instead, try to be patient when you’ve recently launched ads on TikTok. Campaign performance often fluctuates initially as the algorithm tests out different tactics, but there’s no need to panic.

Keep an eye on campaign delivery to ensure that everything is running smoothly, but allow the TikTok algorithm a few days to gather data and implement optimisations. If you stick to the process, you’ll quickly identify the most high-performing audiences and strategies for your business – and that’s when you can really begin to reduce your CPA.

Strategy #9 – Always Include a Clear, Compelling CTA

Last (but certainly not least) is a straightforward tip that can have a significant impact on your TikTok conversion rate.

Always, always, always include a compelling CTA within your TikTok ads.

While it’s easy to overlook the importance of a CTA when you’re working on in-flight optimisations and creative production, a solid call-to-action can make the difference between a wasted impression and a successful click.

If you’re going to reduce your CPA, you’ll need to generate a higher volume of cost-efficient conversions. And if you want to generate more conversions, you’ll need a persuasive CTA that drives quality traffic to your website.

Ideally, you should include CTAs throughout your TikTok campaigns, in both your visual assets and your ad copy. Text CTAs can be particularly impactful on TikTok, as data shows they can deliver a staggering 152% lift in conversion rates for advertisers.

Below are some key elements to focus on when you’re crafting a CTA:

• Keep it short and sweet. Highlight a clear action that you’d like users to take, such as ‘Learn More’ or ‘Buy Now’.
• If possible, reiterate some of the main benefits/advantages that your target audience will enjoy if they click the CTA button. This can be a great way to drive action and convince users to click.
• Make sure that your CTA forms part of a logical, convenient customer journey. If you’re using a ‘Buy Now’ CTA, for example, then you’ll want to drive users to a product page where they can easily make a purchase.

With a strong CTA in place, you’ll see a noticeable difference in your conversion rates – and eventually, your TikTok CPA.

How to Accurately Track Your CPA On TikTok

Now that we’ve covered a few expert strategies for decreasing your CPA on TikTok, let’s quickly recap how you can track this metric over time.

1. Ensure that conversion tracking is in place

If you want to calculate your TikTok CPA, you’re going to need accurate tracking. That means implementing the TikTok Pixel on your website and checking that conversion data is pulling through correctly.

Inaccurate conversion data will lead to an inaccurate CPA, and that’s not much use to anyone!

2. Build customised TikTok reports for clarity

Creating customised campaign reports in the TikTok Ads Manager can help you to focus more easily on your core metrics.

For example, you can build reports that instantly highlight clicks and conversions, rather than getting distracted by vanity metrics that aren’t contributing to your CPA.

3. Stick to a consistent reporting routine

When it comes to TikTok reporting, consistency is key.

Your CPA is likely to fluctuate over time, and the performance of different audience segments will constantly change. If you want to utilise your budget effectively and make efficient optimisations, you’ll need to regularly check your reports to understand how your campaigns are developing over time.

Takeaway

In conclusion, achieving a lower CPA on TikTok requires a comprehensive and strategic approach. It involves considering key factors and implementing various strategies to optimize your advertising campaigns. Understanding your target audience is paramount, as it enables you to tailor your ad content to their preferences by analyzing their demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Leveraging TikTok’s ad targeting options allows you to refine your audience selection for more effective reach. Tracking and analytics tools are instrumental in monitoring performance metrics and making data-driven optimizations.

Additionally, regularly assessing and adjusting bid strategies ensures the right balance between ad visibility and cost-effectiveness. By consistently implementing these tactics and refining your TikTok advertising campaigns, you can decrease your CPA, enhance your ROI, and successfully accomplish your marketing objectives.