The TikTok algorithm isn't a shadowy, complex system designed to keep us from understanding it and succeeding. In fact, TikTok actually WANTS its sellers and affiliates to make boatloads of money. When we do well, they do too—it's a partnership.
Once you grasp how TikTok evaluates both the videos you upload and the products linked in those videos, getting consistent sales becomes much simpler. I've said it time and again: price doesn't matter as much as you think, as long as you're not ridiculously overpriced. If your price is somewhat normal, it doesn't matter if you're marking it up 20%, 30%, or even 60%.
And contrary to what some people say, it doesn't matter much if your supplier delivers in 2 days, 7 days, or even 11 days. That's not the key factor in whether your products sell. Sure, these things matter a bit, but the key elements are the demand for the product and the initial performance of the video showcasing and linking to it.
A TikTok shop product video has a limited lifespan, ranging from a couple of days to a month or more. Two people can list the exact same product, post the same number of videos at the same price and with the same shipping times from the same supplier, yet achieve completely different outcomes.
This happens because TikTok assesses your past customers, previous video viewers, and the target audience's interests and demographics, constantly matching your product with potential buyers who share similar traits.
Listing trending, high-demand products increases your chances of success on a video, as well as the quality of your video and its initial performance. Don't just make dull videos asking people to buy. Create videos that highlight the product's features, benefits, or the specific problem it solves in an engaging and innovative way. If you're strapped for creative ideas, mimic what's already working for others who are successfully promoting similar products on TikTok.
Ultimately, TikTok functions as a suggestion engine. Few sales result from users searching for a specific item in the TikTok shop and comparing similar products and prices. Most users are just browsing, and your video is then suggested to them, leading to an impulse purchase because the video convinces them they need it to improve their life, solve a problem, or gain status among peers.
TikTok already knows what products we're likely interested in and when we might buy them. It knows your interests, hobbies, how many kids you have, where you vacation, what sports you play…and so on.
When you agree to TikTok's terms of service, you grant access to all your online behaviors on all apps and websites, not just your activity on TikTok itself. Their algorithm uses all this information to suggest videos and products to you.
Based on a video's initial performance—click-through rate, conversion rate, current demand for similar products, potential buyer pool, and video engagement metrics—your video will either gain more views and traction or fizzle out fast.
This explains why some of your videos gain massive views and sales while others get barely any traction. Even if you and someone else list the same product with identical conditions, your results can differ drastically due to the different initial responses to your videos. And that's exactly what you need to understand.
The products matter a lot. The videos matter a lot. The audience you have matters too. But ultimately, anyone can go viral with the right product and video, assuming you hit that TikTok wave just right. Videos with little to no views were likely tested by TikTok but didn't get a positive response, so TikTok stopped promoting them.
On the other hand, videos that took off were shown to people likely interested in them, garnered positive engagement, clicks, and sales, prompting TikTok to promote them further.
While that might be discouraging, it's actually a good thing! If your product isn't selling after a few videos but you know it's a hot seller, don't give up. Keep the product constant for a while and post multiple videos, adjusting your approach slightly to crack the algorithm and get it suggested. The only two variables you should focus on are your product and your video.
If you need to know how to find hot selling products, I've done TONS of tutorials showcasing exactly that. Here are a few that can help you...
Then, once you find your product, there are numerous ways to create effective videos and convert TikTok views into purchases and cash in your pocket, especially in the initial testing phase of a product.
But the last thing you want to do when trying to prove the concept of a product…is to spend a bunch of time planning and recording a video….time editing it together to make it look great….or even lots of money outsourcing it to an expensive UGC creator JUST TO SEE if that product is a winner for you or not.
Ideally you want to test with the minimum viable product approach so you can prove the concept with the least time, effort, and money spent.
You don’t want to spend more money or time than you have to….if you’re not even sure it’s going to work yet or not.
And that’s where AI tools like Creatify AI come in. It’s an amazing software that will create high quality videos in SECONDS….and you don’t even NEED the product to do it. Crazy!
It’ll help you make videos that look great (complete with transitions, voiceovers, captions, video b roll of the product, and more)… faster than you can even record a video on your phone yourself.
Not only that, their AI will write WINNING scripts for you with EXPERT level writing…and it does an AMAZING job. But it’ll also then read your script aloud in the video (and sound EXACTLY like a human).
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can make dozens of videos super fast and upload them to tiktok just using this software (the same exact day you pick a product WITHOUT even needing the product on hand to make the video for you).
Want to see it in action? I did a full tutorial on it here: How to Create Viral Tiktok Product Videos Using AI
Now that you have the video and product parts down, it's just a matter of testing and finding the right combo that works for you. It's not a matter of if anymore; it's just a matter of when.
Understanding the algorithm allows you to leverage it. It's about tweaking one variable at a time until you find the right formula to crack the code.
As always, this is what works for me. Hope it helps! And any questions, let me know.
Bryan
Follow Bryan if you want to learn how to successfully run a TikTok business.