> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.innkeepr.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set Up Seed Audiences on TikTok

## Overview

Innkeepr Seed Audiences are custom audience lists uploaded to TikTok Ads Manager. They contain visitors ranked by predicted incremental lift based on your selected objective. TikTok uses these lists as a basis for Lookalike Audiences in ad groups.

This guide covers the setup of Innkeepr Seed Audiences on TikTok, including audience structure, testing, and scaling.

## Prerequisites

**Technical Requirements:**

* Active TikTok Ads Manager account
* Innkeepr integration connected to your TikTok account
* Sufficient conversion data for signal generation (minimum 30 days recommended)
* **Email addresses (`email` or `email_sha256`) written to user profiles via Innkeepr Identify** — see below

<Warning>
  Unlike Meta, TikTok audiences are matched exclusively by **email address**. Every user that should be included in a TikTok upload must have an `email` or `email_sha256` trait on their profile. Innkeepr matches users to TikTok accounts using this identifier — visitor-level data without an email cannot be uploaded or matched.

  Write the email to the profile with an [Innkeepr Identify](/connections/spec-identify) call, either as a plain `email` trait or as a SHA256-hashed `email_sha256` trait. Both are accepted; if you hash client-side, use lowercase, trimmed email and SHA256. Email handoff can also happen automatically via a shop system integration (e.g. Shopify).
</Warning>

**Timeline at a Glance:**

| Phase             | Duration        | What Happens                                                  |
| ----------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Audience setup    | Immediate       | Audiences created and uploaded to TikTok                      |
| Audience matching | 24–48 hours     | TikTok matches the uploaded emails and populates the audience |
| Testing phase     | 2–4 weeks       | Performance comparison against broad targeting                |
| Scaling           | After 2–4 weeks | Budget reallocation based on results                          |

## Audience Types

Innkeepr provides seed audiences for TikTok as custom audience lists ranked by predicted incremental lift based on your selected objective. The objective determines what the ranking optimizes for — for example conversion probability, customer lifetime value, or average order value. These lists are used as source audiences for TikTok Lookalike Audiences.

Unlike Meta, TikTok does not support value-based audiences with per-user weights — its lookalike modeling is behavioral. To bias a lookalike toward high-value users, pre-segment the source list (e.g. top-percentile or high-LTV users) before upload rather than assigning weights.

Because TikTok matches on email, each entry in a seed audience requires an `email` or `email_sha256` trait. Users without an email are dropped before upload.

**Email handoff to Innkeepr works via:**

* [Innkeepr Identify](/connections/spec-identify) — write `email` or `email_sha256` as a trait
* Shop system integration (e.g. Shopify)

## Setup Instructions

**Step 1: Ensure Email Coverage**

Before creating audiences, confirm that the users you want to upload carry an `email` or `email_sha256` trait. The higher your email coverage, the larger and more accurate the resulting seed audience. If coverage is low, prioritize sending Identify calls with email on registration, login, and checkout.

**Step 2: Create Audience Buckets**

There are different ways to use seed audiences on TikTok, and not every setup works equally well across all accounts. The optimal configuration depends on factors like audience size, conversion volume, and product category.

As of July 2026, we recommend the following setup as a starting point:

**Recommended bucket structure:**

| Bucket   | Audience Type   | Innkeepr Percentile | Lookalike Size  | Rationale                                                     |
| -------- | --------------- | ------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Bucket 1 | Custom Audience | Top 0–10%           | 1% Lookalike    | Most selective signal, smallest but highest-quality lookalike |
| Bucket 2 | Custom Audience | Top 10–20%          | 5–10% Lookalike | Broader signal, medium-sized lookalike                        |
| Bucket 3 | Custom Audience | Top 20–30%          | 10% Lookalike   | Broadest signal, largest lookalike for reach                  |

The logic: more selective source audiences (smaller percentile) are paired with smaller lookalikes to maintain signal quality. Broader source audiences can support larger lookalikes because the expansion is less sensitive to individual user variation.

TikTok requires a minimum matched audience size before an audience can be used. For Lookalike Audiences, TikTok recommends a matched seed of at least 1,000–5,000 users. If a percentile bucket matches fewer users than that, widen the percentile range or improve email coverage.

**Step 3: Upload Audiences to TikTok**

1. **Create audiences** in Innkeepr for each percentile bucket
2. **Select "TikTok Ads"** as your destination and set the Audience Type to `Seed`
3. **Upload** — Innkeepr sends the matched email identifiers to your connected TikTok account
4. **Wait 24–48 hours** for TikTok to match the emails and populate the Custom Audience
5. **Create Lookalike Audiences** in TikTok Ads Manager based on each uploaded bucket, using the lookalike sizes from the table above

**Step 4: Set Up the Campaign Structure**

Test Innkeepr audiences against broad targeting within a single campaign using separate ad groups.

**Campaign structure:**

| Ad Group | Targeting                              | Purpose                |
| -------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Control  | Broad (no audience targeting)          | Baseline performance   |
| Test 1   | Bucket 1 — Top 0–10%, 1% Lookalike     | Highest-quality signal |
| Test 2   | Bucket 2 — Top 10–20%, 5–10% Lookalike | Medium signal          |
| Test 3   | Bucket 3 — Top 20–30%, 10% Lookalike   | Broadest signal        |

**Important:** Keep all other variables identical across ad groups:

* Same **creatives** (videos, copy) in every ad group
* Same **optimization event** (e.g. Complete Payment, Add to Cart)
* Same **bid strategy**
* Same **placements**

The only difference between ad groups should be the audience targeting. If creatives or other settings differ, performance differences cannot be attributed to the audience signal.

**Step 5: Set Budget Allocation**

Start all ad groups with the **same daily budget** at the **ad group level**. Do not use Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) during the test phase — CBO shifts spend unpredictably between ad groups, making it difficult to compare performance.

After 1–2 weeks, you can begin scaling individual ad groups based on observed performance (see Monitor & Optimize).

## Monitor & Optimize

**Weeks 1–2: Observation Phase**

* Do **not** adjust budgets, bids, or creatives during the initial learning phase
* Monitor that all ad groups are **spending their allocated budget** and exiting the learning phase
* Verify that conversions are being tracked correctly across all ad groups

**Weeks 2–4: Evaluation**

* Compare **ROAS, new customer share, and AOV** across ad groups
* Identify which buckets outperform broad targeting and by how much
* If a bucket underperforms broad consistently, it can be paused

**After Week 4: Dynamic Scaling**

Once you have sufficient data (2–4 weeks minimum), begin scaling:

* **Increase budget** on the best-performing Innkeepr ad groups incrementally (20–30% per increase, not more)
* **Measure how much additional spend** the Innkeepr audiences can absorb while maintaining comparable performance to broad
* The goal is to determine what share of total campaign spend Innkeepr audiences can cover at equal or better performance than broad targeting
* Continue monitoring after each budget increase — allow 3–5 days for TikTok's algorithm to stabilize before evaluating

> **Scaling question to answer:** How much additional spend can Innkeepr audiences absorb compared to broad targeting, at the same or better CPA/ROAS? This determines the incremental budget capacity that Innkeepr unlocks for your TikTok campaigns.

## Best Practices

**Maintain Email Coverage**

Seed quality on TikTok is bounded by how many of your ranked users carry a matchable email. Keep Identify calls firing with `email` or `email_sha256` on registration, login, and checkout so audiences stay large and current. Falling email coverage directly shrinks match rates and lookalike quality.

**Creative Isolation**

The test is only valid if creatives are identical across all ad groups. If you want to test new creatives or add additional creatives during the test, add them to all ad groups at the same time. Never add creatives to only some ad groups — this makes performance differences between ad groups unattributable.

**Lookalike Size Selection**

The recommended lookalike sizes (1%, 5–10%, 10%) are starting points. Depending on your market size and target geography, you may need to adjust:

* Smaller markets (e.g. single country, DACH): start with 1%, 3%, 5%
* Larger markets (e.g. EU-wide, US): 1%, 5–10%, 10% works well

## Troubleshooting

**Audiences Not Populating**

| Possible Cause                         | Solution                                                                                                                                               |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| No email on profiles                   | TikTok can only match users with an `email` or `email_sha256` trait. Verify that Identify calls are writing email to the profiles used for the upload. |
| TikTok account not connected correctly | Verify that the correct TikTok Ads account is connected in Innkeepr and has permission to upload audiences                                             |
| Insufficient audience size             | TikTok requires a minimum audience size (typically 1,000 matched users) — check that the source audience in Innkeepr contains enough users with email  |
| Matching still in progress             | Allow 24–48 hours after upload for TikTok to finish matching                                                                                           |

**Low Match Rate**

| Possible Cause              | Solution                                                                                                      |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Poorly formatted emails     | Ensure emails are lowercase and trimmed before hashing; for `email_sha256` use SHA256 of the normalized email |
| Stale emails                | Verify emails are current and actively used by your customers                                                 |
| Audience skews off-platform | Confirm that users in the audience are likely TikTok users (platform demographics)                            |

**All Buckets Underperform Broad**

| Possible Cause                      | Solution                                                                            |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Insufficient data in Innkeepr model | Verify that enough conversion history was available when audiences were created     |
| Lookalike sizes too narrow          | Test with broader lookalike sizes (e.g. 5% instead of 1%)                           |
| Low email coverage                  | A small matched seed limits lookalike quality — improve email coverage via Identify |

**Performance Drops After Sales Phases**

Performance drops can coincide with sales events (e.g. Black Friday, seasonal promotions). During and after these phases, audience composition and conversion patterns shift temporarily. Innkeepr typically detects these phases automatically and adjusts the underlying models accordingly.

If a performance drop persists for more than 1–2 weeks after a sales event has ended, reach out to the Innkeepr team to verify that the model has recalibrated correctly.

<Info>
  Learn more

  * [Set Up Exclusion Audiences on TikTok](/guides/how-to-guides/tiktok-exclusions)
  * [Set Up Seed Audiences on Meta](/guides/how-to-guides/meta-seeds)
  * [Audience Signals](/guides/signals-and-activation/audience-signals)
  * [Spec: Identify](/connections/spec-identify)
</Info>