My biggest lesson as a TikTok insider? Performance marketing needs a new definition

Why the old definition of performance is too narrow for 2026

Performance marketing has been flattened into a shorthand for 'bottom of funnel,' as if the only work worth counting is the moment a customer clicks 'buy.' But in a world where video shapes discovery, social feeds influence consideration, and brands are often encountered long before they are searched for, that definition is far too narrow.

Modern performance marketing is no longer defined by where the user is in the journey, but by how the marketer measures success. Today, performance marketing is increasingly understood as data-driven, measurable marketing applied across the customer journey.

The new priorities

The real opportunity is to think in terms of intent. So plan for the moments that create commercial desire, shape consideration, and move people toward action long before they reach a checkout page.

TikTok makes that impossible to ignore. In a world where discovery drives demand, the path to purchase is not a neat funnel with a beginning and an end, it's an infinite loop. And increasingly, a successful one: 61% of TikTok users have gone on to purchase after simply seeing an ad on the platform.¹ Mejuri, a fine jewellery brand, built its strategy around that same insight, and saw +11% ROAS with an 88% more efficient CPA as a result.²

The infinite loop

61% of TikTok users have gone on to purchase after simply seeing an ad on the platform

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Succes Stories

Tatti Lashes

Tatti Lashes, a UK eyelash brand, used a fullfunnel approach combining organic content with paid advertising to grow its audience and increase sales. In fact, it achieved a 13x return on ad spend and a 20% increase in conversions versus the previous quarter, alongside 1.64 million ad impressions.

• 13x return on ad spend

• 20% increase in conversions vs. previous quarter

• 1.64M ad impressions

Treating performance as a closing act undersells the far bigger role discovery plays in making performance happen at all.

Lorenzo Bierhuys

Strategic Agency Partner Manager at TikTok

All signs point to TikTok’s growing role in building intent

It has become a place where people increasingly search, discover and evaluate products.

This means TikTok is increasingly where consumers search for products, reviews, demos, recommendations, and 'best of' advice across categories. The behaviour is growing fast, and it reflects a broader change in how people discover, evaluate, and decide what to buy.

TikTok discovery used to mean "I saw something entertaining." Now it's increasingly a case of searching TikTok to see real people using it, validate if it's worth buying, comparing options, then deciding where to purchase.

In many cases, TikTok is now doing work that traditional search used to own. It's not just surfacing products; it's helping people decide whether they want them at all. It provides the information and reassurance that can move someone to purchasing faster. 83% of users report making a purchase after using TikTok for inspiration.³ For some brands, without that moment of discovery, the final conversion simply wouldn't happen at all.

83% of users end up purchasing after using TikTok for inspiration alone

TikTok is not just for the top-of-the-funnel channel, it can play a meaningful role throughout the decision-making process. And the brands that plan around that fact see it play out directly in performance. Conforama did exactly that, running UGC-powered Search Ads against high-intent queries like mattresses and sofas, and saw CTR jump 239%, cost per landing-page visit drop 22%, and purchase intent rise 3.4x as a result.⁴

Success Story

Conforama

UGC-powered Search Ads against high-intent queries like mattresses and sofas.

• 239% jump in CTR

• 22% drop in cost per landing-page visit

• 3.4x rise in purchase intent

Performance planning should follow intent – not just the checkout

So, if intent is so important, let's talk about it.

This may seem straightforward, but it's worth calling out: intent on TikTok doesn't always look like a click or a purchase. It shows up in the behaviours that come before conversion; searches, saves, comments, creator engagement, repeat exposure, the willingness to keep coming back. Sometimes it's more direct than that: 41% of users report making a purchase after conducting a ‘where to buy’ search on TikTok.⁵, proof that intent is often fully formed long before a transaction ever happens.

Intent signals before conversation

• 41% of users purchase after a "where to buy" search on TikTok alone

TikTok Shop is where you can see that intent convert in real time. It has collapsed the distance between discovery and action, and the numbers show just how fast that can move once the environment is built for it. During the 2025 Black Friday/Cyber Monday period, 27 items were sold every single second at peak, making it TikTok Shop UK's highest-grossing day on record and helping drive a 50% rise in sales versus 2024.⁶

But intent doesn't only convert on Shop, it drives results wherever the brand chooses to capture it, whether that's a website conversion, a lead form, or an app install. Ooh & Aah Cookies proved the point by running both sides at once: an always-on Spark Ads and TikTok Shop strategy that delivered an 8.81 total ROAS, with 57% of all sales coming directly from TikTok.⁷

Success Story

Ooh & Aah Cookies

Always-on Spark Ads and TikTok Shop strategy, running both sides at once.

• 8.81 total ROAS

• 57% of sales directly generated from TikTok

Capture routes

That's why brands should plan TikTok around intent signals first, then decide where that intent is best captured. The good news is, TikTok has the tools to support all of these paths: TikTok Shop for in-platform purchases, the TikTok Pixel for tracking website conversions, App Events API for in-app actions, and Lead Generation ads for capturing high-intent leads directly on the platform.

1. TikTok Marketing Science, Global Retail Path-To-Purchase Study, 2021

2. TikTok for Business / Marketing Science case studies.

3. TikTok x Deloitte, "From Query to Cart," 2024

4. TikTok for Business, "Introducing Search Ads Campaign"

5. TikTok x Deloitte, "From Query to Cart," 2024

6. TikTok Newsroom, "TikTok Shop UK Breaks Record," Dec 2025

7. TikTok x Deloitte, "From Query to Cart," 2024; TikTok for Business case study