methodology
Three numbers decide your next creator dollar.
A pilot isn’t the product — the decision it hands you is. Here are the metrics we track, why each one matters, and exactly what happens once you have them.
01Revenue per creator
Views don't restock inventory. This is the only number that says which creator sold product — not who reached people, who moved units.
the decision it drives
Who earned your next dollar. The double-down list is built from this column alone.
02CPA per creator
What a new customer costs through each creator, next to what your paid social already pays. A $450 creator at $19 CPA is cheaper than a $250 one at $62 — rate alone can't tell you that.
the decision it drives
Whether creators beat your ads, and what each creator's rate should be next time — anchored to demonstrated acquisition cost, not follower count.
03Floor and ceiling, per creator
Code redemptions are the hard floor; survey-attributed halo is the ceiling. One blended number would let us flatter you — the range keeps us honest.
the decision it drives
How much confidence each call deserves. We recommend on the floor; the ceiling is upside, never the sales pitch.
What happens on day 30 — before you spend another dollar
- · Double down: the creators with the best floor-CPA keep running — from $750/mo, only ever your proven winners.
- · Release with data: the rest get a clean no — and you stop paying for reach that doesn’t convert.
- · Amplify what worked: the converting posts already carry Spark rights — winning content becomes your paid creative, with a CPA you’ve already seen.
- · Anchor the rates: every renewal is negotiated on demonstrated CPA, not follower count — your numbers become your leverage.
How we get the numbers — on rails you own
We don’t sell ad spend, so we have no reason to flatter any of the above. One conflict we do have, named plainly: our $750/mo continuation only exists if the pilot finds a winner. That’s exactly why the double-down call is made on the code-redemption floor you can count in your own Shopify — not on any number we produce.
01Single-use discount codes
lives in: your Shopify
One unique code per creator, created as a single-use discount in your own Shopify admin. Every redemption is an order row in your store — we count from your data, not ours.
what it misses
Buyers who watched but checked out without the code — and the flip side: a redemption from someone who'd have bought anyway is captured revenue, not incremental revenue. See the limits below.
containment
Coupon-site leakage is capped by design: single-use means a leaked code is one order, not a discount campaign.
02Spark Ads
lives in: your TikTok Ads Manager
Creators authorize their posts into your ad account. Spend, reach, and conversions sit in your Ads Manager — we read the same dashboard you do.
what it misses
Organic (non-boosted) views of the same post convert outside this rail — the survey below is what catches them.
containment
Authorization is time-boxed (30–90 days) and revocable by you.
03Post-purchase survey
lives in: your checkout
Asked after payment, unaided first — “How did you hear about us?” as free text — then a randomized aided list that includes “TikTok — don't remember who” and non-creator options. Catches the code-less halo the other rails miss.
what it misses
Self-reported, so it’s corroboration with a margin, never gospel. Aided lists can prime answers and expose your creator roster at checkout — unaided-first is the default for both reasons.
containment
Runs on your checkout (native or Fairing-style app); responses are yours.
How the three become one ledger
Each creator’s row triangulates all three rails: code redemptions (hard floor), Spark conversions (paid layer), survey mentions (halo). When the rails disagree, the ledger shows the spread — a floor and a ceiling per creator — instead of one blended number picked to look good. The “double down / release” call is made on the floor, not the ceiling.
How to audit us
- codes → Shopify Admin → Discounts: usage count per creator code, and the orders behind each redemption.
- spark → your TikTok Ads Manager: the campaign, its spend, its conversions — we see nothing you can’t.
- survey → your checkout app’s response export, filterable by creator name.
We request read access to these three rails and nothing else — not your full analytics, not your customer list. Access is yours to revoke the day the pilot ends.
The limits, stated plainly
- · Five creators over ~30 days is directional, not statistical significance. It answers “who deserves the next dollar,” not “what is TikTok worth forever.”
- · Attribution is not incrementality. A code can capture a sale you’d have gotten anyway, minus the discount. Five creators is too small for a holdout test — so we report the floor, flag redemptions from your existing-customer list, and never call the ledger “incremental.”
- · The rails can only undercount buyers who skip the code — so treat the ledger as a floor, except for the non-incremental redemption case above, which cuts the other way.
- · Returns and chargebacks inside the window are netted out of the report; ones after it aren’t.
- · If nobody converts, the ledger says so. That result costs the same $1,800 — and it’s still the answer to your next campaign.
FTC disclosure — who carries what
Disclosure is contractually required of every creator: TikTok’s branded-content toggle on, #ad in-video, verified by us before any payout releases — a creator doesn’t get paid until the disclosure is live. The honest part: legal exposure for a missing disclosure ultimately sits with the brand, which is exactly why our enforcement is mechanical (no disclosure, no payout), not a promise.