Dynamic ad formats rely on effective matching between signal events and your product catalog. This guide aims to assist you in understanding, optimizing, and diagnosing match rate issues for better Video Shopping Ads (Catalog) performance.
What is Catalog Match Rate?
Catalog match rate is the percentage of events with matched products over all events. It is calculated by the number of signal events that match products in your catalog divided by the total number of signal events shared with TikTok.
For example, 600 "Add to Cart" events match products in your catalog / 1000 "Add to Cart" events shared with TikTok = 60% Add to Cart match rate
Catalog match rate is a crucial metric that reflects the system's ability to select and showcase products with high user intent. When your catalog has a low match rate, it restricts the capability of our ad system to identify the most enticing products and deliver them to your audiences. This could potentially have a negative impact on the performance of your ads. We recommend keeping your match rate levels above 90% to ensure optimal ad performance for Video Shopping Ads.
Important Tip: Connecting multiple catalogs to the same pixel or app can affect your match rate. The match rate may become divided, potentially resulting in a lower match rate for each individual catalog.
In the example above, Catalog A has a lower match rate of 60% instead of being 90% across both catalogs. It is essential to understand that such a lower match rate for a specific catalog could negatively impact the performance of your ads when using that particular catalog. To avoid this, we strongly recommend the practice of consolidating all your items into a single catalog to ensure optimal ad performance. If you wish to promote specific products in your catalog, you may create product sets. To learn more about product sets refer to About Product Sets.
How to set up and view catalog match rate?
Setting up catalog match rate
Create and add products to your catalog in Catalog Manager.
Set up your pixel or app in the Events Manager.
Ensure that the content_ID of your events follows the same format as the SKU ID in your catalog.
Catalog Manager currently supports three pixel or app event types: ViewContent, AddtoCart, and CompletePayment.
Go to Catalog Manager and then Event Sources to connect your pixel or app to your catalog.
Viewing your match rate
Go to Catalog Manager and select Event Sources.
Select a connected pixel or app to view its match rate.
Click the connected pixel or app to view more about your events matching, historic trends, and issues that may be lowering your match rate.
How to troubleshoot catalog match rate issues?
Before getting started: It is important to understand the different terms and definitions crucial in helping you to improve your match rates.
SKU ID is the unique ID that identifies each product in your catalog.
Content ID is the parameter that identifies the individual product. The value of this parameter should be the same as the SKU ID of the product in your catalog.
If you are facing trouble viewing your match rates or if your match rates are below optimal levels, please refer to the following recommendations to resolve them:
1. Check your pixel or app is connected to your catalog
Before you check the connection of your catalog and pixel/app, ensure the following steps are adhered to.
Your catalog and pixel or app are owned by the same Business Center account. Otherwise, you may grant partner access to your Business Center account to share your catalog and pixel or app access.
You must have admin access to your Business Center account or Pixel Editing permission for the pixel or app. Learn more about user roles and permissions in Business Center.
Your app or pixel is successfully set up in Events Manager and the required event types (View Content, Add to Cart, and Complete Payment) are sent to your Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) platform.
Check that the required parameters (content_ID, quantity, price, currency, value) are being sent.
The content_ID of your events is enabled on your Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) platform.
Important Tip:
Match rates will not be reflected if your pixel or app does not pass back any events in the past 7 days.
2. Content_ID parameter is incorrect or missing
To extract a list of affected events to validate, go to Catalog Manager and select Event Sources. Click your connected pixel or app and select Export events without content ID.
Check that your content_ID parameter is in the proper format by ensuring the following. Learn more about the proper format of TikTok Pixel parameters.
Ensure the correct spelling is used for parameter names. For example, the content ID parameter should be spelled as content_id instead of content_ids.
Avoid the use of commas to separate multiple product information. Enter your content_ID parameter as:
Single item as {content_id: '12345'}
Multiple item as {content_id: '12345'},{content_id: '67890'}
Avoid the use of unnecessary symbols and spaces between characters.
Ensure that all events are sent through the required parameters in all cases by by using the Test Events, Pixel Helper tools or by inspecting your landing page. Please note that events that have been set up using Event Builder will not send back any parameters. Only Custom Code events, Events API, or partner integration events support parameters.
3. Mismatch of content ID with your catalog
To extract a list of affected events to validate, go to Catalog Manager and select Event Sources. Click your connected pixel or app and select Export content IDs that don't match with this catalog.
Check that your catalog contains the item that your pixel or app is passing back events with TikTok. This can be done by ensuring that a product source is connected and the products are updated on a daily basis.
How frequently and by how much should your match rate change?
Match Rate should stay relatively the same for a 7-day lookback window. Replacing your catalog or making substantial changes to your product volume can impact your match rate. However, changes of +/-20% can indicate a misconfiguration and should be explored using the diagnostics tools referenced above.
When your catalog and event source are first connected, expect that it could take several days for your match rate to stabilize.
Tips for increasing your event match rates
Optimize your catalog to enhance your Catalog Match Rate by following our best practices for a high quality catalog.
Ensure that your product catalog is comprehensive, well-structured, and updated daily.
Include detailed product information, high-quality images, and accurate product attributes.
Ensure that all of your products are uploaded to a single catalog
Ensure your SKU ID is in the correct format and value in your catalog
Fill in the item_group_id fields as much as possible
Input all required and optional product fields in your catalog
Increase event coverage by tracking the full funnel of user events. More events create more opportunities to match your product catalog.
Enable additional match keys to increase the probability of creating a match between a user event and a TikTok ad. User privacy is important to TikTok- when a user opts out of tracking, these additional match keys will not be used for attribution.