A Comprehensive TikTok Guide to Drive Automotive Leads

TikTok is one of the top platforms to consume snappy, fun and entertaining content. 

It’s the 5th most-used social app in the world and is expected to reach as many as 1.8 billion monthly active users by the end of 2024. 

At the heart of the app’s massive success is its user-friendly format: short-form, easy-to-create, vertical videos. 

In addition to being popular with audiences, TikTok also has a lot in store to drive vehicle sales. 

So, what exactly is in it for your automotive business? Let’s find out. 

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Why TikTok is a Game Changer for Automotive Lead Generation

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TikTok offers boundless potential for automotive brands as the next generation of auto buyers is on the platform.

To add to it, TikTok’s immersive, community-based format is becoming increasingly attractive to modern automotive buyers. These buyers scour the web for firsthand information and meaningful interactions. 

They can easily access this on TikTok, helping them make key purchase decisions. 

As a result, users are actively seeking and engaging with auto-related content on the platform:

• 51% of users actively search for hands-on experiences through Test Drive Reviews.
• 40% drive interest in New Vehicle Models, which is a significant contributor to engagement.
• 39% of users (who are also tech-savvy) are attracted to content showcasing Vehicle Technology and Features. 
• 35% like to watch Vehicle Accessory Content, powering engagement that eventually leads to sales. 

This engagement has further solidified the importance of TikTok for auto buyers in three key areas:

1. Discovery: Two-thirds of recent car buyers who used TikTok discovered a new automotive brand or vehicles on the app.
2. Influence: 80% of TikTok users influenced the most recent car they or their family bought.
3. Conversion: 12% of TikTok users purchased or leased a vehicle after seeing automotive content on the platform. 

Additionally, 44% plan to purchase or lease a vehicle in the next 6 months. 

All of the above highlights TikTok’s substantial impact on the car buying journey, making it the perfect platform for automotive lead generation.

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By generating leads on TikTok you can connect with customers and tailor ads to them in a more ethical, seamless and effective way than traditional data collection. 

Your leads get to opt-in of their own accord, and you can provide highly relevant offers without irking them or threatening their privacy. 

The three most popular and effective ways of driving leads using lead generation forms are:

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1. Send to website

As the name suggests, Send To Website ads redirect leads to your website when they click on your CTA.

Leads can browse through your website and share their contact information through a web form.

This web form could guide leads to take different actions. For instance, they can:

1. Book a test drive, or
2. Share their contact details so the dealership can get in touch, or
3. Simply have them fill out a 'keep me informed' form and join your email list for updates.

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2. Landing page form

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Alternatively, you can redirect interested leads from your ad to a specific landing page. 

Landing pages are different from your website because they're built and customised for a unique purpose.

For instance, you have both ICEV and EV/PHEV offerings but you want to capture leads specifically for the latter. You can create a custom landing page for the entire EV/PHEV range or even multiple landing pages for each vehicle.  

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3. Native lead generation forms or TikTok Instant Forms

TikTok Instant Forms is a first-party lead generation solution that is native to the platform.  

Users click on the ad’s CTA, opening an in-app form where they can share contact information and signal interest in your brand or vehicles. 

Instant Forms compulsorily need you to add a Privacy Policy URL to ensure users trust your brand and share their data willingly. 

In the below example, Peugeot UK uses an Instant Form to capture leads for the Peugeot 2008 launch. 

But instead of simply collecting contact details, the brand makes it interactive. This also helps Peugeot collect more qualified, higher intent leads for its marketing campaigns.  

Instant forms are pre-filled. You can also directly integrate leads from Instant Forms into your CRM or download them manually. 

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Why consider TikTok Instant Forms for driving automotive leads

TikTok’s native lead generation forms have several benefits, making them a compelling alternative to website and landing page forms:

• Instant Forms open within the app itself and can be pre-filled with user information. Users don’t need to leave TikTok, increasing the chances of conversion.
• They can capture lead data quickly with a 9x faster load time than third-party pages.
• Since TikTok is a mobile-first app, Instant Forms are well-optimised for the small screen, improving the user experience. 
• Qualifying and custom questions let you capture high-intent leads. Or you can toggle the ad options to increase the volume of leads captured.
• You can create customised forms for each audience segment having specific information for their needs. 

• They can contain similar information as a landing page and need less financial investment, reducing the cost per lead. 
• You can optimise each ad to improve campaign performance and track key metrics like impressions, ad conversions, in-app actions and click attribution.  
• Given TikTok’s vast audience size, you can collect opted-in audiences ethically at scale. 

• You can automatically integrate data from opted-in leads into your CRM, nurturing them to conversion with personalised content about your brand and vehicles. 

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You can connect Instant Forms to TikTok ads. Users who see your ads and are interested in your automotives click on the CTA button. This button then opens the form where leads can fill in their details. 

Here’s how you can create a TikTok lead generation ad with an Instant Form: 

1. Requirements

The absolute first step before running ads on TikTok is ensuring you have the following:

1. TikTok Business Center
2. TikTok Ad Account with admin access
3. Privacy policy URL for your business

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2. Create a TikTok For Business account

If you don’t already have a TikTok For Business account, you can create one. Visit the sign-up page, fill in your email and set a password. 

Select Agree To Terms And Conditions, and then click on the Sign Up button. Complete the verification steps to proceed. 

On the next page, enter your Business Name, Website URL, Industry, Country/Region, Currency, Time Zone and Mobile Phone Number.

Your TikTok For Business account is now ready. 

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3. Create a Lead Generation Campaign

Once you’ve logged in, go to Campaign on the TikTok Ads Manager dashboard and click Create. 

Source: ZoCo Marketing

Select Lead Generation as your Advertising Objective and proceed. 

Source: ZoCo Marketing

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4. Create an Ad Group

You will have to complete a few steps to build your ad group. 

1. Optimisation Location: It lets you choose where to drive leads. Select Instant Form here. 

Source: ZoCo Marketing

2. Placement: This currently includes only TikTok, as no other apps support the Lead Generation feature yet. 
3. Target Audience: Choose the demographics, interests and behaviour you want to target. 

An important point to note is that you can only target audiences older than 18 years of age. 

Source: ZoCo Marketing

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4. Budget & Schedule: Set up your Daily or Lifetime Budget for the ad. Next, set the Schedule, which mainly consists of Dates, Days and Timings. 

Source: The Ecom Bull

The minimum budget is 50 GBP at the campaign level and 20 GBP at the ad level daily. You can change your budget anytime. 

Learn more about setting a TikTok ad budget here. 

5. Bidding & Optimisation 

Bidding indicates the amount you are willing to pay for the users to take action (set in your campaign objective and call to action) after they have seen your ad.

You can choose between 4 bidding methods–CPM, oCPM, CPV and CPC. You can find out more about bidding and its methods on this resource page. 

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Pro tip: Leave bid amount blank until you get a few leads (about 50) to get a better idea of what it costs to get a conversion 

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Finish the rest of the Ad Group settings and continue to the ‘ad creation’ page. 

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5. Create an Ad

Once you’ve built an Ad Group, you will need to create the ad itself. 

For Lead Generation campaigns, ads consist of a video, ad details (such as Text and CTA), and an Instant Form for leads to fill out. 

Source: ZoCo Marketing

Here’s how you can create an Ad:

1. Choose an Ad Name
2. Under Ad Details, upload your video either by hitting Upload or From Library or Create 
3. Enter your ad details, which include a Display Name, Text (ad copy), CTA (TikTok offers multiple options), and Profile Image
4. Now it’s time to build an Instant Form that you can link to your CTA.

6. Build an Instant Form

At the Ad Level, you can either create a new form or attach an existing Instant Form in the Destination section. 

Next, customise the form under the Content tab by following the below steps. 

1. Select Template: Choose between a Simple Form, Rich Content Form, Blank Form or Question Card. You can set up the colour scheme and language as per your requirements. 

Source: TikTok

Source: ZoCo Marketing

2. Add content: Set up the customised Banner, Introduction and Welcome Page (including the background, logo, title and description).
3. Questions: You can add up to 10 custom questions in an Instant Form in addition to a Qualifying Question. These include multiple-choice, short answer or appointment-scheduling questions. 
4. Personal Information: Under this section, select the fields you want to be pre-filled on your form.

Source: ZoCo Marketing

5. Privacy Policy: Add your Privacy Policy URL. TikTok suggests using an existing privacy policy URL so you don’t have to create new ones for each ad.
6. Custom components: You can also add custom components like vehicle details, benefits, testimonials and more to your form. Learn how to set them here.
7. Set up the Final Page: Add the Headline, Description, Thank You Message, next steps for the user and CTA on the Final Page.
8. Select the Form Type: In the Settings tab, select your Form Type–either more volume or higher intent. You can customise the Field Names and add tracking parameters (such as third-party, Conversion API, TikTok Pixel or others). 

Pro-tip: With third-party cookies quickly disappearing, Conversion API is your best bet to improve ad ROI. You can use tools like Driftrock to get important customer action data from Conversion API, which is pivotal for personalised marketing campaigns and CRM conversions. This data includes key page views/clicks, test drive requests and car configurations.

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Save and complete the form.

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7. Submit and finish the ad

Preview your Ad to see how it appears in different placements. Once you’ve finalised the ad details and Instant Form, submit your finished ad. 

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TikTok Instant Forms have a lot to offer your automotive business when it comes to lead generation. However, they also have a few restrictions in place to improve performance and safeguard user privacy. 

Here are some key capabilities and restrictions to note:

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1. Autofill 

You can include several pre-filled form fields in Instant Forms for user convenience and quick capture. These include Phone Number, Email, Address, Country, Province/State, City, First Name, Last Name and Gender.

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2. Retailer selection

Auto buyers may want to book a test drive or appointment at a dealership near them. 

Instead of having them search and pick out a location themselves, you can automate the postcode field. Or you can streamline the process even further with help from integrations such as Driftrock’s Store Locator feature. 

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3. Custom Questions

TikTok allows you to include up to 10 custom questions on an Instant Form in addition to the Qualifying Question. 

You may choose from different categories of questions such as Short Answer, Multiple Choice, Appointment Scheduling and Conditional Answer.

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4. Consent 

You will need to list your Company Name and enter a Link URL to your company's privacy policy. 

Additionally, you can add Custom Disclaimer, which can be toggled on and off. These can be ‘optional’ or ‘required’ for the user.

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5. Marketing tracking

You can use Driftrock to track TikTok leads from first touch to conversion and even after sales. You can also pull the Source, Campaign, Ad Set and Ad for each lead. 

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6. Optimisation 

Optimise your Instant Forms for lead submission by finding a balance between volume and quantity. 

To do this, use features like More Volume vs High Intent, Classic, Advanced or Rich Content Forms, Lead Validation, end-to-end tracking and reporting from automotive marketing platforms such as Driftrock.  

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