Context & Business Challenge
As part of TikTok’s Global Business Marketing team, I was responsible for educating potential advertisers about the value of TikTok as an advertising platform, converting skepticism into confidence, and driving adoption.
While TikTok’s consumer growth was exponential, revenue growth lagged. The TikTok for Business website lived within a fractured ecosystem of one-off sites launched by internal teams, often without long-term ownership or alignment. There was no cohesive strategy centered on advertisers’ needs or on how different types of advertisers were organized internally.
The challenge was not simply to redesign a website, but to create a unified, scalable system that could educate, inspire, and convert advertisers across regions and levels of maturity.
TEAMMATES
Hyunjin Park, Hamilton Tamayo, Jeff Boron
Users & Learning Goals
Our primary audiences included:
- Small and medium businesses (SMBs)
- Large enterprises
- Advertising agencies
- Creators acting as business owners
Through qualitative research and behavioral data analysis, we learned that users were arriving at the site with high intent but low confidence. They were actively searching for:
- Clear explanations of TikTok’s advertising capabilities
- Proof of return on investment
- Inspiration and examples relevant to their own industries
The core user need was educational: advertisers wanted to understand how TikTok advertising worked, why it was effective, and whether it would work for them.
Research & Evaluation Methods
To determine the right design direction, I led and contributed to a combination of evaluative and generative methods:
- Stakeholder interviews to understand internal fragmentation, ownership challenges, and competing goals
- Qualitative user research to uncover advertiser mental models, skepticism, and learning gaps
- Behavioral and performance data analysis to identify content demand, drop-off points, and conversion paths
- Prototype testing and feedback to validate clarity, trust, and educational effectiveness
Outputs (Not Methods)
- A unified digital strategy and roadmap
- A modular, scalable site architecture
- A global design system adaptable to regional needs
- An educational content framework aligned to advertisers' mindsets
Separating methods from outputs allowed us to evaluate which activities generated insight versus which delivered execution.
Critical Insight
The key insight that changed the design direction was that awareness was not the core problem — confidence was.
Advertisers were skeptical of TikTok as a serious business platform. The site needed to function as an educational system, not a promotional one:
- Demonstrating ROI through actionable data
- Explaining unfamiliar ad formats and workflows
- Inspiring confidence through authentic, “TikTok-native” examples
At the same time, the system had to remain flexible enough to scale globally, supporting multiple regions with different regulatory, cultural, and business needs.
This insight led us to design for learning, trust, and adaptability as primary UX goals.
My Role & Decision-Making Influence
As the lead designer, I guided design decisions by prioritizing audience understanding, methodological rigor, and long-term scalability. Key contributions included:
- Audience-first decision making.
- I mapped advertiser mindsets (skeptical, exploratory, ready-to-act) and designed distinct entry points and journeys to support each stage of confidence.
- Educational experience design.
- I ensured inspiration and education were woven throughout the experience, rather than isolated in marketing or blog sections.
- Evidence-based trust building.
- I prioritized actionable performance data, case studies, and proof points over aspirational messaging to directly address advertiser skepticism.
- Ongoing optimization and system thinking.
- I helped build internal tools and customized dashboards to increase site intelligence, monitor behavior, and continuously optimize conversion and content effectiveness.
Impact & Outcomes
The unified ecosystem approach and educational focus resulted in measurable business and engagement improvements:
- 18.5% increase in unique blog views
- 33% increase in unique inspiration page views
- 80% increase in CTR to SMB pages
- 11% increase in Ad Manager registrations
- 28% month-over-month increase in unique visitors (782,153)
- 22% month-over-month increase in page views (1,549,775)
- Successfully launched in 34 languages
- Available across 12+ global markets
These results validated the decision to prioritize confidence-building and education as core UX drivers.
