Do Upper Funnel Ads Boost GMV Max Performance on TikTok?
TikTok is overhauling its e-commerce ad platform, sunsetting its TikTok Ads Manager Shop Ads in favor of the AI-driven ads sytem called GMV Max. For TikTok sellers focused on performance and conversions, this transition raises important questions about awareness ads, campaign strategy, and feature gaps. Below, we break down what’s changing and how to adapt.
Transition from TTAM Shop Ads to GMV Max
By Q3 2025, TikTok will retire its current Shop Ads formats, which including Product Shopping Ads, Video Shopping Ads, and Live Shopping Ads on TikTok Ads Manager . In their place, all focus shifts to TikTok GMV Max, the platform’s next-generation advertising solution. GMV Max is an automated campaign type that uses TikTok’s algorithm to maximize your total sales across both ads and organic content . Rather than manually choosing targeting or placements as in the old Shop Ads, you simply set a target ROI and budget, and TikTok’s AI does the rest . It will automatically promote your product videos and even livestreams with Live GMV Max to audiences deemed most likely to convert, blending paid ads with organic reach to boost overall GMV.
This shift aligns with a broader industry trend toward automated, AI-optimized campaigns. Much like Meta’s Advantage+ or Google’s Performance Max, TikTok’s GMV Max emphasizes automation and holistic performance over manual micromanagement . Sellers who transition early report more stable performance and an edge over competitors still using the older ad formats . In short, TikTok is betting that GMV Max will drive better results by letting the algorithm optimize your shop’s entire funnel.
Do Awareness Ads Boost GMV Max Performance?
One big question for sellers is whether running upper-funnel awareness ads (branding campaigns focused on reach or video views) can improve the performance of GMV Max conversion campaigns. TikTok awareness ads – such as the new Store Promotion Ads or Reach & Frequency campaigns – are designed to build brand/store awareness, not immediate sales. GMV Max, on the other hand, is focused on bottom-funnel conversions and ROI.
Currently, GMV Max does not explicitly retarget users who saw your awareness ads, since it lacks any custom audience linking (more on that below) . However, awareness campaigns can still indirectly benefit your GMV Max results. By driving more people to discover your brand or visit your TikTok Shop, upper-funnel ads essentially prime the audience. Even if GMV Max isn’t directly “following” those viewers, a pool of warmed-up potential customers tends to yield higher conversion rates when they later encounter your product ads. In practice, many sellers have observed a halo effect – running a branding campaign in parallel with GMV Max often lifts overall sales and engagement, compared to running GMV Max alone.
TikTok’s own guidance supports this synergy. The platform suggests pairing GMV Max with upper-funnel branding campaigns to boost awareness and feed the funnel . In recent testing from myself, which I found that adding Reach & Frequency ads (a pure awareness tactic) can increase top-of-funnel interest, which in turn makes GMV Max more effective at driving conversions later . While results will vary, the takeaway is clear: a combined approach can pay off. Even without direct integration, Awareness Ads on TikTok help amplify the audience pool for GMV Max, setting the stage for more conversions down the line.
Current Limitations of TikTok GMV Max
As powerful as GMV Max is, it comes with some notable limitations in its current form. TikTok has intentionally removed many manual controls, which leaves performance marketers with less direct input than they’re used to:
No Retargeting or Custom Audiences: GMV Max lacks any audience retargeting features . You cannot create custom audience segments (e.g. past engagement, purchased customers) or explicitly re-target theviewers of your other ads. The campaign optimizes broadly based on TikTok’s data, so you have to trust the algorithm to find the right buyers. For now, there’s also no way to exclude certain audiences or upload custom lists, a shift from the flexibility of traditional TikTok Ads Manager campaigns.
No Interest/Demo Targeting: There is no option to target by interests, demographics, or behaviors either . Unlike TTAM ads where you might specify a niche audience, GMV Max casts a wide net and relies on AI to hone in on likely converters. This can be efficient, but it means less control over who sees your ads.
No Scheduling Control: You cannot fine-tune when your GMV Max ads run . The system decides the delivery timing for you. If you were used to day-parting or running ads only on certain days/hours, that isn’t possible under the current GMV Max setup.
Limited Creative Control: While you can choose which product videos or Spark Ads to feed into GMV Max, you cannot allocate budget per creative yet. For example, if one video is outperforming others, you have no manual way to boost it – the algorithm automatically shifts spend.
These limitations mean GMV Max is somewhat of a black box. It’s excellent for hands-off optimization, but less ideal if you have a sophisticated targeting strategy or specific retargeting needs. TikTok sellers currently must supplement GMV Max with separate campaigns (like standard ads or awareness ads) for any targeting beyond what the AI handles.
Does GMV Max Capture Upper-Funnel Viewers?
Does GMV Max capture the audience from upper-funnel viewers? This is a common concern: if someone only sees my awareness ad, will GMV Max later show them my product ads? At present from what I see, it seems like a no for me, which GMV Max does not guarantee capturing those upper-funnel viewers as a distinct audience segment. Since there is no retargeting in GMV Max, the campaign won’t specifically identify and follow up with users who watched your branding video or visited your shop from an awareness ad .
That said, TikTok’s algorithm isn’t completely blind to user behavior. If an individual who saw your awareness ad goes on to engage with your products (for example, clicks into your Shop or likes one of your product videos), they could naturally become part of the high-conversion audience that GMV Max targets. In essence, GMV Max casts a wide net and may include some of those aware users by default if they show purchase intent. But as of now, you as an advertiser cannot explicitly instruct GMV Max to retarget people who only saw an upper-funnel ad and didn’t engage.
TikTok is aware of this gap. They have hinted that they’re “exploring options to link awareness traffic into GMV Max conversion campaigns in the future” . This suggests that down the line, GMV Max might better capture upper-funnel audiences – possibly by automatically retargeting users who viewed your store or content. For the time being, however, consider GMV Max a primarily prospecting (conversion-focused) tool, and use separate retargeting ads if you need to re-engage your top-funnel viewers.
Will TikTok Introduce Custom Audience Retargeting for GMV Max?
TikTok sellers are also asking: Will TikTok introduce custom audience selection or retargeting for GMV Max? While no official feature has been launched yet, TikTok has strongly indicated that improvements are on the way. The company has stated it is “working on addressing GMV Max’s limitations” with updates expected between Q2 and Q3 2025 . Since the lack of retargeting and custom audiences is one of the key limitations identified, it’s likely that TikTok is developing a solution to re-integrate these capabilities into GMV Max.
For me I felt that TikTok GMV Max is a powerful, conversion-focused ad product that is replacing the older Shop Ads. It thrives on automation, but today it lacks manual targeting tools like retargeting and custom audiences. Awareness ads do play a supportive role, even without direct integration, they can boost GMV Max performance by filling the funnel. As TikTok continues to refine GMV Max throughout 2025, sellers can likely expect new features to enhance this AI-driven campaign. In the meantime, TikTok sellers should embrace GMV Max for its efficiency , run awareness campaigns in parallel for a full-funnel strategy, and stay tuned for TikTok’s upcoming updates to keep improving performance.
