TikTok Ads Preflight

UserBrand advertiser / AM

ProblemLate risk discovery + unactionable rejections

ProposalReadiness check (skip-able) + jump-to-fix

SuccessFirst-pass ↑ Time-to-launch ↓ Resubmits ↓

How I Got Here

I explored TikTok Ads Manager's Simplified Mode as a first-time advertiser. The flow was clean—four steps from objective to budget.

But one thing stood out: I wanted to check whether my ad copy might trigger a policy flag before submitting, but there was no way to do that. The interface showed estimated reach, but nothing about compliance risk. If something's wrong, the advertiser only finds out after submitting.

I then reviewed r/TikTokAds and advertiser forums. A recurring complaint emerged:

"Rejected again—still just 'policy violation' with no explanation."

— Synthesized from advertiser community discussions [r/TikTokAds]

The issue isn't strict review—it's unactionable feedback.

Mechanism

Current

Create→Submit→Review→Result

Improved

Create→Readiness→Submit→Review→Result

Why This Matters

Late risk discovery — issues surface only after submitwalkthrough
Unactionable feedback — generic 'policy violation' without field-level guidanceforum cluster
Iteration friction — each fix-resubmit cycle adds delaypublic doc

Based on public documentation, competitors appear to address post-rejection friction more directly—Google's Policy Manager surfaces violation details; Meta provides edit-or-resubmit paths. Pre-submit risk detection seems less common.

* Details based on public documentation; internal mechanisms require validation

Core Solution

MVP

Readiness Check

Surface risks before submit

1 Detect → Identify potential issues
2 Explain → Reason + suggestion
3 Jump → One-click to fix

Click to see interaction→

Phase 2

Actionable Rejections

Field-level reason + deep link to fix

Phase 3

Change-impact Transparency

Which edits trigger re-review + ETA

Metrics & Validation

First-pass approvalImproveApproved on 1st submit / total 1st submits

↑

Time-to-launchReducecreate_start → first_delivery

↓

ResubmissionsReduceResubmits after rejection

↓

Baseline pending; targets TBD via A/B validation

Guardrails:False positive rate·Flow completion rate

Key Events:

create_startprecheck_shownissue_clickedjump_to_editsubmit_attemptsubmit_skipreview_approvereview_reject

Hypothesis chain:

precheck_shown→issue_clicked→jump_to_edit→resubmit→approve ↑ / reject ↓

Validation Plan

SCognitive walkthrough + 3 user task tests

M5-8 usability tests + time-to-fix tracking

LA/B test (new accounts cohort)

Rule	Sev.	Suggested fix
Landing page mismatch	HIGH	Update URL or copy
Absolute claims	MED	Rephrase copy
Missing disclosure	HIGH	Upload doc
High text density	MED	Reduce text
Video exceeds recommended length	LOW	Trim

Rule source: Policy ops / Ads integrity assumption

Update cadence: TBD pending internal process

xToDo→