Metric Glossary: GMV, Post Rate, CTR, Levels and More
Plain-language definitions for every Cruva metric users ask about — total vs affiliate GMV, post rate, views, CTR, content pending, and creator Levels.
For brand and agency operators who see a number in Cruva and want to know exactly what it counts.
Cruva pulls almost all of these numbers straight from your TikTok Shop, so the definitions match TikTok's. This page is the quick reference. If a metric still looks wrong after reading it, see Reconciling Cruva vs TikTok numbers.
GMV metrics
- Total GMV — What it counts: All GMV your TikTok Shop earned — Ads, Affiliate, and Organic combined.
- Affiliate GMV — What it counts: Only GMV driven by affiliate content: Videos, LIVEs, and creator Showcase. It does not include ads or your own organic sales.
- Video GMV — What it counts: Affiliate GMV attributed to creator videos.
- Live GMV — What it counts: Affiliate GMV attributed to LIVE shopping sessions.
- Shop GMV (Social Intelligence) — What it counts: The total lifetime GMV an affiliate has generated for that specific shop. A "$3K+ Shop GMV" filter means creators who've driven $3K+ for that brand.
- 30D GMV — What it counts: A creator's total affiliate GMV over the past 30 days, from videos, LIVEs, and showcase combined.
- 30D Live GMV — What it counts: The past-30-day slice of that GMV that came only from LIVE streams.
Video GMV + Live GMV + Affiliate (showcase/other) should roughly add up to your Affiliate GMV. Affiliate GMV is a subset of Total GMV.
TikTok does not share the internal split of how a creator earned their GMV (organic vs GMV Max, etc.) — it's all reported as GMV driven by that creator's content.
Creator and content metrics
- Post Rate % — What it means: Of the samples a creator received, the share they actually posted a video for. 5 samples received, 3 videos posted = 60%. The average across Cruva brands is around 73%, so treat 60%+ as a solid filter.
- Post Rate = "--" (or N/A) — What it means: Cruva has no post-rate data for that creator — usually because the creator has made this data private on TikTok, or there isn't enough history yet. It is not an error.
- Views — What it means: Counted the moment a video starts playing — there is no 3-second minimum. Loops and autoplay-on-scroll count too. Cruva pulls this directly from TikTok, so it matches TikTok's own view count.
- CTR (click-through rate) — What it means: The share of viewers who clicked through to the product on a shoppable video. Shown as a percentage.
- Engagement / Engagement rate — What it means: Likes, comments and shares relative to views, pulled from TikTok. LIVE engagement is measured over the whole session, so don't compare a LIVE's engagement one-for-one with a video's.
- Showcasing — What it means: Yes/No column in My Affiliates: whether the affiliate has added one of your products to their TikTok showcase (the product list on their profile).
A note on CTR
CTR is reported correctly as a percentage. If you saw CTR values above 100% in the past, that display bug has been fixed — current values reflect the true click-through rate.
Sample funnel statuses
- Content Pending — What it means: The sample has been delivered but the creator hasn't posted a video yet. It flips to Content Pending automatically once the courier marks delivery — there's no extra wait timer you can set on the status itself.
- Content Unfulfilled — What it means: The same underlying state as "sample delivered / content pending," but exposed as a CRM condition. Build a group on Content Unfulfilled (or "Sample Delivered") and add a min/max "days since delivered" to message creators who've gone quiet — e.g. no post 7 days after delivery.
To chase creators after a set number of days, use a CRM group with the "sample delivered" condition and a days-since range, not the status label itself.
Affiliate Levels (L1–L7)
Levels rank a creator by their 30-day total GMV across all shops (a market-wide size signal for the creator, not their activity with your shop specifically). L1 is lowest, L7 highest:
- L1 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $0 – $5K
- L2 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $5K – $25K
- L3 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $25K – $60K
- L4 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $60K – $150K
- L5 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $150K – $400K
- L6 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $400K – $1.5M
- L7 — 30-day Affiliate GMV: $1.5M+
See creators broken down by level in Affiliate CRM → Reports → Creators by Level (the "Creator Overview" section) — a separate report section from Retention, not nested under it. The Level also exports with your My Affiliates CSV.
Common questions
Total GMV vs Affiliate GMV — what's the difference again? Total = everything your shop sold (ads + affiliate + organic). Affiliate = only the part driven by creator content. Affiliate is always smaller.
Do my own shop's/account's videos count as Affiliate GMV? No. Sales from your own shop's videos are organic, not affiliate. For it to count as Affiliate GMV, the sale has to come through an actual affiliate video separate from your shop.
What does "% change vs prior period" compare against? The immediately preceding window of the same length — last 7 days vs the 7 days before that.
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- Affiliate CRM walkthroughAn end-to-end tour of the affiliate CRM — searching, filtering, segmenting, and re-engaging creators.
- CRM automations & groupsSegment creators with groups, then trigger automations like Sample Shipped and Content Unfulfilled.
- AI Auto RepliesSet up AI auto-replies that respond to creator DMs automatically — qualifying them and answering questions.
- Manage sample requestsApprove, reject, and ship samples — and use auto-approval rules so qualified creators clear without manual review.
- Reports & insightsRead the affiliate-CRM reports to understand what's driving GMV, content, and creator activity.
- Approving and fulfilling sample requestsApprove sample requests in Cruva or Seller Center, use auto-approve, ship the product, and handle the common snags.