Tira

Tira reaches beauty shoppers across
the App Store, driving discovery
through repurchase.

The Results

47% of all Apple Ads installs driven from brand search results campaigns
46% lower cost-per-install after adopting Maximize Conversions
32% higher likelihood of shoppers acquired through Apple Ads to return to the app on day 28 than organically acquired users
11% higher average order value for Apple Ads users than the blended business average across all acquisition channels

The Challenge

To scale business growth for their beauty shopping app, the team at Tira faced the challenge of moving beyond acquisition metrics toward driving sustainable, compounding revenue. While app users on beauty platforms typically show up to 3 times higher long-term value and stronger repeat purchase rates than shoppers on websites, simply chasing install volume wasn’t enough — the team needed to attract engaged users who would convert and return.

“Acquisition numbers are vanity if the user never buys twice,” says Tira Head of Media Prajakta Rathe. With key indicators like app session frequency and repeat purchase rate tied directly to business health, the Tira team needed a strategy that could evolve from early-stage awareness to quality-focused acquisition — and with iOS users generating 160 percent higher average revenue per user than other platforms, the real challenge was finding a scalable way to consistently reach and convert iOS shoppers with high long-term value.

“Our marketing strategy is designed around efficiently acquiring users with high intent, activating them to a purchase within the first week, and building replenishment behavior over time. Apple Ads sits at the center of all our marketing goals, helping us reach users at the moment of highest intent on the App Store and ensuring that every bit of spend targets users with genuine interest
in beauty shopping.”

Prajakta Rathe
Head of Media at Tira

The Solution

Capture strong intent on the App Store with search
results campaigns.

To better measure return on ad spend and optimize budgets, the Tira team structured Apple Ads search results campaigns by keyword intent. The brand campaign was an always-on efficiency anchor, protecting brand terms and helping the team stay ahead of the competition. “We run the brand campaign continuously, regardless of season or budget pressure. Our brand campaign consistently delivered our lowest cost-per-install and highest install-to-purchase conversion rates while protecting our most valuable search real estate,” says Rathe.

In fact, brand campaigns delivered 47 percent of installs from just 15 percent of spend at a cost-per-install that was 68 percent lower than average. Discovery campaigns on nonbranded beauty category terms — skincare, foundation, serum, fragrance — reached users who were in a beauty mindset but not yet platform loyal. This engaged new user cohorts that brand-only campaigns would never reach.

One of the most significant insights the team gained from search results campaigns was in the keyword categories outside of beauty. Nonbeauty brand keyword campaigns captured shoppers searching for adjacent apps and delivered 57 percent lower cost-per-install than the blended Apple Ads account average. Return on ad spend for these campaigns was 24 percent above the account average, demonstrating that iOS shoppers with strong intent are reachable well beyond explicit beauty search terms. These results expanded how the Tira team thought about keyword strategy, moving beyond category-specific terms toward broader intent signals.

“Apple Ads has consistently exceeded expectations on both acquisition cost and user quality. The efficiency advantage of App Store search intent is evident at every stage of the funnel — from cost-per-install and install yield through to post-install retention and order value,” says Rathe. “The channel’s structural advantage is that users actively searching for a beauty app on the App Store are fundamentally closer to the purchase decision than users reached through passive discovery. This intent signal compounds into measurably better downstream behavior across every metric Tira measures.”

Tira found that shoppers acquired through Apple Ads are 32 percent more likely to return to the app on day 28 than organically acquired users. These shoppers also spend more. Average order value for Apple Ads users is 11 percent higher than the blended business average across all acquisition channels.

Optimize performance and efficiency with Maximize Conversions.

To optimize campaigns for efficiency down to the keyword level, the Tira team launched the Maximize Conversions bid strategy — intelligent automation that optimized their search results campaigns to spend more efficiently as well as save time and effort. With these AI-powered tools, the team saw cost-per-install (CPI) drop by 46 percent below their account average.

“Seeing that kind of efficiency, early on, is a strong signal,” says Rathe. “By letting automation handle the bid management layer, we have freed up meaningful capacity for the work that truly demands human judgment. That includes creative strategy, custom product page design, and seasonal sales event planning. It is about putting the right resources against the right problems.”

Drive additional visibility with multiple ads across the App Store.

To engage different App Store audiences across the customer journey, the Tira team invested in ads on the Today tab, Search tab, and product pages. With a Today tab campaign, they drove brand visibility with millions of potential shoppers on the App Store’s most prominent page. This placement delivered 21 percent of total Apple Ads impressions on just 3 percent of spend.

“We treat the Today tab as a brand awareness driver, not a direct acquisition tool — and we invest in it accordingly. The measure of success is visibility and reach, not return on ad spend relative to other placements. The key benefit of Today tab ads is brand presence on iOS at scale; we can position Tira alongside editorially featured apps and create an association with premium, curated App Store content.”

Prajakta Rathe,
Head of Media at Tira

Search tab ads reached users before they even searched, capturing early discovery intent from users who are in a browsing or exploration mindset. These ads generated 19 percent of total Apple Ads impressions on only 6 percent of spend. “Ads on the Search tab complement the keyword-targeted search results campaigns by covering a broader awareness-to-consideration moment earlier in the App Store journey,” says Rathe. “Search tab campaigns expand Tira’s addressable iOS audience beyond users with explicit keyword intent, introducing Tira to users earlier in their consideration journey.”

With ads on product pages, the Tira team was able to reach people actively browsing similar apps, capturing consideration at a high-intent moment. “Product page ads help us reach shoppers who are already engaged with an app listing and therefore likely to be receptive to a relevant alternative,” says Rathe.

Customize creative to engage key shoppers during tentpole events
and capitalize on
seasonal interest.

The Tira team scaled spend aggressively during tentpole events, when purchase intent on the App Store intensifies and they find that cost-per-order compresses sharply. They also developed ad variations based on custom product pages that are set up in App Store Connect and scaled up for every major sale window. These custom product pages aligned closely with sale visuals and messaging to reduce friction between tap and first session. “The creative strategy is to mirror the sale’s visual identity and messaging on the custom product pages — including sale-specific banners, highlighted offers, and event branding — so that users who tap an ad land on an App Store page that matches the ad they saw. This reduces cognitive dissonance between the ad and the store listing, lowers drop-off before install, and improves first-session quality,” says Rathe.

Ad variation spotlighting Tira app features and benefits.
Ad variation featuring special offers for Glow Getter Days.  
Ad variation highlighting promotion for the brand’s birthday.

The impact of custom product pages was significant. For the best-performing campaign, click-through rate improved by 2 times, CPI dropped by 23 percent, and impressions increased by 58 percent on 21 percent less spend. “Creative alignment between ad and landing page materially improves tap quality even before the install,” says Rathe. “We quickly saw that aligning the App Store landing page to the ad creative is as important as the ad itself — creative consistency across the full tap-to-install journey is now a standing principle in how Tira structures every Apple Ads campaign.”

The team at Tira has started to engage AI creative agencies to test multiple creatives and better understand what’s resonating with the user cohorts based on performance. “The opportunity to create user cohort–specific custom product pages at scale is very exciting,” says Rathe. “Right now, we build custom product pages for major tentpole sales events. But what we’re planning to do is generate tailored App Store experiences for different users (such as skincare-first users versus makeup-first users). This level of personalization with creative variant testing will give us sharper insights on how to engage users better.”