People delight in travel.
TongCheng Travel drives
efficient acquisition.

To expand reach to as many relevant audiences as possible on the App Store, the TongCheng Travel team consistently invested in multiple Apple Search Ads placements. They created search results campaigns focused on their brand terms and industry keywords, ensuring that they connected with potential customers at key moments when they were searching for brand- or travel-related content. With Search tab ads, they were able to increase exposure and capture download intent before people searched.

The team also prioritized investment in Today tab ads featured on the front page of the App Store and saw a synergistic effect across placements. After running Today tab ads, their brand-related search volume increased by 80 percent compared with the same period the previous year. There was also a significant boost in both tap-through rate and exposure for their search results ads. “Ads on the Today tab were essential to our growth strategy, bringing us brand exposure that drove results,” says Head of User Growth at TongCheng Travel Wei Wang.

To improve overall performance and efficiency, the team allocated budget to run multiple Apple Search Ads placements simultaneously. “With this approach, our impressions increased sixfold, and cost-per-acquisition (tap-through) decreased by 20 percent,” says Wang. “The multi-placement strategy proved especially effective for our key seasonal promotions. During the Spring Festival holiday week, our exposure and downloads (tap-through) increased by 191 percent and 45 percent respectively.”

The TongCheng Travel team captured relevant demand during travel peaks with seasonal custom product pages for search results campaigns, highlighting holiday promotions. For example, during the May Day holiday, they aligned keywords such as hotels, train tickets, and attractions with tailored ad variations featuring creative that highlighted various holiday deals. This approach allowed them to capture user interest and boost engagement at critical moments, leading to a significant increase in conversion rate.

During the Spring Festival month, the team matched popular industry keywords with video previews themed around “Spring Travel Guide,” spotlighting the message “Book Together with Friends and Family for Greater Savings.” “We were among the first apps in the travel industry to launch video ad variations. By showcasing visually compelling, holiday-themed video assets during the Spring Festival season, we were able to strengthen brand perception of TongCheng Travel,” says Wang. “Compared with default ads, video ad variations delivered a 25 percent higher conversion (tap-through) rate and a 29 percent lower cost-per-acquisition (tap-through).”

The team also optimized the performance of their Today tab ads with seasonal custom product pages. For instance, during the summer promotion, they created custom product pages centered on “Explore Chengdu” for ads on the Today tab, highlighting the iconic giant panda of Chengdu as well as promotional offers such as train ticket discounts. “During the summer holiday, we used custom product pages related to various travel themes as the tap destinations for Today tab ads. Customers who tapped our ads were directed to these custom product pages, and assets from these pages were animated prominently on the front page of the App Store. This enabled us to capture attention and generate interest among a broad audience,” says Wang.

The TongCheng Travel team closely monitored Apple Search Ads campaign performance and adjusted their strategies based on relevant insights and recommendations. In addition to focusing on tap-through data, they also leveraged view-through metrics to measure the broader impact of their Apple Search Ads campaigns. After reviewing view-through install metrics of three months, they found that the total installs brought by their Today tab ads were actually 192 percent higher.

“View-through metrics helped us better understand the value of every impression as well as the importance of investing in two display ad placements with Apple Search Ads. Given these insights, we increased our budgets for Today and Search tab ads by 481 percent and 207 percent respectively, leading up to key holidays,” says Wang.

The team also leveraged campaign insights to enhance their app’s overall acquisition performance across channels. For instance, by continuously testing various custom product page formats, they found that those highlighting promotional offers or featuring vibrant imagery tended to drive more taps. Based on these insights, the team updated their app’s metadata on the App Store, which further increased brand interest and recognition, and boosted the overall ad conversion rate by 5 to 10 percent.

With their always-on Apple Search Ads campaigns, the team also gained deeper insights into overall industry trends and keyword dynamics. “We applied the valuable insights and experience gained from Apple Search Ads to other media and advertising platforms, effectively optimizing our app’s overall brand exposure and organic acquisition performance,” says Wang. Over the past year of running Apple Search Ads campaigns, the TongCheng Travel app saw a 100 percent year-over-year increase in iOS downloads.