Aerie

The objective

Testing TikTok Search Ads Campaign to drive discovery and conversions

Aerie is a lifestyle brand by American Eagle that promotes body positivity and inclusivity through its intimates, apparel, and activewear. Partnering with TikTok has not only allowed Aerie to sell more products to consumers but has also given the brand a place to establish its authentic voice in a video-first environment.

While already seeing results with standard In-Feed Ads, Aerie hoped that promoting content through search placements would allow it to better reach people actively seeking style inspiration.

The goal of this campaign was to demonstrate that Search Ads Campaign not only captures last-touch conversions from individuals already intending to purchase but also influences new customers who otherwise wouldn't have considered buying Aerie clothing.

The solution

Measuring the impact of Search Ads Campaign with a Conversion Lift Study

With the holiday season right around the corner, Aerie was eager to explore TikTok's Search Ads for the first time. However, given the brand's strong focus on performance marketing and sales during this critical period, there was initial hesitation to test a new ad placement that might not deliver a suitable return on ad spend (ROAS).

To demonstrate the effectiveness of this new campaign strategy ahead of Black Friday, TikTok offered Aerie a first-to-market opportunity to run a Conversion Lift Study featuring their newly launched Search Ads.

After agreeing to the study, TikTok worked closely with Aerie to compare two campaign approaches: one with In-Feed Ads only and one with both In-Feed Ads and Search Ads. Each approach included a 10% holdout group to measure the incremental purchases driven by the campaign strategy compared to a control group.

To ensure the test accurately isolated the impact of Search Ads, the TikTok team helped identify an effective auction strategy and implement best practices across both approaches, including:

• Leveraging a diverse mix of creatives with strong user-generated content, including both image and video search ads.

• Using both Broad and Exact keyword targeting in the Search Ads group.

• Validating the strength of signal setups to ensure proper conversion tracking and optimization

By refining the campaign structure and execution, Aerie ensured the cleanest possible results, critical to informing its strategy during one of the most important sales periods of the year.

The results

Higher incremental conversions and revenue over the holiday season

The test results revealed that combining Search Ads with In-Feed Ads enhances overall performance. The integrated campaign delivered more than a 3% lift in conversions, 3,800 incremental purchases, and a $2.64 iROAS—all outperforming the 100% in-feed budget allocation.

Based on these results, Aerie confidently increased its investment in TikTok Search Ads for the remainder of the quarter. In addition, Aerie now sees Conversion Lift Study as a powerful tool for demonstrating the overall incrementality of TikTok media.