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Instamart drives conversions.

To scale reach to as many relevant audiences as possible, the Instamart team structured their campaigns by keyword theme (brand, category, competitive, and discovery). They used exact match to maintain efficiency and control costs while continuously adjusting budgets and bidding strategies based on performance. “Brand campaigns helped maintain a high share of voice with strong return on ad spend, while competitive keyword campaigns captured traffic and increased our market share,” says Instamart General Manager of Growth Rahul Doss.

The Instamart team actively refined keyword lists, adding high-performing terms and removing low-converting ones. Negative keywords helped reduce irrelevant traffic. “With search results campaigns, we prioritized high-intent keywords that drove strong engagement and consistent conversions,” says Doss. “By regularly reviewing search term reports, we also discovered new valuable keywords and were able to optimize for in-app actions down to the keyword level.”

To expand visibility with even more potential shoppers, the Instamart team complemented their investment in search results with ads across the Today tab, the Search tab, and product pages. Today tab ads increased brand exposure with the broadest audience possible on the front page of the App Store. “Today tab campaigns boosted our app visibility by showcasing Instamart to millions of people actively discovering new apps,” says Doss. “With this prime placement on the App Store, we captured the attention of App Store visitors and increased brand awareness, driving a notable rise in brand search volume.”

The team further enhanced app discovery with ads on the Search tab, reaching shoppers before they narrowed in on specific searches. “With Search tab ads, we boosted visibility and drove significant app installations. Clearly, users were more likely to engage and download our app in a relevant and intent-driven environment where people specifically go to search for new apps,” says Doss. Product page ads also helped capture high intent from users browsing similar apps, leading to improved conversion rates.

To continue optimizing their campaigns for success, the Instamart team completed Apple Ads Certification. “With the knowledge we gained from this online training, we plan to continue implementing best practices for budgeting and better leverage performance insights for continuous improvement,” says Doss. “As we refine our multi-placement Apple Ads strategy and custom product page testing, we are well positioned to stay ahead of industry trends and quickly respond to market changes,” says Doss.