Instacart performance based bid adjustment

Performance-Based Bid Adjustment is useful when you want to raise, lower, or set bids automatically based on object performance over a selected time period.

1. Feature Overview

Performance-Based Bid Adjustment runs on a simple logic:

• Condition: what performance conditions must be met

• Action: what bid action should be applied

Supported execution frequencies:

• Daily

• Weekly

• Monthly

Execution timezone:

• PST

The page will remind you that:

• Automation rules only apply to active targeting and start running at the top of the hour.

• When Performance-Based Bid Adjustment and Bid Dayparting are both enabled on the same campaign, Performance-Based Bid Adjustment takes priority and Bid Dayparting is skipped for that execution window.

2. Create a Performance-Based Bid Adjustment Rule

From the Automation Rules page:

1. Click Create Rule

2. Select the advertiser

3. Select Performance-Based Bid Adjustment

4. Enter the rule name

When creating the rule, please note:

• Instacart always uses USD, so no currency selector is required

• The rule name cannot be empty. English naming is recommended for easier maintenance

3. Configure Strategies

3.1 Set the Data Window

Before configuring conditions, select the data window for the strategy.

Available time ranges:

• Yesterday

• Last 3 days

• Last 7 days

• Last 14 days

• Last 30 days

• Last 60 days

• Last 90 days

Available exclusion options:

• No exclusion

• Yesterday

• Last 2 days

• Last 3 days

• Last 7 days

• Last 14 days

When setting conditions, please note:

• All conditions in a strategy share the same data window

• The statistics are based on targeting-level data

3.2 Set Conditions

The system starts with one default condition, and you can continue adding more.

Condition logic supports:

• And: all conditions must be met

• Or: any condition can be met

• Up to 10 metric conditions

Notes:

• The same metric cannot be repeated within the same condition group

• Conditions within the same color block are treated as And

• Conditions across different color blocks are treated as Or

3.3 Set Actions

Three action types are supported:

• Increase bid

• Decrease bid

• Set bid

For increase and decrease actions, you can choose:

• By percentage

• By value

Boundary settings:

• When increasing a bid, you can set a maximum value

• When decreasing a bid, you can set a minimum value

• Boundary settings are not enabled by default

Validation rules:

• Increase bid by percentage: 1 - 1000

• Decrease bid by percentage: 1 - 100

• Value-based bid changes must stay within the store currency range and support up to two decimal places

3.4 Multiple Strategies and Priority

A rule template can contain multiple strategies.

Execution logic:

• If the same object matches multiple strategies, only the highest-priority strategy is executed

• Strategy priority can be adjusted by drag and drop

• A single template supports up to 10 strategies

3.5 Set the Execution Schedule

You can configure:

• Execution time: any top-of-hour slot from 00:00 to 23:00

• Frequency: daily, weekly, or monthly

In addition:

• Weekly schedules support multiple weekdays

• Monthly schedules support multiple dates

Screenshot placeholder: schedule settings, daily/weekly/monthly examples

4. Supported Instacart Metrics

Instacart requires special attention in two areas:

4.1 Dual Attribution Models

The following metrics are available under both Linear and Last Touch attribution:

• Attributed sales

• Attributed units

• Return on ad spend

• New-to-brand sales share

• New-to-brand return on ad spend

4.2 Common Metrics

Commonly used metrics include:

• Spend

• Impressions

• Clicks

• Attributed sales

• Attributed units

• Return on ad spend

• Click-through rate

• New-to-brand metrics

Notes:

• Some metrics treat null values as 0

• Percentage metrics usually do not treat null values as 0

• Return on ad spend metrics are typically greater than or equal to 0 and usually have no upper limit

5. Object Level Options

Performance-Based Bid Adjustment supports two object levels:

• Adgroup bid: the rule applies at ad group level and you cannot select lower-level targets

• Keyword bid: the rule applies at keyword/targeting level and you can choose all objects or specific objects

In practice:

• If you choose Adgroup bid, the selected list on the right shows an ad group column

• If you choose Keyword bid, the selected list on the right shows a targeting column

6. Instacart-Specific Notes

6.1 Performance-Based Bid Adjustment Has Priority Over Bid Dayparting

If the same campaign has both Performance-Based Bid Adjustment and Bid Dayparting enabled:

• Performance-Based Bid Adjustment takes priority

• Bid Dayparting is skipped for that execution window

6.2 Platform Auto-Optimization and System-Added Terms

The following objects are skipped:

• Campaigns with bid auto-optimization enabled

• Terms automatically added by the Instacart system

7. Recommendations

• If attribution consistency is important for your team, standardize on either Linear or Last Touch before configuring rules in bulk.

• For the first rollout, test with a small number of campaigns and verify whether the conditions match the intended objects.

• If you want to avoid frequent bid changes at the beginning, start with a single strategy and a simple execution schedule.