Instacart Ads historically used last touch attribution for sales reporting within each sponsored product and display ad format. As of August 1, 2022, both Ads Manager and Instacart Ads API reporting views primarily use linear attribution, with an option to see an updated last touch model for comparison. This change only affects sales reporting data for dates August 1, 2022, and onward.
Linear model | Last touch model |
When a customer makes a purchase, each ad they interacted with on that purchasing path gets assigned an even split of that credit. This leads to more accurate sales reporting. | When a customer makes a purchase, only the last ad the customer interacted with on that purchasing path gets credit. |
To view both linear and last touch models—
1. Click Campaigns from the menu on the top-left side of the screen.
Select either Sponsored product or Display ad from the dropdown in the top left corner.
Click the gear icon at the top right corner of the table.
- Select Show attribution view.
View historical data
A clear line shows when the default data model changed in Ads Manager graphs.
Start date | End date | Linear model | Last touch model |
Before July 31, 2022 | On or before July 31, 2022 | X | |
Any | On or after August 1, 2022 | X | X |
Interpreting sales data
We track 2 sales types—
Direct or Attributed sales
Halo sales
Direct sales only include product sales from a specific campaign, such as—
UPCs featured on the brand page
Related UPCs for measurement
Shoppable product lists
Halo sales are similar to direct sales but include related products outside of the campaign—
Different flavors or pack sizes
Product varieties in the same brand for your category
We divide the purchase credit among all eligible products when we calculate halo sales.
Halo sales may be lower than direct sales for linear attribution. For example—
Product A is $10 and product B is $20. Campaign 1 features product A and campaign 2 features product B. A consumer purchases both products.
Campaign 1 sales—
Direct sales: $10 (all from product A)
Halo sales: $15 ($5 from product A and $10 from product B)
Campaign 2 sales—
Direct sales: $20 (all from product B)
Halo sales: $15 ($5 from product A and $10 from product B)