How to Structure Instamart Campaigns for Maximum ROAS

Last updated: March 2026

Why campaign structure matters more than bid strategy

Most brands on Instamart dump all their keywords into one or two campaigns and wonder why ROAS is inconsistent. The problem isn't their bids — it's their structure. When branded and generic keywords share the same campaign, the branded terms eat the budget (because they convert easily), and the generic terms that drive new customer acquisition get starved.

A disciplined campaign structure solves this by giving each keyword group its own budget, bid management strategy, and performance targets. The difference between a well-structured and poorly-structured Instamart account is typically 30-50% in ROAS — not because of better keywords, but because of better budget and bid isolation.

The 3-tier campaign structure

Tier 1: Brand defense (15-20% of budget)

Purpose: Protect your branded search terms from competitor conquesting.

Keywords: Your brand name, brand + product combinations, brand misspellings.

Match type: Exact match only. Your brand terms are precise — there's no reason to use broader match types.

Bid strategy: Conservative. You already rank organically for these terms. Set bids at ₹2-4, just enough to maintain the top ad position if competitors are bidding on your brand name.

Success metric: Impression share above 90% on branded terms. If competitors are appearing above you on your own brand searches, increase bids incrementally.

Why a separate campaign: Brand terms have fundamentally different economics — high CTR, high conversion rate, low CPC. Mixing them with generic terms inflates your overall ROAS numbers and hides underperformance elsewhere.

Tier 2: Category capture (50-60% of budget)

Purpose: Capture shoppers searching for your product category but not your brand specifically.

Keywords: Generic category terms ("protein bar", "coconut water", "floor cleaner"), product attributes ("sugar free snacks", "organic dal"), and occasion terms ("party snacks", "breakfast cereal").

Match type: Start with exact match on your top 15-20 category terms. After 2 weeks of data, expand winners to phrase match.

Bid strategy: Aggressive but capped. These keywords have the highest CPC because every competitor bids on them. Set maximum CPA caps based on your product margin.

Ad group structure: Create separate ad groups within this campaign for:

• High-intent category terms (e.g., "buy protein bars") — highest bids
• General category terms (e.g., "protein bars") — moderate bids
• Attribute terms (e.g., "sugar free protein bar") — moderate bids, often less competition

Success metric: ROAS above your category-specific target (typically 4-6x platform ROAS for most FMCG categories). Track CTR by ad group — a CTR below 1.5% on category terms suggests your product listing needs optimization before more ad spend.

Tier 3: Discovery (20-25% of budget)

Purpose: Reach new shoppers who wouldn't find you through brand or direct category searches.

Keywords: Adjacent category terms, problem-based queries ("healthy evening snack", "quick breakfast options"), and controlled broad match on proven converters.

Match type: Phrase match for adjacent terms, broad match only with strict negative keyword lists and tight daily budget caps.

Bid strategy: Conservative with hard daily caps. Discovery campaigns are inherently lower-ROAS — you're trading efficiency for reach. Set your maximum CPA at 1.5x your Tier 2 CPA cap.

Success metric: New-to-brand customer acquisition rate and CPA per new customer, not pure ROAS. Discovery campaigns that deliver 2-3x ROAS are healthy if they're bringing in first-time buyers. Use audience targeting options where available to reach shoppers who haven't purchased your brand before.

Budget allocation across tiers

Tier	Budget share	Primary goal	Target ROAS
Brand Defense	15-20%	Protect branded traffic	8-15x
Category Capture	50-60%	Drive profitable orders	4-6x
Discovery	20-25%	Acquire new customers	2-3x

Adjust these splits monthly based on actual performance. If your brand defense tier is spending less than its allocated budget (because you dominate branded search organically), shift the surplus to category capture.

Keyword allocation rules

Never duplicate keywords across tiers. Each keyword lives in exactly one tier:

• If it contains your brand name, it goes in Tier 1
• If it's a direct category or product attribute term, it goes in Tier 2
• Everything else goes in Tier 3

Promote keywords between tiers based on data. A discovery keyword that consistently converts above your Tier 2 ROAS target should be moved to Tier 2 with an exact match bid. Conversely, a Tier 2 keyword that underperforms for 3 weeks should be moved to Tier 3 or paused entirely.

Scaling the structure

For brands with 5+ product lines, replicate this 3-tier structure per product line. A beverage brand, for example, might run:

• Juices — Brand Defense / Category Capture / Discovery
• Smoothies — Brand Defense / Category Capture / Discovery
• Energy Drinks — Brand Defense / Category Capture / Discovery

This creates 9 campaigns, which is manageable manually for focused weekly reviews. Beyond 15 campaigns, the optimization burden becomes significant — each campaign needs weekly search term analysis, bid adjustments, and budget rebalancing. At that scale, automated tools like Ladya reduce the management overhead from hours per week to minutes per day.

Common mistakes to avoid

1. Mixing branded and generic keywords — this is the most common structural error and the hardest to fix retroactively
2. No budget caps on discovery — broad match discovery campaigns can consume your entire daily budget if uncapped
3. Ignoring search term overlap — review search term reports to ensure Tier 3 keywords aren't triggering for searches that Tier 2 should own
4. Static budget allocation — rebalance monthly based on actual tier performance, not initial assumptions
5. No dayparting across tiers — Instamart peaks at different hours than Blinkit (stronger 10am-1pm in South India). Apply budget pacing rules per tier to avoid morning budget exhaustion
6. Ignoring ACOS by tier — track ACOS separately for each tier. Brand defense ACOS should be 3-5%, category capture 8-14%, and discovery 15-25%. If any tier exceeds these ranges, restructure before adding more spend

Instamart CPC benchmarks by campaign tier

Category	Brand defense CPC	Category capture CPC	Discovery CPC
Snacks & Namkeen	₹2-3	₹6-11	₹4-7
Beverages	₹2-4	₹7-13	₹5-8
Personal Care	₹2-3	₹5-10	₹3-6
Grocery & Staples	₹1-2	₹4-8	₹3-5
Home Care	₹1-2	₹3-7	₹2-4
Baby Care	₹2-3	₹6-12	₹4-7
Health & Nutrition	₹3-5	₹8-16	₹5-9

Instamart CPCs tend to be 10-20% lower than Blinkit for the same categories, partly because advertiser density is lower and partly because Instamart's quality score system rewards products with strong organic sales history.

Dayparting for Instamart campaigns

Instamart order patterns differ from Blinkit and Zepto, especially in South India:

Time window	Share of daily orders	Recommended bid adjustment
7am-11am	25%	Base bids
11am-2pm	20%	+10% (strong lunch-prep window)
2pm-5pm	15%	-20%
5pm-9pm	30%	+15% (evening peak)
9pm-7am	10%	-50% to -70%

Apply these adjustments at the campaign level. An AI agent can automate these bid shifts hourly based on real-time conversion data rather than fixed schedules.

Related reading

For platform comparisons, see Instamart vs Blinkit ads. For broader budget strategy across platforms, read how to split your Q-commerce ad budget. New to Q-commerce advertising? Start with the first 30 days playbook.

Want us to audit your Instamart campaign structure? Get a free audit — we'll map your current setup against this 3-tier framework and identify structural gaps costing you ROAS.