As an Instacart shopper, receiving a steady stream of order batches is crucial for earning a good income. However, batch availability can vary significantly depending on factors like your location, the time of day, overall order volume, and your personal shopper metrics. By understanding how the Instacart platform assigns batches and taking steps to improve your key metrics, you can position yourself to receive more batches consistently.
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Improve Your Shopper Rating and Metrics
Instacart uses a number of shopper metrics to determine batch priority and visibility, with your overall shopper rating being one of the most important. This rating is an average of your last 100 customer ratings and ranges from below average (under 4.7) to excellent (5.0). Shoppers with higher ratings are given priority access to available order batches.
Here are some tips for improving your rating:
- Provide excellent customer service: Communicate proactively with customers, choose high-quality replacements when needed, and deliver orders on time. Going the extra mile leads to better tips and ratings.
- Maintain a high acceptance rate: Instacart tracks the percentage of batches you accept out of those offered to you. While you shouldn’t accept every batch, keeping your acceptance rate above 90% ensures maximum batch visibility.
- Focus on proper checkout procedures: Carefully review orders for accuracy, verify prices match receipts, and use proper bagging techniques to avoid damaged items. Mistakes during checkout can lead to ratings dips.
In addition to your shopper rating, on-time delivery and order issue rates also impact how many batches you see. By delivering consistently on time with few order issues, you can increase your standing in Instacart’s internal batch distribution queue.
Understand When and Where Batches are Available
Instacart order volume fluctuates daily and weekly based on customer demand, with weekends and holidays typically being far busier than weekdays. Batches also become available in waves throughout the day, with the highest volume early mornings and evenings when customers are most likely to place orders.
At minimum, aim to go online during the following high-volume windows:
- Early mornings, especially Sundays (7 AM – 11 AM)
- Evenings (5 PM- 9 PM)
- Friday evenings
- Weekend afternoons
You should also familiarize yourself with the busiest stores in your zone. Certain retailers like Costco receive far more Instacart orders than others. Position yourself near busy stores right before busy windows to have the best chance of grabbing batches immediately as they appear.
Carefully Select Batches
While accepting as many batches as possible can help increase your overall earnings, not all batches are created equal. When possible, be selective and focus on batches that meet the following criteria:
- Higher tips: Choose batches with tips making up a larger percentage of the total batch payment. Higher tippers often rate more favorably.
- Lower item counts: Batches with fewer items can be shopped faster, allowing you to complete more batches per hour.
- Shorter delivery distances: Batches with shorter delivery distances take less time to complete, improving your per hour earning rate.
- Easy stores: Batches from stores you know well will allow you to shop faster and more accurately.
Use Instacart’s Advertising Platform
If you sell consumer packaged goods (CPG), Instacart now offers an advertising platform allowing brands to promote their products directly to Instacart shoppers and customers. By running sponsored product ads tied to specific search terms and products, you can increase discoverability and order volume for your brand.
Key features of Instacart’s advertising platform include:
- Cost-per-click pricing: Only pay when shoppers click on your ads instead of for impressions
- Product promotion: Highlight specific products to boost sales
- Audience targeting: Show ads to customers searching for related products
- Performance tracking: Monitor clicks, orders, sales, and return on ad spend
Conclusion
By focusing on providing excellent customer service, shopping efficiently, going online during busy windows, and potentially leveraging Instacart’s advertising platform, brands and shoppers alike can receive more Instacart orders over time. Monitor your key metrics closely and continue optimizing your approach to maximize your visibility and earnings.
