Deterministic signals in advertising: Learnings from Instacart’s David DeRobbio

Over the past two decades, digital advertising’s rise to prominence has been swift and expansive. Still, one of the biggest challenges plaguing the industry is knowing whether or not marketing efforts actually lead to conversions. Dave DeRobbio, Director of API & Off Platform Data Partnerships at Instacart Ads, offers his insights into overcoming this challenge. With extensive experience in leveraging data and technology to drive marketing performance, DeRobbio’s unique position allows him to see firsthand how brands can harness the power of retail media to drive significant business results. His experience leveraging authenticated, deterministic signals gives him a unique perspective that can help brands navigate the complexities of retail media and digital advertising.

In Rokt’s Beet.TV Leadership series, he shares his expert insights, highlighting the pivotal role of relevance, the challenges of standardization, and the exciting future of creative engagement.

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Using deterministic signals to provide relevance

Relevance is a critical component of successful retail media strategies. With the deprecation of third-party cookies, brands need to pivot towards authenticated, deterministic signals to connect with their audience effectively. DeRobbio emphasizes the importance of this shift, stating, “I can’t think of anything more deterministic than a shopper that’s on Instacart, completely logged in. You’re not going to send your groceries to someone else’s house. You’re going to send them to your house. So with that authenticated deterministic signal, relevancy matters a lot.”

Now more than ever, the market is hungry for a solution that unifies a single persistent identity in a controlled first-party environment. This solution would not only maintain consumer privacy (as data would only be collected after a consensual relationship with consumers had been established) but also deliver more customer data points to help marketing teams accurately segment, target, and attribute marketing spend – all while fostering deeper connections with their customers.

Solve for the lack of standardization with technology

While connecting ad impressions with conversions presents a significant opportunity, it also comes with challenges, particularly around the need for more standardization around performance measurement. DeRobbio acknowledges this hurdle: “I’m not sure we’re ready for full standardization yet. The marketplace needs to sort itself out.” The inconsistency among third-party measurement vendors makes it difficult to create a unified approach to measuring and attributing marketing efforts. However, cutting-edge technology can expedite these initiatives. As DeRobbio puts it, “That’s also an opportunity for some of these technology companies to really excel at privacy, at identity, at fidelity, and sort of help lead the way to get us to that point where there’s enough scale where we can create standardization.”  

The growth of e-commerce, retail media networks, and AI-powered technology offers unprecedented opportunities to further close the loop- meaning accurate attribution for conversion. Advertisers can close the loop to understand the return on their ad spend and optimize their campaigns.

Embrace innovation and creative engagement with AI

Looking ahead, DeRobbio is excited about the advancements in creative engagement within retail media. He envisions a future where brands can deliver highly personalized and interactive messages that resonate with consumers. “I’m interested to see what a lot of the messaging looks like this year, the engagement that brands choose to use on screen,” he says. “As retail powered media grows, the ability to use the signals to communicate with customers grows… I’m really interested to see what the advances are and the creative and engagement tools that are available.”

This focus on innovation enhances the consumer experience and provides brands with new avenues to capture attention and drive conversions. By leveraging AI and machine learning, companies like Instacart are optimizing their advertising products to deliver more relevant messages at the right time, further improving the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Close the loop with Rokt’s persistent identity

At Rokt, one of our “deterministic signals” is built on a foundation of persistent identity around the primary email address. By starting with an email address as the primary identifier, we utilize a persistent data point around which to construct a privacy-safe profile, which allows us to deliver quality customer insights to our advertisers without compromising data security.

In addition, we focus on the Transaction Moment – when engagement, interest, and buying intention are at their highest. Our AI dynamically chooses the next best action for every individual user in the Transaction Moment without relying on cookies. These mechanisms ensure accurate, real-time close-the-loop tracking that can capture activity on your site and help determine a campaign’s success.

Furthermore, Rokt’s solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing retail media networks, providing brands with the tools they need to deliver highly relevant offers to their customers. By using AI and first-party data, Rokt ensures that offers are presented at the optimal moment, enhancing the shopping experience and driving higher conversions.

To learn more about how Rokt can uplevel your retail media strategy, visit our retail media page.

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