How to Use DoorDash Ads and Promotions

What marketing tools are available on DoorDash?

DoorDash offers two primary marketing tools you can manage in the Merchant Portal and use on both DoorDash Marketplace and Online Ordering:

• Ads (Sponsored Listings): Get your store seen by new customers with prominent ad placements in the DoorDash app and relevant search results. You only pay for ads when you receive an order.

• Promotions: Drive sales by enticing customers to order more and spend more per order on the DoorDash app with promotions. Promotions appear in the Deals tab and other discovery surfaces. Examples of promotions include offering new customers a discount (e.g., “Spend $30, get $5 off”), free delivery, or a free or discounted item. You only pay for promotions when you receive an order.

How do I create an Ads or Promotions campaign?

Marketing to new customers can happen two ways:

1. In the Merchant Portal, go to Marketing and select Run a Campaign

2. Choose a goal:

   • Attract new customers

   • Get more repeat orders

3. Select a campaign type and choose Select

4. Enter campaign details:

   • Target audience: What type of people you are trying to attract

   • Duration: When you would like the campaign to run

   • Average weekly budget: How much you're willing to spend each day on this campaign

   • Stores: Select the stores you would like to be included in this campaign

   • Menu items: Which items (if applicable) you'd like to include in your promotion

5. Configure campaign settings:

   • Ads: Choose automatic (recommended) or custom bidding

   • Promotions: Set the customer incentive and any minimum or maximum limits

6. Review the campaign preview and estimated cost

7. Review the Terms & Conditions and select Create to launch

An alternative way to create a DoorDash marketing campaign:

1. Log in to the Merchant Portal and navigate to Add solutions

2. Here you can find a number of marketing options to help you with your business goals, whether that's to attract new customers, increase your order size and volume.

3. Navigate to the section that best fits your needs, such as Attract New Customers

4. Click Create a Campaign

5. Follow the instructions above on how to input your campaign information

How do I create Online Ordering promotions?

1. Log in to the Merchant Portal

2. Go to Marketing, then Run a campaign

3. Toggle from Marketplace to Online Ordering

4. Choose a promotion type and duration

5. Select participating stores and complete setup

How do I track or end a marketing campaign?

1. Go to Marketing, then Campaigns in the Merchant Portal

2. Select a campaign to view details or cancel it

Available metrics

• Channel

• Status

• Start date

• End date

• Sales

• New Customers

• Cost

• Return on ad spend (ROAS)

ROAS benchmarks

• Excellent: 3.5x or higher

• Good: 2.5x–3.5x

• Fair: below 2.5x

How does DoorDash attribute performance to an ad?

DoorDash attributes an order to an ad when:

• A customer clicks the ad, and

• Places an order within seven days of that click

DoorDash uses click-through attribution, meaning views alone don't count toward performance or cost.

How do I track my marketing spend?

Marketing spend represents the total marketing investment for your store, calculated using the following formula:

Marketing spend = Marketing fees & discounts - DoorDash Marketing Credits - Third-party Contributions

You can view an aggregated marketing spend in the Merchant Portal:

• Campaigns tab: In Marketing, select campaign reporting, where you'll see your marketing spend overview, including Sponsored Listings and Loyalty campaigns

• Transactions tab: Under Financials through transactions, you can view marketing spend by scrolling to the right side of your transactions order table

• Payouts tab: Under Financials, click on Payouts to quickly identify your marketing spend

You can also view this information in the Business Manager App and Ads Manager.

How is marketing spend broken down?

Marketing spend includes several key components. Please note that Marketing credits and third-party contributions will only appear if applicable:

• Marketing fees & discounts: The sum of all discounts, fees, and applicable taxes related to running marketing on DoorDash

• Marketing credits: Total amount funded by DoorDash to offset marketing costs

• Third-party contributions: Total amount funded by partners (like franchise groups) to offset marketing costs

If your business has at least one store operating with bag fees, all stores within that business will have bag fee columns added to their reports. For stores that do not apply bag or cup fees, these columns will still appear in the reports but will display "0" values. This approach ensures consistent and transparent reporting across all stores in a business, providing a standardized format that allows you to see bag and cup fee information regardless of whether your specific location charges these fees.

If you want more details on bookkeeping, read about Financial Reporting in the Merchant Portal.

Don't understand other terminology? Check out How to Understand Your DoorDash Payout and Monthly Statement for more terms.