At Instacart, we’re focused on making grocery shopping as painless as possible. To help improve the Instacart experience, we conduct user research with both customers and shoppers to better understand what works and what doesn’t.

Feedback from both customers and shoppers directly inform our decisions. On top of contributing to the future of Instacart, we offer rewards to those who participate in user research studies. Customers will receive discounts off future order(s) and shoppers will get a shopper bump deposited directly to the Instacart Shopper app. We know your time is valuable and appreciate you spending it with us to improve Instacart.

Types of user research—

  • Surveys
  • Video interviews
  • Unmoderated studies where we ask you to record your screen as you complete certain tasks on Instacart.
  • In-person shop-alongs where we accompany shoppers as you pick groceries and complete deliveries.

Common Questions

What's the time commitment?
Our surveys usually take around five minutes, and a video interview may take an hour. It all depends on the research initiative and how we’d like to get your feedback.

Who works on the research team?
We have a number of people on the Research @ Instacart team, but you can generally expect to receive research invitations from [email protected].

I signed up to participate in a video interview. Now what?
Please find a quiet, private place with stable internet to respond to the questions. Interviews normally take between 30 - 90 minutes, depending on the research study.

Am I allowed to discuss user research with others?
Shopper participants sign an NDA prior to the study. We may share proprietary information during the sessions (e.g. unreleased designs)—it’s important not to discuss the specifics of your study with others.

Interested in participating?

We reach out directly to eligible customers and shoppers via email about potential research studies. We’ll ask you to sign a consent form prior to your research session where you agree to allow Instacart to use your feedback to improve the platform. If the study is a video interview, we provide a link where you can schedule a time to chat with our research team.