Blue Apron
Finding fresh audiences through Amazon DSP
( Services )
- Brand & Media
When it comes to meal kit delivery, Blue Apron has convenience and quality in the bag. For over a decade, the fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service has connected home cooks with chef-inspired meals, transforming how millions of households shop for and prepare food.
In addition to sourcing quality ingredients and cooking up innovative recipes to keep hungry customers satisfied, Blue Apron had something else on its plate: the need for a more efficient way to drive new sign-ups and scale performance.
With rising customer acquisition costs and a media mix that needed fresh thinking, Blue Apron turned to Amazon DSP to try something new. The promise? Smarter targeting, new inventory, and the kind of optimization that turns interest into action. By partnering with DEPT®, the team leaned into what made Amazon different, solidifying the DSP as not just the plat du jour, but a fixture on the marketing menu.
Capturing more cooks for the kitchen
Blue Apron needed to expand beyond its core media channels to grow efficiently. Rising costs and limited targeting options made it harder to find new customers at scale. The team wasn’t just looking for more reach, but better reach. Plus, higher-intent audiences, stronger engagement, and overall smarter media spend.
Amazon DSP offered an opportunity forward: access to exclusive first-party data (1PD), premium placements across Amazon-owned properties, and new tools like Performance+ designed to prioritize quality traffic over clicks. Alongside DEPT®, Blue Apron’s first major initiative on Amazon DSP was the ultimate opportunity to reach new audiences—in places where people were already shopping, streaming, or browsing with intent—while testing and optimizing on the platform.
Pairing hungry audiences with high-impact placements
DEPT® worked with Blue Apron to develop a media strategy that fully leaned into what made Amazon DSP different, and the first step was audience targeting. Instead of broad demographics, DEPT® used Amazon’s shopping and behavioral signals to find customers who already showed signs of being a fit.
Every audience was selected based on relevance, not guesswork. For example,
- Whole Foods shoppers who bought frozen, healthy meals were deeply aligned with Blue Apron’s offerings and primed for conversion.
- In-market audiences browsing meal prep tools indicated interest in home cooking, cost savings, and efficiency.
- Lifestyle audiences that demonstrated behaviors prioritizing wellness, sustainability, and premium food options matched the Blue Apron ethos.
Blue Apron’s ad placement strategy was just as intentional. Ads showed up on Amazon.com when customers were actively shopping, on IMDb during entertainment browsing sessions, and on Twitch, connecting with a younger, tech-savvy crowd. Wherever the audience’s attention naturally went, Blue Apron was there with relevant and emotionally resonant messaging that evoked the joy of cooking (without having to grocery shop).
To drive further real business results, DEPT® and Blue Apron activated Amazon’s Performance+ beta. Launched in 2024, the tool is designed for non-endemic advertisers using Amazon DSP to harness 1PD and machine learning to automate and optimize campaigns toward a specific goal.
Performance+ gave the team a new lever to move beyond basic click metrics and optimize campaigns toward Quality Site Visitors (QSVs), or users who stayed on-site long enough to show real interest. This helped Blue Apron focus its media spend on audiences that mattered most.
Throughout the campaign, flexibility was key. DEPT® built the strategy as a living framework, adjusting audiences, creative formats, and real-time placements based on performance. Insights from Amazon DSP reporting and Campaign Manager gave the team the visibility needed to optimize quickly and stay locked onto the KPIs that mattered: Quality site visits, sign-ups, and lower cost per registration.
When meal kits meet machine learning
Blue Apron’s move into Amazon DSP paid off in a big way, driving results across every part of the funnel. The campaign more than doubled average sign-up rates by strategically targeting high-intent audiences like Whole Foods shoppers and wellness-focused consumers.
Cost efficiency followed. By tapping into Amazon’s first-party data and optimizing through Performance+, Blue Apron cut CPAs, lowered costs per registration (CPR), and allowed its acquisition dollars to work harder than ever.
-
+111%
Increase in average sign-ups
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-70%
Reduction in CPA
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-57%
Reduction in CPR
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+36%
Site visitors likely to qualify as quality
The Performance+ campaign also proved extremely effective in building a pipeline of leads. Audiences driven by automated Performance+ tactics specifically had 65% higher sign-ups and maintained an 80–90% QSV rate throughout the campaign.
With stronger performance metrics, deeper audience insights, and a proven model for efficient growth, Blue Apron is doubling down on Amazon DSP. The success of this campaign reshaped how the brand approaches full-funnel media. As Blue Apron looks ahead, first-party data, premium inventory, and quality-driven optimization will stay at the core of its strategy, and DEPT® will be right there to help keep scaling smarter.
