Why DoorDash's Street Promoters Are Accidentally Measuring Politeness Instead of Purchase Intent
A field study in false positives and why your offline attribution is probably broken
Last Tuesday, I spent my lunch break conducting an impromptu conversion audit on a DoorDash street promoter. What I discovered should make every growth marketer rethink how they measure offline acquisition.
The Scene
Major city, 12:15 PM. High foot traffic. One DoorDash promoter positioned mid-sidewalk with a stack of red promotional cards promising “$X off for new customers.” Standard playbook for breaking into competitive markets where Uber Eats and Grubhub already own mindshare.
His approach? “Hi” followed by an attempt to hand over the card.
His conversion rate? Roughly 1% acceptance rate.
His actual conversion rate of app downloads? Probably close to Zero
The Problem: You’re Measuring Agreeableness, Not Intent
Here’s what that 5% acceptance rate actually measures: the percentage of people too polite to ignore a stranger or too rushed to actively decline. I watched person after person take the card, not read it, and toss it within 50 feet.
This is the offline equivalent of measuring banner ad impressions and calling them conversions.
You’re optimizing for social compliance, not purchase behavior. Every person who takes that card and throws it away is a false positive in your funnel analysis.
The Attribution Blackhole
Right now, DoorDash has no idea which promoter locations drive actual signups, which scripts work, or what the true cost-per-acquisition is from street marketing. Each promoter is essentially a black box with untrackable distribution.
The fix is embarrassingly simple: Unique QR codes per promoter, per location, per day. GPS tagging. Time stamps. Basic digital attribution applied to offline channels.
But here’s what gets interesting when you layer in proper testing infrastructure:
The Script Optimization Opportunity
Current opener: “Hi” Hypothesis: Lead with immediate value
The promoter buried his value proposition three conversational beats too deep. In digital, this would be like placing your primary CTA below the fold after two paragraphs of company history.
Test variations I’d run immediately:
“Want $20 off your next meal?”
“Free delivery for a month?”
“Sick of lunch lines? Get food delivered in 15 minutes”
The current approach optimizes for politeness. Growth marketing optimizes for stopping power.
Context Is Your Conversion Multiplier
This promoter chose a random sidewalk. That’s like running Facebook ads with zero targeting parameters.
High-intent contexts for food delivery:
Outside lunch spots during the 11:45-12:15 rush
Office building lobbies at 5:30 PM
College campuses during finals week
Apartment complexes on Sunday evenings
Context changes everything. A 1% acceptance rate on a random sidewalk might become 40% outside a restaurant with a 20-minute wait time.
The Real-Time Conversion Test
Instead of measuring card acceptance, test for immediate action:
After introducing the offer, “Would you like to download the app right now and recieve the promotional $20 on the spot? I can show you how this works on your phone right now”
Then track:
How many people are actually interested
How many complete the signup process
How many place an order within 24 hours
Actual conversion data instead of social compliance theater.
The Cohort Analysis You’re Missing
Track users acquired through street promotion separately from digital channels:
First order completion rate
30-day retention
Average order value
Referral behavior
If street-acquired users behave differently than app-acquired users, that tells you something crucial about intent quality and long-term value.
The Geographic Intelligence Play
With proper attribution, you’d quickly identify:
Which blocks within the same neighborhood convert better
Time-based patterns (lunch rush vs. evening vs. weekend performance)
Demographic correlations based on surrounding businesses and housing
Turn every promoter into a data collection point for market expansion strategy.
The Meta Question
This isn’t really about optimizing street promotion. It’s about whether DoorDash can build offline acquisition channels that compete with digital CACs in mature markets.
The current approach suggests they’re testing offline because digital acquisition costs are climbing, but they’re applying none of the measurement rigor that makes digital performance marketing work.
The real test: Can street-acquired customers achieve comparable LTV:CAC ratios to paid search and social? If not, this entire experiment is brand marketing disguised as performance marketing.
What I’d Test First
Attribution infrastructure: QR codes and promo codes that track to first order, not just app download
Context before content: Test high-intent locations before optimizing scripts
Real-time conversion attempts: Train promoters to close on-the-spot signups
Script variations: A/B test openers that lead with value proposition
Cohort analysis: Measure actual user behavior, not vanity metrics
The Bottom Line
Your street promoters are currently running a politeness experiment, not a growth experiment. The fix isn’t better cards or improved training—it’s applying the same measurement and testing discipline to offline channels that you use for digital.
Every growth marketer knows you can’t optimize what you can’t measure. Offline acquisition shouldn’t get a pass on that principle just because it happens on sidewalks instead of screens.
The opportunity is massive. Most companies treating offline marketing like it’s still 1995. Build proper attribution and testing infrastructure, and you’ll have a sustainable competitive advantage in markets where digital acquisition costs are squeezing margins.
But first, stop measuring politeness and start measuring purchase intent.