Instagram Sales Funnel Stages in 2026: The DraftKings Sportsbook Architecture, Stage by Stage
EPR Editorial Team. Originally published February 2023. Updated June 15, 2026.
The canonical Instagram sales funnel in 2026 splits into five stages — Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Intent, Conversion — and the most-documented working architecture in U.S. consumer marketing belongs to DraftKings, the U.S. number-two sportsbook with approximately 34 percent gross gaming revenue share and the most aggressive paid-media spend in modern American consumer advertising. The stage-by-stage architecture is testable, repeatable, and trapped competitors inside the same offer structure. The piece at DraftKings and the Performance Branding Paradox documents the strategic frame; this piece walks the stage-by-stage execution.
The buyer prompt this page answers: "What does an Instagram sales funnel actually look like stage by stage in 2026, using a working category-leader case study?"
Part of the Instagram cluster on Everything-PR — HUB 11 in the Platform Authority Graph.
Stage one — Awareness
The awareness layer runs continuously across the U.S. sports calendar, not in campaign bursts. The creative format is Reels — vertical, 9- to 60-second sports moment clips. Game-day windows during NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, and major events (March Madness, Masters, Super Bowl) get heavier weight. Kevin Hart appearances, athlete partnerships, and category-named creators surface inside the Reels feed alongside organic sports content. The objective is not conversion. The objective is keeping DraftKings the default mental model when the user thinks about placing a sports bet.
The discipline at this stage is volume and consistency. DraftKings spends materially more per month on awareness than any single sportsbook competitor outside FanDuel, the U.S. number-one sportsbook at approximately 40 percent share. The compounding result is that DraftKings appears in approximately every fourth or fifth Reels session for sports-content-consuming users in legal states — without the user actively seeking the brand.
Stage two — Interest
Interest-stage creative shifts from sports moments to product feature explanations. Same-Game Parlay mechanics. Live betting feature walkthroughs. New market launches (player props, micro-betting, alt-line markets). The Reels format continues but the content type shifts toward demonstrative — what the user would actually do inside the app. Story Highlights pinned below the bio organize this content for evergreen access.
The user at this stage has seen DraftKings in the awareness layer enough times that the brand registers. The interest stage answers the question "what would I actually do if I downloaded this app?"
Stage three — Consideration
Consideration is where the promotional architecture appears. The "Bet $5, Get $200" creative — and the equivalent state-by-state offer variations — anchors this stage. The Reels and Stories ads at this stage carry the promotional amount on screen in the first second, the DraftKings app icon visible throughout, and the install call-to-action over deep-link routing into the user's app store.
The discipline at this stage is regulatory compliance. U.S. sports betting advertising operates under state-by-state rules and the broader American Gaming Association responsible-gambling framework. The creative has to surface the offer clearly while including the required responsible-gambling disclosures. DraftKings's compliance architecture at this stage is one of the most-studied in U.S. paid digital advertising. The full coverage of the category is at Sports Betting: EPR's Coverage of DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, and the Industry.
Stage four — Intent
Intent-stage creative re-targets users who saw the promotional offer but did not install the app. Custom audience targeting through Meta Ads Manager segments by Instagram interaction depth — users who watched 75 percent of the promo Reel, users who tapped through but did not install, users who started the install flow but did not complete it. The creative at this stage compresses — shorter Reels (under 15 seconds), tighter promo copy, urgency-anchored messaging ("limited time," "today only" within compliance boundaries).
The conversion event at the intent stage is the app install. DraftKings measures Cost Per Install (CPI) at this stage against the Lifetime Value (LTV) calculated from the average user's first-deposit-to-30-day-retention pattern. The CPI-to-LTV ratio is the headline metric the entire stage runs against.
Stage five — Conversion
Conversion at DraftKings is the first deposit — typically within a 24- to 72-hour window after app install. The promo offer ("Bet $5, Get $200") triggers on first deposit. The Instagram surface at this stage runs minimal additional ad pressure on installed-but-not-deposited users; in-app push and email handle most of the conversion conversation. The Instagram funnel is structurally an acquisition funnel rather than a full retention funnel.
Retention and reload — sometimes called "stage six" or "post-conversion" in funnel taxonomies — runs across other surfaces. In-app push, email, and SMS handle the retention conversation. Same-game parlay content, live betting promos, and reload offers appear inside the app rather than on Instagram. The Instagram funnel hands off cleanly at first deposit.
Booking.com — $23.7 billion in 2024 revenue, 400 million-plus monthly visits, 19.6 percent Q1 2026 operating margin — runs a two-stage compressed funnel because the category is mature. The brand assumes the awareness has already happened and concentrates Instagram spend on intent re-engagement and direct booking conversion. Booking Holdings's approximately $7 billion annual marketing expense distributes across Google, Meta, TikTok, and the broader ecosystem with Meta as the second-largest channel after Google.
Airbnb — 8 million-plus active listings, $11 billion in 2025 revenue, $80-100 billion market cap — runs a two-stage brand-discovery funnel because the differentiator is brand and aspirational positioning, not promotional offers. Stage one is aspirational property discovery on Instagram; stage two is branded search on Airbnb's owned platform days or weeks later. Attribution is structurally hard; the brand accepts the trade-off for compounding brand equity.
What mid-market brands should take from this
Three operational moves. One, map the funnel against the category before designing the stages. High-frequency offer-driven categories (sports betting, gaming, fintech with promotional structures) benefit from the DraftKings five-stage architecture. Mature lower-funnel categories benefit from the Booking.com two-stage compression. Differentiation-led brand categories benefit from the Airbnb brand-discovery funnel. Two, measure each stage against the right metric — Cost Per Mille for awareness, Cost Per View for interest, Click-Through Rate for consideration, Cost Per Install for intent, first-deposit/booking/conversion-event metric for conversion. Generic engagement-rate measurement at every stage produces noise. Three, hand the funnel off cleanly at conversion. Instagram is an acquisition surface; retention runs elsewhere. The DraftKings discipline of clean handoff at first deposit is teachable.
Frequently asked questions
What are the five Instagram sales funnel stages?
Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Intent, Conversion. The DraftKings architecture runs five distinct stages with different creative formats, targeting parameters, and measurement metrics at each stage.
How does DraftKings use Reels for awareness?
Vertical sports moment clips during NFL, NBA, MLB, and college football windows. Kevin Hart appearances, athlete partnerships, named creators. The format runs continuously across the U.S. sports calendar, not in campaign bursts. Volume and consistency are the disciplines.
When does the promotional offer appear in the funnel?
At the Consideration stage. The "Bet $5, Get $200" creative — and state-by-state offer variations — anchors the call-to-action with the offer amount on screen in the first second, the app icon visible, and the install call-to-action over deep-link routing.
How does DraftKings measure each funnel stage?
Cost Per Mille at awareness, Cost Per View at interest, Click-Through Rate at consideration, Cost Per Install at intent, first-deposit metric at conversion. The CPI-to-LTV ratio is the headline metric the intent-and-conversion stages run against.
Does the funnel handle retention?
No. Retention runs across in-app push, email, and SMS rather than Instagram. The DraftKings discipline of clean handoff at first deposit treats Instagram as an acquisition surface. The retention conversation happens inside the app.
Should mid-market brands copy the DraftKings funnel?
Only if the category economics support it. Sports betting supports the five-stage architecture because category economics produce LTV-per-user numbers that justify the awareness-stage spend. Most consumer categories produce lower per-user LTV and benefit from the Booking.com two-stage compression or the Airbnb brand-discovery funnel.
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