Existing guests in your paid ads audiences: build a suppression list
What the answer looks like
Illustrative output on sample data
Illustrative example: how Lexi answers this for a hot pot restaurant group with 12 venues. It matches guests active in the past 24 months against last quarter's paid social and search prospecting audiences, using hashed email and phone.
- Includes guests with a visit or order in the past 24 months.
- Excludes guests who opted out of ad targeting.
- Measures how many saw acquisition ads and redeemed a new-guest offer.
What the data shows
About 19,000 existing guests saw acquisition ads, taking 17% of prospecting impressions. 1,100 of them redeemed a new-guest offer.
What it means
About $41,000 of last quarter's $240,000 prospecting budget reached people already visiting.
What to do
Upload the suppression list to Meta and Google Ads, refresh it weekly, and limit new-guest offers to first visits.
Want me to push the suppression list now?
Why it matters
Acquisition ads are meant to find new guests, but they often reach regulars who would visit anyway. Matching your guest list against paid audiences shows how much budget goes to people you already have, and a suppression list stops paying to reach them.
Frequently asked questions
Why should restaurants suppress existing guests from ads?
Prospecting ads are paid to find new guests. When they reach regulars, the budget pays for visits that would have happened anyway, and existing guests may redeem offers meant for newcomers. A suppression list keeps acquisition spend on new people.
How do restaurants build a suppression list for paid ads?
Combine guest emails and phone numbers from reservations, loyalty, online ordering and email lists, remove guests who opted out of ad targeting, then upload the list in hashed form to each ad platform as an exclusion audience.
How often should a suppression list be updated?
Refresh it at least weekly, so new guests are removed from acquisition ads soon after their first visit. Platforms match only part of any list, so expect some overlap to remain even after the list is uploaded.