How To Suppress Existing Customers From Programmatic Campaigns

Smart advertising depends on precision, but when your data fails to separate existing buyers from brand-new prospects, things break down. The answer is that your data will be skewed, and you may not see the growth you want for your brand. 

Programmatic campaigns are built to reach the audiences you want and prospective buyers you need. They’re designed to be efficient, too, but that efficiency is reduced when your ads keep reaching people who have already converted in the past. If you know that someone has already booked a demo, made a purchase, booked a consultation, or requested a quote, then you know they already know your brand and aren’t where acquisition-focused ads should go.

How Customer Exclusions Reduce Wasted Ad Spend

When your current customers stay in your prospecting audiences, the problem is that those customers are unlikely to lead to new growth. Yes, they can give referrals, and they might even make a second purchase, but in many cases, the ad being served just feels like a repeat for someone who already knows about you.

Exclusions help you keep your customer acquisition projects focused. They allow you to direct your content and marketing efforts toward those who are still considering their options or who haven’t yet heard of your brand. Exclusions reduce repetition, and they allow you to separate your campaign from one that is meant to solely look at loyalty, upselling, retention, or renewal. 

Staying Connected: Creating Real-Time Exclusion Segments

The technical process of securely connecting your customer relationship management (CRM)   or email lists to your ad platform to create real-time exclusion segments starts with collecting permission-based customer data. That might include CRM records, for example, or purchase data, offline sales data, or email lists. These items can support your targeting and tracking in an environment where cookies are now a thing of the past. 

To create an exclusion segment, start by identifying the specific conversion event that would remove a person from prospecting, such as making a purchase. Then, sync the customer identifier on an ad or demand-side platform (DSP) with a tool like Google Customer Match, which allows advertisers to use both online and offline data to exclude or include customers within chosen campaigns. Google Customer Match works with the Data Manager API. Try this if your team works with a developer and you want more control.

Why Manual List Uploads Aren’t Enough on Their Own

Many smaller advertisers opt to use manual list uploads for exclusions, but those aren’t enough today. Now, not refreshing a list for a week or two can make a big difference in your business. 

The solution to that issue is using an automated data refresh process. Automated data refreshes connect your ecommerce, CRM, customer data platform, and offline sales, among other sources of data, to your ad platform. By doing this, customer segments and data can be updated regularly, as often as in real time, to keep all your data current.

Keeping your data fresh matters because suppression lists only work if they’re kept current. The sooner you know who has converted, the better in terms of saving money and avoiding unnecessary repetition.

Why Removing Current Customers Helps Clear Your Vision

Removing current customers from the equation provides a much cleaner view of your true cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and new-to-brand growth. When current customers stay in your audience, the campaign results can get foggy due to repeat-customer behavior. And while that might give you numbers that look good, you’ll have a harder time understanding the true cost of a new customer acquisition.

Remember that customer suppression helps you clarify that the channels, audiences, and messages you focus on are all driving new-to-your-brand growth. The continued success and performance of your programmatic campaigns rely on testing these variables and pushing prospects toward conversion. 

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