Audience Suppression
Excluding specific user segments from seeing advertising to improve efficiency.
Definition
Audience suppression is the practice of excluding specific user segments from advertising campaigns to improve efficiency and reduce wasted spend. Common suppressions include existing customers, recent converters, and users who've taken disqualifying actions.
Effective suppression strategies can dramatically improve ROAS by ensuring ad spend focuses on prospects rather than people who've already converted or aren't viable targets. Suppression lists must be kept current to remain effective.
Why It Matters
Every ad shown to someone who can't or won't convert is wasted money. Suppression focusing spend on viable prospects often improves campaign performance more than better targeting of prospects.
For advertisers, suppression optimization is often the fastest path to improved efficiency.
Examples in Practice
Suppressing recent purchasers from acquisition campaigns reduces wasted impressions by 20% and improves ROAS significantly.
A B2B company suppresses competitors' employees and their own staff from LinkedIn campaigns using company email lists.
Suppressing users who abandoned checkout less than an hour ago prevents annoying remarketing before they complete purchase.