Have you ever gotten an email with your first name in the subject line but still ignored it?
You're not alone. Today’s guest expects more than a generic "Hey Mike" and a coupon. Go ahead and leave out the first-name personalization altogether because what they truly desire is RELEVANCE. You’ve heard it before: The bars and restaurants that deliver personalized, data-driven online and in-store experiences will win, as we like to say —"share of stomach"— more visits, higher AOVs, and deeper loyalty.
But what does personalized marketing look like beyond loyalty and email marketing? How can you truly leverage your customer data?
That’s what you’ll learn in this article. And you don’t need a loyalty program or a big budget to do it.
Why Personalization Matters More Than Ever
I’m sure you feel the pain of fighting for attention, but now you’re fighting for relevance, and therein lies your competitive advantage. Diners are more selective, ad costs are rising, and competition is fierce. And the stats don’t lie, 80% of consumers are likelier to buy when brands offer personalized experiences.
Your power play is to turn your customer data into a tool rather than just a list to create campaigns that connect, convert, and compound.
Personalization Is About Understanding, Not Just Addressing
Let’s set the record straight: Personalization is not about knowing someone’s name—it’s about knowing who they are. That means understanding guest behaviors like:
- Visitor frequency
- Typical order
- What time of day do they visit
- Whether they’re more likely to engage with a YouTube ad or scroll past an Instagram story
When you know these things, you can craft more tailored offers, run high-performing campaigns, and create meaningful moments that feel personal and relevant without ever needing to say, “Hey, [First Name]!”
Using Customer Data to Maximize ROI
Most restaurants and bars collect customer data, but few effectively activate it. According to McKinsey, the proof is in the pudding: Companies that leverage customer behavior data outperform peers by 85% in sales growth and 25% in gross margin.
Here’s what’s possible when you use your data right:
1. Create Segments That Matter (For ROI)
Instead of lumping customers into “loyal” vs “new,” build segments like:
- Weekly lunch regulars
- Weekend date night diners
- Vegan and plant-based eaters
- Late-night crowd
- Big-group celebrators
At Liberty Interactive Marketing, we worked with one of our national restaurant brands that discovered a struggling location was drawing a radically different audience than the rest of the chain. “They had a very vague idea of who the customers were for that location, and they were treating the overall chain as one,” explained Mike Swan, Managing Partner at Liberty Interactive Marketing.
By segmenting based on actual behavior and demographics (instead of assuming sameness), we cut 70% of wasted ad spend and dramatically lifted visitor frequency. Swan says, “By learning more about the demographics and psychographics of that particular group, as well as where they lived, we cut out about 70% of the area they were targeting and delivered ads using the channels that performed better for that audience with creative that spoke directly to their needs. And we saw outstanding results in increasing visitation far above the baseline.”
2. Serve the Right Message in the Right Place (For Real)
Some people binge-watch video content on the big screen, others scroll late-night TikToks, and many still read emails. Knowing your customers’ media habits helps you meet them where they are—and in the format they prefer.
Understanding your customers’ media preferences is critical to a successful omnichannel strategy. Companies adopting omnichannel marketing see 250% higher engagement rates than those using single-channel approaches, making it essential to know which channels your customers spend time on to avoid wasting both time and money.
For example, one of Liberty Interactive Marketing’s regional restaurant clients used the same creative and promotions in every market, regardless of audience behavior. We found something surprising when we studied their engagement data and mapped media preferences by region. Swan says, “There were certain parts of the country that certain things just didn’t sell, yet they were trying to sell those products in [those] parts of the country.”
Using this insight, we segmented their audience by geography and purchase behavior and adapted the creative accordingly. “Once we segmented their audience to understand who in what part of the country was buying which products, that allowed us to generate a few different versions of the creative, and that was very, very successful,” Swan adds.
The result? A 3x increase in product trial for new menu items in previously underperforming markets.
3. Lift Order Values with Smart In-Store Personalization
Increasing AOV has got to raise eyebrows, especially as this is one of the lowest-hanging fruits for which you can immediately leverage your customer data. In recent years, most restaurant revenue growth has come from price increases rather than traffic; there isn't much more to gain from higher prices without risking losing loyal customers.
What to implement? Smart upsell offers based on past behavior. These types of offers can lift AOV by 10-30%. Your POS data tells a story, so use it to incentivize and surprise—without the creep.
- “You’re just two visits away from a free appetizer!”
- “Add an espresso shot today, and we’ll toss in a free bakery item.”
- “Order it again and skip the line. Member perks. ”
These aren't just feel-good moments. They’re performance drivers.
4. Avoid Turn-Offs (Like Targeting Vegans with Beef Burgers)
Personalization is also about not sending the wrong message.
If your data shows a customer always orders plant-based, don’t serve them a ribeye promo. It’s not just ineffective—it damages trust.
You’ll want to avoid mistakes like this: A location had been running generic “Burger Night” ads to its entire list. After refining its segments, they found that 18% of its base skewed towards vegetarian or vegan customers. Removing those customers from that campaign improved CTR by 42%.
5. Merchandise Based on Real Demand
Instead of promoting the same items in all stores, let the data lead. One of our clients was advertising the same seasonal cocktail across all regions. But in some markets, it just didn’t resonate. That’s when we dug deeper into regional differences—not just in purchase behavior but also in how audiences discovered and engaged with content.
“When comparing mature markets to the newer, burgeoning market, we found the newer market had completely different media consumption habits than the rest of the chain,” Swan shares. “That insight helped us shift the media strategy to better align with how that specific audience discovers and engages with brands.”
“We isolated the few primary channels this audience was using for discovery and built the media plan around them to help jumpstart performance in that region,” Swan adds.
The result? A more innovative, more localized approach that led to a 2x lift in featured drink orders in targeted locations.
How to Get Started (No Loyalty Program Required)
If you’ve never used your customer data beyond email campaigns, here’s a simple checklist to get going:
Step 1: Inventory Your Data: Email list, phone numbers, online orders, POS systems, social media engagement—collect it all.
Step 2: Enrich Your Profiles: With just a few data points, you can find out if customers have pets or kids, are in multi-generational households, and more.
Step 3: Segment Based on Behavior + Interests: Are they patio lovers? Alt-milk only? Wing lovers? Brunch crowd? Late-night snackers?
Step 4: Match Message to Medium: Video-first folks? Send a YouTube ad. Email-engagers? Try a dynamic offer.
Step 5: Activate + Measure: Track AOV, frequency, CTRs, and retention to see what's working—and what’s not.
Liberty Tsighis is the Founder of Liberty Interactive Marketing, a digital advertising agency she started in 2006. The team has managed over $100 million in advertising across Google, Meta, TikTok, and Programmatic. She has worked with clients like Ticketmaster, Black Rock Coffee Bar, Cold Stone Creamery, and Wings and Rings, and has educated hundreds of business leaders, marketers, and agencies. Outside of work, Liberty enjoys watching her son play soccer, organic gardening, and bike rides. Pronounce her last name like "Tea-guess." Connect with Liberty on LinkedIn or visit https://teamupwithliberty.com and ask her how to unlock your customer data to increase brand awareness and improve media efficiency.
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