Meta Ads
intermediate
5 min read4 steps937 views

How to Upload Customer Lists to Meta Ads (Custom Audiences)

Upload your customer email list, phone number list, or both to Meta to create a Custom Audience for targeting or exclusion. Go to Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience > Customer list. Upload a CSV with hashed identifiers (Meta handles hashing automatically). Match rates typically range from

Targeting & Audiencesupload customer list facebook ads

Quick Summary

Upload your customer email list, phone number list, or both to Meta to create a Custom Audience for targeting or exclusion. Go to Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience > Customer list. Upload a CSV with hashed identifiers (Meta handles hashing automatically). Match rates typically range from 30-70% depending on data quality. Use customer lists for targeting existing customers, excluding purchasers from acquisition campaigns, and as seeds for Lookalike Audiences.

Process Flow

Interactive diagram — drag to pan, scroll to zoom

Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these 4 steps to complete this guide

1

Preparing Your List

Create a CSV file with one column per identifier. Supported identifiers: email addresses, phone numbers (with country code), first name, last name, city, state, country, date of birth, gender, and mobile advertiser ID. More identifiers = higher match rate.
2

Upload Process

Go to Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience > Customer list. Map your columns to Meta's fields. Upload. Meta hashes the data locally before sending for matching. Processing takes 30 minutes to a few hours.
3

Match Rates

Expect 30-70% match rates. Improve match rates by including multiple identifiers (email + phone + name), ensuring data is clean (no formatting issues), and using business emails where customers have Facebook accounts linked.
4

Use Cases

Target existing customers with upsell or loyalty campaigns. Exclude existing customers from acquisition campaigns. Create Lookalike Audiences to find similar users. Re-engage lapsed customers who have not purchased recently.

Was this guide helpful?

Your feedback helps us improve our guides