In brief
You can create an audience from your own customer file (email addresses, phone numbers…). Meta compares this data with its users and finds some of them: this is the match rate.
Why it matters
It’s the most reliable audience for reaching your customers, excluding them from an acquisition campaign, or creating a lookalike audience.
Before you start
- You have the right to use this data for advertising (consent or a legal basis). Without it, do not import the file.
- The file is clean: one person per row, no duplicates, valid addresses.
- You don’t include any sensitive data.
The steps
- Prepare a CSV (or TXT) file with clear columns: email, phone, first name, last name, city, postal code, country.
- In Audiences, click Create audience, then Custom audience, then Customer list.
- Choose to update an existing list or create a new one.
- Add the file (or paste the data).
- Map each column to the matching identifier (email, phone…). Meta hashes the data before comparing it.
- Check the preview, then import.
- Check the match rate and name the audience (“Customers – October”).
Pitfalls to avoid
- Importing a list without consent.
- Poorly mapped columns: the match rate collapses.
- A file that is too small: the audience is unusable.
- Forgetting to update the list: unsubscribed customers stay in it.
Key takeaways
- Customer list = your data; it must be lawful.
- The more varied and clean the identifiers, the better the match rate.
- Use it to exclude customers and to create lookalike audiences.
Practice in TRIALO
In Create audience, choose Customer file: follow the five steps with the sample file of 300 fictional addresses and look at the simulated match rate.