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Your old customer list is an ad audience.

If you run Facebook ads, the people who have already paid you are the best starting point you have. Upload them to Meta as a customer list, build a lookalike audience from it, and keep them out of the ads meant for new customers.

This page is the checklist: which columns to export, how to format each one, where to click in Ads Manager, and the exclusion step. Every name, email and phone number on it is an example.

Get the files Start the steps

5 columns

to start with: first name, last name, email, phone and ZIP code, exported from your invoicing tool or CRM

1 file

CSV or TXT, one customer per row, each column headed the way Meta reads it

1 exclusion

in every ad set meant for new customers, so you don't pay to reach people who already buy

What’s inside

The columns to export from your invoicing tool or CRM, and how to format each one
The clicks to upload the list in Ads Manager and build the lookalike from it
Where to exclude your current customers, for each kind of campaign
What to leave out of the list, and how to keep it current
The column headers in Meta's format, ready to paste your customers under

The four steps

The menu names in bold are Meta's, from its Business Help Center. Meta changes its menus from time to time, so check each one against your own Ads Manager as you go.

0 of 4 done

Export your past customers
- From your invoicing tool or CRM, export everyone who has paid you: name, email, phone and ZIP code.
- Look for an export or download option on your customer or contact list, and choose CSV.
- Then format the columns as shown in the column tables below.
Upload it in Ads Manager
- You need to own an ad account connected to a business portfolio, or have admin or advertiser permission on one. Meta says a new ad account may have to wait a few weeks before it can create a customer list audience.
- Open Audiences. Select Create audience, then Custom audience.
- Select Customer list, then Next. Prepare list shows Meta's formatting instructions; your file already follows them. Select Next.
- On Add list, choose Inclusions or exclusions. Don't choose Only exclusions: that audience can't be used to make a lookalike, and the choice can't be changed later.
- Choose Upload a file and pick your CSV. Give it an Audience name you'll recognise, such as "Past customers". If you are asked whether the file has a customer value column, say yes only if you added . Accept the custom audience terms, then select Next.
- On Map identifiers, a check icon means a column is mapped and ready to be hashed. An exclamation point means a column needs fixing or was left out; fix it before you go on. Then select Import and create.
- The audience shows Populating, then Ready. Use it once it reads Ready.
- Meta hashes the list before it matches it. Click path: Meta's create a customer list custom audience. Hashing: about hashing customer information.
Build a lookalike from it
- A lookalike audience reaches new people who are similar to the people in your list. The people already in your list are left out of it automatically.
- In Audiences, select Create audience, then Lookalike audience.
- Pick your customer list as the source.
- Select audience size with the slider. Smaller percentages match your list more closely; larger ones are broader. You don't pick a location here any more: the ad set's location is used.
- Select Create audience. It can show Populating for up to 3 days. Meta says you can start running ads with it straight away, and its size grows as it fills.
- Size of the source: Meta's formatting guide says a customer list should include at least 1,000 customers. A lookalike needs a source of at least 100 people, and Meta recommends 1,000 to 5,000.
- Meta also suggests building the source from your best customers rather than all of them, depending on your goals. If your export has a value column, that is one way to pick them.
- Source: Meta's create a lookalike audience and about lookalike audiences.
Exclude your current customers
- In every ad set meant for new customers, exclude the customer list, so you don't pay to reach people who already buy.
- Where the setting sits depends on the campaign objective; both places are under Exclude your customers, below.

The columns: start with these five

Head each column with the name in the first column below, exactly as written, so Meta maps it for you. One customer per row. If you use your own headers, you'll map each one by hand when you upload.

What it holds: Email address
How to format it: One email address per cell. If customers have more than one, you can use up to 3 email columns.
Example: sam@example.com

What it holds: Phone number
How to format it: Include the country code on every number, even if all your customers are in one country. In the United States that means a 1 in front. Punctuation is fine either way. Up to 3 phone columns.
Example: +13035550142 (a US number written with its country code)

What it holds: First name
How to format it: First name in its own column. Don't put the full name in one column; split it into first and last.
Example: Sam

What it holds: Last name
How to format it: Full last name, with or without accents.
Example: Rivera

What it holds: ZIP code
How to format it: Five digits. A four-digit extension is allowed after a hyphen, but it isn't needed.
Example: 80203 or 80203-1234

What it holds	How to format it	Example
Email address	One email address per cell. If customers have more than one, you can use up to 3 email columns.	sam@example.com
Phone number	Include the country code on every number, even if all your customers are in one country. In the United States that means a 1 in front. Punctuation is fine either way. Up to 3 phone columns.	+13035550142 (a US number written with its country code)
First name	First name in its own column. Don't put the full name in one column; split it into first and last.	Sam
Last name	Full last name, with or without accents.	Rivera
ZIP code	Five digits. A four-digit extension is allowed after a hyphen, but it isn't needed.	80203 or 80203-1234

The columns: add these if you have them

What it holds: Country
How to format it: The two-letter country code, in its own column, even if every customer is in the same country.
Example: US

What it holds: City
How to format it: The full name of the town or city.
Example: Denver

What it holds: State
How to format it: The full state name, or the two-letter abbreviation for a US state.
Example: CO or Colorado

What it holds: Customer value
How to format it: What each customer has spent with you, as a number only, with no currency sign. Optional. It lets you build a value-based lookalike later.
Example: 1250

What it holds	How to format it	Example
Country	The two-letter country code, in its own column, even if every customer is in the same country.	US
City	The full name of the town or city.	Denver
State	The full state name, or the two-letter abbreviation for a US state.	CO or Colorado
Customer value	What each customer has spent with you, as a number only, with no currency sign. Optional. It lets you build a value-based lookalike later.	1250

What the file looks like

The first line is the headers. Every row after it is one customer. These three are examples.

Column names and formats: Meta's customer list formatting guidelines and how to prepare your data.

Exclude your customers

Do this in every ad set meant for new customers. Where the setting sits depends on the objective you chose for the campaign.

Sales, App promotion or Leads

In the ad set, go to Audience and select Show more controls. Add your customer list under Custom audience exclusion. To add the lookalike, use Add suggestions (optional) and pick it under Custom audience inclusions.

Awareness, Traffic or Engagement

In the ad set, go to Controls and select Show more controls. Select Exclude these custom audiences, then find your list with Search existing audiences. To add the lookalike, go to Audience, then Suggest an audience, Show settings and Include these custom audiences.

An included audience is a suggestion

An audience you include this way is a suggestion: Meta can also show the ad to other people when it expects better performance. To keep the ad set to the lookalike only, Meta's steps are Further limit the reach of your ads (or Further limit your audience, then Reach a limited audience), and untick Use as a suggestion. The exclusion is not a suggestion: the people in your list are kept out. Source: Meta's how to use custom or lookalike audiences.

Before you upload

Leave these out

Anyone who has opted out of their details being used to build ad audiences. Anyone you know or should know is under 13. Social Security numbers, passwords, card or bank details, and anything about someone's health, money or credit. Anything in the audience's name that hints at any of the above. Meta's full list of prohibited information.

Check these

You need a lawful basis to upload the list. Meta asks you to review its custom audience terms first; this page doesn't cover the law. Meta hashes the list before matching: each value becomes randomized code that can't be reversed, and the hashed values are deleted after matching. Lookalikes are limited or unavailable for some ads about financial products and services, employment or housing. Source: Meta's customer list, hashing and lookalike pages.

Keep it current

A customer list that hasn't been updated in over 30 days shows as Outdated, which Meta says may affect delivery. Export again and use Update list, so this month's new customers are excluded too.

The Match score column in Audiences shows how well your list matched; more emails and phone numbers can raise it.

Take the files

The checklist

audience-checklist.txt

This checklist as one plain file: the columns and how to format each one, the upload clicks, the lookalike and the exclusion step.

Download

The column headers

audience-template.csv

The column headers in Meta's format, in order. Paste your customers under them, one per row.

Download

Open a .csv in Google Sheets (File, then Import) or Excel.

The names, emails, phone numbers and amounts on this page are examples. This page is a checklist, not a result.

Meta's menu names are from its Business Help Center as read on 29 September 2026; check them against your own Ads Manager.

This page doesn't cover the law on using customer data: settle that with your own adviser.

An audience is one step. What happens around it is the system.

Lead Generation Group is a program that teaches you to generate your own leads and sets up the Lead Generation OS with you. The first 90 days focus on paid acquisition: Meta ads, the offer, the funnel, tracking, CRM and follow-up.

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