Creating Lookalike Audiences from Phone Lists
Posted: Sat May 24, 2025 7:00 am
In the realm of digital marketing, reaching the right audience is paramount to campaign success. While broad targeting can cast a wide net, it often results in wasted ad spend and low conversion rates. Lookalike audiences offer a powerful solution, enabling you to identify and target new users who share similar characteristics with your existing, high-value customers. And one of the most effective ways to create compelling lookalike audiences is by leveraging your existing customer phone lists.
Why Use Phone Lists for Lookalike Audience Creation?
Your customer phone list is a goldmine of potential targeting data. The individuals azerbaijan phone number list on this list have already demonstrated an interest in your products or services, having provided their phone number and potentially engaged with your brand via phone calls, SMS marketing, or other communication channels. This data can be used to build highly accurate lookalike audiences, leading to increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and a stronger return on ad spend.
Think about it: your phone list is likely segmented into categories based on various criteria like purchase history, demographics, and even customer service interactions. This pre-existing segmentation allows for the creation of niche lookalike audiences that precisely match the profiles of your most valuable customer segments. For example, you could create a lookalike audience based on customers who have made repeat purchases, or those who have highly rated your customer service. This granular approach ensures that your ad spend is focused on individuals most likely to convert. Moreover, using phone numbers offers a unique advantage over other data points like email addresses. Phone numbers are often associated with real people and are less prone to being fake or outdated, leading to a more accurate and reliable match rate when creating lookalike audiences on advertising platforms. This improved match rate directly translates into a larger and more effective lookalike audience.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Lookalike Audiences from Phone Lists
Here's a detailed guide on how to create lookalike audiences using your phone list, specifically tailored for Facebook Ads Manager (although the general principles apply to other platforms like Google Ads and LinkedIn as well).
Preparing Your Phone List for Upload
Before you can upload your phone list to Facebook Ads Manager, you need to ensure it's properly formatted. Cleaning and preparing your data is crucial for maximizing the match rate and overall effectiveness of your lookalike audience.
Data Formatting: Ensure that all phone numbers are in a consistent format. Remove any extra characters like dashes, spaces, or parentheses. The ideal format is a country code followed by the phone number (e.g., 15551234567 for the US). Consistency is Key!
Data Encryption (Hashing): Advertising platforms require you to hash your customer data before uploading it. Hashing is a one-way encryption process that converts your sensitive data (phone numbers) into a string of characters, protecting your customer's privacy and complying with data security regulations. Facebook Ads Manager automatically hashes your data upon upload, but it's always a good practice to hash it yourself beforehand as an extra layer of security. You can use online hash generators (search for "SHA256 hash generator") for this purpose.
File Format: Save your cleaned and (optionally) hashed phone list as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. This is the most widely accepted format for data uploads.
Creating the Custom Audience and Lookalike Audience in Facebook Ads Manager
Once your phone list is properly formatted, you can create a custom audience and then a lookalike audience within Facebook Ads Manager.
Custom Audience Creation:
Go to Facebook Ads Manager and navigate to the "Audiences" section.
Click on "Create Audience" and select "Custom Audience."
Choose "Customer List" as the source for your custom audience.
Select whether your list includes identifiers like email addresses and names, but focus solely on the "Phone Numbers" option.
Upload your prepared CSV file.
Map the data columns in your file to the corresponding fields in Facebook Ads Manager (e.g., "Phone Number").
Name your custom audience (e.g., "Customer Phone List - Repeat Purchasers") and click "Create Audience."
Lookalike Audience Creation:
After your custom audience is created and populated (Facebook will match the phone numbers on your list to Facebook users), click on the custom audience you just created.
Click on the three dots (More Options) and select "Create Lookalike Audience."
Choose your source (the custom audience you just created).
Select the country or countries you want to target with your lookalike audience.
Choose the audience size. A smaller percentage (e.g., 1-2%) will create a more tightly matched audience, while a larger percentage (e.g., 5-10%) will create a broader audience. Starting with a smaller percentage is generally recommended for initial testing.
Click "Create Audience."
Why Use Phone Lists for Lookalike Audience Creation?
Your customer phone list is a goldmine of potential targeting data. The individuals azerbaijan phone number list on this list have already demonstrated an interest in your products or services, having provided their phone number and potentially engaged with your brand via phone calls, SMS marketing, or other communication channels. This data can be used to build highly accurate lookalike audiences, leading to increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and a stronger return on ad spend.
Think about it: your phone list is likely segmented into categories based on various criteria like purchase history, demographics, and even customer service interactions. This pre-existing segmentation allows for the creation of niche lookalike audiences that precisely match the profiles of your most valuable customer segments. For example, you could create a lookalike audience based on customers who have made repeat purchases, or those who have highly rated your customer service. This granular approach ensures that your ad spend is focused on individuals most likely to convert. Moreover, using phone numbers offers a unique advantage over other data points like email addresses. Phone numbers are often associated with real people and are less prone to being fake or outdated, leading to a more accurate and reliable match rate when creating lookalike audiences on advertising platforms. This improved match rate directly translates into a larger and more effective lookalike audience.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Lookalike Audiences from Phone Lists
Here's a detailed guide on how to create lookalike audiences using your phone list, specifically tailored for Facebook Ads Manager (although the general principles apply to other platforms like Google Ads and LinkedIn as well).
Preparing Your Phone List for Upload
Before you can upload your phone list to Facebook Ads Manager, you need to ensure it's properly formatted. Cleaning and preparing your data is crucial for maximizing the match rate and overall effectiveness of your lookalike audience.
Data Formatting: Ensure that all phone numbers are in a consistent format. Remove any extra characters like dashes, spaces, or parentheses. The ideal format is a country code followed by the phone number (e.g., 15551234567 for the US). Consistency is Key!
Data Encryption (Hashing): Advertising platforms require you to hash your customer data before uploading it. Hashing is a one-way encryption process that converts your sensitive data (phone numbers) into a string of characters, protecting your customer's privacy and complying with data security regulations. Facebook Ads Manager automatically hashes your data upon upload, but it's always a good practice to hash it yourself beforehand as an extra layer of security. You can use online hash generators (search for "SHA256 hash generator") for this purpose.
File Format: Save your cleaned and (optionally) hashed phone list as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. This is the most widely accepted format for data uploads.
Creating the Custom Audience and Lookalike Audience in Facebook Ads Manager
Once your phone list is properly formatted, you can create a custom audience and then a lookalike audience within Facebook Ads Manager.
Custom Audience Creation:
Go to Facebook Ads Manager and navigate to the "Audiences" section.
Click on "Create Audience" and select "Custom Audience."
Choose "Customer List" as the source for your custom audience.
Select whether your list includes identifiers like email addresses and names, but focus solely on the "Phone Numbers" option.
Upload your prepared CSV file.
Map the data columns in your file to the corresponding fields in Facebook Ads Manager (e.g., "Phone Number").
Name your custom audience (e.g., "Customer Phone List - Repeat Purchasers") and click "Create Audience."
Lookalike Audience Creation:
After your custom audience is created and populated (Facebook will match the phone numbers on your list to Facebook users), click on the custom audience you just created.
Click on the three dots (More Options) and select "Create Lookalike Audience."
Choose your source (the custom audience you just created).
Select the country or countries you want to target with your lookalike audience.
Choose the audience size. A smaller percentage (e.g., 1-2%) will create a more tightly matched audience, while a larger percentage (e.g., 5-10%) will create a broader audience. Starting with a smaller percentage is generally recommended for initial testing.
Click "Create Audience."