Google Ads can use your 'first party' customer data to optimise your ads. Here's how to prepare the data.
Customer Match lists in Google Ads are a great optimisation opportunity. You can optimise your campaigns to target or exclude customers, and this data can be used for a range of advanced optimisation and campaign opportunities. They are now available to more accounts than ever before.
Preparing your data is relatively easy if you can export it from your CRM or other marketing tools. You will need to prepare the data in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, then export it as a CSV.
The official Google CSV template is here.
The more data you can provide in your customer export, the more accurately Google can match your customer list to their data. Expect a match rate of 70-90%, with 90% more likely if you've provided all available data.
You can review Google's official formatting instructions here.
For those interested, you can read the instructions for creating a customer list in Google Ads.
A better way to match customer data
Note, if you have a customer data platform (CDP) or CRM, you can automatically feed this data into Google Ads. Tools like HubSpot or Klaviyo have native integrations so you can create lists that auto update, and sync them with Google Ads. Other tools may be able to be linked to Google Ads with Zapier.