How to Create a Customer Match List for Google Demand Generation Campaigns

Overview

Customer Match allows you to use your first-party audience data—such as email addresses or phone numbers—to reach known prospects across Google’s Demand Generation (Demand Gen) inventory. These audiences help improve targeting precision, support mid-funnel nurturing, and enable high-quality lookalike expansion.

Demand Gen campaigns leverage Customer Match lists across Google-owned placements, including:

• YouTube (In-feed, Shorts, In-stream)

• Google Discover

• Gmail (Promotions & Social tabs)

This article walks through how to properly create, upload, and activate a Customer Match list for use in Demand Gen campaigns.

Prerequisites

Before creating a Customer Match list, confirm the following:

• Your Google Ads account is eligible for Customer Match

  • Account must be in good standing

  • Policy compliance is required

• You have user consent to use the data for advertising purposes

• Your data meets Google’s formatting requirements

• You have admin or standard access to Google Ads

Step 1: Prepare Your Audience File

Customer Match lists must contain first-party data collected directly from users.

Supported Identifiers

You may upload one or more of the following:

• Email address

• Phone number

• First name

• Last name

• Country

• ZIP / Postal code
  

• Best practice: Email address typically yields the highest match rate.
  

File Requirements

• Format: CSV

• No headers required (but allowed)

• One user per row

• Plain text (Google will hash data automatically)

Example:

email@example.com  user2@email.com

Step 2: Navigate to Audience Manager

1. Log into Google Ads

2. Click Tools & Settings

3. Select Audience Manager

4. Navigate to Your data segments

Step 3: Create the Customer Match Segment

1. Click ➕ New audience segment

2. Select Customer list

3. Choose Upload your own data

4. Select the identifiers included in your file

5. Upload your CSV file

6. Name your list clearly (example:
   Engaged Visitors – Q1 2026)

Step 4: Set Data Usage & Compliance

During upload, Google will prompt you to confirm:

• You have obtained user consent

• The data complies with Google’s Customer Match policies

• The data is not from a prohibited category

This step is required for the list to be approved and usable.

Step 5: Allow Time for Processing

• Lists typically process within 24–48 hours

• Match rates vary depending on data quality

• You’ll see list status update to “Ready” once approved

Note: Customer Match lists must contain at least 1,000 matched users to serve ads.

Step 6: Apply the List to Demand Gen Campaigns

Once approved, the list can be used in Demand Gen campaigns for:

Targeting

• Reach known prospects across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail

Exclusions

• Suppress existing leads or franchisees from campaigns

Lookalike Expansion

• Use the list as a seed audience for similar (lookalike) audiences

• Improves scale while maintaining audience quality

Strategic Best Practices

• Use high-intent segments (engaged website visitors, prior leads)

• Refresh lists regularly to keep audiences current

• Pair Customer Match with persona-specific creative

• Use exclusions to manage funnel sequencing

• Avoid mixing unrelated audience types in one list

Common Use Cases

• Nurturing engaged franchise candidates

• Re-engaging dormant leads

• Creating lookalike audiences for market expansion

• Supporting mid-funnel demand creation strategies

Key Takeaway

Customer Match lists are a foundational input for successful Demand Generation campaigns. While the upload process is straightforward, the real value comes from how the audience is segmented, refreshed, and activated within a broader franchise development strategy.