Customer lists for Google Ads (Customer Match)

A Customer list for Google Ads is a list of the client's contacts from The Pantheon that Google matches to Google accounts. Campaigns can then show ads only to them, watch how they do, or never show them ads. A common first list is all customers, excluded from a campaign meant to win new ones.

Only contacts who agreed to marketing

Only contacts who agreed to marketing are included. That means contacts who are subscribed to marketing emails, or who gave permission for marketing texts. You can't turn this off. A contact is always left out if any of these is true:

• They unsubscribed from emails or texts, or their address is on the do-not-email list.
• They texted STOP.
• Do not contact is on (All, Email or Texts).
• The contact was deleted, merged or erased.

Someone who stops qualifying is removed from Google on the next daily sync. A paused list adds nobody new, but people who stop qualifying (they unsubscribed, texted STOP or were deleted) are still removed.

What's sent

The email, the phone number (E.164) and the first and last name are scrambled (hashed, SHA-256) on our server before anything goes to Google. Country and ZIP go with the name, unscrambled, as Google asks. The plain details never leave ContentForge.

If the business texts its customers, phone numbers aren't sent at all. The texting rules and the business's privacy policy say mobile numbers are never shared for marketing. Matching then uses email and name + address.

Make a list

1. Open the client → Ads & Analytics → Google Ads.
2. On Customer lists for Google Ads, choose New list.
3. Name it and choose who goes in:
   • All customers: contact type Customer, or anyone who bought in the Store.
   • People with a tag: people with any of the tags you pick.
   • A saved list: one of the business's smart or fixed lists.
   • A pipeline stage: people on an opportunity in that stage.
   • Everyone.
4. You see how many would go in, and who's left out and why.
5. Choose Make the list and send it.

The list is made in the client's Google Ads account and the first upload goes straight away. After that it's Synced daily. Sync now runs the sync at once.

Sizes and match rate

Google takes 6–48 hours after an upload to report how many people it matched, for example Matched by Google: 62%, and the list's size on Search and on YouTube / Display. Google usually needs about 100 matched people before a list can be used for Search ads. Until then the card says the list is too small.

Matched people stay on the list for 540 days, Google's maximum. The daily sync sends them again before that runs out.

Use a list on a campaign

• New campaign: in Build campaign, the Review step shows Customer lists. If there's a list of current customers, Zeus suggests excluding it. Nothing changes until you choose Exclude them.
• Live campaign: on Settings, pick the campaign, then use Customer lists and Save in Google Ads.

There are three choices for each list:

• Never show ads to them excludes the list.
• Watch how they do is Google's Observation. Everyone still sees the ads.
• Only show ads to them is Google's Targeting.

A campaign can watch its lists or show ads only to them, but not both.

When Google says no

If Google refuses Customer Match for the account, the card says so with Google's reason and what to do:

• Not eligible: Google allows Customer Match only for accounts with a good history of following its ad policies and paying on time (and, for some accounts, enough total spend). Google turns it on by itself once the account qualifies. There's nothing to change in ContentForge.
• Terms not accepted: in Google Ads go to Tools → Shared library → Audience manager → Your data sources, accept the Customer Match / customer data terms, then choose Try again.
• Not allowed for this kind of business: Google doesn't allow customer lists for some categories (for example housing, jobs, credit or health).

The client's privacy policy

The client's privacy policy must say that hashed contact details are shared with Google for ads. A Privacy Policy made with Mount Olympus's legal pages adds this sentence once a customer list is on. The Legal pages panel then shows the page as out of date: update it there. If the client's policy is somewhere else, add the sentence yourself.

For visitors in the EU / UK, whether a marketing sign-up counts as consent to ad personalization is the client's call. We tell Google that everyone on the list consented, because only people who agreed to marketing are on it.

Cost

Customer lists don't use credits, and Google doesn't charge for Customer Match.