Using first party data (AKA 'CRM Data' or ‘Voter file data’) to create an ad audience is a great way to ensure that your list—whether it's from your customer list, a CRM, or other data source—makes up a foundational portion of your digital ad audience.
This foundational data source requires a minimum list size of 1,001 people (that means you must have at least 1,001 records of data to import, but we recommend a list of at least 10,000 for best results).
If you have a list that is sufficient in size, you can use this data to attempt to match your digital ads to that list—the more information you have, the better the odds of a high match rate. Higher match rates mean more people you intend to see your ads will actually see them.
To achieve the best match rate when creating an audience from your first-party data, include as much identifying information as possible for each record.
To simplify uploading your data, we have provided a template available for download within the Audience Builder. Just download the CSV template and open it with the program you prefer (Excel, Numbers, Sheets, etc). Do not change or edit the column headers in any way.
Your file must have data in at least one of the following combinations to achieve a match:
Email
Phone number
Name AND zip code.
When filling in your information, take into account the following guidelines for best results:
Name includes the person’s full name, including as much information available such as first name, middle name, last name, and suffix (Example: John J. Smith, Jr.).
Email address should be entered in plaintext, not as a hyperlink.
Phone number is the complete, 10-digit phone number without delimiters (Example: 2023995035)
Street address is the complete address without city, state, or zip code, including apartment or unit numbers.
City is the name of the city associated with the address.
State is the two-letter postal abbreviation.
Zip Code can be either the five-digit or nine-digit code.
We also have the ability to accept encrypted data, or hash files that use sha-1 hash type. We cannot accept sha-256 or md5 hash types. Please do not include encrypted data in the same file as plain text data. If you are using encrypted data, that information should be provided in the Lookup Value column and “Lookup Type” which should say “sha-1” for every row. All other columns should be left empty.
Once you have filled your data into the template appropriately, you can save it as a CSV file and upload it into the Audience Builder. Just with other audience types, you want to provide a name for your audience that is reasonably specific enough for you to know which data is included. Choose an advertiser, if applicable, and choose your file to upload.
Once uploaded, you will see the number of records in the file, as well as the opportunity to download an error report if the file does not meet all of the validation requirements. You can choose to either download the report and address the line-by-line errors in the file, or you can choose “Fix My Audience” to ask a member of our team to resolve the errors for you. Once your errors are resolved, re-upload the corrected CSV file. You should see a “Upload Completed” notification, which allows you to submit your audience and move to the next step.
A successfully uploaded audience will be available as soon as 2-4 hours from upload, and will continue to populate data over the next few days. You can go ahead and begin using your audience as soon as it is uploaded.