Jan 7, 20233 min read

How to Import an Email List into Facebook

Utilizing your hard-earned email list to run targeted ads on social media is a fantastic way to keep customers engaged with your brand! Whether you're retargeting lost customers or reminding customers about a sale you're having, this is a fantastic feature on Facebook Ads Manager that I don't feel like enough marketers are taking advantage of.

When you think of it from a sales funnel perspective, an email list would be considered a list of warm leads. These people have engaged with your brand in the past either by signing up for your email newsletter or having purchased from your business in the past. Therefore, the return on your AdSpend investment (ROI) is naturally going to be higher than it would be if you're "cold-calling" through your social ads. The latter is still a fantastic strategy and should be included in your overall social paid advertising strategy, however, it's going to take many more impressions before someone finally clicks and eventually converts.

Tips for Using Your Email Lists in Facebook Ads Manager

Collect Emails AND Phone Numbers

Facebook uses these lists to match profiles to emails and phone numbers. Emails are great, but if you have phone numbers as well that increases your chances of matching more profiles. Many people are creating Facebook and Instagram profiles with just phone numbers nowadays!

Organize Your Email Lists

Make sure your email lists are cleaned out of any unsubscribers and that you have an organized process of collecting emails. Create buckets, such as people who have purchased from my business in the last year, last month, etc. This will help you create more targeted messaging.

Targeted Messaging

Come up with creative, targeted messaging based on the list you're creating ads for. Knowing they have already interacted with your brand and how they have interacted with your brand should help you create more specific messaging. This will capture their attention better than any generic brand messaging would. Here is an example, "Thank you for supporting our business within the last month! Here is an exclusive 15% off code to show our gratitude: THANKS15"

Update Your Lists Often

Don't forget to update these lists often. With such specific messaging, your window of opportunity shrinks. You'll want to make sure you're actively managing your email lists and updating them within Ads Manager often.

Steps on How to Import an Email List into Facebook

Now that you've collected your email lists, it's time to upload them to Facebook's Ads Manager and create unique audiences. Let's get started...

Step 1: Go to Facebook Ads Manager

You can access your Ads Manager through business.facebook.com/adsmanager

Step 2: Click "All Tools" (hamburger icon)

The "All Tools" button is the hamburger icon located just below the home button in the upper left-hand corner.

Step 3: Click "Audiences"

I had to scroll down a bit to locate this under "Advertise".

Step 4: Click the "Create Audience" button and select "Custom Audience"

This is the location where you can create ALL custom audiences for your Facebook and Instagram ads.

Step 4: Select "Customer List" and press "Next"

You see here all the different audiences you can create! Facebook offers a lot of unique features here to help you target the right audience and get the best results.

Step 5: Follow the steps to upload your list

I suggest not skipping the first step and downloading the file template and the formatting guidelines. I initially skipped this and was having some issues with the formatting of my list when I uploaded it. A lot of information wasn't included. This step helped me a lot!

You are also going to want a pretty list. Consider that not every single person on that list is going to be matched to a Facebook profile. You'll also want to base your AdSpend budget on the Estimated Audience Size Facebook provides. It doesn't make sense to spend $1,000 on AdSpend targeting only 20 people - unless those are really special individuals ;).