Export Shopify Customers to Facebook for Retargeting & Lookalikes

Leveraging your existing customer data is one of the most powerful strategies in e-commerce marketing. By exporting your Shopify customer list to Facebook Business Manager, you can create high-intent Custom Audiences for retargeting or build Lookalike Audiences to find new shoppers who resemble your best buyers.

In this tutorial, I will walk you through filtering your customer data using ShopifyQL, formatting the CSV for Facebook’s algorithm, and launching these audiences in Business Manager.

Step 1: Filtering Your Customer List in Shopify

Before exporting, it is crucial to segment your data. While you can export your entire list, getting granular ensures you are targeting high-value users rather than one-time purchasers who may have returned their items.

Navigate to the Customers tab in your Shopify Admin. You can use Shopify's search syntax to filter specific segments.

Recommended Filters for High-Quality Audiences

1. Active Spenders (Removing Refunders) To avoid targeting customers who purchased and then refunded everything, filter for customers who have spent a minimum amount (e.g., $20) and placed at least one order.

Use these filters:

• number of orders >= 1
• amount_spent >= 20

2. Product-Specific Targeting If you are running a campaign for a specific product (e.g., a snowboard), you likely want to build a Lookalike Audience based on people who bought that specific item.

Type the following into the search bar:

products_purchased matches "Product Name"

Note: For the Facebook algorithm to be effective, aim for a source audience of at least 100 people, though 1,000+ is ideal.

Step 2: Exporting and Formatting the Data

Once you have filtered your list (or selected all customers), click Export at the top of the page. Select CSV for Excel, Numbers, or other spreadsheet programs and download the file from your email.

Cleaning the Data for Facebook

Facebook requires specific column headers to map the data correctly. Open your CSV in Google Sheets or Excel and perform the following clean-up:

1. Delete extraneous columns: Remove Customer ID, Accepts Email Marketing, Total Orders, Note, Tax Exempt, and any Default Address columns not listed below.
2. Consolidate Phone Numbers: If you have data in both Phone and Default Address Phone, combine them into a single column to maximize match rates.
3. Rename Headers: Rename the remaining columns to match Facebook's supported keys:

Original Shopify Header	Change To (Facebook Format)
First Name	FN
Last Name	LN
Email	email (lowercase)
Default Address City	CT
Default Address Province Code	ST
Default Address Country Code	country (lowercase)
Default Address Zip	zip (lowercase)
Phone	phone (lowercase)
Total Spent	value

Ensure the value column is present, as this allows you to create value-based Lookalike Audiences later.

Once formatted, Download the file as a CSV.

Step 3: Creating the Custom Audience in Facebook

1. Log in to Facebook Business Manager.
2. Navigate to All Tools > Audiences.
3. Click Create Audience > Custom Audience.
4. Select Customer List as your source and click Next.
5. When asked if your list includes a column for customer value, select Yes. This utilizes the value column we prepared earlier.
6. Upload your CSV file and map the value column to the transaction value field.
7. Review the mapping identifiers (Email, Phone, FN, LN, etc.) to ensure they match correctly.
8. Click Import and Create.

Step 4: Creating Lookalike Audiences

Once the import is complete, your Custom Audience is ready. To scale this, you should immediately create Lookalike Audiences.

1. Select your new Custom Audience.
2. Click Actions > Create Lookalike.
3. Select your target location (e.g., United States).
4. Choose your audience size. A standard strategy is to create three distinct tiers:
   • 0-1%: The most similar match to your customers.
   • 1-2%: Broadening the reach slightly.
   • 2-3%: Further reach while maintaining relevance.

Facebook will now analyze the attributes of your Shopify customers and find the most similar users on their platform to serve your ads to.

---

If you run a Shopify store and need assistance turning customer data into consistent revenue through analytics and conversion rate optimization, feel free to reach out to Misbach Consulting for a strategy call.