How to use your customers’ phone number for advertising

The database with customer phone numbers is a very valuable resource for marketing. If you know how to use it to the fullest, you can increase their loyalty, set up an upselling strategy and promote targeted and more effective offers.

There are more traditional methods to reach these customers (such as direct contact), but also more innovative (such as retargeting). In addition, you can expand your audience and use these phone numbers to intercept new prospects who resemble those already loyal and are therefore more likely to buy. But the path hides some dangers.

Prepare your phone numbers lists, learn how you can best use them, and how to comply with GDPR and privacy regulations.

Cold phone calls

The most classic and traditional method of reaching customers is that of cold phone calls. Do you have their phone number? Well, start calling them, listen to them, respond to objections, and make targeted offers. In the best conditions, this can be the most effective strategy, even if it is time-consuming.

It could be the perfect solution if the customer is loyal and already has an established relationship with the agent. Otherwise, there can be a danger of cooling a lukewarm prospect because he is annoyed by such a direct approach. Think about how many unwanted phone calls of offers you don’t care about you roughly reject every month.

SMS marketing

Short promotional messages, directly on your smartphone. It’s called SMS marketing, and it’s one of the most direct and least invasive ways to use phone number lists. To be able to send these messages, it is sufficient to subscribe to SMS marketing platforms that are often the same ones that deal with email marketing.

One of the advantages that are most often cited is the totality of the audience because basically everyone has a mobile phone enabled to receive SMS (for which an Internet connection is not needed). In reality, since the mobile phone is a personal and intimate tool, a message fired into the pile can be minimally invasive. On the contrary, SMS from well-known and appreciated brands are more effective.

Phone numbers for retargeting lists and look-alike audiences

Retargeting is the most attractive option for those involved in digital marketing. It may never have the same effectiveness as a phone call made in the right conditions, but it could hit a wider target with lower costs and time spent. Within a lead generation strategy, it could have a very important contribution.

Accounts on Google, Facebook and Instagram are often associated with an email and a phone number. With this information, we will be able to intercept people who match the information contained in a list. We may, for example, show an advertisement to recurring customers to invite them to make a new purchase.

The next step may be to expand the target by adding new contacts similar to the people corresponding to collected phone numbers. It is called look-alike audience and allows you to intercept new contacts similar to the basic list, thus increasing the likelihood of conversion.

How to upload phone number lists to Facebook and Instagram

To add a Custom Audience for ads on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll need to create a CSV file, by following Meta’s guidelines, made by at least 100 leads. The phone number column should be renamed to “phone”. Then follow these steps:

1. From Ads Manager, open “Audience.”
2. Select “Create Audience,” then “Custom Audience.”
3. Select “Customer List” and add a customer list: upload the CSV file you previously created and check that the identifiers are correct.
4. Select “Import and Create.”

The audience will begin to populate, and you’ll be notified once the process is complete.

How to upload phone lists to Google Ads

To add a Custom Audience on Google Ads, you’ll need to create a CSV file, by following Google’s guidelines. The phone number column should be renamed to “phone”. Then follow these steps:

In your Google Ads account, click the “Tools” icon.

1. From the “Shared library” drop-down menu, click “Audience management.”
2. Select the “Data Segments” tab at the top of the page and then the “Plus” button to create a new segment.
3. Select “Customer List” from the drop-down menu, choose a name for the new segment, and upload your previously created CSV file.
4. Click Upload and create.

As with Meta, Google will also take some time, usually up to 48 hours, to associate all contacts with the Custom Audience.

How to find phone numbers for marketing lists

We’ve seen how to use phone number lists for marketing, but you need to take a step back to understand how to collect the names to put on these marketing lists. Several companies sell more or less segmented contact lists, but the best solution is to build them starting from real interactions with the brand, so that you can be more effective.

They can be lists of customers, preferably filtered by type of purchase or by interests. Otherwise, they can be users who have responded to specific calls to action and have consciously left their data. Never forget to segment the lists as much as possible, in order to create lists with greater affinity with the message.

Beware of the GDPR!

For the activities mentioned in this article, never use the phone numbers of users who have not provided consent for the use of their data for commercial purposes. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation No. 2016/679 (GDPR), which protects the personal data of EU citizens inside and outside the borders of member countries.

In brief, according to European legislation, when a company collects user data, it is obliged to clearly and explicitly explain the purposes for which this information will be used, after which it can only add to a secure database those users who have expressed their consent. They must have the possibility to delete their data from the database at any time. If you violate the GDPR, you can expect very bad sanctions.