Why Your Ad-Platform Match Rate Is Low
8apps Team ·
The upload worked, the audience is tiny. Work through these causes in order – most low match rates are one formatting mistake, found in under ten minutes.
Hash Data
10 articles
Format Phone Numbers to E.164 in Google Sheets
8apps Team ·
E.164 is the format ad platforms and APIs expect – and the one spreadsheets quietly destroy. Here's how to get +6591234567 out of whatever your column holds now.
Prepare a Google Ads Customer Match List in Sheets
8apps Team ·
The upload succeeds either way – the match rate is what fails. Here's the Sheets-to-Customer-Match workflow with Google's own formatting rules at each step.
Hash Email Addresses Correctly in Google Sheets
8apps Team ·
Email hashing fails on casing, invisible spaces and Gmail's dot rules – not on the hash. The normalisation order that makes digests actually match, platform by platform.
Hashing Is Not Anonymisation
8apps Team ·
A hashed customer list feels safe to share. European regulators – and arithmetic – disagree. What SHA-256 actually protects, what it doesn't, and how to handle hashed PII honestly.
MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256 for Customer Data?
8apps Team ·
The tool offers five algorithms; the upload needs exactly one. What Google, Meta and TikTok actually accept, how to recognise each digest on sight, and the one-line rule.
Prepare a Meta Custom Audience File from Google Sheets
8apps Team ·
Meta's phone format is not Google's – the same number needs two different hashes. Here's the Sheets workflow that follows Meta's documented rules exactly.
Salted vs Unsalted Hashes for Audience Uploads
8apps Team ·
Security guides say always salt your hashes. Ad platforms can't match salted data. Both are right – here's the difference, and what it means for how you handle upload files.
Share a Customer List with Your Agency – Without the PII
8apps Team ·
Your agency needs the audience, not the addresses. Hash the list in Sheets before it leaves your hands – matching still works, and the raw data stays home.
How to Hash Phone Numbers and Emails in Google Sheets
8apps Team ·
Sheets has no built-in SHA-256 function. Here is how to hash a customer list properly - and why the same phone number needs two different hashes for Google Ads and Meta.