Terms

Lookalike Audiences

A lookalike audience is a group of potential new customers, identified by an advertising platform's algorithm, who share similar characteristics, interests, and behaviors with a business's existing customers. Advertisers provide a source audience, such as a list of their best customers or page followers, which the platform analyzes to find common attributes. The platform then builds a new, larger audience of people who are statistically more likely to be interested in the business, making targeting more data-driven and less based on assumptions.

Benefits of Using Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences offer a powerful way to scale customer acquisition efforts efficiently. By leveraging platform algorithms, marketers can move beyond guesswork and connect with high-potential users. This data-driven approach yields several key advantages for campaign performance and growth.

  • Targeting: Reach new, highly relevant audiences who mirror your best customers.
  • Efficiency: Save time and resources by automating the audience discovery process.
  • Cost: Lower customer acquisition costs and reduce wasted ad spend.
  • Scale: Expand your reach to find new potential customers you might not otherwise discover.
  • Performance: Generate higher-quality leads and improve overall campaign conversion rates.

How to Create Lookalike Audiences

This is how you can create a lookalike audience for your campaigns.

  1. Select a high-quality source audience, like your best customers, website visitors, or page followers.
  2. Choose your target location and the desired audience size, typically a percentage from 1-10%.
  3. The platform’s algorithm will then analyze your source to find new people with similar traits.
  4. Launch your ad campaign to this new audience and monitor its performance for future refinements.

Lookalike Audiences vs. Custom Audiences

While both are powerful targeting tools, they serve distinct strategic purposes in digital advertising.

  • Lookalike Audiences are algorithmically generated groups of new users who mirror your best customers. They are ideal for expanding reach and acquiring new leads, making them valuable for enterprises and mid-market companies focused on growth. However, their effectiveness depends entirely on the quality of the source data.
  • Custom Audiences consist of people who have already interacted with your business, such as existing customers or website visitors. This allows for highly targeted re-engagement and nurturing campaigns. Their main limitation is that they don't reach new prospects, making them best for retention-focused strategies.

Best Practices for Lookalike Audiences

To maximize the effectiveness of your lookalike campaigns, it's crucial to follow established best practices. These guidelines help ensure you're reaching the most relevant new users while optimizing your ad spend and improving overall performance.

  • Quality: Use a high-quality source audience, like your best customers, to give the algorithm strong, relevant data to model from.
  • Size: Test different audience sizes, from a narrow 1% match for high similarity to a broader 10% for greater reach.
  • Refinement: Regularly update your source lists and monitor performance to avoid audience overlap and maintain campaign efficiency.

Common Mistakes with Lookalike Audiences

Marketers often make avoidable errors that undermine their lookalike campaigns and waste ad spend.

  • Source: Using low-quality or outdated source data that misleads the algorithm.
  • Sizing: Selecting an audience size that is too broad, sacrificing relevance for reach.
  • Overlap: Failing to exclude existing audiences, leading to duplicated efforts and mixed messaging.

Frequently Asked Questions about Lookalike Audiences

How long does it take to create a lookalike audience?

Creation time varies by platform but typically takes between 6 to 24 hours. The algorithm needs time to process your source data and identify new users who match the specified characteristics, so it's rarely an instantaneous process.

Can I use the same lookalike audience across different ad platforms?

No, lookalike audiences are platform-specific and cannot be transferred. You must create a new lookalike audience natively on each platform (e.g., Meta, Google, LinkedIn) using a relevant source list, as their algorithms and user data are distinct.

What is the ideal source audience size for a lookalike campaign?

While platforms have minimums, a high-quality source audience of 1,000 to 50,000 people is ideal. This provides enough data for the algorithm to find strong patterns without being too broad, ensuring the new audience is both relevant and scalable.

Other terms

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Account-Based Marketing Software

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.

Account-Based Marketing Software

Outside Sales

Outside sales reps sell products/services in person, traveling to meet clients and close deals face-to-face, outside of a traditional office.

Outside Sales

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

Internal signals

Internal signals are data points from your own systems, like website visits or product usage, that indicate a customer's buying intent.

Internal signals

Salesforce Object Query Language

Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) is a query language used to search your organization's Salesforce data for specific information.

Salesforce Object Query Language

Warm Outreach

Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.

Warm Outreach

Branded Keywords

Learn about branded keywords, including identifying your branded keywords, & strategies for optimizing branded keywords.

Branded Keywords

Sales Cycle

A sales cycle is the series of steps a company takes to close a new customer. It starts with prospecting and ends with a signed deal.

Sales Cycle

SDK

A Software Development Kit (SDK) is a set of tools that allows developers to create applications for a specific software package or platform.

SDK

Buying Intent

Buying intent is the collection of online cues and behaviors that signal a prospect is actively researching and moving toward a purchase decision.

Buying Intent

Marketing Analytics

Marketing analytics involves measuring and analyzing marketing data to understand campaign performance and improve return on investment (ROI).

Marketing Analytics

OAuth

OAuth is an open standard for access delegation. It lets you grant apps access to your data on other services without sharing your password.

OAuth

DMP

A Data Management Platform (DMP) is a tech platform used to collect and manage data, mainly for digital marketing and advertising campaigns.

DMP

Marketing Performance

Marketing performance is the process of measuring a campaign's effectiveness against set goals using key metrics like ROI and conversion rates.

Marketing Performance

Content Syndication

Content syndication is the process of republishing your web content on third-party sites to reach a much wider audience.

Content Syndication

Content Rights Management

Content Rights Management involves controlling the use and distribution of copyrighted digital media to protect intellectual property.

Content Rights Management

GPCTBA/C&I

GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.

GPCTBA/C&I

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis means identifying your rivals and assessing their strategies to pinpoint your own business's strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive Analysis

Demographic Segmentation in Marketing

Demographic segmentation divides a market into groups based on traits like age, gender, and income, allowing for more targeted marketing efforts.

Demographic Segmentation in Marketing

Sales Script

A sales script is a pre-written guide of talking points that helps salespeople navigate conversations with potential customers.

Sales Script

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales and marketing alignment means both teams work in sync, sharing goals and data to boost lead quality, conversions, and company revenue.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Open Rate

The open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened an email. It's a primary indicator of a subject line's effectiveness.

Open Rate

Functional Testing

Functional testing verifies that software performs its intended functions as specified in the requirements, ensuring it works as users expect.

Functional Testing

SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.

SEO

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.

Digital Advertising

Responsive Design

Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.

Responsive Design

Sales Calls

A sales call is a real-time conversation between a salesperson and a prospect, aiming to persuade them to purchase a product or service.

Sales Calls

Average Customer Life

Average Customer Life is the average time someone remains a customer. It's a key metric for predicting revenue and measuring customer loyalty.

Average Customer Life

Break-Even

Learn about break-even, including calculating your break-even point, importance of break-even analysis, & break-even analysis vs. profit margins.

Break-Even

Sales Sequence

A sales sequence is a series of automated touchpoints sent to prospects over time to guide them through the sales funnel.

Sales Sequence

Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a model illustrating the customer's journey from initial awareness to the final purchase, narrowing down leads at each stage.

Sales Funnel

Closed Question

A closed question is a type of query that elicits a simple, often one-word answer like 'yes' or 'no,' or a specific, factual response.

Closed Question

Account Development Representative

An Account Development Representative (ADR) identifies and qualifies new business opportunities, creating a pipeline for account executives.

Account Development Representative

Average Selling Price

Average Selling Price (ASP) is the average price at which a particular product or service is sold across different markets and channels.

Average Selling Price

System of Record

A System of Record (SoR) is the authoritative data source for a specific type of data. It acts as the single source of truth for an organization.

System of Record

CRM Data

CRM data is the information businesses use to manage customer relationships. It covers contact details, purchase history, and communication logs.

CRM Data

Cloud-based CRM

A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.

Cloud-based CRM

B2B Data Solutions

Learn about B2B data solutions, including unlocking the power of B2B data, & key components of effective B2B data solutions.

B2B Data Solutions

Application Programming Interface Security

API security is the practice of protecting application programming interfaces from attacks, preventing data breaches and unauthorized access.

Application Programming Interface Security

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a digital strategy where businesses send targeted emails to prospects and customers to build relationships and drive sales.

Email Marketing

Challenger Sales

The Challenger Sales model is a methodology where reps teach prospects, tailor their pitch, and take control of the sales conversation.

Challenger Sales

Platform as a Service

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud model where a provider delivers a platform for users to develop, run, and manage applications online.

Platform as a Service

AppExchange

AppExchange is Salesforce's cloud marketplace, offering a vast ecosystem of apps and expert services to extend Salesforce functionality.

AppExchange

Sales Playbook

A sales playbook is a guide that outlines your sales process, best practices, and tools to help reps sell more efficiently and consistently.

Sales Playbook

Marketing Automation Platform

A marketing automation platform is software that automates marketing actions. It helps manage tasks like email campaigns and lead nurturing.

Marketing Automation Platform

Social Selling

Social selling is the art of using social media to find, connect with, build relationships with, and nurture sales prospects.

Social Selling

Edge Locations

Edge locations are globally distributed data centers that cache content close to users, reducing latency and delivering web content much faster.

Edge Locations

Freemium

Freemium is a business model offering a product's basic features for free, while charging for advanced or supplemental features.

Freemium

Sales Territory

A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.

Sales Territory

Sales Operations Analytics

Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.

Sales Operations Analytics

On Target Earnings

On-Target Earnings (OTE) is a salesperson's total potential pay, combining base salary and commission for hitting their sales quota.

On Target Earnings

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

Weighted Sales Pipeline

A weighted sales pipeline forecasts revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal, giving a more accurate picture of potential income.

Weighted Sales Pipeline

Channel Partners

Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.

Channel Partners

On-premise CRM

An on-premise CRM is a system hosted on a company's own servers, offering complete control over data, security, and system maintenance.

On-premise CRM

Brand Awareness

Learn about brand awareness, including understanding its importance, building an effective strategy, key metrics to track, & examples in the real world.

Brand Awareness

Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.

Elevator Pitch

Revenue Intelligence

Revenue intelligence is the process of collecting and analyzing customer data to provide insights that help sales teams make smarter decisions.

Revenue Intelligence

Lead Management

Lead management is the process of capturing, nurturing, and qualifying leads to guide them from initial interest to sales-ready.

Lead Management

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.

Dynamic Pricing

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

Customer Relationship Management Hygiene

CRM hygiene involves regularly cleaning and updating your customer data to ensure your CRM system remains a powerful and reliable tool.

Customer Relationship Management Hygiene

Sales Pipeline Velocity Formula

The sales pipeline velocity formula is a key metric that measures how quickly deals move through your pipeline and turn into revenue.

Sales Pipeline Velocity Formula

Email Deliverability Rate

Your email deliverability rate is the percentage of sent emails that successfully land in a recipient's inbox, rather than bouncing or going to spam.

Email Deliverability Rate

Marketing Operations

Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.

Marketing Operations

Generic Keywords

Generic keywords are broad search terms that lack specific details like brand or location. They attract a wide audience with less specific intent.

Generic Keywords

Custom Metadata Types

Custom Metadata Types store application configurations as metadata. This makes them easily deployable between different Salesforce environments.

Custom Metadata Types

Smile and Dial

"Smile and dial" is a high-volume sales tactic where reps make numerous cold calls from a list, often with little to no prior research.

Smile and Dial

Weighted Pipeline

A weighted pipeline forecasts sales revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal based on its stage in the sales funnel.

Weighted Pipeline

Unit Economics

Unit economics are the direct revenues and costs of a business calculated on a per-unit basis, revealing its fundamental profitability.

Unit Economics

Trigger Marketing

Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.

Trigger Marketing

Closed Won

Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.

Closed Won

Pay-per-Click (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an ad model where you pay a fee each time your ad is clicked. It's a method of buying targeted visits to your website.

Pay-per-Click (PPC)

Email Engagement

Email engagement measures how your audience interacts with your emails. It includes key actions like opens, clicks, replies, and forwards.

Email Engagement

Reverse Logistics

Reverse logistics is the process for goods moving from the customer back to the seller, covering returns, repairs, recycling, and disposal.

Reverse Logistics

Event Tracking

Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.

Event Tracking

Tire-Kicker

A tire-kicker is a prospect who shows interest in a product but has no intention of buying, wasting a salesperson's time and resources.

Tire-Kicker

Sales Director

A Sales Director leads a sales team, develops strategies, and is responsible for meeting a company's revenue targets.

Sales Director

Behavioral Analytics

Learn about behavioral analytics, including implementing behavioral analytics successfully, & key metrics in behavioral analytics.

Behavioral Analytics

Solution Selling

Solution selling is a sales approach focused on understanding a customer's pain points to offer a comprehensive solution, not just a product.

Solution Selling

Predictive Lead Scoring

Predictive lead scoring uses AI to analyze data and rank leads by their likelihood to convert, helping sales teams prioritize their efforts.

Predictive Lead Scoring

Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is the continuous process of tracking a computer network's performance and health to detect and resolve issues proactively.

Network Monitoring

Sales Forecast Accuracy

Sales forecast accuracy is a key metric that compares your predicted sales revenue against the actual sales revenue you ultimately achieve.

Sales Forecast Accuracy

B2B Demand Generation

Learn about B2B demand generation, including strategies for effective B2B demand generation, & key components of a demand generation program.

B2B Demand Generation

Enrichment

Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.

Enrichment

Serviceable Obtainable Market

Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) is the portion of the market you can realistically capture with your current resources, sales, and marketing.

Serviceable Obtainable Market

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the maximum revenue a company can earn by selling its product or service in a specific market.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Content Curation

Content curation involves gathering, organizing, and sharing the most relevant online content on a specific topic for a particular audience.

Content Curation

Request for Quotation

A Request for Quotation (RFQ) is a document that a company sends to one or more suppliers to get a quote for specific products or services.

Request for Quotation

SQL

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard language for managing and querying data within relational databases.

SQL

Territory Management

Territory management is the process of segmenting customers into groups by geography or other factors to optimize sales efforts and resources.

Territory Management

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Marketing Mix

Sales Partnerships

Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.

Sales Partnerships

Revenue Forecasting

Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.

Revenue Forecasting

Virtual Selling

Virtual selling is the process of selling to customers remotely using technology like video calls, rather than meeting them in person.

Virtual Selling

Sales Manager

A Sales Manager leads a sales team, setting goals, analyzing performance, and developing strategies to drive revenue and meet targets.

Sales Manager

Letter of Intent

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a document declaring the preliminary commitment of one party to do business with another, outlining the chief terms.

Letter of Intent

Email Personalization

Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.

Email Personalization

Fault Tolerance

Fault tolerance is a system's ability to continue operating without interruption when one or more of its components fail.

Fault Tolerance