Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences feature is a powerful tool that can help ecommerce brands reach new customers who share similar interests and behaviors to their existing customer base.
By leveraging the vast amounts of data available on Facebook, brands can create highly targeted and effective ad campaigns that drive more sales and revenue.
Here are some advanced strategies for using Lookalike Audiences to find new customers for your ecommerce brand.
- Define your source audience
The first step in creating a Lookalike Audience is to define your source audience. This is the group of people who you want Facebook to match and find similar users for. Your source audience can be based on a variety of data points, including:
- Email lists: You can upload a list of your existing customers’ email addresses to Facebook and create a Lookalike Audience based on their data.
- Website visitors: You can create a custom audience based on people who have visited your website or taken certain actions on your site.
- Page fans: You can create a custom audience based on people who have engaged with your Facebook page, such as by liking or commenting on your posts.
- Refine your source audience
Once you’ve defined your source audience, you’ll want to refine it to ensure that it’s as relevant and effective as possible. Some ways to do this include:
- Exclude irrelevant data points: If your source audience includes people who aren’t likely to be interested in your products or services, such as employees or competitors, you can exclude them from your Lookalike Audience.
- Create smaller segments: If your source audience is too broad, you can create smaller segments based on specific behaviors or interests. For example, if you run a beauty brand, you could create a Lookalike Audience based on people who have purchased a specific product or have visited a certain section of your website.
- Use multiple data sources: You can combine multiple data sources to create a more comprehensive source audience. For example, you could create a Lookalike Audience based on people who have visited your website and also follow your Instagram account.
- Choose your audience size
When creating a Lookalike Audience, you’ll need to choose your audience size. This refers to the percentage of the population in your chosen country or region that you want to target. For example, if you choose an audience size of 1%, Facebook will target your ads to the top 1% of people who are most similar to your source audience.
Choosing the right audience size is important because it can affect the effectiveness of your ad campaigns. A larger audience size will result in a broader reach, but may also result in a lower relevance score and a higher cost per click. On the other hand, a smaller audience size will result in a more targeted audience, but may limit your reach and potential sales.
- Test and optimize your campaigns
Once you’ve created your Lookalike Audience and launched your ad campaigns, it’s important to test and optimize your campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Some ways to do this include:
- A/B testing: Try running multiple ad variations with different images, copy, and targeting to see which performs best.
- Audience insights: Use Facebook’s Audience Insights tool to gain insights into your Lookalike Audience and identify opportunities for optimization.
- Retargeting: Use retargeting ads to reach people who have already engaged with your brand, such as by adding products to their cart or visiting your website.
Examples of Lookalike Audiences in action
Here are a few examples of how ecommerce brands have used Lookalike Audiences to find new customers and drive sales:
- Jewelry brand: A jewelry brand created a Lookalike Audience based on their existing customer email list, excluded employees and one-time customers, and launched a targeted ad campaign featuring their best-selling products to reach potential customers. They also used retargeting ads to reach engaged website visitors who haven’t made a purchase yet.
- Apparel brand: An apparel brand targets new customers interested in sustainable fashion by creating a Lookalike Audience based on Instagram engagement and refining it to target those interested in ethical clothing. They launch a social media ad campaign showcasing their sustainable clothing line with a 2% audience size.
- Home goods brand: A home goods brand targets potential luxury home decor customers by creating a Lookalike Audience based on website visitors and refining it to target specific product category viewers. They launch a targeted ad campaign with a 1% audience size and use audience insights to optimize ad targeting.
- Beauty brand: A beauty brand can use Lookalike Audiences to target potential customers with similar skin types and concerns as their existing customers. They could launch a targeted ad campaign with a 1% audience size and showcase their best-selling products such as skincare sets and makeup palettes.
