Lookalike Audience Plan

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Build a lookalike audience strategy for Facebook, Google, or other ad platforms
• Select the best source audiences from your existing customer data
• Plan percentage tiers and testing sequences for lookalike expansion
• Create a structured rollout plan for scaling ad spend with lookalikes

DO NOT use this skill for interest-based targeting, retargeting setup, or organic audience building. This is specifically for lookalike/similar audience strategies on paid platforms.

Core Principle

THE QUALITY OF A LOOKALIKE AUDIENCE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE SOURCE AUDIENCE — START WITH YOUR HIGHEST-VALUE CUSTOMERS, NOT YOUR LARGEST LIST.

Phase 1: Source Audit

Before building lookalikes, identify and evaluate available source audiences.

Required Inputs

GATE: Do not proceed until the user confirms their available data sources and platform.

Phase 2: Source Audience Strategy

Rank and recommend source audiences based on quality signals.

Source Audience Hierarchy (Best to Weakest)

1. Top 25% customers by LTV — highest value, clearest signal
2. All purchasers — proven buyers, strong signal
3. Repeat purchasers — loyalty signal, smaller but potent
4. High-intent leads — booked calls, started checkout, requested demos
5. Email subscribers (engaged) — opened/clicked in last 90 days
6. All email subscribers — weaker signal, larger pool
7. Website visitors (key pages) — pricing page, product pages
8. All website visitors — weakest signal, largest pool

Minimum Source Size Requirements

Present recommended source audiences with rationale before proceeding.

GATE: Confirm source audience selections with the user.

Phase 3: Lookalike Build Plan

Design the tiered lookalike strategy with testing framework.

Percentage Tier Strategy

## Lookalike Tiers

### Tier 1: Precision (1-2%)
- Closest match to source audience
- Highest expected conversion rate
- Smallest reach, highest CPM
- Use for: Initial testing, limited budgets

### Tier 2: Balanced (3-5%)
- Good match with broader reach
- Strong conversion potential with scale
- Use for: Scaling after Tier 1 validation

### Tier 3: Expansion (6-10%)
- Broadest reach, weakest signal
- Lower conversion rate but lowest CPM
- Use for: Top-of-funnel awareness, large budgets

Testing Sequence

1. Start with best source audience at 1% lookalike
2. Test 1% vs 3% vs 5% of the same source
3. Test winning percentage across different source audiences
4. Layer interest targeting on top of broader lookalikes (5%+)
5. Exclude existing customers and active retargeting audiences

Budget Allocation

Phase 4: Deliverable

Output the complete lookalike audience plan document.

Plan Format

## Lookalike Audience Plan

**Platform:** [Platform]
**Source Audiences:** [List]
**Geographic Target:** [Regions]
**Monthly Budget:** [Amount]

### Source Audience Details
[For each source: name, size, quality score, upload instructions]

### Lookalike Build Matrix
| Source Audience | 1% | 3% | 5% | 10% |
|----------------|----|----|----|----|
| [Source 1] | Build | Build | Test later | Skip |

### Testing Calendar
Week 1-2: [Specific tests]
Week 3-4: [Optimization actions]
Month 2+: [Scaling plan]

### Exclusion Lists
[Audiences to exclude from each campaign]

### Success Metrics
[KPIs and benchmarks for each tier]

Example: E-commerce Store Selling Skincare

Source audiences available: 3,200 purchasers, 800 repeat purchasers, 12,000 email subscribers, 45,000 monthly website visitors.

Recommendation: Lead with repeat purchasers (800) as primary source at 1% — strongest signal despite smaller size. Test all purchasers (3,200) at 1% simultaneously. Skip email subscribers until purchaser lookalikes are validated.

Anti-Patterns

• Using "all website visitors" as the primary source — too broad, weak signal. Start with purchasers or high-intent actions.
• Testing all tiers simultaneously — burns budget without learning. Test sequentially.
• Ignoring source audience freshness — a 3-year-old email list produces worse lookalikes than a 90-day purchaser list.
• Skipping exclusions — always exclude existing customers and active retargeting pools.
• Assuming one source fits all — different products may need different source audiences.

Recovery

• Source audience too small: If under platform minimums, combine related audiences (e.g., merge purchasers with high-intent leads). Note the quality tradeoff.
• No purchaser data: Use highest-intent available signal — email engaged subscribers or key page visitors. Recommend building a purchaser list for future use.
• Multiple products/services: Create separate source audiences per product line. Do not mix unrelated customer types.
• No existing customer data at all: This skill requires some data. Recommend running interest-based campaigns first to build a pixel audience of 500+ converters, then return to build lookalikes.