# What is Lookalike Audience?

What is Lookalike Audience? A target audience that platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok) create based on your existing customers' traits.

## How it works in practice

A lookalike is the 'clone' of your best customers. Instead of relying on interest targeting that's a guess, you tell the platform: 'here are the customers who bought the most — find more like them.' The algorithm finds hidden patterns you can't spot manually.

## Related metrics

- Custom Audience — the source for a lookalike
- Prospecting — a lookalike is a prospecting tool
- CAC — lookalikes usually lower CAC vs. interest targeting
- LTV — a lookalike built from VIP customers is a higher-quality audience

## Common misconception

'A 1% lookalike is always the best.' 1% is the most similar but small. 3-5% is less similar but larger — sometimes better performance due to volume. Always A/B test 1% vs 3% vs 5%. In smaller markets, a 3-5% audience often works better.

## How to fix it

Lookalike not converting? (1) Check source quality — a lookalike from 100 purchases is weaker than one from 1,000. The source must be large and high-quality, (2) Check that the source is 'best customers,' not 'all customers,' (3) In Meta: a lookalike from a customer list beats one from website visitors, (4) Wait 2-4 weeks for the learning phase.

## Real-world example

Sports store: interest targeting (sports, fitness, running) — CAC $30. A 1% lookalike from the 500 most profitable customers — CAC $19. A lookalike from a 5,000-subscriber email list — CAC $23. The best-customers lookalike won.

## Where to start

Lookalike source priority: (1) customer purchase list (best), (2) high-value customers (LTV above average), (3) email subscribers, (4) website visitors. Always try a lookalike before relying solely on interest targeting.

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Category: Marketing · From the [Jimmy OS KPI Glossary](https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi.md) · Source page: https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi/lookalike-audience