What are custom and lookalike audiences?
You can use two audience types to target your ads across all of Meta’s social channels: custom audiences and lookalike audiences.
- Custom audiences
Custom audiences are made up of existing Klaviyo contacts that you’d like to target on Meta. You already have their email addresses, so Meta can show your ad on the Facebook and Instagram feeds of these existing Klaviyo subscribers. Custom audiences are a fantastic way to reinforce a message to a certain group of subscribers, or re-engage subscribers who may have stopped engaging with your marketing messages recently. You can create a custom audience by simply syncing any list or segment to Meta. - Lookalike audiences
Lookalike audiences are created by Meta, and are based on custom audiences of your Klaviyo subscribers. Meta synthesizes your custom audience, and generates a new audience of fresh leads that resemble your existing ones. Lookalike audiences are a great way to introduce new potential customers to your brand, and to collect marketing consent outside of your website.
Refine your Meta ads audiences
In this video, you’ll see how SWAK Cosmetics, a fictional beauty brand, uses their Meta integration to create custom and lookalike audiences that help them achieve their business goals.
Recommended segments to target
There are many strategic segments you can build in Klaviyo and sync to Meta, enabling you to target these existing subscribers on socials and attract new customers who resemble existing subscriber segments.
VIPs
Introduce your brand and highlight key flagship products to potential new customers who Meta identifies as similar to your existing VIPs.
Your existing VIP customers either shop on your site frequently, or spend a lot of money with your brand.
Use your VIP segment as the base audience for a lookalike audience to help you identify potential new VIP customers with similar interests, demographics, and behaviors than your current VIP audience.
Recommended definition:
- What someone has done > placed order > [high number] times > in the last 90 days, OR
- What someone has done > revenue is greater than > [high value amount] > in the last 365 days
Note: if you have a loyalty or rewards program integration in Klaviyo (e.g., Swell, LoyaltyLion, Yotpo, etc.), you can create segments based on loyalty/spend tiers and sync those to Meta.
Cross-sell
Target customers who have bought a specific product with an ad that showcases a different but related product. They’ve already shown interest, and are therefore more likely to want this complementary item.
Use the definition below to create this segment, if you have not done so already, and sync it to Meta to create a custom audience.
Recommended definition:
- What someone has done > placed order > at least once > where product equals [product they previously purchased], AND
- What someone has done (or not done) > placed order > 0 times where product equals [product you want them to buy]
Cart abandoners
Promote your ad to customers who started a checkout in the past 7 days, but haven't placed an order. Your ad should echo the message you provide in an abandoned cart flow, and you can even add an extra discount to encourage them to complete their checkout.
Use the definition below to create this segment, if you have not done so already, and sync it to Meta to create a custom audience.
Recommended definition:
- What someone has done > started checkout > at least 1 > in the last week, AND
- What someone has done (or not done) > placed order > 0 times in the last week
Window shoppers
Re-engage browsers who have looked through your site, but have never purchased. Target them with a relevant ad featuring items they’ve viewed or a limited time offer that may spur a first purchase.
Use the definition below to create this segment, if you have not done so already, and sync it to Meta to create a custom audience.
Recommended definition:
- What someone has done (or not done) > active on site > in the last week, AND
- What someone has done (or not done) > placed order is 0 > over all time
Winback and re-engagement
Target email or text message subscribers who have engaged with your messages in the past, but have not done so in recent months. Targeting these unengaged subscribers on a new channel may remind them to re-engage or spur a purchase; all the while, you will avoid harming your deliverability.
Likewise, target customers who haven’t purchased in a while with a Meta ad. For instance, you may promote trending items or a special sale that draws them to your store again.
Use the definitions below to create these segments, if you have not done so already, and sync them to Meta to create custom audiences.
Recommended re-engagement definition:
- What someone has done > received email > at least once > in the last 120 days, AND
- What someone has done > opened email > 0 times > in the last 120 days, AND
- What someone has done > bounced email > is less than> 5 over all time, AND
If you'd like, you can additionally add criteria to specifically target those who have or have not made a purchase in the past.
Recommended winback definition:
- What someone has done > placed order > at least once > over all time, AND
- What someone has done > placed order > 0 times > in the last 180 days
Don’t stop here; explore additional inspiration for building segments for your Meta ads strategy.
Create custom and lookalike audiences
It’s time to put your plan into action. Use the dropdowns below to explore steps for creating custom and lookalike audiences in Meta.
Create custom audiences in Meta
In Klaviyo, you can sync a custom audience when you first integrate with Meta ads. Otherwise, you can return to your Meta ads integration later on to select an audience.
To create an audience after the fact, follow the below steps:
- Select your account name in the lower left corner of your Klaviyo account.
- In the menu that appears, click Integrations.
- Click on your Meta Ads integration.
- You’ll then land on the Custom audiences tab. To create a new custom audience sync, click Add connection.
From there, you will need to select the following 2 options to start the sync:
- Klaviyo list or segment
This list or segment must contain at least 100 profiles. Note that only email addresses associated with a Meta login will sync, so your audience size may not exactly match the list or segment size. - Meta custom audience
This is the designated custom audience within your Meta Ads Manager account that you wish to sync a list or segment to. If you don't already have an audience ready in Meta, you can create one directly in Klaviyo by typing in the new name for your audience, and then clicking the + Create audience dropdown option.
Create lookalike audiences in Meta
Once you've synced a Klaviyo list or segment to a Meta custom audience, you can use that audience to create a lookalike audience. Follow the process below to do so:
- Log in to Meta Ads Manager.
- Navigate to Audience using the left-hand navigation menu.
- You can do one of two things now:
- Click Create Audience > Lookalike Audience
- Click into your existing custom audience. In the flyout on the right, click Action at the top right, and then click Create Lookalike.
- Select an existing audience as your source to generate similar profiles; e.g., a custom audience of VIP customers who shop from your store often.
- Choose which country (or countries) you'd like your lookalike audience to include.
- Set your desired audience size.
- Click Create audience.
A lookalike audience will populate, including profiles resembling the profiles in your source (i.e., the custom audience selected in step 4). Because they share similar attributes to your existing customers, they may also be interested in your brand and products.
Read more step-by-step guidance for creating lookalike audiences.