You might have already created and managed your Shopify store, shipped satisfactory products, and even earned numerous reviews about glowing customer service. Now, you focus on getting your Shopify store growth moving in the right direction.
Is there a way to achieve the growth your brand needs without seemingly endless marketing tests and a whole lot of trial and error? Why not craft a lookalike audience? On Shopify, this handy feature is available to all store owners as a surefire method to reach more people who might be interested in your products or services.
Bear North Digital, a top-rated Shopify marketing agency, specializes in helping store owners like you achieve success. Below, the team discusses what a lookalike demographic is and how to effectively integrate this Shopify Audience feature into your marketing plans.
What Is a Lookalike Audience?
Before you develop and use the Shopify Audiences feature, it pays to understand the basics of lookalike targeting methods. Let’s start with what your typical customer actually looks like.
After managing your Shopify store for a while, you probably recognize that your current customer base exhibits similar patterns and defining features. For example:
- They respond to identical marketing tactics.
- They share hobbies or interests.
- They fall within the same age range.
- They express congruous viewpoints, perspectives, and opinions.
- They appreciate similar aesthetics or types of media.
These patterns and attributes likely already inform your marketing strategies, whether you’ve studied your target audience long before setting up shop or are learning about it as you go. Your existing customer base includes the people who are buying from you or engaging with your digital marketing materials, ads, social media accounts, and so on. And it’s this pool of shoppers that helps you develop a lookalike customer base.
If someone looks, acts, purchases, and interacts in the same way as those who have already made verified purchases from your Shopify store, they’re a candidate for your lookalike marketing efforts. Reaching these people presents a high-profit potential, as they could easily become the latest customers purchasing your product or services. In short, those who share characteristics with your customers but have yet to finalize a purchase from your store are the very people that Shopify’s Lookalike Audience feature helps you find.
How To Make the Most of Your Lookalike Audience in Shopify
Now that you know what “lookalike” means in Shopify’s arsenal of marketing tools, let’s take a look at the Shopify Audiences feature in more detail.
Shopify developed this audience segmentation feature to help merchants like you take advantage of more precise data and improve your advertising methods. You can identify and target high-intent shoppers who might be perusing a site for products or services that are similar to yours.
Does that sound familiar? If so, you’re getting the bigger picture. The Audiences feature works similarly to Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences but collects first-party data from Shopify’s buyer platform (that’s why you won’t meet the same third-party restrictions).
Would you like to explore how the Audiences feature can help you reach more potential customers and grow your brand’s audience? Here are a few other ways your business can make the most of the lookalike feature in Shopify to do just that:
Access Shopify Audiences With Plus
Do you have a Shopify Plus account for merchants? If so, you can easily access the Audiences feature.
If you don’t have this account type, completing sales transactions with Shopify payment methods should grant you access to the Shopify marketing tool. Why does it require you to complete your transactions directly on Shopify rather than third-party payment systems? Sometimes, these apps block you from helpful e-commerce targeting tools developed for and by the primary platform.
Assess Your Current Audience Across Shopify’s Platform
With full access, you can then develop your lookalike targets for your Shopify store. Thorough customer profiling will require some time. Start by exploring your entire customer base (those who buy from you already or interact with you online) to learn more about what makes them tick.
Note their defining features, which might include the following:
- Education level
- Disposable income
- Personal interests
- Purchasing motivations
- How your product solves their problems
- What turns them off from a retailer
- Location
- Age range
Of course, since you know your audience best, you can easily add other pertinent details beyond these basics as you research.
So, where can you find this information? Start at the source: your store and your customers’ social media profiles.
Many social media platforms provide metrics about who is interacting with your ads and other marketing materials. Shopify also offers a wealth of useful information, so you can easily use this data and compare it to any Shopify marketing efforts you’ve made in the past. With these tools, you’ll glean basic information, but if you want to get into the more psychological aspects of a customer profile, you’ll need to dig a little deeper.
Why not read your store’s reviews to learn more personal details about your current customers so that you can curate a lookalike audience who may think the same way? You might discover what sparked their interest in your product, why they prefer your products, and what makes them return for future purchases. Social media posts may reveal similar insights.
Finally, it’s often helpful to explore your competitors’ stores to discover what they do right or wrong and fine-tune your approach to customer service accordingly.
Implement a Shopify-Friendly Product Labeling System
Before launching a lookalike campaign, an important step to take if you haven’t already done so is to ensure that each of your store’s items has a traceable label (stock-keeping unit). This SKU helps you track ins and outs so that you can understand purchase performance. In particular, Shopify Audiences requires individual SKUs to identify potential customers and help them navigate to your store.
Create Lookalikes in Shopify
Have you collated the information you’ve collected about your current customers? Open the Shopify Audiences feature and take a look. Most people find it easy to navigate and input information, but be sure to explore your options before publishing anything.
Once you’re happy with your lookalike, select the “Audience Manager” option, choose a source audience, and then respond to the prompts. After that, all you need to do is wait 24 hours for Shopify Audiences to generate and publish your store’s audience parameters.
Increase Customer Acquisition for Your Shopify Store
After publishing your lookalike preferences, you’ll want to improve this profile as you go. Refining it to resemble your current customer base as closely as possible builds on the initial creation to add features such as:
- Personal interests and hobbies
- Locations
- Shopping behavior
- Marketing responsiveness
Importantly, like most customer acquisition strategies, getting the best results from your lookalike targeting efforts requires you to consistently refine the information. A great marketing strategy puts you in front of more of the right people rather than just more people.
Utilize Audience Segmentation in Shopify
You have two target audiences: current and potential customers. If you try to lump both of these audiences into one group, your marketing strategy won’t be as effective. Use the audience segmentation feature, beginning with your current customer base.
If they’ve already purchased from you, which marketing media would you publish to entice them to purchase a different product or service from your store? You’ll need something different from the pitch they initially responded to. Audience segmentation helps you develop that approach.
Your existing customer base shares multiple characteristics, but they diverge in numerous areas. For example, you may sell well-made jewelry featuring imitation gemstones. Perhaps you’ve noticed three different trends among your current audience as follows:
- One segment likes imitation jewelry that closely resembles genuine gemstones. They don’t want to pay the full price for a cheaper product that looks just as nice.
- The second segment likes the bold appearance of costume jewelry. They prefer maximal statement pieces that grab attention.
- The third segment prefers minimal pieces that serve as subtle accessories.
Each segment of your lookalike audience has similar characteristics, including age range, gender, and income, and they all enjoy unique jewelry to complement their sense of style. However, you wouldn’t use the same marketing strategy for all three segments. When you turn to your potential new customers, you can use this same approach to spot similar preferences and behaviors across these three segments or others.
Check Shopify Audiences’ Best Practices
Throughout your Shopify Audiences’ experience, implementing best practices will keep your campaign’s performance profitable. Like all advertising tools, platforms, and strategies, Audiences requires some rudimentary maintenance and refinement to continue attracting new customers.
For example, the following tips could keep your lookalike profiles accurate and engage your audiences more effectively:
Update the Source Profile
Shoppers evolve in their interactions with products, retailers, and marketing materials. You’ll notice the evolution in the search terms they use with search engines and the social media content that earns interaction. So, when you discover significant shifts, be sure to update the profile on Shopify Audiences.
Don’t Limit Reach For Similarity
Maintaining a target audience that resembles your current base is important, but it’s only a starting point. New audience segments emerge and may differ from your original customer base. If you want to profit from their purchase, notice their unique traits and satisfy their product desires.
Target Different Segments at the Right Time
Timing is everything in marketing. For example, some audience segments will have a stronger response during different times of the year. Make predictions about how you think your audience’s needs and shopping habits might change around Halloween dress-ups, Christmas gift-giving, Black Friday deal-seeking, and seasonal changes to harness the benefits.
Periodically Review Your Performance Methods
As expected, Shopify Audiences updates you with metrics so that you can adjust your audience segments and materials. Why not set time aside each month to explore your engagement trends?
Start Defining What Success Looks Like for Your Shopify Lookalike Audience Campaign
Where will you start? This launching point defines what success looks like for your store’s audience reach and more. Take time to visualize your lookalike’s success, and set some goals based on details such as:
- How long have you operated your Shopify store?
- How many customers do you have already?
- What information is readily available about your existing customers?
- Are there new directions you want to explore?
Let Bear North Digital Guide You Toward Success
Bear North Digital specializes in all things Shopify, whether you want to streamline your lookalike audience development or redefine killer email marketing on Shopify. Call (218) 216-8692 or contact us online to request a free strategy session!