Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences help you find new users who resemble your best existing audiences. With Freshpaint, you send a privacy‑safe source audience to your ad platform, then create or enable the platform’s modeling/expansion feature.This guide walks through how to:

• Create a lookalike‑ready source audience in Freshpaint

• Sync it to your ad platforms

• Build and activate the modeled audience in your platform

• Follow compliance best practices

1. Create a source audience in Freshpaint

You need a strong “seed” audience to model from. Use either an Imported Audience (from your CRM/EHR) or a Segment (based on behavior on your site).

1.1 Imported Audience

• Go to Audiences → Imported Audiences.

• Click Import audience and upload your list (.csv with a single column labeled 'email').

• Name your audience and add an internal description (stays inside Freshpaint).

  • Note the Ad Platform Alias for your audience

• Click Create Audience and select your destination platform.

✅ You’ll see “Sent” once the audience syncs.

1.2 Segment

• Go to Audiences → Segments.

• Click Create Segment and define your criteria (e.g., Visited Appointment Page AND Completed Lead Form within the last 30 days).

• Review and name your segment.

  • Note the Ad Platform Alias for your audience

• Click Create Audience, choose your ad platform, and confirm delivery.

2. Sync your source audience to ad platforms

• From either the Audiences Overview page, Imported Audiences page, or Segments page, click on the audience you've created.

• From the audience details page, click Send Audience.

  • Note the Ad Platform Alias for your audience

3. Build the modeled audience in your ad platform

Terminology varies by platform (e.g., Lookalike, Similar, Modeled Audience, Audience Expansion, Optimized Targeting). The setup generally follows one of two paths:

• Create from a source list:

  • In your platform’s audience manager, choose Create → Lookalike/Similar/Modeled Audience.

  • Select the Freshpaint source audience you synced.

  • Choose geography and similarity/size (e.g., tight → broad match).

  • Create/save the modeled audience.

• Enable reach expansion with a source list applied:

  • Apply your Freshpaint source audience to a campaign or ad group.

  • Enable the platform’s expansion setting (e.g., Audience Expansion/Optimized Targeting) to reach people similar to your source.

✅ Platforms may take 24–48 hours to process new or updated audiences.

Example use case:

• Find more people like your verified portal signups or “Request an Appointment” converters by modeling from that source audience.

4. Activate in campaigns

• Attach the modeled audience (or ensure expansion is enabled) in your campaign/ad set.

• Layer exclusions: also sync an “Already Converted” audience and exclude it in your platform targeting to reduce wasted spend.

Compliance & safety checklist

• ✅ Include only users who have consented to marketing.

• ✅ Use identifiers approved for marketing within your organization.

• ✅ Maintain sufficient audience size (1,000+ recommended) to protect privacy.

• ✅ Keep ad accounts in good standing with each platform’s policies.

Reminder: Look for anonymized names in your ad platforms

• Freshpaint sends an anonymized, platform‑safe name. This is what you’ll see in your ad platform.

• Your internal Freshpaint name won’t appear downstream. Search/select the anonymized name when attaching audiences.

Best practices

• Start narrow: choose the tightest similarity option first; broaden only after performance proves out.

• Refresh regularly: re‑sync your source audience monthly to keep the model current.

• Monitor reach and quality: ensure audiences are large enough to serve and are hitting your goals.

• Keep exclusions fresh: update “Already Converted” lists to avoid unnecessary spend.

What’s next?

• Apply to campaigns → Use your modeled/expanded audience in active ad sets.

• Layer with exclusions → Exclude users who already converted or are ineligible.

• Review performance → Track CTR, conversions, and CPL to optimize targeting.

Need help? If you’re unsure how to structure your audience or verify compliance, contact [email protected].