Expand smarter: How lookalike lists help you reach the right people with direct mail

In times of uncertainty, it’s more important than ever for your message to reach the right people at the right time, without exceeding your budget. But who should you be targeting? Developing an audience list based on your existing customers – a lookalike list – is one of the best ways to strategically grow. And, it’s especially beneficial in direct mail.

Why lookalikes work

Identifying the right audience isn’t always easy. Traditional list buying or broad targeting can leave you casting too wide a net – and spending time and money on contacts who don’t align with your ideal customer profile. 

That’s why lookalike audiences are such a powerful tool. They allow you to expand your reach to new contacts who share traits and behaviors with your top customers – people who are statistically more likely to engage and convert. 

Direct mail is one of the most reliable channels for leveraging lookalike audiences. Unlike the proxy data leveraged in digital advertising, physical address and demographic data is verified. That means you're able to reach real people with precision – and with Lob, you can automate and optimize that process.

Introducing Lookalike Lists in Lob Audience

Lob Lookalike Lists are the newest addition to the Lob Audience product suite. They’re designed to help you build smarter, more targeted mail campaigns by expanding your reach based on what already works.

Here’s how it works:

• Upload a list of your current customers who meet a specific goal – maybe they’ve converted at a high rate, shown strong loyalty, or made frequent purchases.
  
  
• Lob Audience analyzes that list and finds new prospects who closely resemble your best customers.
  
  
• We match your data against over 1,500 attributes from a dataset covering more than 240 million U.S. adults to identify the best-fit contacts for your campaign.

Tailor your targeting for different goals

Different campaigns, different goals. The size and relevance of your audience matter, whether you’re running an awareness campaign or trying to reach a narrow group that’s highly likely to convert.

One of the strengths of Lob’s lookalike lists is the flexibility they offer. You can fine-tune your targeting depending on the goals of your specific campaign:

• For high-conversion efforts: Keep your list narrow and closely aligned with your original customer data to maintain a strong match.
  
  
• For expanding reach with relevance: Open up your criteria slightly to engage a larger pool while still keeping key similarities intact.
  
  
• For brand awareness or broader engagement: Broaden your list further to introduce your message to more people who share some – but not all – traits with your core audience.

Whatever your objective, lookalike lists help ensure you’re reaching the right people with the right message, rather than relying on sheer volume to get results.

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Have a Lob account? Log in now to request your first Lookalike Audience!

Scale with confidence

Lookalike lists are a practical, data-driven way to grow your reach. They take the guesswork out of audience expansion and allow you to focus your efforts where they’re most likely to pay off.

Whether you’re launching a targeted campaign or building top-of-funnel awareness, lookalike lists make it easier to reach new leads with confidence – and convert them into customers over time.

Want to explore how Lob Audience lookalike lists could work for your next campaign? Learn more about Lob Audience or connect with our team to talk through your goals.

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