How to Use Value-Based Lookalike Audiences

Use a value-based lookalike when you can put a number on what each customer is worth, such as order value or predicted lifetime value, and you want new people who resemble your best customers rather than all of them. It fits poorly when you have no value to attach to customers. Meta’s lifetime value page says that if you do not track customer lifetime value you cannot use one, though regular lookalikes still work. In short, it is a lookalike built from your customers’ values, not only from who bought.

What counts as a customer value?

Meta defines customer value as a number you assign to customers to quantify the qualities you consider most desirable. You choose what you value. The column must hold decimal or whole numbers. Meta’s examples:

Value	What you enter
Average order value	The cost of the order, for example 35 for $35
Number of items ordered	The item count, for example 4
Membership	0 for not a member, 1 for a member
Customer lifetime value	A numeric representation of the net profit you predict a customer will bring over the relationship

Meta adds that one prediction alone, such as how often someone buys, should not stand in for lifetime value. It says to combine each relevant estimate into a formula suited to your business goals and use the result.

How do you build one from a customer list?

Meta’s steps for a customer value custom audience, which becomes the source:

1. Go to your audiences, then Create audience, Custom audience, Customer list.
2. Select the identifiers to include.
3. Answer the customer value prompt.
4. Add your customer list and name the audience.
5. Select “Yes, customer value is included in my customer list” and choose the value column.
6. Review the identifier mapping, then select Import & create.
7. When the upload is done, select the prompt to create a lookalike audience, or go to your audiences.

The source must be a custom audience with customer value as an identifier type. Meta says the same audience can also deliver ads to valuable customers or exclude them.

Can you build one without a customer list?

Yes. Meta says a Meta Pixel, SDK, catalog or mobile app can also be the source. The pages cited here give no setup steps for those sources.

Meta’s developer page describes the Marketing API route for a customer list. You create a custom audience with the parameter is_value_based, add identifiers with the schema key LOOKALIKE_VALUE, then create a lookalike from it. Meta says lookalike values can be any non-negative integer or floating-point number.

How does it differ from Maximize value of conversions?

Meta says Maximize value of conversions uses up to 7 days to predict value. Its guidance depends on how fast you can predict lifetime value:

Your situation	What Meta says
You need more than a week to predict lifetime value	Generally, create a value-based lookalike instead of using Maximize value of conversions
You can confidently predict it in 7 days or less, or 7-day return on ad spend is your main goal	Try a value-based lookalike, with Maximize value of conversions as the performance goal

Meta describes Maximize value of conversions as suited to purchase cycles up to 7 days, and value-based lookalikes as an option when cycles are longer. It also says value-based lookalikes can look back up to 60 days in the past.

What limits apply?

Meta’s developer page says the source audience needs at least 100 people before it can seed a lookalike. It also says each ad account using the feature must agree to the value-based lookalike terms of service. Targeting options are limited for audiences that include people under 18, or older in some countries.

How can you decide for your own account?

1. Check whether you can attach a number to each customer.
2. Pick the definition of value from the table, and combine estimates if you use lifetime value.
3. Check how long it takes you to predict lifetime value, then compare with Meta’s 7-day guidance.
4. Confirm the source holds at least 100 people.
5. Compare the lookalike with your current audience in your own reporting.

FAQ

What if I do not track customer lifetime value?

Meta says you can still use custom audiences and regular lookalikes to reach customers and people similar to them. Meta’s lifetime value page says you then cannot use value-based lookalikes, though its customer value column page lists other values, such as order value, that you can enter. A regular lookalike, Meta says, does not take customer lifetime value into account and can only find people similar to all your customers.

Does the value have to be lifetime value?

No. Meta says you choose what you value, and that it could be order value, number of items ordered, membership or customer lifetime value. The column holds decimal or whole numbers, so even a 0 or 1 membership flag counts.

How big does the source audience need to be?

Meta’s developer page says that once the custom audience contains at least 100 people, you can use it as a seed audience for a new lookalike. It also says every ad account using the feature must agree to the value-based lookalike Terms of Service.