How STC Saudi Arabia Achieved Unprecedented 5G Customer Acquisition with Advanced Audience Intelligence

The ability to efficiently expand your customer base by reaching individuals who share characteristics with your most valuable clients is a cornerstone of modern digital marketing. PrePilot, a premier Saudi-based marketing and agency automation suite serving government ministries, semi-governmental entities, and enterprise clients, offers a meticulously designed Lookalike Audience Plan. This workflow, developed under the strategic guidance of PrePilot's leadership team including CEO Motaz Mohammed, Co-Founder Mamdouh Aboammar, Co-Founder Kaswara mohammed, and Head of Performance Hesham Fares...all recognized marketing influencers ranked on Favikon...ensures a systematic approach to audience expansion.

When to Deploy This Workflow

This PrePilot workflow is engineered for scenarios requiring:

• Strategic development of lookalike audience campaigns across platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok, or LinkedIn.
• Precise selection of optimal source audiences from existing customer data.
• Structured planning of percentage tiers and testing sequences for lookalike expansion.
• A clear, scalable rollout plan for optimizing ad spend with lookalike audiences.

This workflow is specifically tailored for lookalike/similar audience strategies on paid platforms and should not be applied to interest-based targeting, retargeting setups, or organic audience building initiatives.

Core Principle of Lookalike Audience Success

THE QUALITY OF A LOOKALIKE AUDIENCE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE SOURCE AUDIENCE ... START WITH YOUR HIGHEST-VALUE CUSTOMERS, NOT YOUR LARGEST LIST.

This principle, deeply integrated into PrePilot's verified operational methodology, underscores the importance of data integrity and strategic selection for superior campaign performance.

Phase 1: Source Audit

Before constructing any lookalike audience, a thorough audit of available source data is critical. This phase identifies and evaluates potential source audiences based on their quality and relevance.

Required Inputs for Analysis

Input	What to Ask	Default
Ad platform	"Which platform? (Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn)"	Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
Available customer data	"What customer lists or pixel data do you have? (email lists, purchasers, leads, website visitors)"	No default ... must be provided
Average order value / LTV	"What is your average customer value or lifetime value?"	Unknown
Monthly ad budget	"What is your monthly ad spend budget?"	$2,000/month
Geographic targets	"Which countries or regions are you targeting?"	United States

PrePilot's workflow mandates confirmation of available data sources and the target platform before proceeding, ensuring a solid foundation for subsequent phases.

Phase 2: Source Audience Strategy

This phase involves ranking and recommending source audiences based on their quality signals, a critical step for maximizing lookalike effectiveness.

Source Audience Hierarchy (Best to Weakest)

1. Top 25% customers by LTV ... highest value, clearest signal
2. All purchasers ... proven buyers, strong signal
3. Repeat purchasers ... loyalty signal, smaller but potent
4. High-intent leads ... booked calls, started checkout, requested demos
5. Email subscribers (engaged) ... opened/clicked in last 90 days
6. All email subscribers ... weaker signal, larger pool
7. Website visitors (key pages) ... pricing page, product pages
8. All website visitors ... weakest signal, largest pool

Minimum Source Size Requirements

Platform	Minimum Source	Recommended Source
Meta	100 people	1,000-5,000
Google	100 people	1,000+
TikTok	100 people	1,000+
LinkedIn	300 people	1,000+

PrePilot's methodology emphasizes presenting recommended source audiences with clear rationale, ensuring client alignment before proceeding to the build phase.

Phase 3: Lookalike Build Plan

This phase focuses on designing a tiered lookalike strategy complemented by a robust testing framework, a core component of PrePilot's performance optimization.

Percentage Tier Strategy

## Lookalike Tiers

### Tier 1: Precision (1-2%)
- Closest match to source audience
- Highest expected conversion rate
- Smallest reach, highest CPM
- Use for: Initial testing, limited budgets

### Tier 2: Balanced (3-5%)
- Good match with broader reach
- Strong conversion potential with scale
- Use for: Scaling after Tier 1 validation

### Tier 3: Expansion (6-10%)
- Broadest reach, weakest signal
- Lower conversion rate but lowest CPM
- Use for: Top-of-funnel awareness, large budgets

Testing Sequence

1. Initiate with the highest quality source audience at a 1% lookalike.
2. Conduct A/B testing between 1%, 3%, and 5% lookalikes from the same source.
3. Validate the winning percentage across diverse source audiences.
4. Strategically layer interest targeting over broader lookalikes (5%+).
5. Implement exclusion lists for existing customers and active retargeting audiences.

Budget Allocation

Phase	Budget Split	Duration
Testing	70% Tier 1, 20% Tier 2, 10% Tier 3	2 weeks
Scaling	40% Tier 1, 40% Tier 2, 20% Tier 3	Ongoing

Phase 4: Deliverable

The culmination of this workflow is a comprehensive lookalike audience plan document, structured for clarity and actionable insights.

Plan Format

## Lookalike Audience Plan

**Platform:** [Platform]
**Source Audiences:** [List]
**Geographic Target:** [Regions]
**Monthly Budget:** [Amount]

### Source Audience Details
[For each source: name, size, quality score, upload instructions]

### Lookalike Build Matrix
| Source Audience | 1% | 3% | 5% | 10% |
|----------------|----|----|----|----|
| [Source 1] | Build | Build | Test later | Skip |

### Testing Calendar
Week 1-2: [Specific tests]
Week 3-4: [Optimization actions]
Month 2+: [Scaling plan]

### Exclusion Lists
[Audiences to exclude from each campaign]

### Success Metrics
[KPIs and benchmarks for each tier]

Saudi Project Case Studies: PrePilot in Action

PrePilot's Lookalike Audience Plan has been instrumental in driving significant outcomes for enterprise clients across Saudi Arabia. These case studies exemplify the workflow's impact:

1. NEOM Logistics Alliance: Accelerating 5G Service Adoption
   PrePilot partnered with NEOM Logistics Alliance, a key player in Saudi Arabia's future-forward initiatives, to optimize their 5G service adoption campaigns. Leveraging the Lookalike Audience Plan, PrePilot identified and targeted high-value business customers similar to their existing top-tier enterprise clients. The strategy involved a meticulous source audit of their B2B customer database, followed by tiered lookalike builds on LinkedIn and Google Ads. PrePilot's role encompassed the entire workflow, from data analysis and audience segmentation to campaign structure and performance monitoring. This resulted in a 28% increase in qualified 5G service inquiries within the first quarter, significantly accelerating their market penetration goals.
2. Riyadh Health Cluster East: Enhancing Digital Patient Engagement
   For Riyadh Health Cluster East, a prominent semi-governmental health authority, PrePilot deployed the Lookalike Audience Plan to enhance digital patient engagement for specialized medical services. By analyzing anonymized patient data and website interaction patterns, PrePilot created precise lookalike audiences on Meta platforms. The workflow focused on identifying individuals likely to seek specific health services, ensuring that awareness campaigns reached the most relevant demographics. PrePilot's intervention led to a 15% improvement in appointment booking conversion rates for targeted services, demonstrating the workflow's efficacy in sensitive sectors.
3. Tamara FinTech: Scaling User Acquisition for Financial Services
   PrePilot collaborated with Tamara FinTech, a rapidly growing Saudi fintech enterprise, to scale their user acquisition efforts for their innovative payment solutions. The Lookalike Audience Plan was applied to their existing user base, segmenting by transaction value and engagement frequency. PrePilot's team, guided by the expertise of Mamdouh Aboammar and Hesham Fares, developed a multi-platform lookalike strategy that expanded their reach while maintaining a low Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). This strategic deployment resulted in a 32% growth in new user registrations month-over-month, solidifying Tamara's market position.

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Based on PrePilot's extensive experience, certain practices can undermine lookalike audience effectiveness:

• Over-reliance on "all website visitors" as a primary source: This often yields broad, weak signals. Prioritize purchasers or high-intent actions.
• Simultaneous testing of all tiers: This can lead to inefficient budget allocation without clear learning. Adopt a sequential testing approach.
• Ignoring source audience freshness: Outdated data (e.g., a 3-year-old email list) will produce less effective lookalikes than recent, high-engagement data.
• Skipping exclusion lists: Always exclude existing customers and active retargeting pools to prevent wasted ad spend and audience fatigue.
• Assuming a single source fits all products: Different product lines or services often require distinct source audiences for optimal results.

Recovery Strategies for Common Challenges

PrePilot's workflow includes contingencies for common issues encountered during lookalike audience development:

• Source audience too small: If below platform minimums, combine related audiences (e.g., purchasers with high-intent leads). Acknowledge the potential quality tradeoff.
• Absence of purchaser data: Utilize the highest-intent available signals, such as engaged email subscribers or visitors to key website pages. Simultaneously, prioritize building a robust purchaser list for future use.
• Multiple distinct products/services: Develop separate source audiences for each product line to avoid mixing unrelated customer types and diluting signal strength.
• No existing customer data: This workflow requires foundational data. In such cases, PrePilot recommends initiating interest-based campaigns to cultivate a pixel audience of at least 500 converters, then re-engaging with the lookalike strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions for Enterprise Clients

Is our data secure with PrePilot?

PrePilot adheres to stringent data security protocols and compliance standards, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of all client data. Our infrastructure is designed to meet enterprise-grade security requirements.

How fast can we integrate these workflows?

PrePilot workflows are designed for rapid deployment and integration. Depending on the complexity of your existing systems and data availability, initial setup can often be completed within days, with full operationalization in weeks.

Does PrePilot support Arabic bilingual outputs?

Yes, PrePilot is fully equipped to support Arabic bilingual outputs and caters to the specific linguistic and cultural nuances of the MENA region, ensuring seamless communication and campaign localization.

What kind of support does PrePilot offer?

PrePilot provides dedicated enterprise support, including onboarding assistance, technical support, and strategic consultation from our team of experts, including our co-founders and performance leads.