10-second summary:
- Facebook lead ads offer a low-friction form of lead generation.
- They can improve your typical lead volume, but may reduce lead quality.
- You can get results with a modest ad spend – with budgeting tools to keep your overheads under control.
- Use sophisticated audience targeting tools to zero in on an audience that’s likely to be interested in your services.
- Monitor campaign performance to update your ad spend over time.
You can create Facebook ads that are optimised specifically for lead generation. Here’s how to get the best from them.
There are innumerable ways to advertise your brand on Facebook. But there’s a category of ad that is ready-made to help you drive diligently towards your lead generation targets.
Consider this article as your briefing.
Before we start…
We help brands get transformative results through Facebook ads. The kind of results that accelerate progress towards strategic goals and ignite ROI. Ask for a free proposal and after an introductory call we will create a three-month plan outlining what you can expect from us. We may even be able to cover your ad spend. Sounds good? Find out a little more.
“Adbetter handled everything from creative strategy to a full funnel media buying plan across Facebook & Google Ads. They were able to design & build a full digital marketing campaign including all ads, copy & landing pages that has been delivering a consistent stream of new customers at a significantly cheaper cost than in previous testing.”
– Aqib Hassan, CCO, CPIC | Gwadar Click
A quick intro to Facebook ads for lead generation
Say hello to Facebook lead ads
Launched in 2015, Facebook lead ads are a mobile-friendly way to encourage lead conversion. Their defining feature is that any click on the ad generates a native pop-up form within Facebook.
Contrast that with conversion ads, which direct audiences to your website or landing page once they’ve clicked your ad.
Why are Facebook lead ads good?
The received wisdom is that Facebook lead ads reduce conversion friction. By directing to a native form that’s pre-populated with the user’s data (such as email address or phone number) it’s thought that Facebook lead ads enhance conversion. After all, it’s easier to complete a popup form in Facebook than clicking through to an external website that disrupts the user’s Facebook browsing experience.
Advertiser, beware: lead quantity v lead quality
Facebook lead ads may enhance the number of leads you receive, but they may not improve the overall quality of leads you receive.
Consider that if a lead is willing to click through to an external landing page and complete a form, there’s a good chance they are very interested in the product or service you are promoting.
By making it easy for anyone to become a lead, Facebook makes it impossible to spot the high-quality leads that are willing to do a little extra work to express interest in your business.
It’s why some advertisers prefer Facebook conversion ads. But to track those effectively it’s now essential to have Conversion API set up.
Why implementing Facebook Conversions API is so crucial for advertisers
How much do Facebook lead ads cost?
One of the best things about any form of pay per click advertising is the ability to control your budget. With Facebook lead ads you have the freedom to set daily or weekly spending caps, or caps for the whole campaign. However, be aware that Facebook can go 10-20% over your cap.
Broadly speaking there are two budget strategies to choose from. The first is to set a daily limit and ask Facebook to gather as many leads as possible. The other way is cost capacity: stipulating to Facebook that you only want to spend money on leads of a certain value.
Both strategies have their pros and cons. The first can take source leads faster but they may be of lower quality to the leads you are willing to pay a premium for. Whichever strategy you choose, you need to be spending enough for Facebook to learn how to optimise your campaigns. £10 per day isn’t going to cut it.
However you can begin seeing results from as little as £30-50 per day.
How to create Facebook lead ads
You can get started in a few short steps.
Start a new campaign
Once in your ads manager dashboard, hit the green ‘create’ button and choose your campaign objective. In this instance, that will be lead generation.
Name your campaign
Type in your campaign name and select your preferences for split testing, campaign budget optimisation and special ad category declaration.
Type in an ad set name and set your budget
Select the lead method and performance goal you are targeting. On this screen you can also set your budget and create an schedule.
Define your audience targeting
Here you can select a previous audience you have targeted or create a new audience that’s specific to this campaign.
Choose placement and select ad format
Placement dictates where your ad will be shown across Facebook. Select from options including Facebook Feed, Messenger and more. This will determine the type of formats you can select for your campaign – such as single image, video or carousel.
Upload your ad creative
Now it’s time to upload your ad creative – such as images, headlines, descriptions and calls to action.
Set up destination and instant form
Next it’s time to design the lead form. Click on ‘Create form’ and you will receive multiple options to customise the look and feel of your form – as well as the number and type of questions you ask. You can also add a link to your privacy policy to help make sure you are compliant with GDPR.
Think carefully about the number of fields your form has. Including multiple compulsory fields can help you gather rich data on your leads, which can help for remarketing and nurturing your leads. But too many questions can disincentivise conversion.
Review and publish
Review your ad and submit it for publishing. And remember: it’s easy to pause or edit your ad if you change your mind about anything.
4 tips for best practice
1. Think carefully about audience targeting
The power of pay per click advertising resides in the sophisticated audience targeting tools. You can target people based on interests, job title, location, web browsing activity and an awful lot more. Think carefully about the characteristics shared by your target audience.
2. It’s about your reader, not about you
Too many advertisers think results come from shouting as loudly as possible about themselves. Good marketing is about showing how you can solve your audience’s problems or help them move towards their ambitions. Stay clear, concise and reader focused.
3. Monitor your campaign’s frequency
No one likes to see the same ad over and over. So keep track of how many times your ad is shown to the same person to avoid ad fatigue.
4. Test and iterate
Facebook makes it easy to test multiple ad formats, audience targeting options, visual creative and ad copy. That’s an opportunity you should take. Create variants and keep a vigilant eye on your performance data. Once you identity trends in what’s working – and what’s not – you can optimise your campaigns to improve performance across the board.
There’s a lot more to Facebook than lead ads
Anyone can advertise on Facebook. But consistently getting results is a precise science. One that varies by sector, ad type, conversion goal and more.
Maybe some of the articles below could help you.
Financial services:
- A complete guide to Facebook ads for financial advisers
- Facebook marketing for insurance agents: key elements of success
- Facebook ads for mortgage brokers: top tips for success
Professional services:
- Facebook advertising for law firms: 7 tips for success
- Why you should use Facebook ads for commercial real estate
- Facebook ads for real estate: tips to grow revenue
- Facebook dynamic ads for real estate
- How to succeed with Facebook ads for solar companies
- Facebook ads for beauty salons: a guide to gorgeous results
Private healthcare:
- Facebook ads for healthcare: 28 tips for nailing your campaign
- Facebook ads for dentists: get results and grow your business
- Facebook ads for orthodontists: a complete guide to success
- Facebook ads for plastic surgeons: big opportunities, big regulations
- Using Facebook ads to grow your aesthetics clinic
- Med spa Facebook ads: getting results, driving revenue
- Facebook marketing for chiropractors: a few tips for success
Home improvements:
- Build your profits with Facebook ads for roofing companies
- Kitchen Facebook ads: how do they compare with other PPC platforms?
- The only guide you need for winning HVAC leads through Facebook
Track everything
To get really transformative returns from Facebook ads for lead generation, you need visibility into all customer activity – from the first time they engage with your brand through to their first purchase. That’s how you optimise your ads to become lean, mean conversion machines. This tracking can be time-consuming to set up. But we can help.
>> Why Facebook Conversions API is so crucial for advertisers
Let us take care of it
Pay per click advertising is what we do day in, day out – helping our clients to achieve extraordinary returns from their ad spend, with monthly updates on how our work is fuelling progress towards their goals.
And we may be able to do the same for you. Ask us for a free proposal and if we think we can work together we will create a three-month lead generation strategy for your brand. Whether you choose to work with us after that is your choice. Sounds okay? Let’s get started.
>> Adbetter: officially an award-winning PPC agency
Frequently asked questions
Facebook lead ads can reduce conversion friction. By directing to a native form that’s pre-populated with the user’s data (such as email address or phone number) it’s thought that Facebook lead ads enhance conversion because it’s easier for people to complete a popup form in Facebook rather than clicking through to an external website.
Facebook lead ads may enhance the number of leads you receive, but they may not improve the overall quality of your leads. By making it easy for anyone to become a lead, Facebook makes it impossible to spot the high-quality leads that are willing to do a little extra work – such as clicking through to your website – to express interest in your business. It’s why many advertisers prefer to use conversion ads on Facebook.
Split testing can help to improve the performance of Facebook ads. Create variants for each element of your ad – such as the headline, description and visual – and Facebook will test different variations of your ad to a small percentage of your audience – measuring which variants receive the most engagement. Based on that initial test, Facebook will then show the best performing ads more frequently to your remaining audience.
You can get started with pay per click advertising with no prior experience. However it can take time and effort to deliver significant ROI, which is why some businesses choose to work with a pay per click advertising specialist – such as Adbetter.