If your business relies on leads to come in, then you have probably tried running ads on various mediums in an attempt to bring in more leads. One of those platforms that you probably have tried is Facebook.
Meta (Facebook) has an abundance of benefits including its audience size, low cost per acquisition, and variety of platforms and ad formats. A lot of these benefits will be for nothing if you are not running optimized ads on Facebook.
If you’re currently running Facebook Ads and you are finding that you’re not generating the leads that you want, there are some steps that you can take to improve your results. Running any ad, whether it is on Facebook, Google, or even older mediums like print, requires testing, analyzing, and optimizing in order to find the recipe for success.
Through our many years and many dollars spent, we have come up with 6 reasons why your Facebook Ads aren’t generating leads and tips on how to fix them:
Budget is too Small
The next 5 steps after this one basically outline the order of potential issues that need to be optimized and tested. Until you have that right recipe that works, Meta (Facebook) needs to properly learn the exact behaviours of your audience. This cannot be achieved with a small budget.
If you are constantly running Facebook campaigns with the intention of generating leads on say a $100 budget, and you are not seeing any results, increase your budget.
Facebook needs to learn who your exact audience is and what you are trying to accomplish, which can take time. Let’s not forget that your ad or copy for your ad might not be resonating with your audience either, which could further delay any lead generation.
Once you have figured out a comfortable cost per lead formula, you can reduce or increase your budgets since, in theory, you will know exactly how many leads you will receive for every dollar spent.
Tip: When you first start your campaign, set your budget to a significantly higher amount to force Facebook to learn faster. When you set your budget, Facebook paces itself to ensure they land exactly on your budget, and this unfortunately also means they will slowly learn if your budget is small. Once Facebook passes their learning phase and they understand what you’re trying to accomplish, decrease your budget back in line with what you were intending to spend.
You Chose the Wrong Objective
If you are trying to generate leads, there really are only 2 objectives that you should be using on Meta (Facebook):
- Leads Objective
This objective on Facebook helps businesses create campaigns to attract potential customers by collecting information that moves them through the buying process. You can use this feature to gather lead information through forms, prompt users to call your business, or connect with them via Messenger. When someone clicks on your ad, they can fill out a form with their details, call your business directly, or engage in an automated conversation through Messenger. The Leads objective is unique because it allows you to include built in lead forms, which are the only forms on Facebook ads designed to capture names, email addresses, and other relevant information, making it easier to follow up with qualified leads. - Traffic Objective
If you have a landing page that you know already works, or perhaps you want to retarget on other platforms like Google, you may want to lead the Facebook user to your website. Pros: Typically a lower cost per lead than the Lead Generation objective. You will also generate more “first-click” traffic through this objective, giving you an opportunity to re-target individuals that may not be ready to convert today. Cons: As you will discover on a later point, your landing page is a huge success factor to whether or not this objective will ultimately convert. If you have a poorly designed landing page, revert to using the built-in Facebook form and go with a Leads Objective.
If you are using any other objective to try and generate leads, this is probably the reason you are not generating leads. Moreover, if you are using one of these 2 objectives, you might need to analyze which of the two is best for your business.
Incorrect Audience
When running Facebook ads, it’s crucial to continually evaluate whether your audience targeting is working effectively. If you’re not seeing the leads or conversions you expect, it’s time to take a closer look at your audience strategy. To get a clear understanding of what’s working, start by setting up at least two ad sets to compare performance. This way, you can identify which audience is driving better results. Without this comparison, it’s difficult to pinpoint whether audience targeting is the issue.
We recommend avoiding Facebook’s detailed targeting options, such as choosing specific demographics, interests, and behaviours. Instead, set up two distinct ad sets. The first should use Meta Advantage+ (their AI-powered audience), which leverages artificial intelligence to find potential customers based on real-time data. The second ad set should use a lookalike audience based on website traffic or conversions. This will help you reach people who share similar characteristics with users who have already visited your site or taken meaningful actions, such as making a purchase.
Additionally, enable Advantage Campaign Budget, which allows Meta to distribute your budget automatically to the better-performing ad set. This strategy ensures that your ad spend is being used efficiently, maximizing results based on real-time performance data. By running these two ad sets simultaneously and allowing Meta to optimize your budget, you’ll get a clearer picture of which audience delivers the best results and make informed adjustments going forward.
Tip: You should always have a retargeting strategy in place for previous Facebook users that have engaged with you. Retargeting will always be cheaper than acquiring new Facebook users to engage with. So with that being said, exclude previous website visitors from your other ad sets. If done properly, the users that engage with your ad will be put into a funnel and see different ads. We wrote an article, Step-by-Step Guide to Facebook Funnels for Lead Generation, which goes into more detail about creating a funnel strategy.
Bad Creative and/or Copy
If you’ve already tested your audiences and ad sets but your Facebook ads are still underperforming, it’s time to take a closer look at your ad creatives. Facebook offers a variety of formats for your ads, including photos, videos, stories, carousels, and more. Each format has its strengths, and choosing the right one can make a significant difference in how your audience engages with your ads.
Additionally, your ad creative consists of more than just visuals. There are key sections like ad copy, headlines, link descriptions, and buttons, all of which play a crucial role in how well your ad performs. With so many variables in play, optimizing each element is essential to getting the best results.
We recommend using Dynamic Creative, a feature you can toggle on in the ad set section of your campaign. Dynamic Creative allows you to upload multiple versions of your creatives—such as photos or videos—as well as different ad copy, headlines, and calls-to-action (buttons). Meta will then automatically test various combinations of these elements to determine which works best with your audience.
The advantage of Dynamic Creative is that it removes much of the guesswork. Instead of manually testing one creative at a time, Meta does the heavy lifting by finding the best-performing combinations. You can then review the performance data and make adjustments, such as removing underperforming creatives or refining your ad copy and headlines.
By leveraging Dynamic Creative, you give Meta the flexibility to optimize your ads in real-time, improving the chances of finding the perfect mix of visuals, messaging, and targeting that will resonate with your audience.
Your Offer
Now that you’ve identified the right audience, optimized your creatives, and fine-tuned your ad copy, but your Facebook ad still isn’t converting, it’s time to take a closer look at what you’re offering.
The strength of your offer depends on where your audience is in your funnel and what you’re trying to accomplish. If your goal is to generate traffic for future retargeting, you may not need a highly aggressive offer. In this case, a compelling message that piques interest and captures the user’s attention is enough to bring them into the funnel for later engagement.
However, if you’re deeper into the funnel or aiming to generate leads immediately, you need to ensure your offer is strong enough to entice action. When asking users to provide contact information, you need to provide a compelling incentive—whether it’s a valuable piece of downloadable content or an irresistible “buy now” or “get a quote” offer.
It’s essential to be equipped with multiple offers to test and optimize. If everything else in your campaign is running smoothly, testing different offers can help you lower your cost per lead and increase conversions. Remember, the right offer can make all the difference in turning an interested viewer into a qualified lead or customer.
Landing Page
Once you’ve optimized your audience, creatives, and offer, the next step is ensuring your landing page aligns with the rest of your campaign. If you’re using Facebook lead forms, these built-in forms are a great way to capture leads directly within the platform without requiring users to leave Facebook. These forms are pre-filled with user information, making it easier and faster for users to convert. This can be especially helpful when your goal is to reduce friction and increase the number of leads.
If you prefer using an external landing page, it’s crucial to test different variations to determine what resonates most with your audience. A/B testing is essential here. You can test landing pages with less information, focusing solely on the offer and lead form to keep it simple and direct. This approach is great when you want users to focus purely on taking action without being overwhelmed by too much content.
Alternatively, try testing a landing page with more detailed content, including testimonials, “why us” sections, and clear explanations of what your product or service can do for your customer. This approach works well for audiences that require more convincing before providing their information.
Tip: When using a landing page, it’s important to remove any distractions that might take users away from converting. Avoid including menus, navigation links, or any options that allow users to leave the page. The goal is to keep the user focused on completing the action—whether that’s submitting their contact information, requesting a quote, or signing up for an offer. The fewer opportunities they have to navigate away, the higher the chances of conversion.
Conclusion
Facebook ads have the potential to be a powerful lead generation tool, but they require careful planning, testing, and optimization. By fine-tuning your audience targeting, improving your ad creative, aligning your landing page, and leveraging the full range of ad formats, you can turn underperforming ads into lead-generating machines. Don’t forget to continually monitor and adjust your ads based on performance metrics to ensure they stay effective over time.