At Net-Results, where I’m founder & CEO, we’re using Facebook lead ads to generate B2B leads for our marketing automation platform – and we’ve been very happy with the results to date.
Our CPL (Cost Per Lead) with the ad below on Facebook is currently coming in at about 20% of the CPL for a similar ad on LinkedIn.
Let me put an exclamation point on that: our CPL with facebook lead ads is currently 80% lower than our CPL on “sponsored content” ads on LinkedIn! Are you kidding me?
To be clear, our CPL on LinkedIn is in an acceptable range. It’s just that Facebook lead ads are crushing our CPL target.
Here’s an actual ad that’s performing well:
So what is a Facebook “Lead Ad”?
A Lead Ad, rather than bringing the visitor to your website…
- Keeps the visitor in the facebook app
- Displays a form – a facebook form – that is pre-populated with information from the user’s facebook account
- Allows the user to “convert” (to submit your form) with a single click
So why is Net-Results succeeding with Facebook Lead Ads?
- Our offer is compelling
The ad above offers an independent, 3rd party report that shows Net-Results delivering ROI 3x faster than Marketo, a much larger competitor.
This is intriguing to our audience. They’re familiar with Marketo and may be surprised to hear of a “new” company that outperforms them.
We’re also not pushing them to schedule a demo or otherwise asking too much. We’re offering a free, independent report. - Our ad looks the part
The design of the ad is attractive and clear. - Letting Facebook load a Facebook form eliminates multiple potential issues
- People browsing facebook don’t want to be redirected to your B2B website. Don’t make them.
- Your website has zero chance of loading as fast as a form hosted directly by Facebook. People coming from Facebook don’t want to wait for your landing page to load, not even a half second in many cases.
By displaying the form themselves, facebook lead ads eliminate the “latency” of waiting for a page to load. - The Facebook form pre-fills the fields from the user’s facebook account! No typing, just instant gratification.
Our form asks for a minimal amount of information: first name, last name, and email address – and the fields are filled in the instant the prospect clicks on our ad.
This makes for a very low friction experience. And you get valid email addresses because people tend to keep their facebook profile up to date with a real email address.
- Our targeting/audience is spot on
This is incredibly important. Ensure your ad is only displayed to decent prospects or be prepared for expensive disappointment.
This means that you need to know who your ideal prospects are, take the time to understand your targeting options on facebook, and have the discipline to do this properly.
