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Blog #016 2 min read

Yes, you can use Facebook instant lead form ads to get booked calls

Most people are familiar with the vanilla techniques of getting bookings via lead generation ads on Meta.

They look like this:

A VSL, webinar or lead magnet page, then an arrow to a thank you page with a Calendly calendar on it

  • Campaigns are optimized for on-page conversions
  • The landing page offers a lead magnet, webinar invite or even just a plain video sales letter (VSL)
  • After opting in, the user is directed to the thank you page with a calendar (+ pitch to book)

Quality, Speed, Simplicity and Cost rated with emoji: good on quality, slow, complicated, and middling on cost

You can get good quality leads,

but there are some problems with this:

  • Takes a long time to set up
  • So many moving parts makes it more complicated to improve
  • Hard to get conversion momentum without bigger budgets

A Facebook lead form completion screen with a Book Your Call button, then an arrow to a thank you page with a Calendly calendar on it

Instead, try using a Facebook lead form and direct people to book upon completion:

  • It’s cheaper to get momentum
  • Faster to get momentum, because conversions are ON Facebook itself
  • Simple to set up
  • Expect 10%~ to self-book

But, quality can vary.

How to set up an Instant form for bookings

  1. Set up a campaign and on the adset level choose Instant Forms as the Conversion location.

    The Conversion location step in Meta's campaign setup, with Instant Forms selected instead of Website

  2. On the ad level, click Create a new form:

    The Instant form section at the ad level, with Create a form highlighted below the template option

  3. Add whatever questions you want to the form, typically name, email and phone number.
  4. On the Message for leads settings page, change the Headline to something like “Step 2 of 2: Book your call” to notify people they need to book

  5. Put the link to your booking landing page or calendar in the Link section and rename the Call to action like “Book your call”

    The Create form dialog showing the Step 2 of 2 headline, the booking link, and the Book Your Call button in the preview

    Meta has also added a dedicated Book time action on the form’s Ending step, which takes a Calendly, HighLevel or HubSpot link directly:

    The Ending step of the Create form flow, with Book time selected and a Scheduling link field offering Calendly, HighLevel and HubSpot

  6. Save your form.

How to improve booked lead quality

And better yet, you can still optimize the ads for better quality.

Because anyone who completes the Facebook form will go to the leads center.

The Leads Centre pipeline view, with 41 leads sitting in the Intake column

Example of what the Leads Center looks like.

And in the leads center, you can click each lead who has completed the form. Which looks like this:

A lead's record open in Leads Centre, with the Stage dropdown showing Qualified and Not qualified

And mark all those who booked as Qualified, and those who were bad bookings as Not qualified.

Telling Facebook which leads to optimize for.

Want help with Facebook lead gen ads? Two ways I can help:

  1. Try my DIY course. I made this for friends who asked for a speedrun on DIY lead ads. It is how I do what I do, condensed into a playbook.
  2. Get me to run your ads for you. If you want done-for-you help, that is what I do, specifically for sales-led and education businesses. You can also book a free 15 minute call and I will look at your account beforehand.
Written by Benjamin Boman

Freelance Meta ads manager. I run lead gen, sign-up and sales campaigns for schools, academies, SaaS and other businesses, and write about what I learn along the way.