• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • 🎙️ Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • AI Explored Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🌟 AI Society
  • 🗓️ Marketing Conference
  • đź‘‹ About Us
    • Marketing Events
  • Search
  • Embrace AI & MarketingGet Ongoing Training & SupportBEGIN YOUR JOURNEY NOW

    Facebook Lead Form Ads: How to Optimize for Results

    by Allie Bloyd / December 2, 2020

    Want more quality leads from Facebook? Are your Facebook lead forms set up properly?

    In this article, you'll learn what type of Facebook lead form will yield the highest-quality leads, which pre-fill questions to include, and how to add custom questions that will pre-qualify your leads. You'll also discover the most important aspect of lead forms that many businesses overlook.

    Facebook Lead Form Ads: How to Optimize for Results by Allie Bloyd on Social Media Examiner.

    To learn how to optimize your Facebook lead forms, read the article below for an easy-to-follow walkthrough or watch this video:

    #1: Create a New Facebook Lead Form

    Facebook lead forms are a simple, streamlined way for people to sign up as a lead. The process takes place entirely on Facebook as opposed to using something like a landing page where people navigate off of Facebook to your website.

    Sometimes the process of sending people to a landing page from Facebook can be problematic if your website or funnel isn't optimized for speed. It might take longer to load than the average person is willing to wait. With a Facebook lead form, the sign-up process is quick and easy.

    To create a Facebook lead form, you need to go to the front end of your Facebook business page through Business Manager. In the menu at the top of the page, either click the Publishing Tools button or click the More button and choose Publishing Tools from the drop-down menu.

    example facebook business page in facebook business manager with publishing tools menu option highlighted

    Once your publishing tools open, navigate to Forms Library on the left side of the screen. Then click Create on the right.

    facebook business manager publishing tools menu with forms library highlighted under lead ads forms with the create button highlighted

    Next, you'll see the option to create a new lead form or duplicate an existing form (if you've previously created one). Click New Form.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form with the new form option selected

    At the top of the Create Form window, name your form. Now you're ready to design your Facebook lead form.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to name your form and select form type

    AI Business Society

    Ready to Unlock AI Marketing Breakthroughs?

    If you’re like most of us, you are trying to figure out how to use AI in your marketing. Here's the solution: The AI Business Society—a new AI marketing community from your friends at Social Media Examiner.

    The AI Business Society is the place to discover how to apply AI in your work. When you join, you'll boost your productivity, unlock your creativity, and make connections with other marketers on a similar journey.

    I'M READY TO BECOME AN AI-POWERED MARKETER

    #2: Design Your Facebook Lead Form

    Often, people who've tried Facebook lead form ads complain that the leads are lower-quality or they cannot contact the lead later. Here's how to set up your lead form to get quality leads you can connect with.

    Choose the Right Lead Form Type

    You can choose from two types of Facebook lead forms. The first is More Volume, which is the default. This is typically what people go with when they create a lead form. If you just stick with the default, however, you may be making the wrong choice for your business.

    With the More Volume option, signing up is literally a two-click process, which will allow a lot of lower-quality leads to come through. One reason for this is that people may have done it accidentally. Another is that because people don't have to go through a lot of steps to opt in, they don't necessarily have a strong commitment to the offer. While you can still get some good leads with the More Volume option, some may be less interested than you'd prefer.

    I typically recommend going with the second option: Higher Intent. Going this route adds a step in your form that allows people to review their information before submitting it. So you're adding an extra button click and an additional screen for potential leads to navigate.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to select form type with higher intent selected

    Add a Background Image and Text

    Now move to the Intro section, starting with the background image. This is the image that goes at the top of the form. You can either use the image from your Facebook ad or upload an image that will be on every ad, regardless of where people click from. For this example, you want to remind people why they're signing up so go with the image from your Facebook ad.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to use a background image with the use the image from your ad option selected

    Next up is the Greeting section. Here you can add a headline of up to 60 characters and a description in paragraph or list form. Remember, your Facebook form is ultimately replacing a landing page that has a strong headline and opening sentence, paragraph, or call to action (CTA) so you need to put those same elements into your form.

    I recommend using your headline to establish what people are signing up for and the benefits of this offer such as, “Learn how to market a local business online profitably.”

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to set a greeting with the headline set to 'learn how to market a local business online profitably!' and the description set to paragraph with a sample paragraph provided

    For the description, give people a reason to sign up. If you have a specific offer such as 0% interest financing or buy one get one free, focus on that.

    Add Questions to Your Facebook Lead Form

    The next section is where you add questions to your Facebook lead form. The standard fields—name, email, and phone number—will be autofilled by Facebook. While this creates a more seamless signup experience, people also tend to skip over it without reviewing that information.

    The email field is going to be incorrect more often than the phone number field. Phone numbers don't change nearly as often as email addresses do. And most people have connected their phone number at the request of Facebook prompts as a security measure.

    Always include the phone number field on your form because it will give you the ability to send text messages to your leads. You want to use text messaging and phone calls as your primary methods of communication with leads because email addresses will frequently be incorrect.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to add prefill questions with examples used of email, full name, and phone number

    I highly encourage you to add some custom questions to your form, which will force people to actually engage with it. Facebook lets you add multiple choice questions, conditional questions, and appointment requests (which don't connect to a booking system or booking calendar). It's okay to add a few questions but don't go overboard.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to add custom questions menu with options for multiple choice, short answer, conditional, or appointment request

    Discover Proven Marketing Strategies and Tips

    Want to go even deeper with your marketing? Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast! Publishing weekly since 2012, the Social Media Marketing Podcast helps you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle, with expert interviews from marketing pros.

    But don’t let the name fool you. This show is about a lot more than just social media marketing. With over 600 episodes and millions of downloads each year, this show has been a trusted source for marketers for well over a decade.

    CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PODCAST NOW

    Short answer questions are a great option because people have to type something in. Ask something that makes people really think about why they want to sign up such as, “Do you confirm that you'll answer the phone when we call?” If your potential lead doesn't actually want to talk to you, they'll realize at that moment that this isn't a form they need to fill out. Adding custom questions like this will help you weed out poor leads.

    Link to Your Privacy Policy

    After you've added questions to your form, move to the Privacy Policy section. If you're focusing on text message follow-up with new leads, you must have an appropriate privacy policy in place that covers your business and gives you the lead's permission. Add a link to the privacy policy on your website in the Link field.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to link to a privacy policy and a custom disclaimer

    You can also add a custom disclaimer but only do that if you're legally required to do so. Otherwise, it will distract from your ultimate goal.

    Next up is the review screen. You don't need to add anything here. This screen just allows the person signing up to review their email, name, and phone number. And if any of that information is incorrect, they can go back and fix it.

    Add a CTA

    The last section is for completion. You'll see fields for adding another headline and description, a CTA button, CTA text, and then you have an additional option depending on what that CTA is.

    This is where marketers often make mistakes. They may say something like, “Visit our website to learn more” or something irrelevant to getting this lead to the next step. The headline we're going to use for this example is, “WAIT! You're not done yet! Click the button below to schedule.” I also like to use emojis because they're a bit different and draw people's attention.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to add a completion message headline and description to encourage form completion with a sample headline of 'wait! you're not done yet! click the button below to schedule' with two down pointing emojis, and a description regarding their excitment that the lead is ready to speak with the company and claim the available offer

    Depending on what you're asking people to opt into, tell them why there's another step in the description. You don't want to give a ton of details because all you care about in this moment is getting them to click the button.

    For the CTA text, let's go with View Website and change the CTA text from View Website to “CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE NOW!”

    Add a link that goes directly to the page with your calendar so your lead can select a date and time to book an appointment. Don't send them to the first page of your funnel; you already have their information. You need them to go one step further and schedule an appointment.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to set a call-to-action button, text, and link with a sample button of view website and text of 'click here to schedule now!'

    #3: Review and Publish Your Facebook Lead Form

    Once you've completed your Facebook lead form, double-check that all of the options and links you've added are correct and rectify any errors that are flagged by Facebook. After you publish this form, you won't be able to go back and edit it. You can duplicate it but it will be a completely separate form. Having to duplicate an existing form adds steps and increases the likelihood you'll make a mistake and leads won't be delivered.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to preview your lead form settings and options prior to publication

    You may also want to check the Settings tab. This is where you can change the language of your form if you want to reach people who speak a language other than English. You can also add your tracking parameters here, so if you have additional forms, you'll be able to see which Facebook form is producing the leads that are ultimately converting.

    facebook lead ads create new lead form option to adjust form configuration settings of language which is set to english, and sharing which is set to restricted

    Another option is to change from Restricted to Open forms, which will allow anybody to see your form. Otherwise, the only people who are going to see it are those you served an ad to.

    There's also an option to change the field names but that's probably not something you'll need to do.

    If everything looks okay and you're ready to finalize your form, hit Publish. Your new form will then appear in your forms library and you'll be able to use it in your Facebook ads. If you save your form as a draft, you'll find it in the draft library.

    facebook business manager publishing tools tab set to forms library with a few example forms, one named phone funnel framework highlighted as an example

    #4: Use Your Facebook Lead Form in an Ad

    After you've published your form, it's ready to be used in a Facebook ad with the Lead Generation objective only. This is the only objective that allows you to use Facebook lead forms.

    Once you launch a Facebook lead ad campaign and start generating leads, it's important to note that Facebook won't automatically notify you when you get leads. If you go to the Leads Setup section in your Publishing Tools, you can connect your CRM to Facebook so it will automatically notify you of new leads.

    facebook lead ads lead form option to connect leadconnector under the leads setup menu under the publishing tools tab, to allow your crm instant access to your ad campaign leads

    You could also connect your CRM with a platform like Zapier, or if you use a program that has a direct connection to lead forms, you can set it up that way.

    Pro Tip: It's important to have a notification that comes to you when you get a new lead, preferably via email and text message, so you can follow up with them immediately.

    Conclusion

    Optimizing your Facebook forms is essential for driving quality leads—and ultimately sales—for your business. Make sure you choose the appropriate Facebook lead form type, include the right pre-fill questions, and add relevant custom questions to pre-qualify your leads. Also take steps to ensure you get notified via email and text about any new leads that come in so you can follow up right away.

    What do you think? Which of these tips will you try to optimize your Facebook lead forms? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

    More articles on Facebook ads:

    • Learn how to write Facebook ads that reduce the barrier to purchase.
    • Find out how to grow your email list with Facebook ads.
    • Discover how much you should spend on Facebook ads.
    AI EXPLORED

    Curious About How to Use AI?

    Our newest show, AI Explored, might be just what you're looking for. It's for marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs who want to understand how to use AI in their business.

    It's hosted by Michael Stelzner and explores this exciting new frontier in easy-to-understand terms.

    Pull up your favorite podcast app and search for AI Explored. Or click the button below for more information.

    I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AI

    Tags: Facebook, Facebook Ads

    About the authorAllie Bloyd

    Allie Bloyd is host of the Marketing Ink Podcast and founder of Allie Bloyd Media, a leading training and consultancy for local businesses and local marketers, specializing in social advertising.
    Other posts by Allie Bloyd »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (43 pages, 60+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    AI

    Next Frontier Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Discover how marketers plan to change their social activities in the 16th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It reveals what marketers have planned for their social activities, content marketing, and more! Get this free report now and never miss another great article from us. Join more than 385,000 marketers!

    Simply click the button below to get the free report:

    Footer

    Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle
    Copyright © 2025 Social Media Examiner®
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our social media marketing industry report
    • Our generative AI marketing industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS