I run Facebook and Instagram campaigns for businesses that need leads or sales, not impressions. Most of my work is lead generation for local service businesses and B2B companies in the US and Canada, plus e-commerce for brands in Bangladesh.
$3.91
Cost per lead, down from $86
Hair clinic, US$5.08
B2B cost per lead, 63% below benchmark
Nevada Access64
B2B leads in 7 days at $12.23
Tombizmerch100/100
Meta Opportunity Score, both accounts
US lenderWhat the work actually involves
In the order I do it, because the order is most of the value.
1. Establish what a lead is allowed to cost
Before touching the account I need two numbers from you: what a customer is worth, and roughly what share of enquiries convert. That gives a ceiling. A $40 cost per lead is excellent for a business closing $3,000 contracts and fatal for one selling a $60 treatment, and most accounts are optimised without anyone having done this arithmetic.
2. Fix the measurement
Pixel and Conversions API together, with event deduplication, verified in Events Manager. Since Apple's tracking changes a meaningful share of conversions never reach Meta through the browser alone, which means the delivery algorithm optimises against an incomplete picture. Plenty of accounts have CAPI "installed" in a way that quietly does nothing. This is the least glamorous step and the one that does the most work.
3. Structure for the budget you actually have
Broad targeting with Advantage+ is good advice on a large budget with strong signal. On $50 a day it isn't, because you never accumulate enough conversions per ad set to exit the learning phase. Small budgets need tighter audiences and fewer ad sets, then broadening as the data builds.
4. Test creative against the objection, not the product
The ads that work usually address the hesitation rather than describing the service. In the hair clinic account the winning angle wasn't the treatment. It was the awkwardness of enquiring about it. I brief and iterate creative; I don't produce video or design, but I'll work with your assets or your designer.
Where this has worked
Lead generation for a US hair and scalp clinic (cost per lead $86 to $3.91 across 35 campaigns), B2B access solutions in Nevada ($5.08 per lead, 63% below Meta's own benchmark), a FIFA merchandise store (64 B2B leads in seven days), a US lending company and a roofing contractor.
Longer write-up of the method: How I cut a cost per lead from $86 to $3.91, including the two rounds that made performance worse.
Full data: every cost per lead I've documented, with spend and sample size for each account.
Common questions
What's a good cost per lead on Facebook Ads?
It depends entirely on what a customer is worth to you, but for reference: across five accounts I've managed, cost per lead ranged from $3.91 for a local consumer service to $12.23 for niche B2B. Published industry benchmarks for 2026 put the all-industry average closer to $27, with B2B considerably higher. If you're paying more than a customer is worth, the number is wrong regardless of what any benchmark says.
What's the minimum ad spend that makes sense?
Around $1,000 a month for ongoing management. Below that, the account can't generate enough conversion events for Meta's delivery system to learn, and you end up paying a retainer to fight an algorithm that has no data.
Do you handle the creative?
I direct it and test it: angles, hooks, formats, and what to try next based on what the data says. I don't produce video or graphic design. Most clients either have assets already or a designer I brief.
How long until it works?
You'll have signal within days and a meaningful read within four to six weeks. Anything faster is noise; a good day is not a result.
Do you take a percentage of ad spend?
No. Flat retainer. A percentage model rewards me for telling you to spend more, which is not the incentive you want on the other side of the table.
Want to know what your account is leaking?
Send me the ad account and I'll run the same first pass on it (tracking, structure, creative) and tell you what I'd change first.
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