How to Set Up Facebook Lead Ads, Step by Step: Campaign, Instant Form, Testing and Getting the Leads Out

Facebook lead ads let people send you their details without leaving Facebook or Instagram: they tap the ad, a form opens with details such as name, email and phone often prefilled from their account, and they submit in a few taps. For Indian businesses that sell through enquiries, such as real estate, coaching, solar, interiors and travel, it is often the cheapest way to fill a sales pipeline.

This guide covers how to set up Facebook lead ads in Meta Ads Manager, step by step, using the names Meta uses on its own screens. Meta changes its interface often, so we link the relevant Meta Business Help Center article at each stage; if a button has moved, the help page will have the current version.

Before you begin

• A Facebook Page for your business and access to an ad account in Ads Manager. Lead ads run from a Page.
• A privacy policy page on your website. Meta's form editor marks the privacy policy section as optional, yet its overview of instant forms says a privacy policy is required to run them. Have one ready either way; it cannot link directly to a PDF, image or download.
• Your questions, agreed in advance. Meta recommends having your legal team review the questions, the Lead Ads Terms and its Advertising Standards.
• A plan for who calls the leads and how quickly, because a lead form makes it effortless to enquire with several businesses at once.

Step 1: Create a campaign with the Leads objective

1. 1In Ads Manager, click + Create.
2. 2Select Leads as the campaign objective and click Continue. Meta may tell you the campaign starts as an Advantage+ leads campaign; dismiss the notice to carry on.
3. 3Name the campaign using a consistent rule, such as city-product-offer-month, so reports stay readable later.

Step 2: Set up the ad set: conversion location and performance goal

At the ad set level, the Conversion section asks where leads should come from. Choose Instant forms to collect details on Facebook and Instagram. Meta also offers other locations, such as Website, Website and instant forms, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Calls; this guide covers instant forms.

Next, under Performance goal, Meta currently lists:

Meta's help page notes that from April 2026 the qualified leads goal is no longer available for new campaigns without a Conversions API integration, so expect to start with Maximize number of leads unless that is set up. Then set your budget, schedule, locations and audience as you would for any campaign. Meta's advice on responding to leads suggests running lead ads during the hours your team can follow up quickly.

Step 3: Build the ad itself

At the ad level, in Ad setup, choose Single image or video or Carousel, then complete the creative: image or video, primary text, headline and call-to-action button. Be specific about the offer and who it is for, for example (an invented ad) "3BHK flats in Wakad from ₹95 lakh: get the price sheet", so the people who tap through already know what they are asking about.

Step 4: Create the instant form

At the ad level, click Create form (or pick an existing form). Meta's guide to creating an instant form walks through the editor; the main choices are these.

Form type

• More volume (the default): quick to fill in and submit on a phone.
• Higher intent: adds a review step so people confirm their details, and tells them the business may follow up. Meta says it is delivered only to Facebook and Instagram feeds on mobile.
• Rich creative: lets you add brand colours, images and product details; an intro section is then mandatory.

Intro, questions and notice

• Intro (optional): a headline and short description of what people get for submitting.
• Custom questions: click + Add question to add multiple choice, short answer, conditional or appointment request questions, up to 15 of them.
• Prefill fields: choose the contact details, such as email and phone number, to fill in from the person's account. People can edit them before submitting.
• A notice on how you'll use the details: Meta asks you to explain this in the questions section, and says you may only use the information for the purposes stated.

Meta's Advertising Standards also prohibit some questions outright, including financial details such as income or credit score, government ID numbers, health information, religion and a child's date of birth. A form that asks them will not run.

Privacy policy, disclaimer and ending

• Privacy policy: add your URL and link text.
• Custom disclaimer (optional): add extra notices and consent checkboxes; each checkbox can be marked optional. Use an optional one for marketing messages rather than forcing it.
• Ending: a headline, description and call to action telling people what happens next, such as "Our advisor will call you within the hour, 10:00 to 19:00".
• Phone verification (optional): you can require SMS verification before submitting, if phone number is a required field.

Example of a sensible form for a rooftop solar installer (invented): prefilled name, phone and city; then "What is your average monthly electricity bill?" (multiple choice: under ₹2,000 / ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 / over ₹5,000), "Do you own the roof?" (yes or no) and "When would you like a site survey?" Three questions are enough to prioritise calls without putting people off.

If you track campaigns with UTM tags, the form's Settings also let you add tracking parameters, such as utm_source=facebook. People never see them; Meta includes them in downloaded files and passes them to integrated CRM systems.

Step 5: Test, then publish

Before going live, submit a test lead with Meta's Lead Ads Testing Tool and check that it arrives where your team works, with every answer in the right field. Then click Publish. The ad goes through Meta's review before it starts delivering.

Step 6: Get the leads out, and follow up

You can download leads as CSV or XLS from Ads Manager (in the Ads tab, click the On-Facebook leads link in the results column), from the Instant forms page in Meta Business Suite, or from Leads Center. Two limits matter:

• Leads expire after 90 days. Meta only makes leads available for download for 90 days after the form was submitted.
• Access is restricted. By default, only people with full control of the Page or messaging permission can download leads, unless leads access has been customised in Business Suite.

Downloading a spreadsheet once a day means some buyers wait hours for a call, by which time they may have spoken to a competitor. Meta itself recommends an integrated CRM so leads arrive without manual downloads. What happens after that is covered in our guide to following up Facebook and Instagram leads, and the idea behind it in our glossary entry on speed to lead.

Common set-up mistakes

• Too many questions, so people abandon the form; or none, so every lead looks the same.
• No clear notice or privacy policy, so people don't know who will call them or why.
• Running ads overnight with nobody to call back until the next afternoon.
• Leaving leads in Meta, where they expire after 90 days.
• One generic form for every campaign, so you can't tell the site-visit leads from the brochure leads.
• Judging the campaign on cost per lead alone. Use a cost per lead calculator as a start, then follow leads through to customers.

Where DigiPix Flow fits

DigiPix Flow connects to Meta Lead Ads when you sign in with the Facebook account that manages your Pages, choose the Pages that should send leads, and switch on the lead forms you want. Name, email, phone and company questions are matched automatically, and other questions can be mapped to lead fields or your own custom fields. Each form can have its own lead source, starting status, tags, duplicate handling and assignment rule.

Leads arrive by webhook, and a background check every six hours adds any lead a webhook missed, matched on Meta's lead ID so nothing is created twice. A likely duplicate is flagged for someone to review, the lead is scored, and assignment rules give it an owner within working hours. The ad, ad set and form IDs are recorded with each lead, and disclaimer checkboxes only become consent when you write a rule saying what they cover.

Want your Facebook leads in front of a rep, not a spreadsheet? Talk to an expert and we'll connect your Pages and forms with you.