How To Drive Facebook Leads Via Phone Calls

By now, most advertisers are aware of potential Facebook offerings as a lead generation channel.

Whether you’re a mom-and-pop retailer or a huge multinational conglomerate, the largest social network on the planet probably has a product that can help you.

This platform can identify and activate hands that are interested in doing business with you.

And as the digital landscape and privacy evolve, so too have Facebook’s lead generation offerings.

Apple’s iOS 14 update in 2021 made the traditional way of sending traffic to your website for transactions much more difficult to track and attribute.

Lead generation forms can fill the void by allowing audiences to submit their contact information directly within the Facebook or Instagram platform.

However, these threads (if not suitably qualified) can be of poor quality.

Messenger now offers lightweight chatbots and can capture the same type of leads with a form, but with Facebook and Instagram’s native chat tools.

But there is one lead generation method that Facebook has quietly improved over the past year — and one that likely complements its current lead generation strategy adequately.

phone calls.

Sure, making phone calls may not be the most digitally attractive way to get potential customers in touch with your business.

But, maximizing the impact of your lead generation efforts means giving your audience several options for contacting you, including by phone.

How to set up a Facebook phone call lead generation campaign

Experienced Facebook marketers will remember that phone calls have been an option for a while.

However, prior to the recent addition of phone calls as an optimizable event within the lead generation objective, the only way to drive calls from Facebook ads was to use the reach objective.

This was generally ineffective in driving incoming calls, because reach-optimized campaigns did nothing more than show your ads at the lowest possible CPM.

Tracking was also non-existent.

But now, calls are integrated into the Facebook lead generation objective and are available along with forms and chats, and the initial setup is very simple.

Step 1: Create a new lead generation campaign in Ads Manager

Step 2: Select Phone as the Lead Method under Ad Set Settings

Step 3: Create a new ad and enter the phone number you’d like to forward incoming calls to

How does lead generation over the phone work?

Setting up a phone lead generation campaign is as simple as implementing.

The Facebook audience will see your ad, and instead of the usual customizable CTA button options, your ad will have a “Call Now” CTA.

Clicking the ad or CTA button will generate a prompt on the user’s smartphone to confirm if they wish to call the number you entered in Step 3 of the setup process.

If they confirm, the call goes through. easy.

Unlike previous iterations of click-to-call ads on Facebook, where tracking was difficult, marketers will now be able to see how many people have clicked and confirmed they want to initiate the outgoing call.

Similar to the lead generation forms provided or initiating messaging conversations, this is the event that the Facebook algorithm will use to optimize your phone lead generation campaign.

In essence, it works similar to a traffic objective, where Facebook optimizes your campaign to landing page views — not just people who clicked on your ad, but people who took the extra step of confirming they wanted to contact your business.

In theory, this extra confirmation step will reduce the number of accidental button clicks and ensure that people who call the number are legitimate leads.

How did telephone lead generation perform for us

Our agency had the opportunity to test lead generation optimization over the phone in mid-2021 when it was relatively new.

The client was looking for ways to enhance their existing Facebook lead flow, which previously consisted of lead generation forms and an option for users to visit their website to create accounts.

We found that the main target of the phone efficiently routed incoming calls. The average cost for a lead lead was about $100 when an incoming phone call was about $4.

But before we start popping champagne stoppers, it turns out that there are a lot of poor quality incoming calls.

• About 50% of calls do not reach IVR List (interactive telephone response).
• Approximately 15% of the calls are made Spoke with a salesperson.
• But those who did Speak with a qualified representative at a rate of 2x higher Compared to the leads.

In the end, the cost per qualified lead was relatively even with the leads, and the client decided to keep the phone lead generation campaign on a limited basis.

How to maximize the potential of your phone lead generation campaigns

A phone lead generation campaign will make your phone ring.

So you’ll want to have the right staff dedicated to answering incoming sales calls.

Have an incoming calling plan

For small businesses, resist the temptation to use your personal phone and instead dedicate a dedicated line that is monitored regularly.

Be prepared with an appropriate salutation and text, knowing that people who call that line are potential customers looking for more information.

If your company uses an automated phone list, please note that you will likely see many incoming calls abandoning as soon as they arrive.

This could be a good or a bad thing depending on your rehabilitation process.

Too many poor quality calls will tax your sales force, while your menu system may eliminate quality leads because they get frustrated while waiting.

Consider call tracking software for additional insights

Facebook platform data will show you all the KPIs and metrics that happen on the platform: impressions, clicks on your ad, call confirmations, etc.

But once they leave Facebook and start the call, that’s it.

Call tracking solutions Invoca or CallRail It can provide additional insights to give you more valuable data, such as call duration, quality, and conversion rate.

These platforms also allow you to create additional phone numbers for specific internal purposes, so you don’t need to rely on existing numbers.

Retarget smart

If you’re concerned about the volume of calls your prospecting campaign can generate or don’t see the quality if you’ve already tried it, consider using phone calls as a retargeting-only communication method.

Start by uploading a list of your previous uncontacted leads, with an offer to contact for more information.

Instead of using a form or conversation, see if that audience is more inclined to convert over a phone call.

You can also use phone calls as an opportunity to upsell existing customers who may qualify for incentives.

Also, don’t be afraid to delve into demographic data and tailor your phone lead generation campaigns for audience segments who don’t convert via more digital methods.

It’s all about giving your customers a variety of ways to contact you.

Use age budgets for daytime campaigns

You probably don’t want your phone to ring at all hours of the night.

Since your team will likely only be available to answer calls during certain business hours, you’ll want to make sure your ads don’t show when you don’t have people available.

Unless you want to manually stop and unstop your phone lead generation campaign every day, you have to unplug it daily.

To do this, you will need to select lifetime budgetseither at the campaign level if you’re using campaign budget optimization…

…or Ad group level if it is not.

selection Run ads on a schedule It will give your ad groups the ability to display selectively when you want them, instead of all hours.

Advertisers can also show ads during times specific to the viewer’s time zone or the ad account’s default time zone.

conclusion

Driving phone calls to your business through Facebook is a viable tactic for advertisers thanks to some recent updates to Facebook lead generation campaigns.

Getting the most out of your leads over the phone will require advance planning and a robust process that ensures incoming leads are quickly routed to the right people.

However, once these processes are perfected, the result can be a supplemental source of high-intentioned leads that convert better than traditional approaches.

As with every aspect of digital marketing, it’s worth testing out.

More resources:

• Facebook has new communication tools for businesses
• How to successfully promote your Facebook page everywhere
• Social Media Marketing: A Complete Strategy Guide

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Featured image: Sergey Sap Love/Shutterstock