TLDR;
- Your sudden drop in leads, despite good ad metrics, likely isn't a technical bug with the lead form. It's almost certainly audience fatigue; you've exhausted the easy-to-convert segment of your audience.
- High CTR and low CPMs can be misleading vanity metrics. The Meta algorithm, when not given a strong conversion signal, will often find people who click but don't buy, because their attention is cheap.
- The fix isn't just tweaking the form, but a strategic shift. You need to move from broad targeting to audiences with higher intent and create ad copy that speaks directly to a potential customer's urgent problem.
- This letter includes an interactive calculator to help you figure out your true customer lifetime value (LTV) and what you can actually afford to pay per lead. Understanding this is fundemental to scaling profitably.
- The core advice is to stop optimising for clicks and start optimising for profit by refining your targeting, message, and offer to attract serious buyers, not just casual browsers.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out!
I've had a look over the situation you described. It's a classic and frustrating problem, seeing good-looking ad metrics but a complete drop-off in actual leads. Tbh, while it's tempting to blame a bug in the system, my experience tells me the issue is almost always deeper and more strategic. It sounds like you've hit a very common plateau, and the solution is about re-thinking your approach rather than just hoping a glitch fixes itself.
I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on how I'd go about diagnosing and fixing this. The key is to stop looking at the surface-level numbers and start digging into the underlying reasons why people aren't converting anymore.
We'll need to look beyond the lead form...
First off, let's address the lead form theory. While bugs do happen, it's rare for a functioning lead form to just stop working for three days straight for no reason, especially if it was working before. The fact you removed a question should, in theory, make it *easier* to fill out, not harder. So what's really going on?
When a campaign starts strong and then suddenly drops off, it's usually a sign of audience saturation. You've likely shown your ads to the most motivated, easiest-to-convert people within your initial audience. Now, the algorithm is having to work harder, showing your ads to a less interested, 'colder' segment of that same audience. These people might be curious enough to click (hence the good CTR), but they don't have the urgent need required to actually fill out a form and request a service.
You're effectively paying Meta to find you window shoppers. As I often tell clients, the algorithm does exactly what you ask of it. If your campaign isn't getting enough conversion signals (leads), it defaults to a secondary goal, which is often getting the cheapest clicks or impressions possible. And who are the cheapest people to show ads to? The ones nobody else wants because they never buy anything. It's a vicious cycle. You get no leads, so the algorithm finds you more non-converters, which leads to... well, no leads.
So, the problem isn't the form itself, it's the quality of the person arriving at the form. We need to fix that first.
I'd say you're fishing in the wrong pond (or with the wrong bait)...
For a home service company, your best customers are people with an immediate or upcoming need. They're not just casually browsing. While Google Search is king for capturing this active demand ("emergency plumber near me"), you can still be very succesful on Meta. You just have to be much smarter with your targeting and messaging.
Right now, you're probably using broad interest targeting. This is fine to start, but it's what leads to the saturation problem you're seeing. To fix it, you need to structure your campaigns to prioritise audiences based on their intent. This is how I'd typically structure it for an e-commerce client, but the logic is identical for lead generation:
Top of Funnel (ToFu)
Cold audiences. People who don't know you. Based on interests, behaviours, and lookalikes of past customers.
Middle of Funnel (MoFu)
Warm audiences. People who've engaged but not converted. Retarget website visitors, video viewers, page followers.
Bottom of Funnel (BoFu)
Hot audiences. People who've shown strong interest. Retarget people who started filling a form but didn't finish.
Here’s how to apply this to your home service business:
- Bottom of Funnel (BoFu - Highest Priority): Anyone who has visited your website in the past 90 days. Anyone who has watched a significant portion of your video ads. Anyone who has engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page. These people know who you are. They are your lowest hanging fruit and should have their own small, dedicated retargeting campaign.
- Top of Funnel (ToFu - For new customers): This is where you need to get more creative. Instead of just targeting "Home Improvement," think about the specific triggers for needing your service.
- Are you an electrician? Target people with interests in "DIY" (who might have messed something up), or people Meta identifies as "Likely to Move" or "Recent Homebuyer".
- Are you a landscaper? Target people interested in high-end garden furniture brands, property websites like Rightmove or Zoopla, or magazines like "Grand Designs".
- Lookalike Audiences: Once you have a list of at least 100 past customers, you can upload it to Meta and create a "Lookalike Audience." This tells the algorithm to find more people who share characteristics with your best customers. This is consistantly one of the best performing cold audiences you can build.
The goal is to move away from just showing ads to anyone, and start focusing on people who are demonstrating behaviours that suggest they might actually need you. It's about quality of audience, not quantity.
You probably should rethink your offer and message...
Your new ads getting zero leads is a massive clue. It tells me that your message isn't compelling enough to push these 'colder' audiences over the line. What worked for the initial 'hot' group won't work for everyone.
You need a message that they can't ignore because it speaks directly to their pain. Stop selling the service, and start selling the solution to a problem. I use a simple framework for this called Problem-Agitate-Solve.
Let's say you're a roofing company. A boring ad says: "Roofing services in Manchester. Call for a free quote." It's forgettable.
A Problem-Agitate-Solve ad says:
- Problem: "Spotted a damp patch on your ceiling?"
- Agitate: "Don't let a small leak turn into thousands of pounds of structural damage and mould problems. The winter rain is coming."
- Solve: "Get a guaranteed, no-obligation roof inspection and quote within 48 hours. Protect your home and your peace of mind."
See the difference? The second ad creates urgency and connects with the customer's fear and anxiety, making the 'Solve' (your service) feel like an essential relief, not just a purchase. You need to apply this thinking to your ads.
Here are some examples of how you can reframe your ad copy:
| Service | Boring 'Before' Copy | Compelling 'After' Copy (Problem-Agitate-Solve) |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | "Local plumber available. Call us for leaks and repairs." | "Drip. Drip. Drip. Is that noise driving you mad? Ignore it, and you're risking water damage and a huge bill. We offer same-day appointments to fix it fast." |
| Painting & Decorating | "Professional painter and decorator. Get a quote today." | "Tired of looking at those scuffed walls and dated colours? Your home should be a place you love, not a source of embarrassment. Let us transform your space in just a few days." |
| Cleaning | "Home cleaning services. Weekly and bi-weekly slots." | "Wish you had more hours in the week? Stop spending your weekends cleaning and start enjoying them. Come home to a spotless house and reclaim your free time." |
You'll need to understand your numbers properly...
The question of "what's a good cost per lead?" is one I get all the time. The frustrating answer is: it depends. I remember one campaign we ran for a home cleaning company which got a cost of £5/lead. We're also running a campaign for an HVAC company currently, they are in a bit of a competitive area, and they are seeing costs of around $60/lead. Both campaigns are profitable. Why?
Because the value of the customer is completely different. The real question isn't "How low can my Cost Per Lead (CPL) go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a great customer?" The answer lies in calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
Most service businesses make a huge mistake and only look at the value of the first job. But what about repeat business? What about referrals? A happy customer for a £200 electrical job might call you back next year for a £2,000 full rewire. That's the LTV.
Here's a simplified way to think about it:
- Average Job Value (AJV): What's the average revenue from a single job?
- Repeat Business Rate (RBR): How many more jobs do you get from an average customer over, say, 3 years?
- Gross Margin (GM): What's your profit percentage after materials and labour?
Simple LTV = (AJV * (1 + RBR)) * GM %
Let's say your average job is £400, customers book you for an average of 2 more jobs over their lifetime, and your gross margin is 50%.
LTV = (£400 * (1 + 2)) * 0.50 = £600
A healthy business can typically afford to spend 20-30% of their customer LTV on acquiring that customer. So, in this case, you could afford to spend up to £120 - £180 to get a new paying customer. If you convert 1 in 4 leads into a customer, then you can afford to pay £30 - £45 per lead. Suddenly, a £25 lead doesn't look so bad, does it?
Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of your own numbers. This will free you from the trap of chasing cheap, low-quality leads and allow you to focus on acquiring valuable, long-term customers.
This is the main advice I have for you:
To pull this all together, here is a summary of the main recommendations I'd make. This isn't just about tweaking one thing; it's about building a more robust and predictable system for generating leads so you aren't at the mercy of platform volatility.
| Area of Focus | The Problem | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting Strategy | Audience fatigue in broad interest groups is causing a drop in lead quality and volume. | Implement a funnel-based approach. Create separate campaigns for BoFu (retargeting website visitors), MoFu (retargeting engagers), and ToFu (testing new Lookalike audiences and more specific interest groups). |
| Ad Creative & Message | Your current ads likely aren't compelling enough for 'colder' audiences, leading to clicks but no conversions. | Rewrite your ad copy using the "Problem-Agitate-Solve" framework. Focus on the customer's pain point and position your service as the urgent, necessary solution. Test new images/videos that show the 'after' state. |
| Offer & Lead Form | A simple "get a quote" call to action might not be strong enough. The lead form drop-off indicates a lack of motivation. | Strengthen your offer. Is it a "Free 24-Hour Quote"? A "10% Off First Job" incentive? Make it irresistible. Keep the lead form as short as possible – name, phone/email, and a brief description of the job is usually enough. |
| Metrics & Budgeting | You're focusing on vanity metrics (CTR, CPM) instead of the numbers that matter for profitablity. | Calculate your Customer LTV and determine your maximum affordable CPL. Use this as your North Star metric for judging campaign success, not just the front-end ad stats. |
| Testing & Optimisation | Your current process seems reactive. When something breaks, you try to fix it. | Adopt a proactive testing mindset. You should always be testing at least two different ad creatives and two different audiences against your current winners. This ensures you always have a new potential winner ready to go when your current one inevitably fades. |
As you can see, getting paid ads to work consistently is about more than just setting them up and letting them run. It's a dynamic process of understanding your customer, refining your message, and knowing your numbers inside and out. It's an interconnected system where a weakness in one area (like targeting) can make another area (like your lead form) appear broken.
An expert can help you navigate this complexity much faster, diagnose the real bottlenecks, and implement strategies that have been proven to work across hundreds of campaigns. It saves you the time, money, and stress of trying to figure it all out on your own through trial and error (which can get very expensive).
If you’d like to have a more detailed chat where we could go through your actual ad account together and pinpoint some of these issues, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation to do just that.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
