Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out, happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've shared. Sounds like you've got a handle on some of the core concepts, like wanting to qualify leads further down the funnel, which is good.
First thing that jumps out though is the budget. Running at 15 a day local money, whatever that converts to, is almost certainly way too low for Meta ads, especially if you're aiming for sales or even high-quality leads like booked calls. You mentioned you're only getting maybe 500 impressions a day? That backs it up completely. You just won't reach enough people, or get enough data, to see anything meaningful happen.
Think about it this way: Meta's algorithm needs data to learn who is most likely to take the action you want (a message, a lead form fill, a booked call). If you're only showing your ad a few hundred times a day, and only getting a handful of clicks if you're lucky, the system doesn't have enough information to find patterns and optimise. It's like trying to learn a language by only hearing five words a day. You just won't get anywhere fast. We've run campaigns for B2C services, like the home cleaning one I mentioned before, where the leads are relatively cheap at around £5 each. But even then, you need a decent daily spend to get enough leads for the algorithm to work properly. For something higher value, like a sales message or a booked call, the volume will naturally be much lower, which makes the low budget even more of a problem.
You're seeing very low impressions and hardly any messages or clicks – that’s the direct result of the low budget. You need significantly more spend just to get enough visibility for the algorithm to even start testing and learning.
Your idea of having a funnel that goes Landing Page Form -> Booked Call Form and then optimising for the booked call event is a solid strategy conceptually for qualifying leads and focusing on high-value actions. You definately want to optimise for conversions as far down the funnel as you can, because that's where the real value is. Optimising for a booked call is optimising for someone who is much closer to becoming a customer than just a general lead form fill or a message. Good thinking there.
However, linking back to the budget, you are going to struggle massively to get enough booked calls for the pixel and CAPI to optimise effectively. Meta's system works best when it gets a decent volume of the target conversion event per week. They used to say you needed 50 conversions a week in the optimisation window (like 7-day click or 1-day view), ideally more. While the exact number can vary, if you're getting maybe 1-4 messages (which are less qualified than booked calls anyway) over four days on your current setup, imagine how few *booked calls* you'd get. It would be almost zero. The system simply won't have enough data to understand who is likely to book a call and show your ads to more people like them.
So, while the strategy is good in theory, it's not practical with the budget you're running. You'd need to get maybe 50+ booked calls a week for Meta to properly optimise for that event. At your current scale, that's just not going to happen.
Given the low impressions and clicks, the first thing you need to address, alongside increasing the budget, is the ad creative (the video) and the offer itself. If people aren't even clicking after seeing your ad, it means the video isn't grabbing attention, the message isn't clear, or the offer isn't compelling enough for cold traffic. You need to nail this fundamental step before adding complexity like a multi-step funnel and optimising for low-volume events.
Test different versions of your video, try different hooks, different copy, different calls to action. See if you can get people clicking through to your WhatsApp link. This needs a higher budget to test properly though. Even a few dollars more a day can make a difference in getting enough impressions to actually see if one creative is better than another.
Also, think about sending traffic directly to WhatsApp chat versus a landing page. While WhatsApp can feel direct and personal, a dedicated landing page gives you a lot more control. You can use persuasive copy to build trust, explain the offer in detail, overcome objections, and have a very clear call to action (like filling out a form). We've seen for many clients, both B2C and B2B SaaS, that a well-designed landing page with strong copy converts much better for lead generation than just sending people to a chat or a basic profile page. It allows you to pre-qualify the lead and educate them before they even get in touch. On a landing page, you could have the lead form first, then perhaps a thank you page that encourages booking a call, setting up the steps for your desired funnel more effectively.
For B2B, which your mention of qualified leads and booked calls suggests you might be involved in (even if it's B2C services with a formal sales process), landing pages are often essential for conveying credibility and handling longer sales cycles. We've worked with B2B SaaS clients where getting a trial signup or registration was the goal, and a strong landing page was critical to achieving that. The cost per lead is often higher in B2B, so every step needs to be optimised.
So, in short, before worrying too much about optimising for booked calls that won't happen at your current budget, focus on getting enough budget to test your initial ad creative and offer effectively. See if you can get clicks and messages consistently first. Then, think about introducing a landing page to control the user journey and improve qualification.
Here's an overview of what I'd suggest looking at first:
Paid advertising, especially on platforms like Meta, involves a lot of testing, data analysis, and continuous optimisation. It can be complex and time-consuming to figure out the right strategy, targeting, creative, and funnel steps that work for your specific business and budget. Getting the setup wrong, or not having enough budget to test properly, means you can burn through money without seeing results, which sounds like might be happening a bit here.
Having someone with experience who has run many campaigns across different niches and objectives can help you avoid common pitfalls, identify the fastest route to getting results, and ensure you're spending your budget effectively from day one. They can help structure your campaigns correctly, advise on budget allocation, develop testing plans for creative and targeting, and build effective landing pages and funnels.
If you'd like to chat through your specific situation in more detail and get tailored advice, we're happy to offer a free consultation. No pressure at all, but it can be really helpful to get an expert perspective on your setup and goals.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
Thanks for reaching out, happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've shared. Sounds like you've got a handle on some of the core concepts, like wanting to qualify leads further down the funnel, which is good.
The low budget and what it means for results...
First thing that jumps out though is the budget. Running at 15 a day local money, whatever that converts to, is almost certainly way too low for Meta ads, especially if you're aiming for sales or even high-quality leads like booked calls. You mentioned you're only getting maybe 500 impressions a day? That backs it up completely. You just won't reach enough people, or get enough data, to see anything meaningful happen.
Think about it this way: Meta's algorithm needs data to learn who is most likely to take the action you want (a message, a lead form fill, a booked call). If you're only showing your ad a few hundred times a day, and only getting a handful of clicks if you're lucky, the system doesn't have enough information to find patterns and optimise. It's like trying to learn a language by only hearing five words a day. You just won't get anywhere fast. We've run campaigns for B2C services, like the home cleaning one I mentioned before, where the leads are relatively cheap at around £5 each. But even then, you need a decent daily spend to get enough leads for the algorithm to work properly. For something higher value, like a sales message or a booked call, the volume will naturally be much lower, which makes the low budget even more of a problem.
You're seeing very low impressions and hardly any messages or clicks – that’s the direct result of the low budget. You need significantly more spend just to get enough visibility for the algorithm to even start testing and learning.
Optimising for booked calls at this stage...
Your idea of having a funnel that goes Landing Page Form -> Booked Call Form and then optimising for the booked call event is a solid strategy conceptually for qualifying leads and focusing on high-value actions. You definately want to optimise for conversions as far down the funnel as you can, because that's where the real value is. Optimising for a booked call is optimising for someone who is much closer to becoming a customer than just a general lead form fill or a message. Good thinking there.
However, linking back to the budget, you are going to struggle massively to get enough booked calls for the pixel and CAPI to optimise effectively. Meta's system works best when it gets a decent volume of the target conversion event per week. They used to say you needed 50 conversions a week in the optimisation window (like 7-day click or 1-day view), ideally more. While the exact number can vary, if you're getting maybe 1-4 messages (which are less qualified than booked calls anyway) over four days on your current setup, imagine how few *booked calls* you'd get. It would be almost zero. The system simply won't have enough data to understand who is likely to book a call and show your ads to more people like them.
So, while the strategy is good in theory, it's not practical with the budget you're running. You'd need to get maybe 50+ booked calls a week for Meta to properly optimise for that event. At your current scale, that's just not going to happen.
Where to focus effort first...
Given the low impressions and clicks, the first thing you need to address, alongside increasing the budget, is the ad creative (the video) and the offer itself. If people aren't even clicking after seeing your ad, it means the video isn't grabbing attention, the message isn't clear, or the offer isn't compelling enough for cold traffic. You need to nail this fundamental step before adding complexity like a multi-step funnel and optimising for low-volume events.
Test different versions of your video, try different hooks, different copy, different calls to action. See if you can get people clicking through to your WhatsApp link. This needs a higher budget to test properly though. Even a few dollars more a day can make a difference in getting enough impressions to actually see if one creative is better than another.
Also, think about sending traffic directly to WhatsApp chat versus a landing page. While WhatsApp can feel direct and personal, a dedicated landing page gives you a lot more control. You can use persuasive copy to build trust, explain the offer in detail, overcome objections, and have a very clear call to action (like filling out a form). We've seen for many clients, both B2C and B2B SaaS, that a well-designed landing page with strong copy converts much better for lead generation than just sending people to a chat or a basic profile page. It allows you to pre-qualify the lead and educate them before they even get in touch. On a landing page, you could have the lead form first, then perhaps a thank you page that encourages booking a call, setting up the steps for your desired funnel more effectively.
For B2B, which your mention of qualified leads and booked calls suggests you might be involved in (even if it's B2C services with a formal sales process), landing pages are often essential for conveying credibility and handling longer sales cycles. We've worked with B2B SaaS clients where getting a trial signup or registration was the goal, and a strong landing page was critical to achieving that. The cost per lead is often higher in B2B, so every step needs to be optimised.
So, in short, before worrying too much about optimising for booked calls that won't happen at your current budget, focus on getting enough budget to test your initial ad creative and offer effectively. See if you can get clicks and messages consistently first. Then, think about introducing a landing page to control the user journey and improve qualification.
Summary of Recommended Actions:
Here's an overview of what I'd suggest looking at first:
| Area | Issue | Recommended Action | Notes |
| Budget | Too low for Meta optimisation/data collection | Increase budget significantly | Needed to get enough impressions/clicks/conversions for system learning |
| Ad Creative/Offer | Low impressions/clicks suggest creative isn't working or offer isn't compelling for cold traffic | Test different videos/copy/offers | Need more budget to run effective split tests |
| Initial Destination | WhatsApp chat may not convert as well as a dedicated page | Consider building a landing page | Allows for better trust-building, offer explanation, and control over lead journey |
| Optimisation Event | Not enough volume of booked calls at current budget for effective optimisation | Focus on optimising for higher volume events initially (e.g., Lead Form Submit, Message Send) once budget allows | Can move to optimising for lower funnel events (Booked Call) later once scale increases |
Moving forward and why expert help can speed things up...
Paid advertising, especially on platforms like Meta, involves a lot of testing, data analysis, and continuous optimisation. It can be complex and time-consuming to figure out the right strategy, targeting, creative, and funnel steps that work for your specific business and budget. Getting the setup wrong, or not having enough budget to test properly, means you can burn through money without seeing results, which sounds like might be happening a bit here.
Having someone with experience who has run many campaigns across different niches and objectives can help you avoid common pitfalls, identify the fastest route to getting results, and ensure you're spending your budget effectively from day one. They can help structure your campaigns correctly, advise on budget allocation, develop testing plans for creative and targeting, and build effective landing pages and funnels.
If you'd like to chat through your specific situation in more detail and get tailored advice, we're happy to offer a free consultation. No pressure at all, but it can be really helpful to get an expert perspective on your setup and goals.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
