Solved: Low Lead Volume on TikTok Ads with Small Budget

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

I had a look at your situation with the TikTok ads, and I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts. It's a really common problem to see low lead volume on a small budget, but the solution isn't as simple as just increasing your spend. Tbh, the issue likely runs a bit deeper than just the daily budget or the bids you're using. It's probably more about the entire strategy, from the platform you've chosen to the way you're capturing leads.

Let's unpack it a bit. Below are my detailed thoughts on what might be going wrong and a clearer path forward. The good news is that with a few strategic shifts, you can get a lot more out of your advertising budget, even if it's a modest one to start with.

Let's be honest about that $20/day budget...

First off, let's tackle the budget question head-on. Is $20 a day too little? For TikTok, yes, it probably is. But not for the reason you might think. It's not about being "competitive" with bids in an auction; it's about giving the platform's algorithm enough data to learn and find the right people for you.

Think of it this way: platforms like TikTok and Facebook are built on machine learning. To get you leads, their algorithm needs to show your ad to a lot of people to figure out who is most likely to convert. This is called the "learning phase." During this phase, the system is spending your money to gather data. With only $20 a day, you're essentially starving the algorithm. It can't gather data fast enough to exit the learning phase and start performing efficiently. This is why TikTok's own estimate of 1-4 leads is often wildly optimistic—it assumes the algorithm has already figured things out, which it can't do on such a small spend.

More importantly, you need to understand your Cost Per Lead (CPL). How much does it cost you to get one person to give you their contact details? You said you're not even getting 1 lead some days, which tells me your actual CPL is currently higher than $20. This is completly normal, especially when starting out.

For context, we run campaigns for loads of different service businesses. A campaign we're running for an HVAC company sees a CPL of around $60 because it's a super competitive market. On the other hand, we've managed campaigns for childcare services where the CPL was closer to $10. Our best-performing consumer service campaign was for a home cleaning company, and we got their CPL down to just £5. The price varies massively by industry, location, and the quality of the campaign itself.

So, a CPL of over $20 is not unusual at all. The real question is not "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a customer?" To answer that, you need to know your numbers. Specifically, you need to figure out your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This single metric is the key to unlocking intelligent, scalable advertising.

Here’s a simple way to calculate it:

• Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What's the average amount a customer pays you per month?
• Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue?
• Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of customers do you lose each month?

The calculation is: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

Let's say a customer pays you £200 a month, your margin is 70%, and you lose 5% of your customers each month. Your LTV would be (£200 * 0.70) / 0.05 = £2,800. This means each customer is worth £2,800 in profit to you over their lifetime. A healthy ratio of LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is about 3:1. This means you could afford to spend up to £933 (£2,800 / 3) to acquire a single new customer. If your sales process converts 1 in 5 qualified leads, you can afford to pay up to £186 per lead. Suddenly, a $20+ CPL doesn't look so scary, does it?

Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers. This will give you a much clearer picture of what you can actually afford to spend per lead.

Are you fishing in the right pond? Hint: probably not...

This is the biggest strategic mistake I see people make. They pick a platform because it's popular, not because it's where their customers are looking for a solution. TikTok is an entertainment platform. People are there to watch funny videos, not to solve an urgent business or personal problem. You're interrupting them. This is called 'interruption marketing' or advertising to a 'low-intent' audience.

For this to work, you need three things:

1. A very large budget to reach enough people to find the few who happen to be interested.
2. An incredibly engaging, scroll-stopping creative that feels native to the platform.
3. An offer that's almost an impulse buy (low friction, low cost).

You probably don't have any of these right now. That's why it's failing.

Contrast this with a 'high-intent' platform like Google Search. When someone types "emergency electrician near me" or "best accounting software for small business" into Google, they have a burning problem and are actively looking for a solution *right now*. They want to be advertised to. Your job isn't to interrupt them; it's to show up and be the best answer to their question.

For any business starting out, especially with a limited budget, you should almost always start with high-intent channels first. You'll get fewer impressions, but the quality of the traffic and leads will be exponentially higher. You're fishing in a barrel, not the entire ocean.

Here’s a simple flowchart that breaks down this concept. Where does your current strategy fit?

Your lead capture is probably letting you down...

You asked about the best lead capture setup: landing page, form, or quiz. Let me be brutally honest: for generating actual business leads, quizzes are generally a terrible idea. They feel gimmicky, attract low-quality engagement from people who are just bored, and they don't position you as a serious expert. People take a quiz, get their "result," and forget about you two seconds later. It's a poor way to pre-qualify anyone.

An on-platform lead form (like TikTok or Facebook Lead Ads) is a step up. They can work because they're low-friction—the user's details are often pre-filled. The downside is that because it's so easy, you often get a high volume of very low-quality leads. People click out of curiosity, their info auto-fills, they hit submit without really thinking, and then they never answer your call. We often find lead quality from these is really poor.

The best approach, by a country mile, is sending traffic to a dedicated landing page on your own website. Why?

• You control the entire experience. No distractions, no competing ads, just your message.
• You have space to persuade. An ad has to be short. A landing page is where you can use proper sales copy to explain the problem you solve, present your solution, show social proof (testimonials, case studies), and build trust.
• It acts as a natural qualifier. Someone who takes the time to click your ad, read your landing page, and then manually fill out a form is far more invested and qualified than someone who mindlessly clicks a button on TikTok. The effort itself is a qualification filter.

But just having a landing page isn't enough. It has to be good. A bad landing page is like having a brilliant salesperson who mumbles and can't make eye contact. It doesn't matter how good your ads are if the destination kills the sale. Your website and landing page need to do the heavy lifting *before* you even think about ads.

Your website needs to be your best salesperson, working 24/7. This means you need professional copy that speaks directly to your ideal customer's pain points. What is the nightmare that keeps them up at night? Your service should be positioned as the only logical solution to that nightmare. Forget listing features; sell the outcome. Sell the relief. Sell the transformation.

I remember one client we worked with, a B2B SaaS company selling an accounting system. Their ads were getting clicks, but no one was signing up for a trial. We looked at their website, and it was a mess of technical jargon and feature lists with a weak value proposition. We brought in a copywriter who rewrote the entire page to focus on one thing: the frustration of their target customer. The page was transformed to focus on reliability and must-have features, and we strongly advised them to offer a completely free trial to get people in the door. Making the offer more compelling and presenting it with persuasive copy on the landing page is what turned the campaign around, not just changing the ads.

What your first real campaign should look like...

Okay, so let's put this all together into an actionable plan. Here is what I would do if I were in your shoes, starting from scratch.

Step 1: Pause your TikTok ads immediately. You're likely just burning cash there right now. It's not the right place to start.

Step 2: Define your offer and build a high-converting landing page. This is your absolute prioity. The page should have:

• A clear, compelling headline that speaks to a major pain point.
• A sub-headline that introduces your solution as the cure.
• Bullet points that highlight the benefits (outcomes), not just features.
• Social proof: testimonials, reviews, logos of clients you've worked with.
• A single, clear Call to Action (CTA). Not "Learn More" and "Contact Us" and "Read Our Blog." Just one thing, like "Get Your Free Quote" or "Schedule a Consultation."
• A simple form that asks for the bare minimum information needed. Name, Email, Phone Number, maybe one question about their needs. Every extra field you add will lower your conversion rate.

Step 3: Set up a Google Search Ads campaign. This will be your first high-intent channel. You'll need to do some keyword research, but think about what your ideal customer would type into Google when they need you. Don't go too broad. For example, if you're a plumber in Manchester, don't bid on "plumbing." Bid on specific, high-intent keywords like:

• "emergency plumber manchester"
• "leaking pipe repair cost"
• "local plumber near me"
• "best plumber in south manchester"

These keywords show the person has an urgent problem and is looking to hire someone. They are pre-qualified by their search query. This is a thousand times more effective than showing an ad to someone scrolling TikTok who might not even own a home.

Step 4: Set a realistic starting budget. For Google Search, I'd recommend a minimum of $500-$1,000 per month (£400-£800). This gives you enough daily spend (around $16-$33) to gather data more quickly on a high-intent platform. Because conversion rates will be higher than on TikTok, this budget will actually go a lot further and should start generating real, qualified leads for you.

I know this is a lot to take in, and it's a fundamental shift from what you've been doing. But chasing cheap clicks and low lead volume on the wrong platform is a recipe for frustration and wasted money. By focusing on high-intent channels and nailing your landing page and offer first, you build a solid foundation that can actually grow your business.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below in a simple table to give you a clear overview of the proposed strategy.

Making this shift can feel daunting, especially if you're not an advertising expert. Getting the keyword research right, writing compelling ad copy, building a landing page that converts, and managing a Google Ads account takes time and a specific skillset. This is often where working with a specialist can make a huge difference. We do this day in, day out, and can often get a campaign optimised and profitable much faster than someone trying to figure it all out on their own.

I hope this detailed breakdown has been helpful and gives you a much clearer sense of direction. If you'd like to chat through your specific business and see how we could help you implement a strategy like this, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation. We could have a proper look at your situation together and map out a more concrete plan.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh