Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your situation with the Facebook message campaigns. It's a really common problem, and tbh, it’s a trap that many businesses fall into. You've correctly identified that Facebook is optimising for messages, not clients, and that's the absolute heart of the issue. The good news is there's a much better way to approach this that will give you the consistency and quality you're looking for to scale things up.
I'll walk you through why message campaigns are holding you back and lay out a more robust strategy focused on getting actual, paying clients.
TLDR;
- Stop using "Message" campaigns immediately. You're telling Facebook to find people who like to chat, not people who want to buy, which is why your lead quality is so poor and results are random.
- Switch to "Conversion" (or "Leads") campaigns and optimise for a more meaningful action, like a lead form submission or a consultation booking. This forces the algorithm to find higher-intent users.
- Your ad copy and offer must pre-qualify your audience. Don't focus on getting the cheapest message; focus on attracting the *right* person by speaking directly to their fitness problems and goals.
- Calculate your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) to understand what you can truly afford to pay for a new client. This will free you from obsessing over low-quality, cheap leads. This letter includes an interactive calculator to help you figure this out.
- Structure your account with seperate prospecting and retargeting campaigns to build a predictable system for attracting and converting clients, rather than relying on luck.
The "Messages" Trap: Why Your Current Strategy Can't Scale
Right, let's get straight to it. The fundamental problem is you're telling the Facebook algorithm to do the wrong job. When you set your campaign objective to "Messages," you give it one simple command: "Find me the largest number of people, for the lowest possible price, who are most likely to send a message."
The algorithm is incredibly good at its job. It seeks out users who are known to click that "Send Message" button frequently. These are often serial enquirers, people looking for free advice, or simply those who are bored and browsing. They are, by definition, not the users most likely to pull out a credit card and commit to a fitness plan. You are actively paying the world's most powerful advertising machine to find you an audience of time-wasters. That's why your creatives that lower the cost per message by 80% bring in "pure garbage leads" – you've just become even more efficient at finding the worst possible audience.
This approach creates a system based on luck, not strategy. You might get lucky one day and a few high-intent people slip through the net, giving you 10 clients. The next day, you just get the usual low-intent audience, and you get 2 clients. It feels random because it *is* random. You can't scale a business on that.
To scale predictably, you need to shift from optimising for a low-value action (a message) to a high-value one (a qualified lead). Here’s a look at the two different funnels.
(Optimised for Messages)
(Optimised for Leads)
(Captures high-intent leads)
I'd say you need to align your ads with your business goals
So, how do we fix this? We change the objective. You need to switch your campaigns from "Messages" to a "Leads" or "Sales" (with a conversion objective) campaign. This tells Facebook to hunt for people who don't just chat, but who take meaningful actions that signal genuine buying intent.
This means you need a destination for them to go to after they click the ad. You have two main options:
1. Facebook Lead Gen Forms: This is the easiest step up. When a user clicks, a form pops up within Facebook, often pre-filled with their details (name, email). It's low-friction for the user. The downside is that because it's so easy, the lead quality can still be mixed, but it'll be a massive improvement on message leads. You can improve quality by adding a custom question or two that forces them to think, like "What is your #1 fitness goal right now?".
2. A Dedicated Landing Page: This is the gold standard and what I would recomend. You send traffic from your ad to a simple, focused page on your website. This page has one job: to persuade the visitor to take one specific action. That action could be "Book a Free Consultation," "Request a Custom Plan," or "Download Our Free Nutrition Guide."
A landing page works far better for scaling because it acts as a powerful filter. Someone who takes the time to leave Facebook, visit your page, read your offer, and then fill out a form is a much more qualified and motivated prospect than someone who just casually tapped "Send Message." You get fewer leads, but they are dramatically better. Your cost per lead will be higher than your current cost per message, but your cost per *client* will be much, much lower.
I remember one client in the eLearning space who faced a similar challenge with inconsistent results. Once we moved them away from low-intent objectives and implemented a proper conversion funnel with a dedicated landing page on Meta Ads, their campaign performance was transformed. We were able to help them generate over $115,000 in course sales in just a month and a half. This is the kind of predictable, scalable result you can achieve when you align your campaign objective with your actual business goal—getting paying clients.
Your landing page doesn't need to be complicated. It needs clear, persuasive copy that speaks to your ideal client's problems, highlights the expertise of your nutritionists and coaches, includes testimonials, and has a clear call-to-action.
You probably should build a message that they can't ignore
Your ads and your landing page need to do more than just announce your service; they need to pre-qualify your audience. The messaging itself should attract the right people and repel the wrong ones. Stop writing ads designed to get a cheap click or a message. Write ads designed to get a client.
For a service like yours, the 'Problem-Agitate-Solve' framework is incredibly effective. You're not selling fitness plans; your selling confidence, health, and an end to frustration. Let's look at how to structure this.
| Ad Copy Element | Bad (Optimised for cheap messages) | Good (Optimised for qualified clients) |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | Fitness Plans from £10! | Tired of Fitness Plans That Don't Work? |
| Problem | (No problem mentioned, just a price) | Spending hours in the gym and kitchen but still not seeing results? Feeling lost and unmotivated with generic advice from apps and influencers? |
| Agitate | (No agitation, focuses on being cheap) | It's frustrating when your hard work doesn't pay off. Another month goes by and your stuck in the same place, wondering if you'll ever reach your goals. |
| Solve | Message us for a fitness plan! | Get a personalised fitness & nutrition plan built by a team of certified experts. We design a strategy based on YOUR body, lifestyle, and goals. Stop guessing, start seeing results. |
| Call to Action | Send Message | Click 'Learn More' to book a free, no-obligation consultation today. |
The 'Good' copy won't get you the cheapest cost per anything on the surface. But it will get you people who read it and think, "That's me. They understand my problem." Those are the people who become clients.
You'll need to understand the maths of scaling
The biggest mental shift you need to make is to stop focusing on 'cost per message' and start thinking about two things: Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): How much profit is a new client worth to you over their entire relationship with your business?
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): How much does it cost you in marketing and sales to get that new client?
A healthy business aims for an LTV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1. This means for every £1 you spend to acquire a customer, you get at least £3 back in profit over their lifetime. Once you know your LTV, you know what you can afford to spend. Suddenly, paying £20 or even £50 for a highly qualified lead who has a high chance of becoming a long-term client doesn't seem expensive at all. It seems like a brilliant investment.
Let's calculate a hypothetical LTV for your business. Let's say a client pays £150 a month, your profit margin is 70%, and on average, a client stays with you for 6 months. That means you lose about 16.7% of your clients each month (this is your churn rate).
LTV = (Average Monthly Revenue * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate
LTV = (£150 * 0.70) / 0.167 = £105 / 0.167 = £628
In this scenario, each new client is worth £628 in profit. With a 3:1 ratio, you can afford to spend up to £209 to acquire a new client and still have a very healthy business. If your sales team closes 1 in 5 qualified leads, you can afford to pay up to £41 per lead. This is the maths that unlocks scaling.
Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers and see what you can afford to spend.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
Here's a summary of the new strategy. This moves you from a random, unpredictable system to a structured, scalable machine for generating high-quality clients.
| Area of Focus | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign Objective | Switch from "Messages" to "Leads" (using a Facebook Lead Form or a landing page). | This forces the algorithm to find users with higher purchase intent, immediately improving lead quality and consistency. |
| The Offer | Create a clear, high-value offer like a "Free Consultation" or "Custom Plan Quote" on a landing page. | This acts as a filter. It requires more effort from the user, which weeds out time-wasters and leaves you with serious prospects. |
| Ad Copy & Creative | Use the 'Problem-Agitate-Solve' framework. Focus your messaging on the client's pain points and goals, not on your prices. | This pre-qualifies your audience by attracting people who genuinely have the problem you solve. Use testimonials and case studies for creative. |
| Audience Targeting | Start with detailed interest targeting (e.g., interests in high-end gym equipment, specific nutrition methods, competing coaching services). Then build Lookalike audiences from your best clients. | Moves beyond broad, ineffective targeting to find pockets of users who are much more likely to be your ideal customer. |
| Retargeting | Set up a seperate retargeting campaign for people who visit your landing page but don't convert. Show them testimonials or address common objections. | Many people need multiple touchpoints before they're ready to buy. This brings interested prospects back and converts them at a lower cost. |
| Measurement | Stop tracking "Cost per Message." Start tracking "Cost per Qualified Lead" and "Cost per Acquisition (CPA/CAC)." | You can't manage what you don't measure. Focusing on the right metrics will allow you to make smart decisions to scale profitably. |
This is a significant shift from what your doing now, I know. It involves more setup—building a landing page, writing better copy, and thinking more strategically about your funnel. But this is what it takes to move from just "getting messages" to actually building a scalable business with paid advertising. It moves you from being reactive to being in control.
It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's about building a complete system that understands your audience, optimises your targeting, creates compelling ads, and fine-tunes your conversion process. This requires a level of experience and a deep understanding of the advertising landscape.
Implementing this entire process can be daunting, and small mistakes can be costly. If you'd like to go over how this strategy could be specifically applied to your business, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can review your ad account together and map out a precise plan of action. Feel free to book a time that works for you.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
