How to supercharge your Facebook Lead Ads with Meta Conversions API

Are you using Meta’s Conversions API for your Facebook Ads? If not, now’s the perfect time to get started.

The Conversions API is a powerful tool that connects your business platforms directly to Meta. This helps Facebook algorithms understand your ideal customers better to generate higher-quality leads, all while lowering your cost per lead.

Some case studies indicate that Meta Conversions API has helped businesses achieve up to 18% increase in conversions and a 15% reduction in cost per conversion.

Although it has been around for a while, Conversions API has become even more essential for advertisers due to evolving digital behaviours, Meta’s algorithm changes, and tracking limitations.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to use Meta Conversions API to boost your Facebook Lead Ads performance. We’ll also show you how to activate it in your Meta Business Center.

What is Meta Conversions API

In simple words, the Meta Conversions API is a tracking tool that sends your lead conversion information and events directly to Facebook so the platform understands who to target precisely whenever you’re running ads.

Conversions API is like a direct line between your business and Facebook, allowing you to share what happens with your leads after they click your ad, without relying on browser-based tracking.

This means now you can share your customer behaviour directly with Facebook for better ad targeting, including:  

• When someone fills out your lead form.
• How good the lead is, based on your CRM’s scoring.
• If the lead booked a call, replied to your follow-up, or actually became a customer.

With Meta Conversions API, Facebook now receives customer information from outside their platform instead of only guessing prospects based on what it can see inside the platform. This information allows Facebook to show your ads to people who are more likely to become paying customers. 

Suggested read: What is the ideal lead response time and how to achieve it efficiently

How does Meta Conversions API work

Meta Conversions API acts like a bridge between Facebook and your business systems, such as your website, CRM, or booking software. The API sends Facebook information about the leads you’ve successfully converted.

This not only helps Meta’s algorithm to identify the type of people who are more likely to fill out your forms, but also those who are more likely to convert after you reach out to them.

With more accurate customer profiles being fed to the database, Facebook can more precisely target people who are likely to convert the next time you run your Lead Ads, bringing in more quality leads and keeping your cost per quality lead low. 

How Conversions API outperforms manual targeting for Lead Ads 

If you’re running Facebook Lead Ads without Conversions API, you’re choosing your target audience manually based on their:

• Location
• Age & gender
• Interests and behaviours
• Job titles or demographics

This approach may work to some extent, but you’re only guessing who your ideal customer is, without real data on which profiles are most likely to make a purchase, book an appointment, and complete activities beyond filling out a form. Even with a well-defined audience, you’re still limited by the accuracy of Facebook’s self-reported and inferred data.

Conversions API levels up your Facebook targeting game. Once it’s activated, your audience targeting starts evolving from being a static suggestion into a dynamic system.

This is how Conversions API targeting works: 

1. First, you create your campaign with a manual target audience.
2. Then, you connect Conversions API with your chosen business system, such as a CRM. Once connected, the API sends Facebook detailed events / conversions data from your CRM. For example, which lead booked calls or which ones became paying customers.
3. Facebook’s algorithm uses this verified data to automatically optimise the delivery of your ads , showing them to similar people who are more likely to convert, even if they were not in your original manual targeting set. 

How to set up Meta Conversions API with Privyr

You’ll need to set up Meta’s Conversions API through your Facebook Ads Manager, as it isn’t enabled by default. This involves connecting your business system (such as your website or CRM) directly to Facebook’s servers. 

While the setup may feel too technical, especially for beginners, it’s pretty straightforward with Privyr CRM. All you need is a Privyr Pro account and ensure it’s integrated with your Facebook page. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to set up Meta Conversions API:  

Step 1. Connect Meta Conversions API to Privyr 

Before getting started, make sure your Privyr account is connected to your Facebook page. 

1. Open your Privyr app and go to the Meta Conversions API page.
2. Click Login with Facebook.
3. Confirm the Facebook Profile that you want to continue with (if necessary).
4. You’ll be prompted to “Connect Privyr to Facebook”, click Next.
5. Confirm your settings, then select the Business Portfolio and Meta Pixel that you want to connect to Privyr, and click Continue.
6. You’ll see a permission window. Select enable all options and click Next.
7. Once complete, click DONE to return to Privyr. You’ll now see the status as “Connected” along with your Meta Business Portfolio Account, Pixel Name, and ID.

This connects your Privyr account with Meta Conversions API. The next step involves training your Facebook ads algorithm  through Conversions API with your data. This lets Facebook know who you exactly want to target (for example, qualified leads or converted leads).   

Step 2. Send lead events to Meta via Privyr

Once your apps are connected, verify that the integration is working just to be sure. Successful events usually appear within a day. 

There are two important events you want to ensure are sent, which are:  

1. INITIAL_LEAD: This event will be automatically sent to Meta when Privyr imports new leads from your active Facebook Lead Ads. 
2. QUALIFIED_LEAD: This event will be sent to Meta after you manually mark your leads as qualified in Privyr. Therefore, make sure you’re updating your CRM and marking specific leads as qualified or converted. 

You must send events for at least 7 days.

Step 3: Configure your Sales Funnel on Meta

The next step is to inform Meta what you want to focus on most. Based on your data, Facebook will then analyse and optimise your ads. This will take approximately 3 to 4 weeks.

Go to Meta Business Suite > Events Manager > Your Connected Pixel > Settings. You’ll be prompted to Configure sales funnel. Click Continue.

Complete the following steps :

• Invite Teammate:
  • If you’re on your own, skip this step
• Configure funnel stages:
  • Add INITIAL_LEAD and QUALIFIED_LEAD to Positive stages
  • Click Next
• Setting optimisation targets:
  • Uncheck INITIAL_LEAD
  • Check QUALIFIED_LEAD
  • Click Finish

Funnel analysis

Meta will analyse your Privyr data to confirm your leads are properly moving through the sales funnel. This can take up to 3 weeks.

Learning phase

Once your funnel analysis is done, there is a 2 to 4 week learning phase before the model completes training on your data.

Step 4: Run Conversion Optimisation Campaigns

Now that your Conversions API is trained with your data, set your performance goal to Start Running Optimised Campaigns. To do so:

• Go to your Meta Business Suite
• Click on Ads Manager
• Click on Optimisation & Delivery 
• Enable Conversion Leads optimisation

Once selected, Meta will use your CRM lead data, particularly information on successful conversions, to target higher quality leads.

You can track your progress by navigating to your Meta Business Suite > Events Manager > Data Sources > Select Your Connected Pixel > Settings Tab.

Step 5. Monitor and optimise

Once you’ve set up the Meta Conversions API, keep an eye on your ad performance and event data. With more data, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about your advertising strategy. 

You can review metrics to see how your ads are performing and use insights to adjust your campaigns for better results.

How to ensure you generate best quality leads with Conversions API 

Conversions API works on the data you provide it. Therefore, although it’s a great tool, it’s only as good as what you feed it. Here are the important steps you should take to ensure your Conversions API model always targets the best prospects.

Step 1: Define what is a high quality lead

The first and most important step is to define what “quality leads” means to your business.

• Do high-quality leads book a consultation call?
• Do they open your emails or show up to appointments?
• Do they convert into paying customers within 7 days?

Once integrated, Privyr will automatically send your leads data to Facebook. But you have to ensure you are also sending signals to show who among them are high-quality leads. This ensures Facebook’s targeting algorithm becomes smarter at targeting leads that are similar to the ones you’ve converted, and is thus more likely to convert themselves.

Step 2: Monitor lead quality in Ads Manager

When Conversions API starts sending enriched lead events to Facebook, use breakdowns in Ads Manager to compare lead quality across audiences, placements, creatives, etc.

The metrics you may want to monitor include:

• Cost per qualified lead
• Cost per purchase (from leads)
• Lead-to-customer conversion rate

Step 3: Refine your custom audiences

With improved data, Facebook will find more people like your best-performing leads. Now it’s your job to make targeting broader and more effective.  

You can refine the process by building custom audiences of people who became qualified leads and those who purchased from your Lead Ads. Then, you can create Lookalike Audiences based on these segments.

Step 4: Test your ad elements with backend feedback

After tracking actual outcomes, you can continue experimenting to see which headlines, images, or offers attract the highest-quality leads. Additionally, run A/B tests to track how each variant performs, in terms of acquiring leads that move beyond the lead form and further into the funnel in your CRM.

Step 5: Keep your integration intact

Make sure your Meta Conversions API setup stays up-to-date and accurate:

• Test events regularly in Meta Events Manager.
• Update API versions when needed.
• Review and maintain data privacy compliance. 

Conclusion 

Generating quality leads is just the first step toward hitting your sales goals. However, if you don’t have a solid sales process, you risk losing them. That’s why it’s essential for you to have a reliable system that lets you instantly reach out to new leads, communicate clearly, and follow up on time to maximise your chances of converting them.

No lead should slip through the cracks after you’ve invested time and effort into acquiring them through Facebook Lead Ads. 

If you’re looking for a powerful CRM that works seamlessly across all devices, whether you’re at the office or on the go, Privyr is what you need. We’re also an official Meta Business Partner so you can connect your CRM seamlessly to your Facebook account and ads – no complex setup involved!

Try Privyr for free today!