Does your company need strong leads to thrive? If so, you’re going to love these Facebook Lead Gen stats. In this article we’ll cover the average cost per lead on Facebook across a number of case studies. You’ll also learn how to measure campaign success.

Let’s jump in! Facebook Lead Gen has completely transformed how companies generate leads. I began testing Facebook Lead Gen Ads in early 2017 with one of my Real Estate clients.

It took less than a week to conclude that I’d be reallocating a huge percent of their budget into this ad type. They offer immediate and measurable ROI so clients can confidently invest big dollars.

I gathered Facebook Lead Gen stats on over $60,000 worth of ad spend in 2017. The Facebook cost per lead data was fascinating. Fast forward to 2022 and hundreds of thousands of ad spend later, and the data continues to impress.

A big chunk of my experience is in the real estate industry, so we’ll start there.

Real Estate Facebook Lead Generation Case Studies

Here’s a specific look at average cost per lead (Facebook) for real estate from Parkbench.com:

What this tells us is:

Real Estate Campaign One: Average Cost Per Lead – $9.76

This client was advertising unimproved lots in the North Carolina mountains. Talk about specific!

Campaign Investment: $3,000.00 over three months

• Number of Leads Generated: 308
• Number of Sales: 2
• Average Sales Price: $307,090.50

ROI Metrics:

• One sale for every 164 leads
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $1,600.64
• The average commission is 3% making average profit margin $7,610. 

If they paid the average $37 CPL, their profit would be only ~$3,140!

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Real Estate Campaign Two: Average Cost Per Lead – $7.31

This client sells homes in a popular South Carolina Country Club Community.

Campaign Investment: $1,800.00 over six weeks (test)

• Number of Leads Generated: 246
• Number of Sales: 1
• Average Sales Price: $460,000

ROI Metrics:

• One sale for every 246 leads (I expect this to decrease dramatically over time)
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $1,800
• The average commission is 3% making average profit margin $12,000.

If they paid the average $37 CPL, their profit would be only ~$4,700!

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Real Estate Campaign Three: Average Cost Per Lead – $6.07

This client sells factional ownership (time share) condos in Breckenridge, CO.

Campaign Investment: $9,000.00 over three months

• Number of Leads Generated: 1,344
• Number of Sales: 8
• Average Sales Price: $42,000

ROI Metrics:

• One sale for every 168 leads
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $1,019.76
• The average commission is 5% making average profit margin $1,080. 

If they paid the average $37 CPL, they’d actually LOSE money!

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Real Estate Campaign Four: Average Cost Per Lead – $11.95

This client sells large estates in an exclusive Denver suburb.

Campaign Investment: $18,000.00 over six months

• Number of Leads Generated: 1,506
• Number of Sales: 8
• Average Sales Price: $924,670.50

ROI Metrics:

• One sale for every 188 leads
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $2,256
• The average commission is 3% making average profit margin $25,000. 

If they paid the average $37 CPL, their profit would be only ~$20,700!

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We’re dangerously close to nerd overload, so let me stop here!

More Facebook Lead Generation Ads Case Studies

When it comes to average cost per lead by industry, I also have some insight. As I continue to gather data; I will update this article with more industries.

Employment Agency: Average Cost Per Lead – $9.11

This client is a medical staffing agency so it’s very niche. Since there isn’t much data to be found when it comes to Facebook Lead Gen stats, I still think it’s worth sharing.

Campaign Investment: $2,500.00 over eight months

• Number of Leads Generated: 274
• Number of Placements: 6

ROI Metrics:

• One placement for every 46 leads
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $417
• The average commission is $4,500 making average profit margin $4,083

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Insurance Agent: Average Cost Per Lead – $21.97

This client is a public adjuster. Their campaign was aimed at people in the midst of a homeowner’s insurance claim. So…super niche! They told me they paid ~$100 per lead prior to using Facebook Lead Gen Ads.

Campaign Investment: $8,000.00 over eight months

• Number of Leads Generated: 368
• Number of Claims: 3

ROI Metrics:

• One claim for every 122 leads
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): $2,684
• The claim commission ranges significantly from ~$5,000 making minimum profit margin ~$2,500

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Private School Enrollment: Average Cost Per Lead – $49

This client is a large private school with four campuses. They offer everything from Montessori to K-12 plus specialized education for children with learning differences. They have a wide variety of offerings and a very specific clientele being that their tuition is quite costly.

Campaign Investment: $2,000.00 over two months

• Number of Leads Generated: 40
• Number of Enrollments: 2

ROI Metrics:

• One enrollment for every 20 leads
• Actual Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Client requested we don’t disclose their tuition cost. 
• We can share that their ROI is significant and it should be noted that these campaigns are run during high enrollment seasons, not year round.

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Even without hands-on experience in every single industry that exists, I feel comfortable saying this:

A simple form + in-app convenience + robust ad targeting = a massive uptick in qualified leads.

Facebook Lead Gen Stats: Measuring Success

Now that you have some stats to consider, note that the best way to measure your Facebook Lead Gen success is by the conversion rate. Specifically, how many people clicked your ad and eventually spent money?

A lead gen ad delivers contact information to you or your sales team. So, the rest is up to you.

Converting a lead is not like converting a sale on an eCommerce website because a human (or chat bot) must follow up with the lead to eventually convert that sale.

Here’s a chart showing 2020 Cost Per Conversion rates from Wordstream:

This doesn’t show the complete picture. Everyone knows you must work a bunch of leads to convert a sale, and the gap widens the more your product or service costs.

There are a few industries that really benefit from Facebook Lead Gen:

• Fitness (think: signing up for gyms or online subscriptions)
• Online Education (think: academics AND all those branding master classes you see everywhere)
• Employment & Job Training (think: anything relating to job posting or companies in that industry such as Linkedin or Upwork)
• Real Estate (more on that below)!

Facebook lead gen stats evolved as the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll. Companies with online offerings are continuing to thrive, as expected.

• Gyms are pivoting to provide online classes if they didn’t yet have them. This now ties into the already successful online education industry.
  • You don’t need to factor in the millions of kids being home schooled (that’s public education).
  • When you consider the millions of adults seeking online education as a hobby, you can see why this will explode.
  • From new languages to cooking classes – I expect things to surge.
• The same goes for employment.
  • Sadly most of us are experiencing the effects of losing work due to COVID-19 and utilizing sites like LinkedIn and Upwork are crucial.
• Real Estate was expected to slide with people staying home, but in fact all markets with the exception of densely populated cities saw huge growth in 2020.

Why Facebook Lead Gen Ads Work

So, why are lead gen ads so powerful? There are a ton of reasons:

• You can customize your lead gen form to obtain any kind of prospect info you need such as email, phone number, and so much more.
• The forms are pre-filled with the Facebook User’s info, so they simply need to click “submit” to send it to you (vs. the tedious process we used to use: Click a link > Visit a landing page > Type contact info into multiple fields > Click submit)
• Facebook Ads Manager allows advertisers to be incredibly specific with their targeting so the ads are served to people most likely to convert.
• Leads can be automatically entered into your CRM in real time, so the sales team can work them with no interruption between acquisition and follow up.
• You can reply to leads with a Chat Bot, but that’s an entirely separate blog! More on that to come.

Ultimately, if your business needs to bring in leads to thrive, this is the ad type you want to utilize.

Conclusion

It’s no secret I am a fan of Facebook’s incredible marketing tools and constant evolution. They are making it so easy (and fun) to crush your industry’s average Cost Per Lead.

I hope the above stats prove valuable in your future budgeting and strategy discussions. To recap:

• Average CPL can be cut in half no matter your industry.
• When using Facebook Lead Gen ads to their full capacity, you should see a 75% reduction in CPL. Full capacity means custom audiences, A/B splitting, video over photos and a slew of other techniques.

Do you have any insight on Facebook Lead Gen stats? I’d love to hear them!

Find me @rachelcreveling around the web, or comment below.

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Rachel Creveling is the owner of Belle Strategies, a boutique Digital Marketing company with offices in South Florida and South Carolina. We pair data-driven strategy with attention to detail to produce revenue-based results. For assistance growing your brand, contact me!