Meta Expands Lead Generation Ads with AI-Powered Tools
Meta has introduced a range of AI-driven enhancements to its lead generation advertising options, aiming to provide marketers with more effective tools to optimize their campaigns. These updates, which include advanced targeting, lead verification, and automated lead nurturing, are now being rolled out globally to support businesses, particularly during the high-potential post-holiday "Q5" period.
Global Rollout of AI-Enhanced Advantage+ Campaigns
At the center of these updates is the global availability of Meta’s Advantage+ leads campaigns. This AI-powered tool is designed to help marketers generate high-quality leads by automating key aspects of campaigns, including audience targeting, ad placement, and budgeting. According to Meta, this system leverages advanced AI optimizations to find cost-effective leads at scale.
"Advantage+ leads campaigns is Meta’s latest end-to-end campaign automation solution, built specifically for advertisers focused on generating high-quality leads. Advertisers benefit from Meta’s most advanced AI-optimizations by leveraging Advantage+ audience, placement, and budget, giving our AI the flexibility to find the most cost-effective, quality leads at scale", explained Meta.
The company also highlighted tangible benefits from its Advantage+ system, stating that businesses using these campaigns experienced, on average, a 14% reduction in cost per lead and a 10% decrease in cost per qualified lead.
Tools to Ensure Lead Quality
Meta is also introducing verification features to help advertisers validate the quality of their leads. These include options for SMS and email verification, which can reduce instances of spam or false submissions in lead generation forms. Businesses will now be able to require phone number verification via SMS or mandate the use of corporate emails for submissions.
"Advertisers can require prospective leads to verify their phone number with a new SMS verification feature. Or if using the ‘require work email’ feature, leads will be required to provide a valid corporate email before submitting an instant form (available on Instagram or via the Marketing API). We’re also testing the ability to confirm lead addresses are valid prior to instant form submission", Meta elaborated.
Automated Lead Nurturing and New Integrations
In another significant move, Meta is testing an automated lead generation agent capable of responding to queries instantly. This feature offers ongoing lead nurturing by, for example, facilitating appointment scheduling or capturing a lead’s availability for follow-up calls. Businesses can also integrate their own AI-powered chatbots through Messenger or WhatsApp to further support customer interactions.
"[This tool] unlocks instant, 24/7 lead nurturing after interest is expressed in a service. The automated agent offers a variety of capabilities; for example, obtaining a lead’s availability for a follow-up phone call", Meta noted.
Additionally, Meta is enabling advertisers to launch single campaigns that generate leads through both website forms and instant forms. This dual-channel optimization aims to cater to different user preferences, dynamically directing those who prefer quick submissions to instant forms, while guiding others to website forms for more detailed context.
Improved Integration with CRM Systems
Meta’s updates also include enhancements to the Conversions API, allowing smoother integration with platforms such as Salesforce and Zapier. Advertisers using Zapier, for instance, can now send up to 100,000 lead events for free to the API. Starting next month, Salesforce’s Sales Cloud users will also have direct integration options for sending lead events through the API.
"Advertisers who integrate their CRM with Zapier can now send up to 100,000 lead events to Conversions API for free, and beginning next month, advertisers using Salesforce’s Sales Cloud can directly send lead events from their CRM via Conversions API, in addition to Salesforce Data Cloud available today", Meta confirmed.
A New Era for Lead Generation
With these updates, Meta is doubling down on the role of AI in optimizing campaign performance and lead quality. By simplifying workflows, improving lead verification, and introducing automated nurturing tools, the company aims to provide businesses with a more efficient and effective way to connect with their target audiences. As businesses look to make the most of the Q5 period, these tools could become a key part of their advertising strategies.
Marketers can expect more developments as Meta continues to refine its offerings and expand the capabilities of its AI-driven advertising systems.
