How to Retrieve Leads from Facebook Ad

Facebook Lead Ads are a fantastic way to collect contact information without forcing people to leave the app, but figuring out where those leads go and what to do with them can feel like a puzzle. If you've ever found yourself asking, "Okay, someone filled out my form... now what?" you're in the right place. This guide walks you through the exact steps to find, download, and automate your Facebook lead retrieval process so you can turn those prospects into customers.

First, Why Use Facebook Lead Ads?

Unlike traditional ads that send traffic to an external landing page, Facebook Lead Ads keep the user right on the platform. When someone clicks your ad, a pre-filled form (an "Instant Form") pops up with their name, email, and phone number already pulled from their Facebook profile. All they have to do is confirm the details and hit submit.

This streamlined experience dramatically reduces friction, leading to higher conversion rates. It’s easier for the user, which means more leads for your business. But that's only half the battle. Getting those leads into your sales process quickly is what really matters.

The Challenge: Where Are Your Leads Stored?

When a lead submits their information through an Instant Form, Facebook doesn't immediately email it to you or send it to your CRM. Instead, the leads are temporarily stored within Meta’s ecosystem. It's up to you to retrieve them.

This is where many businesses drop the ball. A lead is hottest the moment they inquire. If you wait hours or days to follow up, their interest will have cooled considerably. Let's look at the methods for getting your hands on this valuable data - from the slow manual way to the powerful automated route.

Method 1: Manually Downloading Your Leads as a CSV File

This is the most direct way to get your leads. It doesn't require any special tools, just a few clicks inside the Meta Business Suite. It's a good place to start, but as you'll see, it has significant drawbacks for any serious campaign.

Step-by-Step Guide to Manual Downloads:

1. Go to Meta Business Suite: Log in to the Meta Business Suite that's connected to your Facebook Page and Ad Account.
2. Find "All Tools": In the left-hand navigation menu, click the hamburger icon labeled "All tools."
3. Select "Instant Forms": A large menu will open. Look under the "Advertise" section for "Instant Forms" and click it. This takes you to the main lead management dashboard for your Page.
4. Locate Your Form: You'll see a list of all the Instant Forms you've created. Find the form associated with the ad campaign you're interested in. You can see how many leads each form has generated.
5. Download Your Leads: On the right side of your chosen form, you will see a "Download" button. Clicking this gives you two options:

Once you click download, Facebook will generate a CSV file that you can open with Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Apple Numbers. Inside, you'll find all the information from your form respondents neatly organized in columns.

Pros and Cons of Manual Downloads

• Pros: It’s free, simple, and requires no complicated setup. If you only get a few leads a week, this might be manageable.
• Cons: It’s incredibly time-consuming and slow. Leads get cold fast. A study by Lead Response Management found that contacting a lead within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes decreases the odds of qualifying them by 21 times. Manually checking and downloading a CSV multiple times a day isn't scalable and puts you at a huge disadvantage.

Method 2: Automatically Connecting Your CRM

For a much more effective and scalable solution, you can connect your Facebook Lead Ads directly to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. When a lead comes in, it will be instantly and automatically sent to your CRM, where your sales team can act on it immediately.

Meta supports direct integrations with hundreds of CRMs and email marketing platforms. If you use tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp, or Zoho, the setup is surprisingly simple.

General Steps to Connect Your CRM:

1. Navigate to the Instant Forms page just like you did in the manual method.
2. At the top of the form list, you'll see a "Leads setup" section. Underneath it, look for a "CRM setup" box and choose the correct form from the dropdown menu.
3. Search for your CRM in the list of available integrations. Once you find it, you'll begin the connection process.
4. You'll be prompted to log in to your CRM account to authorize the connection between it and Meta. This is a standard OAuth process to grant permission.
5. Next, you'll need to map your form fields. This is the most important step. You have to tell Facebook which form field corresponds to which property in your CRM. For example:
6. Once mapping is complete, save your configuration. Your leads will now flow from Facebook to your CRM in real time!

Now, every time you get a new lead, it will instantly appear as a new contact in your CRM, ready for follow-up emails, phone calls, and nurturing sequences.

Method 3: Using a Third-Party Tool like Zapier or Make

What if your CRM or email tool isn’t on Meta's list of direct integrations? Or what if you want to send leads somewhere else, like a Google Sheet, a Slack channel, or a custom database? That's where automation platforms like Zapier and Make.com come in.

These tools act as a bridge between Facebook and thousands of other applications. You simply create a "workflow" that says, "When a new lead comes in from this Facebook form, do this other thing in this other app."

How to Set Up a Zapier Workflow (Example):

• Step 1: Set Your Trigger. In Zapier, create a new "Zap." For the trigger app, search for and choose "Facebook Lead Ads." The trigger event will be "New Lead."
• Step 2: Connect Your Account. Zapier will ask you to connect your Facebook account. You’ll also need to select the specific Page and Instant Form you want to pull leads from.
• Step 3: Set Your Action. This is the destination for your lead. Let's say you want to add each new lead to a Google Sheet. Search for and select "Google Sheets" as your action app. The action event would be "Create Spreadsheet Row."
• Step 4: Map Your Fields. Just like with the direct CRM integration, you'll need to map the data. You'll tell Zapier which information from the Facebook lead should go into which column of your Google Sheet. For example, the Email field from Facebook goes into your "Email Address" column.
• Step 5: Test and Activate. Zapier will run a quick test to make sure everything is working. If it's successful, you can turn on your Zap. Now, a new row will be added to your Google Sheet the moment a lead is captured on Facebook.

Best Practices for Managing Your New Leads

Simply getting your leads is just the first step. What you do next determines whether those leads turn into revenue.

• Follow Up Fast: You've already heard it, but it's the golden rule of lead management. Whether you're using a CRM or a Google Sheet with email notifications, reach out within a few minutes. Even an automated welcome email confirming their submission goes a long way.
• Score and Qualify: Not all leads are created equal. Use the information provided to gauge their quality. Custom questions on your form can help with this - asking for "Company Size" or "Biggest Challenge" can tell you a lot.
• Analyze Cost Per Lead (CPL): Keep a close eye on your ad spend and the number of leads generated. Dividing your spend by the lead count gives you your Cost Per Lead. This metric tells you if your campaigns are efficient and helps you decide where to allocate your budget.

Final Thoughts

Getting your leads out of Facebook doesn't have to be a chore. While manual CSV downloads work in a pinch, automating the process with a direct CRM integration or a tool like Zapier is the key to converting leads effectively. It closes the critical gap between lead submission and sales outreach, empowering your team to act when interest is at its peak.

Once you've streamlined lead delivery, the next hurdle is understanding the big picture. Are the leads coming from Facebook actually high-quality? What is the true ROI of your campaigns after accounting for ad spend? We built Graphed to solve this problem by turning hours of data wrangling into a simple conversation. We connect directly to your sources like Facebook Ads, your CRM, and your sales tools, letting you create dashboards with natural language. You can ask things like, "Show me my Cost Per Lead from Facebook vs. Google this month" and get a real-time answer in seconds, not hours.