Facebook Testing Lead Ads To Speed Up Filling Out Forms On Mobile

Facebook has just announced its new “Lead Ads” mobile ad format, which could provide a valuable new method for dealerships to receive leads on their inventory.

Considering the fact that all dealerships have a lead generation source on their website, it’s no secret that car dealerships, along with many other marketers, build their business in part by getting consumers to provide them with their contact information.

Facebook’s new mobile ad format is designed to make it easier for dealerships to collect that contact information by simplifying the process for mobile users to fill out forms. The social network’s lead ads are currently in testing mode with “a small group of businesses around the world.” Although Facebook didn’t provide any details about a wider rollout of the feature, dealerships will very likely be interested in the product if it becomes available to all.

“Lead ads make the mobile signup process easier by automatically populating contact information that people have given Facebook, like email addresses,” wrote the social media company in a Facebook for Business post. “We’re testing different versions of lead ads that would let people sign up for things like newsletters, price estimates, follow-up calls and business information. The lead ads that we’re testing use a native signup flow within Facebook. This helps avoid a lot of the pain points usually associated with filling out forms, like having to leave one application and start a form in another app, and having to enter all of their information from scratch. Just a few taps and people are done.”

The company makes it clear that it has built this ad type with privacy in mind. Users are able to edit their contact information, and information isn’t sent to the business until a person clicks the “submit” button. Advertisers are not allowed to resell lead information to third parties, and they may only use the information in accordance with their privacy policies, which are made available in the lead ad before a user clicks on the submit button.

Facebook’s new ad type allows marketers to request a range of information from people, including contact and demographic information, such as their email address, phone number and ZIP code, as well as their country of residence, company name and job title. Advertisers will also be able to include up to three drop-down menus to solicit additional information, such as what topics the person is interested in or how often they would prefer to be contacted by the marketer.

Facebook’s mobile lead ads test is the company’s latest effort to cater to direct-response advertisers who care more about people clicking on their ad than simply seeing it, and are spending more money online than brand advertisers. According to eMarketer estimates, direct-response advertisers accounted for 59 percent of the $50.1 billion that marketers spent on digital ads in the U.S. last year.

Although Facebook hasn’t stated if or when its mobile lead ads will become an official ad product, if it does roll out widely, advertisers should expect to buy the ads according to the same cost structures that are available for the company’s other ad types, including paying per thousand impressions or paying per click.