These days people expect to be able to do everything from their phones. Mobile phones are where people communicate and discover the things they like, but historically, it’s been difficult for people on mobile to signal to businesses that they want to learn more about their products or services. That’s why a few months ago we announced that we were testing a new solution called lead ads that gives people a quick and privacy-safe way to sign up to receive information from businesses, like newsletters, quotes and offers.

Now lead ads are available to advertisers everywhere with a host of additional features that make signing up for business information easy for people and more valuable for businesses. Here are the details on this new ad type that connects businesses with the people who want to hear from them.

Whether businesses want to encourage people to sign up for their newsletter, an offer, an event or more information about their product, lead ads simplify the mobile signup process, helping businesses hear from people interested in their business.

When someone clicks on your lead ad, a form opens with the person’s contact information automatically populated, based on the information they share with Facebook, like their name and email address. Automatically populating the contact information that people share with Facebook makes filling in the form as fast as two taps: one click on the ad to open the form and another to submit the autofilled form. Like all of our ad types, lead ads were built with privacy in mind. People can edit their contact information before submitting the form, and this information isn’t sent to the business until a person clicks “submit.”

New to lead ads since we starting testing is the ability for businesses to customize lead ad forms with open-ended questions or multiple choice questions, so they receive the information that matters most to their business. Each lead ad form offers both standardized and customizable fields. Advertisers can also include a customizable disclaimer, so companies with pre-approved legal language can easily add their approved disclaimer to lead ads.

Creating lead ads is easy. Simply choose your ad creative, set your targeting and bidding type and then customize your form fields. Learn more about setting up lead ads.

The easiest and fastest way to retrieve lead information is to set up lead ads to sync with a CRM solution from one of our integrated marketing platforms. Our current partners include Driftrock, Marketo, Maropost, Oracle Marketing Cloud, Sailthru, and Salesforce, and we’re working to expand the list of integrated marketing platforms in the coming months. If you work with one of our integrated marketing platforms, you can collect lead information in real-time, helping you keep up with customer expectations that once they reach out to a business, they will hear back quickly.

You can also collect leads in real-time by setting up a custom integration between your CRM and the Facebook API. Or you can download lead information manually into a CSV file.

Advertisers with the Facebook pixel implemented on their website can set lead ads to be shown to people who are likely to sign up for information and are also able to measure cost-per-conversion from lead ads.

Lead ads help many types of businesses connect with the people interested in their products and services. A bookstore could use lead ads to promote a book on pre-sale, while an automaker could encourage people to get a quote on a car.

In fact, Land Rover wanted to offer their target audience a seamless experience across devices, so they knew they had to make it easy for people on mobile to request a car quote. They used lead ads to hear from people on mobile who were interested in learning more about Land Rover.

“In early A/B testing, Facebook’s native lead ads outperformed link ads driving to the website to fill out a lead form in terms of total leads and conversion rate, while driving a 4x reduction in cost per lead compared to previous social lead generation tactics.” – Kim Kyaw, Manager, Digital Marketing & Social Media, Land Rover

Similarly, Stuart Weitzman used lead ads to find people who wanted to receive emails about their latest products and offers.

“We offer our email subscribers access to exclusive updates and an inside look into the world of Stuart Weitzman. Email marketing is a valuable tool to expand our visual storytelling and drive sales. As compared to other acquisition efforts, lead ads yielded a 52% more efficient cost per lead across domestic and international markets.” - Susan Duffy, Chief Marketing Officer, Stuart Weitzman

In the Latin American real estate marketplace, Properati used lead ads to connect with people who wanted more information on the properties they have listed. The result?

“Lead ads were a game-changer product for Properati. In the past, we had tested similar products from other channels but they didn’t work for us. Since testing lead ads, we have seen a 4x reduction in the cost per lead, with a more than 3x increase in the number of leads we normally generate in Brazil.” - Gabriel Gruber, CEO, Properati

To start hearing from your customers on mobile, set up a lead ad in Power Editor or talk to a Facebook Marketing Partner.

In the coming weeks, lead ads will be available in new formats, including video and carousel, and also available on desktop, so businesses can collect leads from people on any device.