The short answer
Facebook leads often go unanswered because the enquiry took one tap, the person was scrolling rather than searching, and the first reply came too late. Fixing it means an ad that says what happens next, a form that asks one real question, and a first text within minutes. That is how Facebook ads for contractors should run.
In this article
- Why do Facebook leads go quiet when you call?
- Are they bad leads, or leads that were never followed up?
- How fast should a contractor reply to a Facebook lead?
- Does the ad set the wrong expectation?
- Can a longer form fix lead quality?
- Should the ad send people to a page instead of a form?
- What does follow-up look like when it is set up properly?
- When are the leads actually bad?
- Common questions
- Want to see what your ads would need to return?
Why do Facebook leads go quiet when you call?
Because the person did not ask for your call the way a Google searcher does. Someone searching “eavestrough repair near me” has a problem today and is looking for a number. Someone who taps a Facebook ad was scrolling, saw something interesting and tapped. The form may have taken a few seconds and no real decision.
That gap explains most of what contractors call bad leads. The name and number are real, but the intent behind them was light, and by the time you ring they have moved on to the next thing on their phone. Sometimes the number is wrong, because Facebook forms often prefill contact details from the profile, and a person rarely checks them.
None of that means the ads are the problem by default. It means the leads need to be filtered, answered fast and followed up, and most accounts that complain about lead quality are missing at least one of those three.
Are they bad leads, or leads that were never followed up?
Check your own records before you blame the ad. Pull the last 20 or 30 leads and sort them into four piles: wrong number or fake, never reached, reached and not interested, and reached and quoted. You are not looking for a benchmark. You are looking at where your leads actually stop.
If most of the pile is “never reached”, the problem is speed and persistence, not quality. One call at 4pm, a voicemail and nothing more is not a follow-up. If most of it is “wrong number or fake”, the form is too easy or the ad attracts the wrong people. If most is “reached and not interested”, the ad promised something the job does not match.
This one exercise is worth more than any setting in Ads Manager, because it tells you which of the fixes below to start with. It also shows whether you have the records at all, and a business that cannot tell what happened to last month’s leads is usually a business with no system behind the ad. We come back to that below.
How fast should a contractor reply to a Facebook lead?
As soon as you can, and automatically if you cannot. A homeowner who sent an enquiry may have sent two or three, and the business that replies first is usually the one they talk to. We are not going to quote a statistic on this, because we do not have a source we would stand behind. The logic is enough: a person who has just tapped your ad is thinking about the job right now, and an hour later they may be in a meeting or back to scrolling.
You are on a roof, in a trench or under a sink for most of the day, so speed cannot depend on you picking up your phone. The first reply should come from a text that goes out on its own the moment the form is submitted. It says who you are, that you received their enquiry, and what happens next. A human follow-up then lands when you are off the tools.
What to write in that first text is simple. Use their first name, name the job they asked about, and ask one easy question, such as the address or a photo. Do not send a link to a brochure. The goal is a reply, and a reply is easier to get from a short question than from a pitch.
Does the ad set the wrong expectation?
Often, yes. If the ad says “Get a free quote” and the form asks for a name and a number, the person expects a number back. If you then call and ask six questions about the job, it feels like a different deal. Ads that promise a price without context also attract people who want a number and nothing else.
Tell the person what happens next, in the ad and on the form. “Send us photos of the job and we will text you back today with next steps” is a clearer deal than “free quote”. It filters out the casual tap, because the person knows they are expected to answer, and it makes your first text feel like a continuation instead of an interruption.
Match the ad to the job size. A business that sells work at a few hundred dollars gets a lot of price shoppers from a broad ad. One selling larger jobs can ask more of the person before they submit. Rega’s own rule is that ads only make sense where the average job is at least $2k to $3k, because a lead that costs real money has to be able to pay for itself. Our article on how much a contractor should spend on Facebook ads covers how to work that out from your own job value.
Can a longer form fix lead quality?
Usually, in part. A form that asks only for a name and number is the easiest thing to fill in and the easiest to ignore. Adding one question that needs a real answer, such as what the job is, when they want it done or their postal code, adds a small cost for the person submitting. Fewer people submit, and the ones who do were paying attention.
The tradeoff is fewer leads for each ad dollar, so judge it by jobs and not by cost per lead. A cheaper lead that never answers costs more per job than a dearer one who does. Meta’s lead forms also have a setting that adds a review step before the person submits, which slows the accidental tap. Check the current options in your own form setup, since Meta changes them.
Do not fill the form with questions either. On a phone, every added field loses some people, and a long form trades the casual tapper for the serious prospect who ran out of patience. Start with one extra question, and compare results after a couple of weeks of real leads.
Should the ad send people to a page instead of a form?
Sometimes, and it depends on the job. A landing page on your own contractor website lets you show finished work, state the next step and ask for the enquiry in your own words. It asks more of the visitor than an in-app form, so you get fewer and warmer leads.
An in-app form is faster for the person and gives you more volume with less intent. Neither is right for every trade. Try a page where the job is large and the homeowner will look at your work before deciding, and keep the form where the job is small and speed is the whole game. Whichever you pick, the page or form should match the ad. An ad for a full deck build that lands on a generic homepage loses the person who tapped it.
What does follow-up look like when it is set up properly?
It runs whether or not you pick up the phone. The pieces are plain: a text that goes out the moment an enquiry arrives, a missed-call text-back, a reminder before any booked visit, a nudge after a quote goes out, and one place where every lead sits with its status. Our lead system for contractors page lists what we set up.
Northwest Drainage Solutions in Thunder Bay, ON is a Rega client. Its build was a logo, a website and ad campaigns together, and it included a call tracking number, a missed-call text-back and basic automations so every lead got a fast response even when Tyler, the owner, was in the field. In the first 30 days he sold $67,900 in projects. That figure came from the whole blend and not from the automations alone, and we do not credit any one piece. Tyler’s own words on what mattered beyond the leads: “looking legit and having the systems.”
Siteline Deck and Rail’s build included estimator quote forms, appointment notifications, missed-call text-backs, automated follow-ups and pipeline tracking, because leads had been falling through the cracks. Our Facebook ads for deck builders article covers how that sits alongside the ads. These are accounts we work in, not averages, and no lead count, sales figure or return is promised here or anywhere on this site.
When are the leads actually bad?
Sometimes they are, and it is worth saying so. If the audience is wrong, such as a region you do not serve, renters for a job only owners book, or a broad interest audience for a specialised trade, no follow-up will rescue it. If the ad was a giveaway or a discount with no link to the job, you will get people who wanted the giveaway.
The sign is in your four piles. When the “never reached” pile is small because you followed up hard, and most of what is left is wrong number, wrong area or no real job, the targeting or the offer needs work. Fix those at the ad level, tighten the location and the offer, and look again in a few weeks. If you have been burned by an agency that delivered a pile of names and nothing else, this is the test to run on what they left you.
Common questions
Do Facebook leads convert worse than Google leads? Generally they start from a lighter intent, because the person was not searching, so they need a faster and clearer first reply. A search ad catches someone with the problem right now. We do not have a sourced conversion comparison, so we will not print one.
How many times should I follow up? Enough that an enquiry is not lost to silence. Most are not declined, they are forgotten. Write a short sequence of texts and calls spread over several days, stop the moment they reply or say no, and keep the tone friendly and brief.
Should I call or text first? Text first is easier for people in the middle of a day, and a call right after works well for bigger jobs. Use whichever the person replies to, and let them set the channel once they do.
Can Rega guarantee better leads? No. Nobody can guarantee lead quality or job counts from ads, and we do not. What we can do is show you the account, what the follow-up does and what happened to the leads.
Want to see what your ads would need to return?
Bad leads cost money whatever the cause, so start with the numbers. Use the ad calculator on our Facebook ads for contractors page with your own job value to see what an ad account would need to return for your business to come out ahead. It makes no promise about results, and it tells you quickly whether ads are worth a proper look.
