In media buying, reducing lead costs is one of the key indicators of ad campaign efficiency. The lower the cost per lead (CPL), the higher the business profitability. However, due to increasing competition, rising ad bids, and constant changes in platform algorithms, CPL can significantly grow.
I regularly face this challenge when working with clients, but I know proven strategies that allow me to cut CPL in half (and sometimes even more). In this article, I’ll share how I do it and how you can achieve the same results.
Why Is Your Lead Cost Increasing, and What Can You Do About It?
Before we dive into cost reduction strategies, it’s essential to understand why your CPL is rising. The main reasons include:
🔹 Increased competition – more advertisers bidding for the same audience.
🔹 Poor audience targeting – ads are shown to people who don’t convert.
🔹 Weak creatives – if your ads don’t grab attention, users will ignore them.
🔹 Landing page issues – even if users click, they might not submit a lead form.
🔹 Lack of proper analytics – without data-driven optimization, your budget is wasted.
Now, I’ll break down how I personally managed to lower lead costs by 50% and how you can implement these tactics in your campaigns.
Optimize Your Target Audience: Eliminate Unqualified Users
In media buying, it’s not just about finding your audience—it’s also about excluding irrelevant segments that drain your budget.
How I Do It
✅ I exclude audiences that don’t convert—for example, for premium services, I remove low-income users.
✅ I use Lookalike Audiences (1-2%) based on actual paying customers.
✅ I set up negative audiences to exclude those who have already purchased or are clearly uninterested.
✅ I test various audience segments (age, geo, interests, behavior).
What You Should Do
🎯 Analyze data in Google Analytics 4, Facebook Ads Manager, and remove low-converting audiences.
🎯 Create Lookalike Audiences based on your best customers, not just website visitors.
🎯 Keep only audiences that deliver consistent leads at a lower cost.
Test Creatives to Find Winning Variations
Your creative is the first thing users see. If it doesn’t grab their attention, they won’t click.
How I Test Creatives
🟢 I launch at least 3-5 variations (images, videos, carousel ads).
🟢 I test different content styles—UGC (user-generated content) vs. polished studio creatives.
🟢 I use Facebook’s dynamic creatives to let the algorithm optimize the best combinations.
🟢 I test different headlines: questions vs. direct value propositions.
What You Should Do
✅ Never settle for just one creative—test at least five variations.
✅ Change colors, headlines, and visuals to find high-performing combinations.
✅ Analyze competitors’ ads to see what works in your industry.
Optimize Your Landing Page for Higher Conversions
I often see campaigns where traffic is solid, but conversion rates are low.
How I Improve Landing Pages
✅ I minimize form fields—the easier it is to submit, the higher the conversion rate.
✅ I add trust triggers—case studies, testimonials, and certifications.
✅ I optimize for mobile users, as over 70% of traffic comes from mobile devices.
✅ I place a strong call-to-action (CTA) above the fold, so users immediately know what to do.
What You Should Do
🎯 Check if your landing page is leaking traffic due to a bad user experience.
🎯 Add a clear CTA and social proof (testimonials, case studies, or media mentions).
🎯 Optimize your site speed—load times should be under 3 seconds for mobile users.
Leverage Retargeting and Lookalike Audiences
How I Use Retargeting
🎯 Website visitor retargeting—I show ads to users who visited the site but didn’t convert.
🎯 Engagement-based retargeting—I retarget users who interacted with previous ads or posts.
🎯 Lookalike Audiences (1-3%)—I target new users who resemble my top customers.
What You Should Do
✅ Set up retargeting for warm audiences—CPL will drop significantly.
✅ Use Lookalike Audiences based on high-quality leads, not just general traffic.
✅ Refresh your retargeting every 30-60 days to avoid audience fatigue.
Analyze Data and Scale Profitable Campaigns
Without proper analytics, media buying turns into a guessing game. I constantly monitor key performance metrics and scale only the best-performing setups.
How I Analyze Data
📊 I track CPL, ROAS, CTR, and CR using Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and TikTok Ads dashboards.
📊 I create automated reports in Google Data Studio.
📊 I conduct A/B testing and shut down underperforming ad sets.
📊 I use automated rules to keep campaigns optimized without manual work.
What You Should Do
✅ Regularly analyze CPL, ROAS, CTR to identify winning ads.
✅ Set up automated reports to see real-time performance trends.
✅ Scale only the highest-performing audience + creative combinations.
Final Thoughts: How to Reduce Your CPL by 50%
📌 Optimize your targeting—eliminate wasteful audience segments.
📌 Continuously test creatives—find what truly engages users.
📌 Improve your landing page experience—it directly affects CPL.
📌 Utilize retargeting and Lookalike Audiences—these bring in high-quality leads.
📌 Analyze your data and scale what works—don’t waste budget on unproven setups.
🚀 Get a Free Audit of Your Ad Campaigns!
Want to cut your lead costs in half? I’ve helped dozens of businesses improve ad performance and increase conversion rates.
📩 Request a free audit today—I’ll review your campaigns and give you actionable recommendations. 🚀
