Qualified leads from Facebook & Instagram: Meta's new option

Sequenced events are a Meta Ads option, apparently still in testing, for getting qualified leads from Leads campaigns on Facebook and Instagram that use the website as the conversion location. They link two actions by the same person, for example submitting the form and then booking a visit, and, according to the description Meta shows in the interface, the ad gets credit only if both happen in the right order.

A qualified lead is a contact who, after leaving their details, also takes the next step that really matters for your business, for example booking a visit. Meta uses the same term in Ads Manager.

The campaign brings in leads and, looking at the report, you'd say it's working. Then you talk to whoever has to call those people back and the picture changes. Some don't answer, others only wanted to know the price.

Anyone who does lead generation knows this situation well. The problem is that a submitted form and a person who wants to move forward can look like the same result inside a campaign. Sequenced events try to make that difference visible to Meta as well.

I looked into this new feature and went searching for the option in my own account. Some things are already visible in the interface, others are still unclear. Here's what I found and where, in my view, it can make sense to use it.

Why does a submitted form only tell part of the story?

When you set up a campaign to get leads, you're asking Meta to find people who might leave their details. That's the result the system works on, even though for your business the journey goes on much further.

For a dental practice, for example, having a phone number is just the start. Then you have to actually reach the person and, when the conditions are right, book a visit. For a window and door company it might be the site survey. These are different steps, but they have one thing in common: they tell you more than a form submission does.

If that information stays in the CRM or in the notes of whoever makes the calls, the Lead signal sent to Meta doesn't show the difference between people who move forward and people who disappear. Cost per lead, on its own, doesn't tell you how useful the leads you're collecting are.

That's the problem I'd start from when judging this feature. Before looking for a new setting, you need to work out which step in your own journey really deserves to be measured.

How does a sequence help you get qualified leads?

Take a person who fills in the form on the website and, later on, books a visit. With a sequence, the two actions are considered together and in the order you chose. The booking becomes the final result of that journey.

This is the point that interests me. If you only choose the booking as your optimization event, you're not explicitly requiring the earlier form submission too. With a sequence, that first step becomes part of the condition.

People who have the feature find it written in the window where you create the sequence: the ad gets credit only if both events happen in order. Doing only one of the two actions, or doing them the other way round, doesn't complete the sequence.

Careful, though: this doesn't mean Meta has found a way to automatically turn every lead into a customer. If the second event is a booked visit, the result you're after is still a booked visit. It's a signal further along the journey, but the sale still depends on what happens next.

Where do you find the option in Ads Manager?

I opened a test campaign with the Leads objective, without publishing it. In the ad set I chose the website as the conversion location and went to the performance goal menu.

Among the options is "Maximize number of qualified leads". The description talks about people who might convert after sharing their contact information.

In my account the option is grayed out. Hovering over it shows a message saying a CRM integration is required.

That's what I was able to check personally. Without a connected CRM I can't get to the part where you create the sequence, so I'm not reporting results from a campaign I've already tested.

This option should be kept apart from the qualified-lead optimization for instant forms, which already exists. People who use it find it with the website as the conversion location. With instant forms Meta also invites me to connect the CRM, but that's not enough to say the sequence is available there.

How do you create the sequence?

For the next steps I rely on what people who already have the feature report. As an example I'll use the sequence this article is about, from the lead to the booked visit.

Once "Maximize number of qualified leads" is selected, a new section called "Lead event" appears under the dataset selection, with two menus. The first already has "Sequenced events" selected. The alternative, "Single event", meaning optimization on one event only, shows up grayed out for people who use it.

The sequence is created from the second menu. A window opens asking for two events: the initial one, the action people usually take first, and the final one, the action you really want. At the top is the rule that matters: the ad gets credit only if both events happen in order.

The natural candidate for the initial event is Lead, meaning the submitted form. People who have the feature report that the selectable initial events all carry a green Conversions API label: they also reach Meta through that connection.

In the example, the final event is BookedVisit, a custom event that comes from the CRM when the visit is scheduled. In this list, according to those who have seen it, Meta highlights events with high activity and says that choosing them may improve campaign performance.

In the end the ad set shows the chosen pair, in this case Lead → BookedVisit.

One last detail: with sequenced events, according to people who use them, only the standard attribution model seems to be available, without incremental attribution.

Which events should you choose for the sequence?

Before choosing the events, decide what qualified means. I'd pause here before opening any menus, because the most important question is about your business, even before Meta's interface.

What has to happen for you to consider a lead useful?

Maybe it's enough to talk to them and check that the request is relevant. In other cases you want them to show up for the appointment. These are different criteria, and there's no reason to use the same definition for every company.

I'd choose a step that has a concrete meaning and that the team can record consistently. If one salesperson marks someone as qualified and another rejects them, you need to agree internally before sending that data to Meta.

I'd also think about how often that step happens. A signed contract may be the most interesting signal, but if you sign two a month you'll have very few examples to use. A booked visit or a verified request might be better events for a first test, as long as they really represent progress.

Before asking Meta for better leads, you need to know what makes them better for you.

How many events does a sequence need to work?

Meta hasn't published a threshold for sequenced events, so there's no magic number, but there are two useful reference points. The first is Meta's general rule: an ad set usually exits the learning phase after about 50 results in the week following the last significant edit (Meta Business Help Center, "About the learning phase"). The second comes from people who already have the feature: an event seems to become selectable for a sequence at around 30 optimized events in the last seven days, after deduplication. The step after the form usually involves only part of your leads, and that reduces the volume the campaign can learn from. Here's a purely indicative calculation. If 10% of leads book a visit, getting 50 bookings that follow a form submission would take about 500 leads a week. If the rate were 20%, the figure would drop to 250.

People who use the feature see some events grayed out, with a message saying they aren't eligible, and believe it depends on volume. The threshold, though, isn't clear.

These calculations help you understand how much volume shrinks when you move the result to a later step. Meta doesn't state them as requirements for sequenced events, and on their own they don't guarantee a campaign will work. In the calculation I'm assuming those leads can be recognized in the sequence and that the second event happens within the valid attribution window.

If you collect few leads today, choosing a very rare final event can make the test hard to evaluate. In that case I'd look at an earlier step, without inventing a weak qualification just to get more events.

What's still unclear?

The feature still seems to be in testing and Meta hasn't published a dedicated guide yet. That's why I'd keep what appears in the interface separate from assumptions about how it works.

In my account, as I mentioned, a CRM integration is required. I wouldn't turn that into a universal rule based on this one observation, though. People who have the feature can also select events that don't come from the CRM, so the question of requirements remains open. The initial events they can choose, however, all carry the Conversions API label.

How much time can pass between the two actions is also unclear. The 28-day reference for qualified leads from instant forms (Meta Business Help Center, "About conversion events for lead ads with instant form") isn't enough, on its own, to establish the valid window for every website sequence. Some assume 28 days when the final event comes from the CRM, and maybe only seven with a website event, but that's an assumption.

If you have a long sales cycle, this detail can change your choice of final event. If weeks pass between the request and the contract, I'd want to know that rule before setting up the test.

Is it worth testing sequenced events?

I'd consider it if I had a recognizable quality problem and enough leads to support the calculation above.

First I'd also check what happens when a request comes in. Who calls the person back, and how soon? Someone can be interested and lose interest while waiting. If the problem is there, it has to be addressed in the sales process too.

If the conditions were right, I'd set up a comparison with the current campaign and keep everything else the same, from the creatives to how you call leads back. I'd avoid changing everything at once, because then it would be hard to tell what affected the result.

I'd look at cost per qualified lead together with the number of qualified leads. Over time, keep track of how many become customers too. A higher cost per form can be acceptable if it brings more useful requests, but that has to be checked in your own business data.

This is the part of the new feature I find interesting. Connecting the form to what happens next can help you give Meta a signal closer to the result you want. To do it well, though, you need to have understood and measured that journey yourself first.

Frequently asked questions

Do sequenced events work with instant forms?

From what we can see so far, no: they apply to Leads campaigns with the website as the conversion location. Instant forms already have qualified-lead optimization, with CRM events that must happen within 28 days of the form submission.

Do you need a CRM connected to Meta?

It's not clear yet. In my account, without a connected CRM, the qualified-leads option stays grayed out with a message saying a CRM integration is required. People who have the feature can instead choose events that don't come from the CRM, but the initial events they can choose all come through the Conversions API.

How much time can pass between the two events?

Meta hasn't put it in writing yet. The closest reference is the 28 days from form submission that apply to qualified leads from instant forms.

What attribution do sequenced events use?

According to people who use them, only the standard attribution model seems to be available. Incremental attribution doesn't appear.

Read also

More notes on lead generation and Meta Ads:

Qualified leads from Facebook and Instagram: Meta Ads' new optimization