Meta Ads & Your New Starter Pipeline
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads are the most common paid channel martial arts clubs use to find new students. But there are two fundamentally different ad types, and they connect to your r4ptor pipeline in completely different ways. Understanding the difference is important — they have different setup requirements, different data flows, and different conversion characteristics.
Marketing & Ads is a Pro-only feature — see Plans & Billing.
The two types of Meta ad
Type 1 — Website Ads (link to your booking form)
The user sees your ad, clicks it, leaves Facebook/Instagram, and lands on your /join booking page. They fill out the form there, and the lead enters your pipeline.
Meta ad → User clicks → /join booking form → Pipeline (via form submit)
What r4ptor captures:
- All form fields (name, DOB, parent contact, class choice, trial date)
- UTM attribution (which ad/campaign brought them)
- Meta Pixel fires a
CompleteRegistrationevent on the confirmation page
Pros:
- Higher-intent leads — they've made a deliberate effort to leave Facebook and fill out your form
- Full booking details collected (class, date, medical notes, attire consent)
- Pixel gives Meta's algorithm real conversion data to optimise against
- Lookalike audiences and retargeting work at their best
Cons:
- Lower raw conversion rate — every extra click and page load loses some people
- Requires a working website/hosting (though r4ptor handles this for you)
- Pixel must be set up to get conversion tracking
This is the recommended default for most clubs. See UTM tracking and Meta Pixel for setup.
If your ad's destination is your own website, you can embed the booking form directly on that page instead of linking out to /join — see WordPress / website integration. Same pixel firing, same UTM capture, one less click for the visitor.
Type 2 — Lead Ads (Instant Forms)
The user sees your ad and taps a CTA button (e.g. "Get More Info" or "Book Now"). A form opens inside the Facebook or Instagram app — the user never leaves. Meta pre-fills their name, email, and phone number from their Facebook profile. They confirm and submit in a few taps.
Meta then writes the lead data into a Google Sheet, which r4ptor checks roughly every 20 minutes.
Meta ad → Instant Form (inside Facebook/Instagram) → Google Sheet → r4ptor poll → Pipeline
What r4ptor captures:
- Name, email, and phone number (from the Meta form fields)
- Attribution automatically set to
source: Meta Lead Ad,utm_source: meta,utm_medium: lead-ad
What r4ptor does NOT capture:
- Date of birth, class selection, trial date, medical notes, attire consent
- UTM campaign name (the lead never visits your website, so URL parameters aren't applicable)
Pros:
- Very high conversion rate — pre-filled form, no page load, no leaving the app
- Works well for top-of-funnel awareness campaigns
- Captures people who would never have bothered visiting your website
Cons:
- Lower intent — it's so easy to submit that some leads are "curious but not serious"
- You get less information — no class choice, no trial date, no medical notes
- Requires a one-off Google Sheets connection in Meta Ads Manager, plus sharing that sheet with r4ptor (see below) — not instant, checked roughly every 20 minutes
- Leads need a follow-up call/message to collect missing details and book the actual trial
Most clubs run both simultaneously. Website ads with the Conversions objective (targeting CompleteRegistration) bring in higher-quality, fully-booked leads. Lead Ads bring in more volume at lower cost-per-lead, and your team converts them through outreach. The pipeline handles both — they just arrive differently.
How each type enters the pipeline
| Website Ad | Lead Ad | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry point | /join form submit | Meta → Google Sheet → r4ptor poll (~20 min) |
| Status on arrival | NEW | NEW |
| Attribution chip | Blue Meta chip (from utm_source=meta) | Blue Meta chip (set automatically) |
| Trial date set? | ✅ Yes | ❌ No — needs follow-up |
| Class selected? | ✅ Yes | ❌ No — needs follow-up |
| Medical notes? | ✅ Yes (if entered) | ❌ No |
| Email deduplication | ✅ Yes (form validation) | ✅ Yes (checked against existing pipeline) |
| Automatic reply sent? | ❌ No | ✅ Yes — instant SMS + email, before any staff action |
Both types land in the New Starter Pipeline at NEW status. The key difference is that a Lead Ad arrival needs an immediate outreach step to collect class preference and book a trial date — it's closer to a phone enquiry than a completed booking form.
The moment a Lead Ad lead is created, r4ptor automatically sends them an SMS and email (the New Meta Lead template, editable under Admin → Comms → Templates) introducing the instructor and offering a self-book link — before any staff member has done anything. This happens on every instance by default, for every club running Meta Lead Ads — it isn't a one-off setup for any particular club. Your own follow-up (Step 2 below) is still worth doing, since the auto-reply is generic and a real message converts better, but the lead isn't left hanging in the meantime.
Recommended pipeline flow for Lead Ad arrivals:
- Lead arrives at NEW with name, email, phone — the automatic reply above goes out immediately
- Move to CONTACTED — send a personal WhatsApp or SMS to confirm interest and collect class preference
- Book them into a class and move to TRIAL BOOKED
- Continue as normal through the funnel
Setting up Lead Ads (Instant Forms)
Lead Ads connect to r4ptor via Google Sheets — a self-serve feature in Meta Ads Manager itself, with no App Review or Facebook Page access needed:
- In Meta Ads Manager, open your Lead Ad form's Destination settings and connect it to send new leads to a Google Sheet (Meta's own wizard walks you through this — see the full step-by-step walkthrough if you'd like to see every screen)
- Go to Marketing & Ads in r4ptor and note the service account email shown under Lead Ads — Google Sheets
- In Google Sheets, share that Sheet with the service account email (Viewer access is enough)
- Paste the Sheet's ID or URL into the field in r4ptor and save
- r4ptor checks the sheet roughly every 20 minutes and adds any new leads to your Trial Starters pipeline at NEW status
This captures the same fields (name, email, phone) and sets the same attribution (source: Meta Lead Ad) described above.
Side-by-side: which ad type to run when
| Scenario | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| You want bookings with full details, minimal follow-up | Website Ad → /join form |
| You want to generate as many leads as possible | Lead Ad → Instant Form |
| You're testing a new audience or interest | Lead Ad (lower barrier to entry) |
| You want Meta to optimise for actual bookings | Website Ad with Conversions objective + Pixel |
| Your audience is mostly mobile and Facebook-native | Lead Ad (pre-filled form works especially well) |
| You want lookalike audiences based on form completers | Website Ad (Pixel tracks completers) |
| Running a time-limited promotion | Both — Lead Ads for volume, Website Ads for quality |
Frequently asked questions
Will I get duplicate leads if someone submits the /join form AND a Lead Ad?
r4ptor checks email before creating any lead. If a Lead Ad arrives with the same email as an existing pipeline entry, the duplicate is silently skipped. If the person used a different email on each (possible), two separate leads will be created.
Can I tell in the pipeline which leads came from Lead Ads vs. the booking form?
Yes. The attribution chip on each lead card shows the source. Lead Ad arrivals show a blue Meta chip (from utm_medium: lead-ad). Website Ad bookings show a blue Meta chip too, but opening the lead detail sheet shows medium: paid-social and the campaign name if you've set UTM parameters on the ad. Lead Ad leads show medium: lead-ad instead.
Leads aren't appearing — what do I check?
- Confirm the Sheet ID/URL saved under Marketing & Ads → Lead Ads — Google Sheets matches the sheet Meta is actually delivering to (open it from inside the Meta wizard rather than trusting a bookmark — it's easy to end up looking at a different file)
- Make sure the sheet is still shared with r4ptor's service account email
- Remember the poll runs roughly every 20 minutes, not instantly — a lead may just not have been picked up yet
- Check r4ptor's Activity Log for any errors, or contact r4ptor support
Do I need to renew the connection periodically?
No — once the sheet is shared and its ID saved in r4ptor, it keeps working without any renewal.
Does the Meta Pixel work for Lead Ads?
The Pixel doesn't fire for Lead Ad submissions (because the user never visits your website). The Pixel only fires on the /join/confirmed page, which is only reached via the Website Ad path. For Lead Ads, Meta gets its conversion signal from the Instant Form submission itself — no Pixel needed. You should still set your Pixel ID in Marketing & Ads settings so it fires for any website visitors who came via a Meta ad, regardless of whether they saw a Website Ad or a Lead Ad first.