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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.

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 CompleteRegistration event 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.

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 sends the lead data directly to r4ptor via a webhook in the background.

Meta ad → Instant Form (inside Facebook/Instagram) → Webhook → 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 additional setup (Meta App, webhook, page access token — see below)
  • Leads need a follow-up call/message to collect missing details and book the actual trial
Which one should you run?

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 AdLead Ad
Entry point/join form submitMeta webhook → r4ptor backend
Status on arrivalNEWNEW
Attribution chipBlue 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)

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.

Recommended pipeline flow for Lead Ad arrivals:

  1. Lead arrives at NEW with name, email, phone
  2. Move to CONTACTED — send a WhatsApp or SMS to confirm interest and collect class preference
  3. Book them into a class and move to TRIAL BOOKED
  4. Continue as normal through the funnel

Setting up Lead Ads (Instant Forms)​

r4ptor handles the technically complex parts of the Meta Lead Ads connection — token exchange, page subscription, and token management — invisibly in the background. You never need to touch the Meta Developer portal or manage API tokens.

Setup has two parts: a one-off platform configuration done by r4ptor, and a brief in-app setup done by you.

Part A — Platform setup (done by r4ptor, once per club)​

r4ptor operates a single registered Meta App on behalf of all clubs. Before the Connect button works, r4ptor needs to register your club's webhook URL in that Meta App and verify it. This is a short back-office step — contact r4ptor support to get this done.

What r4ptor registers:

  • Your webhook URL: https://yourclub.r4ptor.app/api/meta/webhook
  • Your Verify Token (the one you set in Step 1 below)

Part B — In-app setup (done by you, takes ~2 minutes)​

Step 1 — Set your Pixel ID and Verify Token​

  1. Go to Marketing & Ads from the home screen
  2. Fill in two fields:
FieldValue
Pixel IDYour 15–16 digit Meta Pixel ID (from Meta Events Manager)
Verify TokenAny secret string you choose — e.g. pama-leads-2026. You'll share this with r4ptor so it can be registered in the Meta App.

Save each with the green tick button.

Step 2 — Connect your Facebook Page​

  1. In Marketing & Ads, click Connect Facebook Page
  2. A Facebook login popup opens — log in to your Facebook account if prompted
  3. Select the Facebook Page you use for your club
  4. Confirm the permissions Facebook asks for

r4ptor then handles everything automatically:

  • Exchanges the authorisation for a permanent Page Access Token (it never expires — no renewal needed)
  • Subscribes the webhook to your Page so lead events flow through immediately

The Marketing & Ads screen updates to show your Page name with a green "Connected" indicator.

Step 3 — Test with the Lead Ads Testing Tool​

Before running a real ad, send yourself a test lead to confirm everything is working:

  1. Go to developers.facebook.com/tools/lead-ads-testing
  2. Select your connected Page and a Lead Ad form (create a simple test form first if you haven't already)
  3. Click Create Lead
  4. Open your r4ptor Trial Starters pipeline — the test lead should appear within a few seconds at NEW status
Testing tool access

The Lead Ads Testing Tool is in the Meta Developer portal. r4ptor support can run a test lead on your behalf if you don't have access.

Step 4 — Create your Lead Ad​

In Meta Ads Manager:

  1. Create a new campaign with the Leads objective
  2. At the Ad level, choose Instant Form as the lead method
  3. Click Create Form
  4. Under Questions, add at minimum:
    • Full Name (or First Name + Last Name)
    • Email
    • Phone Number
  5. Add any custom questions you want (e.g. "Which class are you interested in?" as a multiple choice)
  6. Set a Privacy Policy URL (required by Meta — link to your club's privacy policy)
  7. Publish the form and the ad

When someone submits the form, Meta sends the data to r4ptor automatically. The lead appears in your Trial Starters pipeline at NEW status within seconds.

Side-by-side: which ad type to run when​

ScenarioRecommendation
You want bookings with full details, minimal follow-upWebsite Ad → /join form
You want to generate as many leads as possibleLead Ad → Instant Form
You're testing a new audience or interestLead Ad (lower barrier to entry)
You want Meta to optimise for actual bookingsWebsite Ad with Conversions objective + Pixel
Your audience is mostly mobile and Facebook-nativeLead Ad (pre-filled form works especially well)
You want lookalike audiences based on form completersWebsite Ad (Pixel tracks completers)
Running a time-limited promotionBoth — 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.

The webhook verified successfully but leads aren't appearing — what do I check?

  1. Page connection — open Marketing & Ads and confirm your Facebook Page shows as Connected (green indicator). If not, click Connect Facebook Page and go through the flow again.
  2. leadgen subscription — r4ptor subscribes your page automatically on connect, but you can verify it in the Meta App Dashboard → Webhooks → your page subscription. The leadgen field should show as subscribed.
  3. Activity Log — check r4ptor's Activity Log for any errors logged by the webhook handler.
  4. If in doubt, contact r4ptor support — we can check the platform-side webhook registration and run a test lead on your behalf.

Do I need to renew the connection periodically?

No. When you connect via the Facebook button, r4ptor obtains a Page Access Token that never expires (this is a property of how Meta issues tokens for pages you administrate via OAuth). You only need to reconnect if you remove r4ptor's app from your Facebook Page permissions, or if the page itself changes.

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.