The short answer
Qualified means the page enforced the gates: a revenue band, time in business, bank statements available and a one-time passcode entered. With those in place a Meta lead for MCA costs $15 to $30, and our main campaign measured $24.07 over the seven days to 5 September 2026. An unqualified form fill — a name and a number — can cost $5 to $10, and it is not a comparable lead. Nor is $24.07 the number to compare against buying a $60 exclusive lead: the media buyer, the creative pipeline, the page and the learning weeks all sit outside the ad account.
Cost per lead is the number everyone quotes and the one that most needs a definition attached. The same campaign, on the same creative, produces a $8 lead or a $28 lead depending on what the form asks the merchant to do before it will submit.
| Cost per lead | What the form asked for | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| $5 to $10, unqualified | Nothing. A name and a number — not a comparable lead | Seen; not something we run |
| $15 to $30 | Revenue band, time in business, statements available, passcode | Our benchmark |
| $24.07 | The above, on our main campaign over seven days | Measured, ads manager, to 5 Sep 2026 |
| $60 | Heavy qualification, or a small account still learning | Seen, and still run, because it funds |
What moves it
- Qualification on the page. Asking whether statements are available and requiring the passcode discards most of what would otherwise count as a lead, and the cost of the discarded traffic lands on the leads that remain. That is most of the gap between $8 and $24.
- Creative. A fatigued or badly targeted creative raises the CPM and lowers the click-through rate, and both arrive in the cost per lead.
- Tracking. If the pixel fires on disqualified submissions, Meta optimises towards them and the qualified cost climbs while the headline cost falls. Send it qualified events only.
- Spend and age. A new account at $100 a day pays more per lead for weeks than an account at $2,600 a day with hundreds of creatives in rotation.
Between the measured $24.07 and the $60 an exclusive lead sells for sit the media buyer, the creative pipeline, the page, the passcode service and the learning weeks outside the ad account, which is why the full comparison is about owning the channel rather than saving on a lead. The week the $24.07 came from is published in full, and the six numbers it sits inside are ranked for a reason.