How to Download Leads from Facebook

Your Facebook Lead Ads are working, the forms are filling up, and potential customers are waiting. Now comes the critical step: getting that valuable information out of Facebook and into the hands of your sales team. This guide will walk you through exactly how to download your leads step-by-step, from the quick manual method to a fully automated workflow that puts your follow-up process on autopilot.

What Are Facebook Lead Ads (and Why Are They So Good)?

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "what." Unlike regular ads that send users to a landing page, a Facebook Lead Ad allows someone to express interest by filling out a form without ever leaving the platform. Facebook even pre-fills most of the info - like name and email - from the user's profile, making it incredibly easy for them to convert.

This frictionless process is a game-changer. It means higher conversion rates for you and an effortless experience for your potential customers. The challenge, however, isn't getting the leads, it's what you do with them once they come in. Speed is everything. A lead that's hours or days old goes cold fast. That’s why having a solid system for downloading and managing these leads is non-negotiable.

Method 1: Manual Download from Meta Business Suite

This is the most direct way to get your leads. It’s perfect if you're running a smaller campaign, need a list for a specific point in time, or if you're just starting out and don't have a CRM system set up yet.

Just remember, "manual" means you have to do this regularly. If you let leads sit for days, you are leaving money on the table. Set a daily reminder to check and download new submissions.

Step-by-Step Guide to Manually Downloading Leads:

1. Navigate to Meta Business Suite: Log in to the Facebook profile that manages your business page. Go to your Facebook Page and look for the "Meta Business Suite" button, usually on the left-hand menu.
2. Find "All Tools": In the Business Suite, look for the main navigation menu on the left side of the screen. Click on "All Tools" (it often looks like a hamburger menu with three lines). This will open up a full menu of administrative options.
3. Go to "Instant Forms": Under the "Advertise" section, you will find an option called "Instant Forms." This is where Facebook houses all the lead forms you've created for your ad campaigns. Click on it.
4. Select Your Lead Form: You'll see a list of every instant form you've ever created. Find the specific form tied to the campaign you’re running. You will see columns for "Leads," "Date Created," and the form name itself. The "Leads" column tells you how many people have submitted that form.
5. Download Your Leads: To the right of the lead count, you’ll see a blue "Download" button. Click it. A pop-up will appear giving you two options:
   • Download New Leads: This downloads only the leads that have come in since your last download. This is great for daily check-ins to avoid duplicating contacts.
   • Download by Date Range: This option lets you select a specific time frame, which is perfect for generating monthly reports or pulling a list from a past campaign.
6. Choose Your File Format: After you select your option, you can choose to download the file as a .CSV (Comma-Separated Values) or .XLS (Excel Spreadsheet). A CSV is the most universal format and can be easily opened in Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, or imported directly into most CRM systems.

And that's it! You now have a file on your computer with columns for every question on your lead form: name, email, phone number, and any custom questions you included. You can now format this sheet and upload it to your email marketing software, CRM, or simply hand it off to your sales team.

Method 2: Sync Leads Directly with Your CRM

Manually downloading leads works, but it isn't scalable. If you're generating dozens or hundreds of leads a day, you need an automated solution. The longer a lead waits for a follow-up, the less likely they are to convert. Studies have shown that contacting a lead within the first five minutes can increase conversion dramatically.

Automating the transfer from Facebook directly to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system solves this problem. As soon as a lead submits your form on Facebook, their contact details instantly appear in your CRM, ready for follow-up.

How to Set Up a CRM Connection:

Facebook offers native integrations with many popular CRMs like HubSpot, Mailchimp, Salesforce, and Zoho. The process involves giving Facebook permission to talk to your CRM.

1. Go to Instant Forms Settings: Follow steps 1-3 from the manual download method to navigate back to your list of Instant Forms in the Meta Business Suite.
2. Select Your Form and Find "CRM Setup": Instead of clicking "Download," find the specific form you want to connect. Often, there’s a "Settings" or "setup" option visible directly on the form list, or you may need to open the form editor. You're looking for a section labeled "CRM" or "Connections."
3. Choose Your CRM from the List: Facebook will display a list of integrated partners. Search for your CRM. If you find it, click "Connect."
4. Authorize the Connection: You will be prompted to log into your CRM account to grant Meta permission to add new contacts. Follow the on-screen prompts. You’ll need to accept permissions and confirm the connection.
5. Map Your Fields: This is a key step. You need to tell Facebook which form fields correspond to which fields in your CRM. For example, you’ll match the "Email" field from your Facebook form to the "Email" field in your CRM contact record. Do this for First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, etc. If you have custom questions, you'll need to map those to corresponding custom fields in your CRM.
6. Test It: Once saved, use Facebook’s Lead Ads Testing Tool to submit a fake lead. Within seconds, you should see that new "contact" pop up inside your CRM. If it works, you're all set! All future leads will flow automatically.

If your CRM isn’t on Facebook’s list of native integrations, don’t worry. You have another powerful option.

Method 3: Use a Third-Party Connector like Zapier

What if you use a less common CRM, a custom-built system, or just want to send your leads to a Google Sheet? This is where tools like Zapier come in. Zapier acts as a middleman that connects thousands of different apps, including Facebook Lead Ads.

The concept is simple: you create a "Zap" (an automated workflow) that says, "When a new lead comes in through this Facebook form, automatically do this other thing."

Example Workflow: Sending Leads to a Google Sheet

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1. Sign up for Zapier: Create an account (they have free and paid plans).
2. Create a New Zap: Start a new workflow.
3. Set Up the Trigger: The trigger is the event that starts the automation. Search for and select "Facebook Lead Ads" as the app. The trigger event will be "New Lead." Connect and authorize your Facebook account. You will then select the specific Page and Form you want to pull leads from.
4. Set Up the Action: The action is what happens after the trigger. Search for and select "Google Sheets" as the app. The action event will be "Create Spreadsheet Row." Authorize your Google account and select the exact spreadsheet and worksheet where you want the leads to go.
5. Map the Fields: Just like with the native CRM integration, you’ll map the data. You’ll tell Zapier, "Put the 'Full Name' from Facebook into the 'Name' column in my spreadsheet. Put the 'Email' from Facebook into the 'Email' column," and so on.
6. Test and Turn On Your Zap: Zapier will pull in a sample lead from your form to confirm the mapping is correct. If everything looks good, turn on your Zap. From that moment on, every new lead will magically appear as a new row in your Google Sheet in real-time.

You can use Zapier to connect Facebook Lead Ads to virtually anything: Trello, Slack, your email marketing platform, or even an SMS service to text your sales team a notification for every new lead. This flexibility makes it an essential tool for any serious marketer.

Final Thoughts

Getting your leads out of Facebook is just the first step in a successful sales process. Whether you start with simple manual downloads or set up a fully automated workflow with your CRM, the goal is always the same: get lead information to the right person as quickly as possible. Consistently follow your chosen process and you'll see a much better return on your ad spend.

Ultimately, a successful social media strategy goes beyond just running ads and managing lead data. So much of our own time and effort is focused on the hard work that happens before a lead form is ever submitted - planning out content, creating engaging posts, and building a community. We found that wrestling with tools that felt stuck in the last decade was a constant bottleneck, which is why we built Postbase. It’s a clean, modern platform designed to help us plan, schedule, and analyze our organic social presence without the friction, so we can focus on creating content that attracts high-quality leads in the first place.