How to Send Facebook Leads to Email

Your Facebook Lead Ad is collecting new contacts, but if you're stuck manually downloading spreadsheets to get them into your email list, you're losing valuable time and momentum. Getting those leads into your email or CRM system instantly is the difference between a warm conversation and a cold outreach. This guide gives you the step-by-step methods to automate the entire process, so you can connect with new leads the moment they show interest.

Why Automating Your Facebook Lead Delivery is a Game-Changer

Manually downloading a CSV file of your leads from Facebook, cleaning it up, and uploading it to your email marketing platform is more than just a hassle - it's a critical business bottleneck. Hitting a lead with a follow-up email or call within the first five minutes can increase conversion rates by a staggering amount. When the process is manual, that follow-up might happen hours or even days later. By then, the lead’s interest has cooled, they may not remember filling out your form, and your chance of a meaningful connection drops significantly.

Automation handles three key problems:

• Speed: Your new lead gets their welcome email and is entered into your nurture sequence immediately, striking while the iron is hot.
• Accuracy: Manual data entry inevitably leads to errors. A typo while copying an email address means a lost lead. Automation transfers the data exactly as it was entered.
• Scalability: Handling five leads a day manually is annoying. Handling 50 is impossible. An automated workflow handles any volume, allowing you to scale your campaigns without scaling your manual workload.

Setting this up isn't a complex technical task reserved for developers. It's a one-time setup that puts your lead generation and follow-up on autopilot, freeing you to focus on creating great ad content and building relationships.

Understanding How the Connection Works

Sending your leads from Facebook to your email platform isn't complicated. It relies on something called an API (Application Programming Interface), which is just a way for different software applications to talk to each other. Facebook's Lead Ads are designed to connect with other marketing tools.

You have two primary ways to make this connection happen:

1. Using Meta's Direct CRM Integrations: The simplest method. Meta has built-in connections with dozens of major email marketing services and CRMs.
2. Using a Third-Party Automation Tool: The universal method. This approach uses a "connector" or "middleware" tool (like Zapier, Make, etc.) to act as a bridge between Facebook and virtually any other app that has an API.

We'll walk through both methods so you can choose the one that fits your toolkit.

Method 1: Connect Directly Through Meta Business Suite

If you use a popular CRM like Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce, or Zoho, you're in luck. Meta has likely already built a direct integration for you. This is the fastest and easiest way to get set up.

Step-by-Step Guide to Native Integration

Follow these steps to find and set up a direct connection from your Facebook Page to your CRM.

1. Navigate to Your Lead Ads Form: Go to your Meta Business Suite and find the Facebook Page connected to your lead ads. From here, navigate to the "All Tools" menu and select "Instant Forms." This is where all your Lead Ad forms live.
2. Find the CRM Setup Section: In the Instant Forms library, you'll see a list of your forms. At the top of this list, look for a tab or button that says "CRM Setup" or "Connect CRM."
3. Search for Your CRM: A search box will appear, allowing you to look for your CRM or email marketing provider. Type in the name (e.g., Mailchimp) and select it from the list. If it appears, you can use the direct integration. If not, you’ll need to use Method 2.
4. Authenticate Your Account: Facebook will now prompt you to connect your CRM account. This usually involves logging into your email platform in a pop-up window and granting permission for Facebook to access it. Follow the on-screen instructions.
5. Configure and Map Your Fields: Once authenticated, Facebook will ask you to configure the connection. This is the key part: you need to tell Facebook which form field corresponds to which field in your CRM. This is called "field mapping." For example, you’ll match:
   • Facebook's "full_name" field &rarr, Your CRM's "Name" field.
   • Facebook's "email" field &rarr, Your CRM's "Email Address" field.
   • Facebook's "phone_number" field &rarr, Your CRM's "Phone" field.
   If you have questions in your form, map those to the correct custom fields inside your CRM. When you're done, save the configuration.
6. Test Your Connection: Most native integrations offer a way to send a test lead through the system. Always do this to make sure a sample lead appears in your email list or CRM as expected. Once confirmed, your new leads will now flow into your system automatically.

Method 2: Use an Automation Tool for Universal Connectivity

What if your email provider or CRM isn't on Meta's direct integration list? Or what if you want more flexibility, like sending leads to a Google Sheet *and* your email list at the same time? This is where third-party automation tools are incredibly powerful.

Platforms like Zapier, Make, and Pabbly Connect act as a go-between for thousands of apps. The concept is simple: "When This happens in App A, automatically do That in App B."

For our purposes, the logic is:

• Trigger: When a "New Lead" is submitted in Facebook Lead Ads...
• Action: ... "Add a new subscriber" to my email list.

Let's walk through how to set this up using Zapier, a popular and user-friendly choice.

Step-by-Step Guide Using Zapier

Step 1: Set Up Your Trigger in Zapier

1. Create a New Zap: Log into your Zapier account and click "Create Zap."
2. Choose the Trigger App: Search for and select "Facebook Lead Ads" as a trigger.
3. Select the Trigger Event: Choose the event "New Lead" and click Continue.
4. Connect Your Facebook Account: Zapier will ask you to connect your Facebook account. You’ll be prompted to log in and authorize Zapier to manage your pages and lead ads. Grant the necessary permissions.
5. Set Up the Trigger Details: Now, specify which leads Zapier should watch for.
   • Page: Select the Facebook Page your ad is running on from the dropdown list.
   • Form: Choose the specific Instant Form you want to pull leads from. If you have multiple forms, you can create a separate "Zap" for each one or leave this blank to trigger for any form on the page.
6. Test the Trigger: Zapier will attempt to find a recent lead from your form to use as sample data. It's helpful to submit a test lead using your own information before this step. When a sample lead appears, confirm it and click Continue. You'll see all the data from that lead (name, email, etc.), which you'll use in the next step.

Step 2: Set Up Your Action App

1. Choose Your Action App: Now, you'll choose where you want to send the lead. Search for your email provider (like ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, etc.), a CRM (like Pipedrive), or even just Gmail if you want a simple email notification. For this example, let's pretend we're adding them to an email list.
2. Select the Action Event: Choose the relevant action, which is typically something like "Add Subscriber to a Form/Tag" or "Create/Update Contact." Click Continue.
3. Connect Your App Account: Just like with Facebook, you'll need to authenticate your email marketing tool. This usually involves an API key, which you can find in your email tool's settings.
4. Map the Data Fields (This is Important!): This is where you connect the Facebook data to your email marketing tool. You'll see the fields from your email platform (e.g., Email Address, First Name, Tags). Click into each field, and Zapier will show you the data pulled from your Facebook lead test. Match them up:
   • Click the "Email Address" field and select the Email property from the Facebook Lead Ads data.
   • Click the "First Name" field and select the First Name property from the Facebook data.
   • Continue for all relevant fields, like phone numbers or custom question answers.
   You can also assign a specific tag here, so a lead from this form might get tagged "Facebook-Ad-Lead-Offer-X." This is great for organization.

Step 3: Test and Publish Your Zap

1. Test the Action: Zapier will offer to run a live test by sending the sample data from Facebook to your action app. Click the test button.
2. Verify the Result: Go over to your email platform and check that the test lead has appeared correctly, with all data in the right place and the correct tag applied.
3. Publish Your Zap: If everything looks good, go back to Zapier and click "Publish." Your automation is now live! Every new lead from your Facebook form will now be sent to your email list in real time.

Final Thoughts

Automating the connection between your Facebook Ads and your email system is a fundamental move to improve efficiency and boost conversion rates. Whether you use a direct CRM integration or a flexible tool like Zapier, taking just 15 minutes to set up this workflow ensures no lead is left behind and every new contact gets an immediate response.

Once you get your lead follow-up system dialed in, you can turn your attention back to creating great social media content that drives those leads in the first place. At Postbase, we built our platform to solve the chaos of managing multiple social media accounts. With a visual content calendar, a unified inbox for all your comments and DMs, and scheduling features designed for today's video-first world, we make it stress-free to plan and publish content so you can focus on growing your brand and feeding your newly automated lead machine.