Paid Social Ads Facebook & Instagram Automotive Q1 2026 336 Total Leads £85/day Budget

PAID ADS
PERFORMANCE Automotive Industry · Car Purchase Vertical · Q1 2026

Client Vertical
Automotive — UK Car Purchase
Period
Jan – Mar 2026
Platforms
Facebook · Instagram
Total Leads
336 website leads
01 — Campaign Overview

Three campaigns.
One funnel.

01
Top-of-Funnel
Video Ads
Goal Lead Generation
Audience Interest-based: Competitors, Used Cars — 18–65, All UK
Daily Budget £55 / day
Channel Facebook & Instagram
Cold Audience
02
Remarketing
Goal Re-engage Warm Audience
Audience Pixel-based: Entered funnel but not yet converted
Daily Budget £20 / day
Channel Facebook & Instagram
Warm Audience
03
Page Growth
Goal Follower Acquisition
Audience Interest-based: Car sellers — All UK, broad
Daily Budget £10 / day
Channel Facebook
Broad Audience
02 — TOF Video Ads Results

Top-of-Funnel
Performance

Jan – Mar 2026 · Facebook & Instagram
Website Leads
185
Total conversions — cumulative Q1
Cost Per Lead
£25.62
Avg. across all ad sets
Impressions
704K
Cumulative reach across Q1
CPM
£6.73
Cost per 1,000 impressions
Cumulative Leads Over Time — TOF
CPM Trend (£) — TOF
03 — Remarketing Results

Remarketing
Performance

Jan – Mar 2026 · Pixel-Based Audience
Website Leads
151
Total conversions — cumulative Q1
Cost Per Lead
£10.96
2.3× lower than TOF campaign
CPM
£9.99
Cost per 1,000 impressions
Daily Budget
£20
Consistent allocation — Q1
Cumulative Leads Over Time — Remarketing
CPM Trend (£) — Remarketing
04 — Campaign Workflow

How the
funnel worked.

Stage 01
Top of Funnel
Video Ads

Cold audience targeted by interest — competitors, used cars, 18–65 across all UK. Video ads ran on Facebook & Instagram to maximise reach and create awareness around the brand and offer.

704K Impressions
185 Leads generated
£55 Daily budget
Interest-based Cold audience Facebook & Instagram
Users who engaged with TOF ads but didn't convert were captured by the Meta Pixel and added to the warm retargeting pool.
Meta Pixel — Retargeting Pool

Everyone who visited the landing page, watched the video, or engaged with an ad — but didn't submit a lead form — was automatically added to the pixel audience. This became the fuel for the remarketing campaign.

Warm audience retargeted with tailored ads, reminding them of the offer and prompting conversion.
Stage 02
Remarketing
Retargeting Campaign

Pixel-based warm audience re-engaged with targeted ads on Facebook & Instagram. Because these users had already shown intent, the campaign converted at a significantly lower cost per lead than TOF.

151 Leads generated
£10.96 Cost per lead
£20 Daily budget
Pixel-based Warm audience Facebook & Instagram
Combined Result
336 Total website leads — Q1 2026
~3.7 Leads per day average
£85 Total daily budget across all campaigns
05 — Key Insights

What the data
tells us.

📉
Remarketing is 2.3× More Efficient

At £10.96 CPL vs £25.62 for TOF, the remarketing campaign delivers significantly lower cost-per-lead by targeting users already in the funnel — maximising budget efficiency.

📈
TOF Builds the Pipeline

The TOF campaign generated 704K impressions and 185 leads — feeding the remarketing pool. Without a healthy TOF, remarketing audiences shrink. Both campaigns are interdependent.

💡
CPM Rose Through Q1

CPM trended upward across both campaigns from January to March — consistent with increased auction competition as Q1 progressed. Mid-February saw a temporary dip before rising again.

Budget Allocation is Optimised

£55 for TOF, £20 for remarketing, £10 for page growth reflects a classic full-funnel split. The remarketing ROAS suggests increasing its budget allocation in Q2 could drive further efficiency.

🎯
Pixel-Based Targeting Outperforms

Warm pixel audiences consistently outperform cold interest-based targeting on CPL. For automotive lead gen, retargeting users who visited but didn't convert is the clearest path to efficient spend.

🚀
Combined: 336 Leads in Q1

Across TOF and remarketing, the combined campaign delivered 336 website leads in 90 days — an average of 3.7 qualified leads per day at a blended CPL across both budget tiers.

This report is an aggregated benchmark for the Automotive — Car Purchase vertical. Client name and brand-specific details have been anonymised for portfolio purposes. Data covers Facebook & Instagram campaigns, Jan – Mar 2026.