Marketers love forms but consumers hate filling them out. To remedy this problem, Facebook is testing a new feature called "lead ads" that makes it easier for people to fill out forms on mobile devices.
Lead ads automatically populate contact information that people have given Facebook, such as email addresses. Facebook notes that it is testing different versions of lead ads that let people sign up for things like newsletters, price estimates, follow-up calls and business information. Moreover, lead ads use a native signup flow within Facebook that enables marketers to avoid pain points typically associated with filling out forms, such as leaving one app to start a form within another app or having to enter all personal information from scratch.
"Like our other ad formats, we've built this ad type with privacy in mind. People can edit their contact information, and information isn't sent to the business until a person clicks the 'submit' button," Facebook says in its announcement. "Advertisers may only use this information in accordance with their privacy policies, which we make available in the lead ad before people click submit. Advertisers are also restricted from re-selling lead information to third parties."
Lead ads are currently being tested by a small group of businesses across the globe. That said, Facebook says it will share more information about lead ads as it gathers feedback.