A custom question is a question you write yourself and add to a Meta lead form, on top of the contact details Facebook or Instagram fill in automatically. It is how a lead form asks something specific to your business, such as “Which area are you in?” or “When are you hoping to start the work?”
How custom questions work
An instant form has two kinds of field. Prefilled fields such as name, email address and phone number are completed from the person’s profile, so they cost the user almost no effort. Custom questions are the ones you add, and the person has to answer them.
Meta offers several formats:
- Short answer. A free-text box. Flexible, but the quality of answers varies a lot.
- Multiple choice. A fixed list of options. Quick to answer on a phone and easy to sort afterwards.
- Conditional. The options in one question depend on the answer to an earlier one, for example choosing a service type and then a specific service.
- Appointment request. The person suggests a day and time for you to get in touch.
The answers arrive with each lead, whether you download them from Meta or send them straight to a CRM or email platform.
Why it matters
A lead form with only prefilled fields is very easy to submit, which is both its strength and its weakness. People tap through without much thought, and you end up phoning people who do not remember enquiring. One or two well-chosen custom questions slow the right people down just enough to show real intent, and filter out those who were never going to buy.
For a UK business the most useful questions are usually practical: postcode or area, to check the lead is somewhere you cover; budget, in pound bands; timescale; and which service is needed. A roofing firm in Birmingham that asks “Is this a repair or a full replacement?” can route the two to different people and call the bigger jobs first. Paired with a higher intent form, which adds a review screen before submitting, this usually means fewer leads but a larger share worth calling back.
Every answer is personal data, so ask only for what you will use and explain in the form’s privacy wording how you will use it. Meta’s lead ads policies also restrict questions about sensitive matters such as health, criminal history or financial status unless Meta has given permission, and a form that asks them can be rejected.
Common mistakes
- Too many questions. Each extra question loses some people. Two to four sharp questions usually beat eight vague ones.
- Free text where a choice would do. “What is your budget?” as a short answer brings back “not sure”, “depends” and a lone “£”. Offer bands instead.
- No way to spot a poor fit. If you cannot serve people outside the M25, ask for the area so those leads can be handled politely rather than chased.
- Asking for sensitive information. Questions about health conditions can breach Meta’s policies, and health is special category data under UK GDPR.
- Ignoring the answers. Answers sitting in a spreadsheet nobody reads make a lead no more useful than one without them.
How to act on it
Write down what whoever makes the first call needs to know. Turn the top two or three items into multiple-choice custom questions, including an answer that tells you when someone is not a fit. Keep the wording short enough to read on a phone at a glance.
Run the form for a couple of weeks, then compare answers with which leads became customers. If one answer predicts a sale, use it to decide who gets called first. If a question never changes what you do, remove it. Building forms that bring back fewer, better enquiries is at the centre of how I approach Facebook lead ads for UK businesses; the wider mechanics are covered in the entry on lead ads.