I was having coffee on CG Road last week with a real estate developer. He was, to put it mildly, furious. He'd just wasted ₹3 lakhs on some 'high-powered' Facebook campaign that got him over 2,000 leads. The grand result?
Three site visits. Zero bookings. He was about to sack his entire sales team. I had to tell him to hold on – the problem wasn't his people, it was his whole junk strategy.
Look, effective PPC for real estate in 2026 isn't about blasting generic lead forms everywhere. It’s a multi-stage approach. You should use Facebook and Instagram for great visuals and storytelling to build demand in specific localities. Then, you use Google Ads to catch the high-intent buyers who are already searching for properties. The real goal is getting qualified people to your site for a visit, not just racking up a huge list of cheap, useless leads.
TL;DR
Stop chasing cheap, high-volume leads. They're worthless and burn out your sales team.
Use a Top/Middle/Bottom of Funnel (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU) strategy. Don't ask for a site visit on the first ad.
Facebook/Instagram are for creating desire with video tours and lifestyle content.
Google Search is for capturing active buyers searching "4 BHK flats near me".
Your metric for success isn't Cost Per Lead (CPL), it's Cost Per Qualified Site Visit (CPQSV).
Quick Stats
95% of home buyers use online tools in their property search process (Source: NAR, adapted for India).
Digital ad spend in the Indian real estate sector is projected to cross ₹2,500 crores by 2026.
Leads generated via targeted search ads have a ~14% close rate, compared to just 1.7% for outbound leads (Source: HubSpot).
On this page
- That '1000 Leads for ₹10k' Campaign? It's a Total Failure.
- The ClickMaking Funnel: A Smarter Real Estate PPC Approach
- Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads: It's Not a Fight
- Lead Quality Comparison: What Are You Really Paying For?
- What Most PPC Guides for Real Estate Miss
- Real Implementation: A Project Here in Ahmedabad
- Actionable Takeaways: Your Checklist for Better Real Estate PPC
That '1000 Leads for ₹10k' Campaign? It's a Total Failure.
I get the appeal, I really do. An agency dangles a huge number of leads for a tiny budget. It sounds like a dream. But honestly, it's a trap I've seen dozens of developers in Ahmedabad and beyond fall right into. These campaigns are built to make the agency's monthly report look impressive, not to actually sell your property.
The Junk Lead Problem: Quantity over Quality
So how do they do it? Almost always, it's Facebook's basic Lead Form objective with super broad targeting. The form even pre-fills the user's name and number from their profile. It takes a single tap to submit.
The user has shown almost zero interest – maybe they just paused for a second on the picture of your fancy swimming pool. They aren't a lead; they're just a clicker.
"Interested" Doesn't Mean "Ready to Buy"
When your sales team starts calling these so-called 'leads', you know what happens. Half don't even pick up the phone. A big chunk of them say they don't remember filling out any form. Others were "just scrolling." Maybe, if you're lucky, 5% are vaguely interested, but their budget is half of your property's starting price. Sound familiar? It's because there was zero qualification.
Blaming the Sales Team is the Easy Way Out
This is the part that honestly drives me up the wall. The marketing agency throws a spreadsheet with 1,000 garbage contacts at your sales team and then points fingers when nothing converts. It's not the sales team's fault. They're forced to spend their entire day sifting through junk instead of having real conversations with interested buyers. The whole system is broken from the top.
The ClickMaking Funnel: A Smarter Real Estate PPC Approach
At my agency, ClickMaking, we threw out that old playbook years ago. It just doesn't work. Instead, we build funnels that guide people from casual curiosity to a scheduled site visit. Sure, it generates fewer 'leads' on paper, but it brings in way more actual business. Here’s a rough idea of how we do it.
Top of Funnel (TOFU): Awareness & Hyperlocal Targeting
At this stage, we don't ask for a thing. No forms, no calls, nothing. The only goal is to make people in the right areas aware that your project exists. We run beautiful, short video ads on Instagram and Facebook.
But the targeting is critical — we target people living in or often visiting specific pincodes or affluent nearby areas. Think showing ads for a new project in Shilaj to people living in Bopal or Prahlad Nagar.
"The biggest mistake in real estate PPC is asking for a marriage on the first date. You can't run one ad showing a 3D render and expect someone to book a ₹2 crore flat. You have to build trust first." — Akshay Patel, Founder, ClickMaking
Middle of Funnel (MOFU): Earning Their Interest
Okay, now we retarget anyone who watched more than half of our video. They're clearly interested. But instead of a lazy "Contact Us" button, we offer them something genuinely useful. We call this a lead magnet. Some good ones are:
A detailed PDF brochure with all the floor plans.
Access to a slick 360-degree virtual tour.
An invite to an exclusive online session with the project architect.
To get this freebie, they fill out a form. Now you have a lead who has seen your brand twice and willingly traded their details for more info. This is a much, much warmer lead. This is also where smart CRM automation is so important for tagging and sorting these prospects correctly.
Bottom of Funnel (BOFU): Capturing the Buyers
This is where we go for the kill with Google Ads and sharp retargeting. We target people actively searching for keywords like "3 bhk apartments for sale in Bodakdev" or "new projects on SG Highway Ahmedabad." These folks are in buying mode. Your ad needs to lead to a specific landing page for that property with a clear, direct call-to-action: "Schedule a Site Visit."
Simultaneously, we're hitting our MOFU leads (the brochure downloaders) on both Google and Facebook with ads showing testimonials, construction updates, or a bit of urgency like "Only 3 corner units left!" This is where the real conversions happen.
Framework breakdown — ClickMaking
Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads: It's Not a Fight
Developers always ask me, "Akshay, should I use Google or Facebook?" It's the wrong question. That's like asking if your house should have walls or a roof. Bhai, you need both. They just do different jobs.
Google Ads: The Hunter
Think of Google as hunting. People go there with a specific need they want to solve right now. When someone types "ready to move flats in Gurgaon," their intent is crystal clear. Your job is to be the top answer.
Sure, it's more expensive per click, but the lead quality is incredible. We’ve seen this work wonders for clients across all our digital marketing offerings.
Facebook/Instagram Ads: The Farmer
Facebook is for farming. People are scrolling through their cousin's wedding photos, not looking for a flat. Your job is to interrupt them with something so visually appealing they have to stop. This is where you build your brand, tell a story, and plant a seed for a future purchase.
It's perfect for the top and middle of your funnel. It's why publications like Entrepreneur are always talking about visual-first marketing.
The Winning Combo: Using Them Together
Here's the magic. A potential buyer sees your stunning project video on Instagram (Facebook). They don't do anything, but they remember it. A week later, when they're finally serious, they search on Google. Your brand name pops up. They recognize you. Trust is already there. They’re way more likely to click your ad over a competitor they've never heard of. That's how you win.
Lead Quality Comparison: What Are You Really Paying For?
Let's break down the math on these different 'leads'. In our Monday morning meetings at ClickMaking, this is something I drill into my team: not all leads are equal. Getting this is the key to spending your budget wisely.
Lead Type
How It's Generated
Typical Cost (India)
Conversion Potential
Sales Team Effort
**Raw/Junk Lead**
Facebook Instant Form, broad targeting.
₹50 - ₹200
Very Low (<0.5%)
Very High (filtering)
**MOFU Lead**
Downloaded a brochure/virtual tour after seeing a video.
₹400 - ₹1,200
Medium (1-3%)
Medium (nurturing)
**BOFU Lead (Search)**
Google Search for high-intent keywords.
₹800 - ₹2,500
High (5-10%)
Low (direct follow-up)
**Qualified Site Visit**
Lead from any channel, verified via call, and appointment booked.
₹3,000 - ₹8,000
Very High (15-25%)
Zero (appointment is set)
You can see it right there. Chasing that ₹50 lead is a terrible idea. You'll end up spending more on your sales team's salaries just filtering them out than you would have if you'd just generated better leads from the start.
Real implementation example — ClickMaking
What Most PPC Guides for Real Estate Miss
Most articles you'll read about this are so generic. They say things like "use good images" and "target the right audience." Sach mein, that's not helpful advice. Here are a few things our team at ClickMaking has learned that actually make a huge difference.
1. The Power of Hyperlocal Negative Keywords
When you just target "flats in Ahmedabad," you get clicks from all over. You need to be just as aggressive with your negative keywords. Exclude nearby, less-affluent localities. Exclude terms like "rent," "cheap," and "pg accommodation." This cleans up your traffic so you're only paying for clicks from people who can actually afford your project.
2. Using Lookalike Audiences from Your CRM, Not Just Your Pixel
Everybody creates a Lookalike Audience from their website visitors. That's beginner stuff. The pro move is to export a list of your actual past buyers from your database. Upload this list to Facebook and create a Lookalike Audience from it. Facebook's algorithm will now find new people who share traits with those who have already written you a cheque. It works like crazy.
3. The Call-Only Campaign Goldmine
For those high-intent searches on mobile, a Call-Only ad can be a secret weapon. The only thing they can click is your phone number. No landing page, no form. It puts a motivated buyer directly in touch with your sales agent.
It’s a high-commitment click, so the person calling is usually dead serious. The WordStream blog has some good tactical guides on setting them up if you're curious.
Real Implementation: A Project Here in Ahmedabad
Let me make this concrete for you. Last year, we worked with a developer launching a luxury project in Shilaj. The properties were in the ₹1.5 - ₹2.5 crore range. Before us, they had already burned through ₹5 lakhs with another agency and gotten nothing but junk leads.
Client: "Prestige Homes" (name changed), Shilaj, Ahmedabad
Goal: Get 20 qualified site visits every month.
Budget: ₹4 Lakhs Ad Spend over 3 months.
Our Strategy:
Month 1 (TOFU/MOFU): We spent about ₹1 Lakh on Insta/FB video ads targeting high-income folks in Bopal, Bodakdev, and Prahlad Nagar. The ads sold the lifestyle, not just the building. We ran a second campaign retargeting video viewers with a lead magnet: a 'Detailed Project & Investment Guide'.
Month 2 (BOFU Activation): We switched on a Google Search campaign for keywords like "4 bhk near Shilaj" and "luxury apartments SG Highway." We also started retargeting our 600+ MOFU leads with "Book a Private Tour" ads. Our content team found that talking about nearby schools and hospitals was a big draw, so we added that in. You can see more about how our team thinks on our about page.
Month 3 (Optimization): We looked at the data to see which ads and audiences were bringing in the most qualified people (we track this in our own CRM). We pushed more budget into the Google Search campaign and our best-performing Facebook Lookalike Audience.
The Outcome:
Total Leads: ~850 (way less than their old 2000+/month)
Verified, Qualified Leads: 194
Site Visits Booked: 72 over 3 months (Average of 24/month)
Bookings (Closures): 11
Cost Per Site Visit: ~₹5,500
Total Revenue from our campaign: ₹18.5 Crores+
The developer was over the moon. They finally had a predictable system for getting sales. It wasn't magic. Just a proper strategy that actually respects the buyer's journey.
"You don't need more leads. You need more conversations with the right people. Your digital marketing, your professional website, your ads - everything should be designed to start those conversations." — Akshay Patel, Founder, ClickMaking
Actionable Takeaways: Your Checklist for Better Real Estate PPC
Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Don't be. Here's a simple checklist to get you started on the right path today.
Audit Your Leads: For one week, make your sales team track exactly how many leads are junk, unreachable, or unqualified. The data will open your eyes.
Define Your Ideal Customer: Who are you selling to? Where do they live? What do they do for a living? Get really specific. Your ad targeting depends on it.
Create One Good Lead Magnet: Don't try to do everything at once. Just create one valuable thing, like a detailed brochure, to capture warmer leads.
Set Up One Google Search Campaign: Target 5-10 very specific, location-based keywords. Send that traffic to a clean, fast landing page.
Film a Simple Walkthrough Video: Forget the fancy 3D renders. Use your phone and shoot a real, authentic tour of a sample flat. It builds so much more trust. And yeah, authenticity is core to any good brand strategy.
Install Your Tracking Pixels: This is a must. Facebook Pixel, Google Tag. You can't do any of this without tracking what users are doing.
Change Your Main Metric: Stop patting yourself on the back for a low Cost Per Lead. Start obsessing over your Cost Per Site Visit. This one mental shift will change your entire business. You can check out more on winning mindsets in our post about AI SEO in Gujarat.
Doing this right takes expertise and time. It needs constant watching and tweaking. But the difference between a junk lead strategy and a quality lead strategy is the difference between going nowhere and actually growing your business. If you're tired of burning money for zero results, maybe it's time for a new approach.
If you're a developer in India and this all sounds familiar, my team and I at ClickMaking are always open for a chat. Just reach out to us, and we can see if we can help you build a lead generation system that actually works.
For more deep dives into marketing research, the HubSpot Marketing Blog is a great resource.
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Originally published at clickmaking.com — ClickMaking is a digital marketing agency in Ahmedabad helping Indian businesses rank on Google.
