This case examines the promotion of Dubai's luxury real estate valued at over $5.9 million. The main objective was to collect and process leads (potential buyers) through advertising campaigns on Facebook* from September to January. Our goals included:
Launching ads for high-budget properties (including Four Seasons and Palm Jebel Ali);
Optimizing expenses: testing, identifying the most effective "combinations" (audience + creative + geo), and scaling them. Any inefficiencies were cut off, and budgets were reallocated;
Filtering for leads truly ready to purchase properties starting from $5.9 million.
It is worth noting that we have our own extensive database of real estate owners and buyers in Dubai (over 2 million entries). Before launch, we filtered it by price and removed realtors (about 300,000 contacts) and irrelevant entries to reduce pointless impressions and efficiently allocate the ad budget. We also analyzed geography (CIS, Middle East, Europe, USA, Asia) and set up Look-Alike audiences based on the final sample.
Overall result for the entire period:
939 leads (potential clients);
Average Cost Per Lead (CPL): ~$16.9;
The ads directly indicated the price "from $5.9 million," which helped screen out audiences with insufficient budgets.
Initially, we expected a CPL of $40–45, and a "qualified" lead cost of up to $2,000. In the end, real metrics were lower, despite dealing with Facebook* ad account blocks.
Campaign Stages and Timeline
Period 1 (October)
Launch of the first ad campaigns (Four Seasons properties, etc.).
Creative formats: videos (some with TikTokers), photos, texts in Russian and English.
Challenges: nearly all ad accounts (including backups) were blocked in the first 2–3 weeks.
To avoid blocks from the start, we:
"Warmed up" accounts (spending $2–5/day), avoiding sharp spikes in spending;
Uploaded audience data in segments (small batches);
Used "trusted" accounts (with ad spend history and no violations).
Period 2 (November)
Focus: maintaining active accounts and trying to recover frozen ones.
Traffic cost: ~$293.57, 5 leads received.
Style change: removed direct CTAs like "buy now," softened aggressive wording in ads.
Despite content softening, scaling was hindered by repeated bans and payment data verifications.
Period 3 (Dec 1–9)
Carefully increased daily limits on "warmed-up" accounts.
Updated creatives (removed all mentions of "100% ROI" or guaranteed returns).
First signs of stabilization: some ads passed moderation without blocks.
Period 4 (Dec 10–13)
Continued isolated blocks.
By Dec 14, lead generation was relaunched on previously warmed-up profiles and part of the base was reloaded.
Period 5 (Dec 14 – Jan 9)
December traffic spend: ~$11,291 → 696 leads, CPL ~ $16;
January traffic spend: ~$2,109 → 185 leads, CPL ~ $11.
By the campaign's end, thanks to meticulous creative selection and smooth scaling, we reduced CPL by over 50% compared to early weeks. The client received about 700 applications in just Dec–Jan; many leads scored 4–5 out of 5 internally, showing real interest in properties priced at $5.9 million and above.
Problems and Solutions
Instant bans on new accounts
Reason: Facebook* flags rapid activity and large budgets from scratch;
Solution: warm-up period (minimal spend initially), use trusted accounts with clean ad history.
Payment data verification (card bans)
Reason: unfamiliar payment profiles, new billing data;
Solution: use verified Business Managers or agency accounts with confirmed cards and limits.
Realtors and irrelevant contacts in the database
Reason: broad database includes many market colleagues;
Solution: strict filtering — remove all realtor accounts and duplicates to avoid budget waste.
Sharp increase in daily budget = higher block risk
Solution: soft scaling (+10–20% per day), parallel ad launches in multiple BMs with different audiences (Look-Alikes, interests, geo).
Creatives violating policy
Reason: early creatives might mention "100% profit," alcohol in images, etc.;
Solution: removed/rephrased these claims, texts reviewed by experienced ad managers, all images pre-screened.
Final Metrics
Total leads (Sept–Jan): 939
Average CPL: ~$16.9
Traffic spend: ~$15,937
Other expenses (team, partner BM rental, creative production, fees): ~$7,245.52
Total: ~$23,182.52
Note: All ads included a stated price of "from $5.9 million," filtering out unqualified users. According to the client's internal assessment, many leads were high-quality (4–5 out of 5), and some users with lower budgets acquired other listings through the same company.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Prepare backup accounts/BMs. Frequent bans require quick switching without halting the campaign.
Carefully word ad copy. Avoid promises like "guaranteed profit," alcohol mentions, etc. Facebook* may flag these.
Filter your base. Remove realtor contacts and irrelevant entries to prevent wasted budget.
Scale budgets gradually. Sudden jumps raise red flags and lead to bans.
Real-time analytics. Track which ads deliver quality leads (use bot/dashboard), and promptly disable ineffective bundles.
Why We Can Be Useful for Other Realtors and Developers
Large database: over 2 million Dubai contacts, with realtors flagged (for exclusion).
Flexible creative production: adapt photos/videos/texts to Facebook*'s strict policies.
Systemic analytics: use of dashboards, chatbots, weekly reports for quick strategy adjustment.
As practice shows, even with difficult moderation and multiple blocks, it is possible to collect nearly a thousand leads at a significantly lower-than-expected cost. We've already launched new projects with this client for 2025 and are open to collaboration if you need Facebook* advertising for luxury real estate or similar high-budget niches.
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