Tareq is a real estate broker in the UAE. In three months we turned a costly, low-quality lead flow into a steady stream of qualified buyers and higher-budget investors — through smarter project selection, sharper creatives and a lookalike audience of Dubai investors.

Tareq is a real estate broker in the UAE property market. The goal was clear: more qualified leads from people who are genuinely ready to buy or invest — not just more form submissions.
We promoted apartments with accessible starting prices and strong capital-appreciation potential, and later shifted focus to investors ready to commit more than AED 2 million.
The task was never just volume. We had to reach people genuinely interested in buying property — and later, investors with serious budgets. Each problem got its own answer.
In month one we received 16 leads at an average of AED 168, and only a third were qualified. Many prospects wanted 2–3 bedroom apartments or villas, while the ads promoted more affordable units.
We focused the ads on apartments with a lower entry price, then used first-month data to narrow the audience to 30–65-year-olds interested in real estate investing and rebuilt the creatives around fully furnished units and affordable terms.
Next, we needed more investors ready to spend above AED 2M — a narrower, harder-to-reach audience.
Instead of relying on interests alone, we modelled the audience on a database of Dubai investors — people already active in the property market and ready for bigger budgets.
Project selection, first teasers and a simple in-app lead form.
First month benchmark and audience diagnosis.
New creatives plus a refined 30–65 audience.
Lookalike audience built on Dubai investors.
Instead of advertising every property available, we agreed with the client on what to promote: apartments with a lower starting price and strong capital-appreciation potential. We deliberately moved away from expensive villas — a more accessible entry point attracts a broader pool of investors. The client then supplied matching projects, which became the foundation of the campaigns.
Project selectionThe first teasers led with the most accessible projects. Rather than selling luxury, we gave practical reasons to act: a lower entry point, affordable payment options and limited availability — keeping the message investment-focused while making the property feel attainable.
Ad teasersWe amplified urgency by showing how few units were left. The number of remaining units in the creative was adjusted to strengthen the feeling of scarcity — nudging buyers to act now instead of postponing the decision.
We used an in-app lead form, so prospects never had to leave Facebook or Instagram. They left their details and picked how to continue the conversation — removing every unnecessary step between seeing the ad and becoming a lead.
The first month brought 16 leads at an average of AED 168. We treated it as a benchmark, not a final setup: the cost was still high, so the next step was to understand who was applying, what they actually wanted, and which parts of targeting and creatives had to change.
Month 1 resultsReviewing each lead with its qualification notes showed why only 33% qualified: many people were after 2–3 bedroom apartments or villas, while the ads promoted cheaper units. A lead alone wasn't enough — targeting and messaging had to match the buyer the client wanted.
Lead qualification notesInstead of keeping the original targeting, we refined it with real data. The strongest settings clustered around people aged 30–65 interested in apartments and real estate investing — a more relevant audience that cuts wasted traffic and raises the share of genuine buyers.
Audience analysisWe rebuilt the teasers around the messages that had shown the most potential: fully furnished apartments, accessible starting prices and affordable purchase terms. A clearer, more specific value proposition let buyers grasp the key benefits before they ever submitted a request — launched together with the refined audience.
Updated teasersWith new creatives and targeting live, performance moved in the right direction: 24 leads and an average cost per lead down from AED 168 to AED 117. We kept watching lead quality too — not just chasing a cheaper cost per result.
Optimized campaignThe qualification rate jumped from 33% to 57%, and two property viewings took place. Incoming requests now covered different property types with meaningful investment budgets — proof the campaign was getting closer to real sales goals.
QualificationWith quality under control, the goal became investors with budgets above AED 2M. Rather than relying on interests alone, we launched a lookalike campaign built on a database of Dubai investors — people already connected to the investment market, with stronger purchasing power.
The lookalike campaign raised volume while cutting costs: 79 leads at an average AED 50, with one campaign delivering 29 leads at just AED 39. Lead data also showed larger budgets — including prospects looking at properties in the AED 2–2.5M range.
Lookalike campaignSame budget, 4.3× more leads — as cost per lead fell from AED 168 to AED 39
Before vs. after optimization
leads generated over 3 months of campaigns
qualified prospects interested in cooperation
qualification rate in the optimized stage
average cost per lead across the whole project
per lead in the best lookalike campaign · 29 leads
budgets among lookalike leads, plus 2 property viewings
We never locked in a single campaign setup. Each stage's results shaped the next: accessible projects first, then lead-quality analysis and a refined audience, then creatives built around the best offers — and finally a lookalike audience of Dubai investors to scale toward higher budgets.
Tareq is a real estate broker operating in the UAE property market. The client wanted to generate more qualified leads from people genuinely interested in buying or investing in real estate. The main focus was on promoting apartments with accessible starting prices and strong capital appreciation potential.
Another important goal was to attract investors with higher budgets, particularly those ready to invest more than AED 2 million. Over three months, the campaigns generated 123 leads, including 40 qualified prospects interested in cooperation.
At the beginning of the project, the main challenge was not simply to generate more leads, but to attract people who were genuinely interested in buying property.
During the first month, we received 16 leads at an average cost of AED 168, and 33% of them were qualified. Many prospects were looking for 2–3 bedroom apartments or villas, while the campaigns were promoting cheaper units.
Later, we faced another challenge: we needed to attract more investors with budgets above AED 2M.
We started by creating a clear project-selection strategy together with the client.
Instead of promoting expensive luxury villas, we focused on apartments with a lower starting price and strong capital-appreciation potential. In the ads, we highlighted what could make the offer more attractive to investors: affordable payment options, fully furnished units, and limited availability.
After collecting the first campaign data, we analyzed the quality of the leads, adjusted the audience and updated the creatives.
At the next stage, we launched a lookalike campaign based on a database of Dubai investors to reach more relevant and higher-budget prospects.
At first, we created a project-selection strategy for the client. We decided to focus on properties with a low starting price and capital-appreciation potential, and to promote apartments instead of expensive villas. The client approved the approach and provided a list of projects that matched these criteria. Based on this strategy, we created the first advertising teasers. Instead of selling the idea of luxury, we focused on affordability and a lower entry point. The creatives highlighted fully furnished apartments, affordable payment terms and limited availability to make the offers more attractive to potential buyers. To collect leads, we used a simple internal Facebook lead form. We wanted to make the first step as easy as possible, so prospects could leave their contact details and choose how they preferred to be contacted without leaving Facebook.
During the first month, we received 16 leads at an average cost of AED 168. The qualification rate was 33%, so we analyzed both the advertising results and the feedback from the leads. This helped us understand which audience settings were working better. We then focused on people aged 30–65 with interests in apartments and real estate investing.
After analyzing the best-performing ads, we prepared a new set of creatives. We strengthened the messages around fully furnished properties and affordable terms and launched them together with the updated audience settings. As a result, the campaigns generated 24 leads at an average cost of AED 117. The qualification rate increased to 57%, and two property viewings were completed.
The next step was to attract investors with larger budgets, especially people ready to invest more than AED 2M. For this stage, we launched a lookalike campaign based on a database of Dubai investors. The campaign generated 79 leads at an average cost of AED 50. One of the campaigns delivered 29 leads at AED 39 per lead, while the lead data also showed an increase in investors’ budgets.
We started by defining which real estate projects should be promoted instead of advertising every property available. Together with the client, we created a selection strategy focused on apartments with a lower starting price and strong capital-appreciation potential. We deliberately moved away from expensive villas because a more accessible entry price could attract a broader pool of potential investors. After the strategy was approved, the client provided projects that matched these criteria and we used them as the foundation for the advertising campaigns.

We created the first advertising teasers around the projects with the most accessible starting prices. Instead of positioning the properties mainly through luxury, we focused the communication on practical reasons to consider the offer: a lower entry point, affordable payment options and limited availability. This allowed us to make the properties feel more attainable while still keeping an investment-focused message. The creatives were designed to generate interest quickly and encourage potential buyers to request more information.

We strengthened the sense of urgency in the advertising by emphasizing limited availability. The creative highlighted that only a small number of units were left, encouraging potential buyers to act sooner rather than postpone their decision. In the original campaign process, the number of remaining units shown in the creative was changed specifically to create a stronger feeling of scarcity and make the offer appear more time-sensitive.

We used an internal Facebook lead form to make the conversion process as simple as possible. Instead of sending users to a separate landing page, we allowed them to submit their contact details directly inside Facebook. We also gave prospects several contact options, including WhatsApp, Telegram and phone, so they could choose the most convenient way to continue the conversation. The goal was to remove unnecessary steps between seeing the ad and becoming a lead.
During the first month, the campaigns generated 16 leads at an average cost of AED 168. We used these initial results as a benchmark rather than treating the first campaign setup as final. The cost per lead was still high, so the next step was to analyze who was submitting requests, what they were actually looking for and which parts of the targeting and creative strategy needed to be improved.

We reviewed the incoming leads together with their qualification notes to understand why the first campaign was not producing enough relevant inquiries. Only 33% of the leads were qualified. A number of prospects were looking for 2-3 bedroom apartments or villas even though the advertising was focused on cheaper units. This showed us that generating a lead was not enough - we needed the targeting and advertising message to better match the type of buyer the client wanted to work with.

Based on the first campaign data, we refined the audience instead of continuing with the original targeting. The strongest settings were concentrated around people aged 30-65 with interests related to apartments and real estate investing. We used these findings to build a more relevant audience for the next campaign stage. This optimization was intended to reduce wasted traffic and increase the share of leads who had genuine interest in purchasing or investing in property.

We updated the advertising creatives using the messages that had shown the strongest potential in the previous campaigns. The new teasers placed greater emphasis on fully furnished apartments, accessible starting prices and affordable purchase terms. We made the value proposition clearer and more specific so potential buyers could understand the key benefits before submitting a request. These creatives were launched together with the refined audience settings as the next optimization stage.

After launching the new creatives and updated targeting, the campaign performance improved. We generated 24 leads and reduced the average cost per lead from AED 168 to AED 117. This was an important step because it showed that the changes based on the first month of data were moving the campaign in the right direction. We continued evaluating lead quality as well, rather than optimizing only for a cheaper cost per result.

The optimized campaign also produced a clear improvement in lead quality. The qualification rate increased from 33% to 57%, and two property viewings were completed. The incoming requests included prospects looking for different property types and working with meaningful investment budgets. This confirmed that the combination of refined targeting and updated creatives was bringing the campaign closer to the client's actual sales objectives, not simply increasing the number of form submissions.

After improving the qualification rate, we moved to the next challenge: attracting more investors with budgets above AED 2M. To reach a more relevant high-budget audience, we launched a lookalike campaign based on a database of Dubai investors. Instead of relying only on interest-based targeting, we used an audience modeled on people who were already connected to the investment market. The objective was to scale lead generation while increasing the likelihood of reaching prospects with stronger purchasing power.
Database of Dubai investors → modeled audience of people already connected to the investment market.
The lookalike campaign significantly increased the volume of leads while reducing acquisition costs. We generated 79 leads at an average cost of AED 50, and one of the campaigns produced 29 leads at only AED 39 per lead. At the same time, the incoming lead information showed larger investment budgets, including prospects considering properties in the AED 2M-2.5M range. This meant the campaign was not only becoming cheaper at scale, but was also reaching the higher-budget audience we wanted to attract.

Over three months, the campaigns generated 123 leads at an average cost of AED 82.
In total, 40 leads were qualified and interested in cooperation, giving an overall qualification rate of 32%. During the optimized campaign stage, the qualification rate reached 57% and two property viewings were completed.
The lookalike campaign generated 79 leads at an average cost of AED 50, while one campaign delivered 29 leads at AED 39 per lead.
We did not rely on one campaign setup throughout the whole project. We used the results from each stage to improve the next one. First, we selected projects with a more accessible entry price. Then we analyzed the quality of the leads, refined the audience and updated the creative messages around the offers that performed best. Finally, we used a lookalike audience based on Dubai investors to scale the campaign and reach prospects with higher investment budgets.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Tareq is a real estate broker operating in the UAE property market. The client wanted to generate more qualified leads from people genuinely interested in buying or investing in real estate. The main focus was on promoting apartments with accessible starting prices and strong capital appreciation potential. Another important goal was to attract investors with higher budgets, particularly those ready to invest more than AED 2 million. Over three months, the campaigns generated 123 leads, including 40 qualified prospects interested in cooperation.