The Men's Health Standard · Action Plan
Your ads are working. The problem is where they send people. This plan fixes the leak today, then builds a sturdier lead engine this week.
The ads are healthy. Over the period we saw strong reach, a high click rate and cheap clicks. People are tapping the ads and heading to your Instagram to start a chat.
But not one chat is opening. Every ad points to Instagram Direct, and that connection is blocked. We logged 108 blocked attempts and zero conversations. Your welcome message and the two reply buttons are set up correctly, so the greeting is not the blocker. The Instagram messaging connection itself is.
Part A · Fix today
This opens the DMs back up at no build cost. Do these in order. A "blocked messaging connection" simply means Meta tried to open a chat when someone tapped your ad, and the attempt failed before any chat could appear.
If it still fails
Switch the ad destination from Instagram Direct to Messenger. Messenger connections are usually more stable and you keep the same welcome flow. Also check for region or age limits on the messaging controls, and loosen them to everyone while testing. If both still fail, that is your signal to move faster to Part B, because the funnels do not rely on the DM connection at all.
Part B · Build this week
Click to DM depends on a fragile link between Meta and Instagram messaging. You just lost 108 attempts to it. Your two funnels already exist and do not need that link. Pointing budget at them is the bigger, sturdier win. Keep the two audiences fully separate. Do not mix them.
Build this before the campaigns: tracking
Right now nothing tells Meta when a lead happens, so it has nothing to aim for. Set up the Meta Pixel on both funnel pages, add the Conversions API alongside it for reliable tracking, then define one conversion event per funnel: the booked call on /performance, and the application submitted on /online-clients. Verify each one fires in Events Manager with a test before launch. No verified event means the campaign cannot optimise and will waste spend.
Add a lead capture step on /performance
This page goes straight to Calendly with no email capture. If the visitor does not book, they are gone with no way to follow up. Add a short name and email step before the calendar. Then you keep the lead even when they do not book, and you get a clean event to optimise toward.
Campaign 1 · Health
Founders, £125k+ earners
Campaign 2 · Coaching
PTs scaling to £5k to £10k a month
| Split | Why |
|---|---|
| 60% Coaching | Wider audience and a lower barrier (application, not a high-ticket call), so it gathers conversion data faster and steadies the account. |
| 40% Health | Higher value, smaller pool. Give it enough to learn without starving the coaching test. |
| Reassess | After 7 days, judge on cost per lead and cost per booked call, then move budget to the winner. |
Build notes for the media buyer
Objective Leads, conversion location Website. Set the performance goal to the specific Pixel event per funnel, not "maximise link clicks". One ad set per campaign to start, so budget is not fragmented while events are still learning. Standard placements to begin. Reuse the ad creative you already have. It works at a 3.3% click rate and £0.31 a click. The problem was never the ads, only where they pointed.
Sequence
One clear order so nothing gets done out of turn. Part A gets DMs flowing again today at no cost. Part B is the bigger engine, but it needs tracking in place first, so it is a this-week build, not a today fix.
Today
// no build cost
This week
// the sturdier engine