NDIS SIL Lead Generation: A Practical Playbook

We run Meta ad campaigns to fill SIL vacancies in Sydney, including for our own houses. This article covers the principles we work from. It isn't a guaranteed formula, but in our experience it beats a generic "Contact Us" campaign.

The first question every provider asks: "should we be on Google?" For SIL housing specifically, Meta tends to outperform Google Search in our experience, for one reason: the person who enquires is often not the person who will live in the home.

SIL housing enquiries often come through support coordinators and the participant's existing supports. They're not usually on Google at 10 PM typing "SIL vacancy near me." They're scrolling Facebook after dinner, and when an ad shows a clean SIL property in their area, they stop and enquire. The intent is latent rather than active, and Meta is built to capture latent intent.

Google Search tends to work better for support coordination client acquisition, where people actively search "NDIS support coordinator [suburb]."

Property photo ads generally outperform generic creative. A single good photo of the actual SIL property, such as a clean bedroom or the kitchen, with overlay text like "SIL Vacancy Available: [Suburb], NSW" usually beats stock photography. People can tell the difference.

Video walkthroughs (even shot on a phone, 30 to 60 seconds) often beat static images. A short walkthrough narrated by a house manager reads as authentic in a way polished creative doesn't.

Carousel ads showing multiple rooms are worth testing. The viewer has seen the whole property before submitting, so the leads that come through tend to be better informed, even if each one costs a little more.

This is where many providers go wrong. They run a generic "Contact Us" form asking for name, email and phone, then spend their week calling through a pile of unqualified leads.

Our approach: multi-step qualification questions in Meta's native lead forms. For example:

Step 1: "We have SIL vacancies in [suburb]. Answer a few questions to check if we're a good fit." Step 2: "Is the prospective resident currently NDIS-funded?" (Yes / No / Not sure) Step 3: "Does the prospective resident have SIL funding in their current plan?" (Yes / Requesting at next review / Not sure) Step 4: "What level of support?" (Standard / High / Complex / Not sure) Step 5: "Move-in timeline?" (Urgent / 1-3 months / 3-6 months / Exploring) Step 6: "Which area?" (list your service suburbs) Step 7: Contact details + who they're enquiring for

Each step filters out unqualified leads and increases commitment from qualified ones. Completion rates drop as you add steps, but the leads that get through are usually much better.

Results vary a lot with budget, creative, targeting and how fast you follow up, and no single number applies to every provider. As a general rule:

Rather than quoting specific cost-per-lead figures (which vary by suburb, season, and creative quality), track your own numbers from month one and use them as your baseline for improvement.

Immediately after submission: an automatic SMS confirming receipt and setting expectations for a callback window.

Fast follow-up matters. Leads contacted quickly tend to convert better than leads contacted a day or more later. Speed to lead is one of the things a provider fully controls.

Qualification call: confirm lead form info, assess compatibility with current housemates, check property availability.

Tour booked: offer a specific date and time rather than a vague "we'll be in touch".

SIL lead generation on Meta isn't complicated, but it takes discipline: real photos, qualification questions, fast structured follow-up, and tracking from lead to move-in. If your results aren't where you want them, the problem is usually the creative, the form or the follow-up rather than the platform.

NDIS provider with vacancies to fill? Get in touch and we'll talk through how we'd run it for you.