NDIS SIL Lead Generation: Our $15 CPL Playbook

We've been running NDIS SIL lead generation campaigns across Sydney for two years. Over $80,000 in Meta ad spend, thousands of qualified leads. Our average cost per qualified lead sits at $22, with our best campaigns hitting $15 CPL consistently.

This article breaks down exactly how we do it. No gatekeeping.

The first question every provider asks: "should we be on Google?" For SIL housing specifically, Meta outperforms Google Search for one reason — the decision-maker is rarely the participant themselves.

SIL housing decisions are made by family members, guardians, and support coordinators. They're not on Google at 10 PM typing "SIL vacancy near me." They're scrolling Facebook after dinner, and when they see an ad showing a clean SIL property in their area, they stop and enquire. The intent is latent, not active — and Meta captures latent intent.

Google Search is better for support coordination client acquisition, where people actively search "NDIS support coordinator Liverpool."

We've tested dozens of formats. Here's what consistently performs:

Property photo ads outperform everything. A single high-quality photo of the actual SIL property — clean bedroom, modern kitchen — with overlay text like "SIL Vacancy Available — Fairfield, NSW" pulls a $15-25 CPL. Stock photos don't work. People can tell.

Video walkthroughs (even shot on iPhone, 30-60 seconds) consistently beat static images. Our best-performing SIL ad was a 45-second iPhone walkthrough of a Liverpool property, narrated by the house manager. It ran for four months: 89 qualified leads at $17 CPL.

Carousel ads showing multiple rooms pull a slightly higher CPL ($18-28) but generate higher-quality leads — the viewer has already seen the full property before submitting.

This is where most providers get it wrong. They run a "Contact Us" form with name, email, phone. They get 200 leads, call them all, and 180 are garbage.

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

Step 1: "We have SIL vacancies in [suburb]. Answer a few questions to check if we're a good fit." Step 2: "Is the participant currently NDIS-funded?" (Yes / No / Not sure) Step 3: "Does the participant 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?" (Fairfield / Liverpool / Parramatta / Blacktown / Penrith / Campbelltown) Step 7: Contact details + relationship to participant

Each step filters unqualified leads but increases commitment from qualified ones. Form completion rate: ~35%, but the leads that come through are gold.

$1,500/month ad spend: - 20-35 qualified leads/month - $20-35 CPL - 4-8 tour bookings, 1-2 move-ins

$3,000/month ad spend: - 40-60 qualified leads/month - $15-25 CPL (lower at higher spend due to algorithm optimisation) - 8-15 tour bookings, 2-4 move-ins

$5,000/month ad spend: - 70-100 qualified leads/month - $15-22 CPL - 15-25 tour bookings, 4-7 move-ins

These numbers assume Sydney targeting, a well-optimised lead form, and follow-up within 4 hours. If your follow-up is slow, cut tour bookings and move-ins in half.

0-5 minutes: Lead submits form → automatic SMS: "Thanks [name], we've received your enquiry about SIL housing in [suburb]. Our intake team will call within 24 hours."

Within 4 hours: Intake team calls. Leads called within 1 hour convert at 3x the rate of leads called after 24 hours.

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

Tour booked: Offer a specific date and time. "Can you visit this Thursday at 2 PM?" converts at 2x the rate of "we'll be in touch."

1. Running traffic to a website instead of a lead form. Lead forms convert 3-5x better. The friction of leaving Facebook kills conversion.

2. Stock images instead of real property photos. A photo of the actual bedroom converts. A stock photo of smiling people doesn't.

3. No follow-up system. Generating leads and calling 3 days later is worse than not running ads at all.

4. Too generic on ad copy. "Quality NDIS Services" means nothing. "SIL Vacancy — 4 Bed Home, Fairfield — Female Household, High Support" tells the viewer immediately if it's relevant.

5. Not tracking cost per move-in. CPL is a vanity metric if you don't track to move-in. We build dashboards tracking lead → tour → move-in.

SIL lead gen on Meta isn't complicated, but it requires discipline: real photos, qualification questions, automated speed-to-lead follow-up, and tracking from lead to move-in. At $3K/month, you should generate 40-60 qualified leads. If you're not, the problem is almost always in the creative, the form, or the follow-up.