£500
Recommended min monthly ad spend
3-5x
Realistic ROAS range
£200
SKALR management fee
£8-30
Typical UK cost per lead
There are two separate costs
The most common misconception about Meta Ads costs is treating them as one number. There are actually two: your ad spend (the money that goes directly to Meta to show your ads) and your management fee (what you pay an agency or specialist to run the campaigns). These are completely separate. SKALR charges £200/month to manage your campaigns. Your ad spend goes directly to Meta on top of that.
How much ad spend do you need?
We recommend a minimum of £500/month in ad spend. Below this threshold Meta's algorithm does not receive enough data to exit the learning phase and optimise properly. Most businesses seeing consistent results in the UK spend between £800 and £3,000/month. The right number depends on your average customer value and your target cost per lead.
Cost per lead by sector
Home improvement: £8 to £25 per lead. Dental and aesthetics: £15 to £35 per lead. Gyms and personal training: £4 to £15 per lead. Restaurants (cost per booking): £3 to £12. E-commerce (cost per purchase): highly variable based on product price. These are realistic ranges based on well-structured campaigns. Poor campaign structure can produce costs 3 to 5 times higher.
What management fees look like across the industry
Most UK Meta Ads agencies charge between £800 and £2,500/month for campaign management, often with a percentage of ad spend on top. Some charge a setup fee of £500 to £1,500 before the first campaign goes live. SKALR charges £200/month fixed, no percentage of spend, no setup fees. We made that pricing decision deliberately — most small and medium businesses cannot justify £1,500/month in agency fees on top of their ad budget.
What a realistic return looks like
For service businesses, a well-run Meta Ads campaign should generate leads at a cost that represents less than 20 percent of the value of the job or customer. For e-commerce, a blended ROAS (return on ad spend) of 3x to 5x is achievable for most well-structured accounts. These numbers take 60 to 90 days of data and optimisation to reach. Anyone promising guaranteed results in week one is not being honest with you.
Total monthly investment to consider
A realistic monthly investment for a UK business running Meta Ads properly looks like this: ad spend £500 to £1,500, management fee £200 (SKALR). Total: £700 to £1,700 per month. At a cost per lead of £15 and a conversion rate of 20 percent from lead to sale, that is 33 to 100 new leads per month. For most businesses the maths works clearly.
Questions
Common questions answered.
© 2026 SKALR Marketing · skalrmarketing.co.uk
Built by NexaDesign