Case Study · Meta Lead Gen
How Full Out Global rebuilt InterMediCare's Meta Ads program into a predictable source of qualified nurse applications, despite employment ad restrictions and a mid-campaign deletion.
InterMediCare is a Cologne-based healthcare recruitment company that helps generalist nurses, mainly from Romania, move into roles across German hospitals, elderly-care homes, ambulatory care and intensive-care providers.
The business had a strong offer for candidates: German-language training up to B2, support with qualification recognition, help settling in Germany, IGZ-standard pay, tax-free shift bonuses, and a job placement close to home. The advertising account, however, was being run in-house without a structured testing process.
The target was simple and measurable: generate qualified nurse applications at a cost per lead below 10 RON.
Meta's employment Special Ad Category removes common levers such as age, gender and detailed interest targeting, while also limiting location precision.
The right applicants had to be qualified nurses, open to Germany, and responsive to a serious relocation offer, not generic job seekers.
Before takeover, there was no reliable A/B process across placements, formats or messaging, so decisions were hard to tie to results.
Early cost per application sat above the client's 10 RON target, with lead flow that was too unpredictable for recruitment planning.
When the platform does not let you target the exact person, the ad itself has to qualify the audience. We kept delivery broad and used the offer, region-specific messaging, and clear candidate benefits to make the right nurses select themselves.
The strongest ads did not sell vague opportunity. They sold concrete reasons to apply: proper German employment conditions, funded language support, a job close to home, and a path through recognition paperwork.
The decisive test compared image and video creatives on the same recruitment offer. The image ad set won clearly.
Result: image creative was about 46% cheaper per lead. Budget was shifted toward the winning format.
Instead of relying on restricted demographic filters, the campaign made the offer specific enough for serious nurses to respond and casual job seekers to ignore.
In March 2026, the account's primary lead-generation campaign was accidentally deleted. That campaign had produced 3,604 applications over nearly three years, so the risk was immediate: lost learning history, lost momentum and an interrupted recruitment pipeline.
Because the winning setup had been documented, we rebuilt the campaign quickly and carried the same learnings into the new structure. Within weeks, the replacement campaign was producing at the same level as the old one, eventually reaching a 6.93 RON cost per lead by early July 2026.
From roughly 24-32 RON per application at launch to consistently under 10 RON in 2026, with the best month reaching 6.93 RON.
Across the original and rebuilt Meta lead-generation campaigns.
Leads at 15.30 RON average CPL, before the campaign was accidentally deleted in March 2026.
Leads at 11.19 RON average CPL after the rebuild, proving the documented structure could transfer.
Cost per lead from 169 applications and 1,511 RON spend, comfortably under the client's target.
The fresh campaign started in learning phase, then settled into the target zone as the winning structure gathered signal.
| Criteria | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Account management | Self-managed, no media-buying process | Agency-managed with structured testing |
| Targeting approach | Blocked by employment restrictions | Broad delivery plus creative-led qualification |
| Creative strategy | Untested format mix | Image vs. video A/B test, then budget moved to the winner |
| Cost per lead | About 24-32 RON at launch | Under 10 RON sustained in 2026, best 6.93 RON |
| Lead flow | Unpredictable | 110-170 leads per month in recent operating windows |
| Resilience | No clear recovery path | Rebuilt in days after accidental campaign deletion |
In restricted ad categories, creative and structure have to do the qualification that targeting cannot do.
For InterMediCare, the win came from making the offer specific, testing formats cleanly, and building a process resilient enough to survive losing the main campaign.
The next growth path is to increase application volume while protecting CPL: refresh the winning image concepts before fatigue sets in, retarget people who opened the lead form but did not submit, and expand the same tested structure into additional regions and language-market angles.
Figures reflect Meta Ads Manager data through July 3, 2026 across the original deleted campaign and the rebuilt active campaign. Cost per lead is measured on Meta lead forms in RON.
InterMediCare's account shows what a disciplined paid social system can do when the platform removes standard targeting controls. Over nearly three years, structured creative testing and offer-led qualification turned an in-house account into a predictable recruitment engine: 4,139 leads, about 60% lower CPL, and performance that stayed under target even after the main campaign had to be rebuilt.
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