How to give an agency or CRM access to your Meta lead ads leads

In Meta Business Suite, someone with full control of your business portfolio opens Settings > Integrations > Leads access and clicks Assign partners, Assign people or Assign CRMs to let an agency, a person or a CRM download the leads from your Page's lead ads. Until anyone customizes leads access, Meta's default lets Page admins and people with messaging permissions download leads. Once it has been customized, Meta says new people, CRM systems and partners have to be added by hand, which can explain why leads stop reaching an agency or a CRM after a change.

This guide is for the business that owns the Facebook Page the lead ads run from. Ask the agency whether it downloads leads itself or receives them in a CRM, because the steps differ.

The default rule and what customizing changes

Meta's leads access article describes two states:

• Not customized (the default): all Page admins or people with messaging permissions can download leads.
• Customized: only the people, partners and CRM systems assigned in leads access can.

Customizing starts when someone with full control of the business portfolio clicks Customize access and confirms. Meta's enable article says it then assigns leads access to all existing Page admins and integrated CRMs, so existing integrations keep receiving leads. The difference shows later: any new Page admin or CRM system has no leads access until someone with full control of the business portfolio assigns it. People without access get an error message when they try to download leads, and a CRM without access stops receiving real-time updates, with an error for that CRM in Meta's lead ads testing tool.

Meta says leads access is meant for businesses that want to limit leads to certain employees rather than every Page admin or third party with access to the Page.

Before you start

• You need full control of the business portfolio that the Page belongs to. Meta says only people with full control can enable leads access, and that they can then add or remove people, partners and CRM systems.
• Each person needs a role on the Page. Meta says people cannot have access to leads without a Page role.
• The agency must already be a partner on the Page. The leads list only shows partners connected to your Page. If it is not, give it access first, as in the Facebook Page guide or the partner access guide.
• A CRM must already be connected to Meta. It appears in the list only after that.

See who has access to your leads

Meta's assign article gives these steps:

1. Go to Meta Business Suite.
2. Click Business portfolio in the dropdown menu and choose your business portfolio.
3. Click Settings next to your business portfolio.
4. Go to Integrations, then click Leads access.
5. If this is the first time, click Customize access in the popup, then Confirm. If leads access is already enabled, skip this step.
6. Use the tabs to see the people, partners and CRMs that have access, or search by name.

Give an agency access to your leads

1. In Meta Business Suite, choose your business portfolio and click Settings.
2. Go to Integrations, then click Leads access.
3. Click Assign partners. Meta lists the partners connected to your Page.
4. Check the box next to the agency.
5. Click Assign.

Meta says only the business that owns the Page can assign leads access to partner businesses or agencies. Once the agency has it, the agency can assign leads access to its own employees. Meta adds that a shared Page appears in the partner's own leads access only after the partner has been given:

• a Page admin role
• permission in leads access

Give a CRM access to your leads

In Leads access, click Assign CRMs, select the CRM systems and click Assign. Meta lists only CRM systems that have been integrated with your Page. A CRM with leads access receives the updates about new leads from Meta.

If the CRM is not connected yet, Meta's CRM article says a Page admin with leads access permission can connect it from the CRM setup tab on the Instant forms page in Meta Business Suite. Without customized leads access, an integrated CRM receives leads automatically. With customized leads access, it receives them only after you assign it.

If you use your own CRM rather than a listed integration, Meta explains that the CRM fetches each new lead with a user access token or a Page access token. That fails if the people behind the token do not have leads access. Make sure those people appear on the people tab of leads access.

Give a person access to your leads

There are two ways:

• From leads access: click Assign people, select the people from the list of people with roles on your Page, and click Assign.
• From the person: in Settings, go to People and click the person's name. Click Assign assets, select the asset type and the assets, then under Partial access (business tools only) turn on Leads.

Remove leads access

Open Settings > Integrations > Leads access, hover over the person, partner or CRM and click Trash. Meta says you can also remove leads access from the people or Pages section of Settings.

Restore the default

To undo every change made in leads access, Meta's restore article gives these steps:

1. In Meta Business Suite, choose your business portfolio and open Settings (the restore article still calls it the gear icon).
2. Under Integrations, click Leads access.
3. Click Restore default access.
4. Click Restore default.

Afterwards all Page admins, people with messaging permissions and partners with the Page admin role have access to your leads, and all other Page roles lose it.

Troubleshooting

Leads stopped arriving in the CRM

Check whether leads access has been customized. If it has, a new CRM has no access until someone with full control of the business portfolio assigns it under Assign CRMs. Meta's lead ads testing tool shows an error for a CRM without access. For your own CRM, also check that the people behind its access token are on the people tab.

The agency cannot download leads

Meta's download article gives two cases:

• Leads access not customized: only people with full control of the Page or messaging permissions can download leads. Ask someone with full control of the Page to give the agency the right access.
• Leads access customized: only people assigned access can. Assign the agency under Assign partners, or its people under Assign people.

The agency or person is not in the list

People need a role on the Page, and partners need to be connected to the Page, before they appear in leads access.

Older leads are missing

Meta keeps lead information for 90 days after a form is submitted. Older leads cannot be downloaded.

You cannot find Leads access or Customize access

Only people with full control of the business portfolio can enable leads access. If you do not see the Customize access box, Meta says leads access is already enabled and you can start assigning.