Showcase Case Studies Financial services consumers

Same platform, same audience: how consumer voices cut cost per lead by up to 80%

For two financial years, a major South African financial services brand ran two paid social approaches on Meta side by side. One used polished brand content from a leading agency. The other used everyday South Africans, activated by theSalt. The consumer voices brought in cheaper leads in every period measured, and the brand moved its budget to match.

the challenge

A like-for-like test you rarely get to run

Most debates about consumer voices versus brand content come down to opinion. This brand had the data to settle it. For two consecutive financial years it ran both approaches on Meta at the same time, aimed at the same audience. The creative was the only thing that changed.

Financial services is a hard category for social. Products like insurance, credit and investments are high-stakes decisions, people are wary of being sold to, and polished ads are easy to scroll past.

The hypothesis: with distribution held equal, real consumer voices would bring in leads more cheaply than brand content, because when money is involved, people trust each other more than they trust a brand.

our approach

Real South Africans as the creative on Meta

theSalt drew on its network of everyday South Africans, choosing people with a real connection to the brand's financial products. Each person was matched to the target audience using more than 70 lifestyle data points, then recorded their own first-person content. There was no studio shoot and no scripted ad copy. The content ran through Meta's paid placements, in the same way as the agency's brand assets.

Consumer voices (theSalt)

Real South Africans as paid social voices

Trust between peers
Personal, first-person stories
Reads like a recommendation from someone you know
High creative volume, so Meta learns faster

Brand content (leading agency)

Professionally produced brand assets

Studio-produced, on-brand creative
Strong visual identity
Broadcast tone
Weaker trust signal between peers

Goal vs Achievement

Across both years and both products, consumer voices delivered leads at a lower cost than brand content. Every month measured showed the same result.

55%

Lower cost per lead for Product A, year-one average

Up to 69% in the best months

80%

Lower cost per lead for Product B, year-one average

54-80% month to month

Period	Product A: lower CPL	Product B: lower CPL
Year one, full-year average	55%	80%
Year two to date, 11-month average	40%	54%
Best months	Up to 69%	54-80%
Weakest months	26-29%	Ahead in every period

+63%

The budget followed the results

Once the results were clear, the brand moved more money to the channel that was working. Combined paid social investment through theSalt grew 63% from year one to year two. Product A's budget doubled, and Product B's grew 37%.

Why consumer voices cost less per lead on Meta

The gap came from four advantages that consumer voice content has in a social feed, and they matter most in categories where people think hard before they buy.

People trust people

Before making a financial decision, people look for the experience of someone like them. A recommendation from a peer gets more clicks than a message from the brand.

It stops the scroll

People recognise a polished ad in their feed straight away and skip it. Consumer voice content looks like a post from someone you know, so people stop to watch.

Meta rewards engagement

Comments, saves and shares improve Meta’s quality score, which brings the cost per lead down. Consumer voice content drew more of all three than the brand creative.

Volume speeds up learning

A large network produces many creative variations. That gives Meta more to test and learn from, and keeps the ads fresh while audiences tire of repeated brand assets.

Where this fits for your brand

For brands running paid social for insurance, credit, investments or medical cover. Consumer voices don't replace your current strategy. They sit alongside your existing paid media mix as an extra channel, and they reach people through trust, which brand content struggles to build in a feed.

The takeout: run consumer voices next to your brand creative on the same platform, and let the cost-per-lead data decide where the budget goes.

Lower cost per lead for both products in every period measured

Two financial years

Product A’s budget doubled in year two

+100%

Combined paid social investment grew 63%

Year one to year two

the short
story

Two approaches ran side by side for two years, and the consumer voices won every period.

A South African financial services brand tested everyday consumer voices against professionally produced brand content, on the same platform, with the same audience and at the same time. Consumer voices brought in leads 55–80% more cheaply in year one and stayed ahead throughout year two.

The brand responded by moving budget into the channel. Its paid social investment through theSalt grew 63%, and Product A's budget doubled.

Key takeaway

When people trust the messenger, leads get cheaper.

Questions brand marketers ask about this campaign

Why isn't the brand named?

The advertiser asked us to keep its name confidential. The results come from two financial years of live campaign data, from October 2024 to August 2026

How was the comparison kept fair?

Both approaches ran on Meta at the same time and targeted the same audience. The creative was the only thing that changed. Cost per lead was compared against independently published benchmark figures for the same platform and period.

Do consumer voices replace our agency's brand content?

No. They work as an extra channel next to your existing paid media. Most brands run both and shift budget based on cost per lead, as this brand did.

Does the brand own the content produced?

Yes. Brands keep the usage rights to content made through theSalt campaigns and can reuse it on their own channels, in paid media and in future campaigns.

If you're not in the conversation, you're still being talked about.

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More than 730,000 real South Africans, profiled, verified and ready to talk about brands they genuinely connect with. With theSalt Activate, customer voices are accessible at a speed and price point that changes what is possible.

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