CASE STUDY · ROCKHAMPTON · APRIL 2026
HOW MY PLACE HAIR & BEAUTY GOT 104 INBOUND DMs FROM $643 IN META ADS.
A Rockhampton hair salon's first two weeks running Meta Ads with us. Two campaigns. $50 a day combined. 104 real conversations at $6.19 each. No fluff numbers — these are the screenshots.
Headline results
Inbound conversations
104
across two campaigns
Average cost per DM
$6.19
from messaging objective
Total ad spend
$643.66
over ~14 days
Reach (Hair Foils alone)
30,623
impressions in-market
CLIENT SNAPSHOT
MY PLACE HAIR & BEAUTY
Rockhampton hair & skincare salon owned by Margie.
- Industry
- Hair salon + skincare
- Location
- Rockhampton, QLD
- Onboarded
- April 2026
- Retainer
- Starter — $299/mo
- Ad spend
- Direct to Meta (no markup)
- Objective
- Click-to-Messenger
THE BEFORE
POSTING. HOPING. NOT BOOKING.
Margie was doing what most Rockhampton salon owners do. Posting between clients. A reel here, a story there, hoping the algorithm would do the rest. The chair sat empty more days than it should have.
The page looked fine. Followers were creeping up. But fine doesn't pay the rent on a salon — bookings do. And the gap between “people see the posts” and “people walk in the door” was getting harder to bridge through organic content alone.
When she came on board in April 2026, the brief was simple: stop hoping the algorithm sends people. Pay Meta to put the salon in front of locals who actually book.
THE APPROACH
WHAT WE ACTUALLY DID.
01
TWO CAMPAIGNS, TWO SERVICES
Hair Foils and Microdermabrasion run as separate campaigns so we can budget, test creative, and read performance per service line. One bucket for everything is how Rocky businesses end up with vague reports nobody can act on.
02
CLICK-TO-MESSENGER OBJECTIVE
Every result is a real human DM — not a form-fill that ghosts. Hair salons live in DMs. "Can I book Saturday?" beats "download our brochure" every day of the week.
03
$50/DAY COMBINED BUDGET
Daily caps mean predictable spend and no end-of-month surprises. We started conservative on purpose. Once the cost per conversation settled, we knew we could scale without burning cash on testing.
04
INBOX MANAGED ALONGSIDE THE ADS
Ads that drive DMs are useless if the DMs sit unread for two days. The first 5 minutes after someone messages is where bookings are won or lost. We coordinate ad delivery with Margie's availability so cold leads don't go cold.
THE RESULTS · FIRST TWO WEEKS
104 INBOUND DMs. $643 SPEND.
HAIR FOILS
ActiveObjective: Click-to-Messenger (Messages)
- Conversations
- 62
- Cost per DM
- $5.55
- Daily budget
- $28.00
- Total spend
- $343.81
- Impressions
- 30,623
MICRODERMABRASION
ActiveObjective: Click-to-Messenger (Messages)
- Conversations
- 42
- Cost per DM
- $7.14
- Daily budget
- $22.00
- Total spend
- $299.85
WHAT THAT ACTUALLY MEANS FOR A SALON
Every messaging conversation is a real human asking about price, availability, or “can I book Saturday?” Even at a conservative 30% close rate, that's roughly 31 new bookings from $643 of ad spend. On a $120 average ticket, that's ~$3,700 in new revenue from a fortnight of ads — and the campaigns are still running.
Within the first month of working together, Margie left a 5-star Google review for Michael Evans Media — before the campaigns had even hit their first month of optimisation.
— MARGIE, OWNER · MY PLACE HAIR & BEAUTY
VISUAL PROOF
THE NEW SOCIAL PRESENCE.
YOU OWN A SALON IN ROCKY?
The same playbook works for any salon — hair, beauty, nails, brows, lashes. Two campaigns, tight creative, $50/day, real DMs in your inbox by week two.
Marketing for hair salons →QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS CASE STUDY
FAQs.
What was the campaign objective?
Both campaigns used Meta's Click-to-Messenger (Messages) objective. Every "result" recorded above is a real person who tapped the ad and started a conversation in Messenger or Instagram DM — significantly higher intent than a passive form-fill.
Are these realistic numbers for a Rockhampton hair salon?
Yes. $5–8 per inbound DM is typical for service businesses in regional Queensland on Click-to-Messenger campaigns when the creative and audience targeting are tight. The ceiling moves around with seasonality and the offer.
How quickly can I expect results?
Most salons see the first inbound DMs within 24–48 hours of the campaign going live. The cost-per-conversation usually settles into a stable range by day 5–7 once Meta's optimisation has enough data to work with.
What does this cost in your monthly retainer?
My Place Hair & Beauty is on the $299/mo Starter retainer plus their own ad spend (the $643.66 above goes directly to Meta — we don't mark it up). For brands wanting fuller-funnel work with creative production included, the Performance Partnership at $997/mo + 20% of attributed revenue is the better fit.
Do I own the ad account and the campaigns?
Yes, always. We work inside your Meta Business Manager. If you ever leave us, the account, the campaigns, the audiences, the creative, and the historical data all stay with you. No ransom-ware retainers.
YOUR TURN.
Stop overpaying for vague retainers. Free 15-minute call. We'll tell you honestly whether Meta Ads is the right move for your business — and if it is, what the first 30 days should look like.