Growing your HVAC business depends on gaining new customers by getting more booked appointments. This sounds simple enough, but if you’re not a marketing expert, becoming a top HVAC lead generator can seem challenging.
But it shouldn’t be overwhelming. In essence, generating HVAC leads simply requires appearing online when and where your customers are looking for HVAC companies. For example, when homeowners with broken air conditioning systems search Google for “HVAC near me,” how does your company rank? When they ask friends on Facebook for their best furnace repair recommendation, does your HVAC company get mentioned? Do neighbors on Nextdoor.com recommend you for HVAC jobs?
We built ServiceTitan’s management and marketing software with features specifically designed to help HVAC companies show up in situations like these. Our software helps you optimize your website’s SEO (search engine optimization), meaning you show up when customers in your local area are searching for HVAC companies on Google. It also helps you easily manage your Google reviews, automate your marketing campaigns, and lower your cost-per-lead with targeted email marketing.
Based on our years of experience working with thousands of HVAC industry and other home service companies, we have compiled a list of the best HVAC marketing ideas to bring in quality leads.
To consistently get more HVAC leads, we suggest the following lead generation strategies:
Want to grow your HVAC business? Click here to get a demo.
Below, we’ll go through each suggested strategy to streamline your HVAC company’s operations, boost revenue, and grow HVAC service leads. We’ll also show you how successful HVAC businesses use ServiceTitan’s software to help them show up when customers are searching online for HVAC service providers, manage Google reviews to make their company compelling to new customers, and more.
If you want to learn more about how ServiceTitan can help your HVAC business generate leads, you can schedule a call with a product expert for a free demo.
1. Show Up in Google Searches for HVAC Contractors
One of the most powerful ways to generate more HVAC leads is to show up on Google when potential customers search for your services. There are two main ways of doing this:
Using paid online advertising.
Optimizing all of your online content by using popular keywords throughout.
Use Paid Online Ads
Traditional HVAC marketing ideas such as advertising through direct mail, newspapers, radio, TV, and billboards, tend to take a backseat in most current HVAC marketing strategies. Nowadays, online pay-per-click (PPC) ads, or paid Google local service ads more effectively drive revenue.
Focus on Google when it comes to online HVAC advertising, says ServiceTitan user Tommy Mello, owner of A1 Garage Door Services, a $30 million-plus home services business with over 200 employees in nine states.
Mello advises spending at least half of your marketing dollars on HVAC SEO, PPC digital ads, Google My Business, Google Local Services, and getting more positive customer reviews.
Today’s consumers find 70 percent of all services online through Google searches, he says, so “just understand Google is God when it comes to home service.”
ServiceTitan integrates with Google Local Services Ads to allow homeowners to directly schedule online appointments with your company, and provides business owners with ROI metrics on every campaign.
Show up in Organic Google Searches
Another strategy is aiming to appear in the organic (free) search results of Google. These are the listings that appear below the paid ads when your customers search for a specific set of keywords.
This approach is known as search engine optimization (SEO), and companies that get it right show up exactly when potential customers search for a new gas furnace, help to fix a broken A/C, or any of the hundreds of reasons they might immediately need an HVAC professional.
To increase your chances of appearing near the top of Google’s organic search results when customers search for HVAC related keywords, you need to include top-ranked keywords in all the content displayed on your website, social media posts, newsletters, business directories, digital advertising, and every piece of your online marketing content.
To attract local customers in your service area, you can also include your city or neighborhood as keywords. For instance, “Tampa A/C” or “Furnace repair Boston.”
When a customer searches “A/C repair” or “HVAC near me” online, Google’s algorithm finds the most relevant results by topic and geographical location and shows them to the searcher. Since these “organic” (non-ad) results are based on relevance, location, authority, and other factors, strong SEO gives smaller HVAC businesses an opportunity to appear alongside larger companies in Google’s organic search results.
On the advertising side, Google reserves a few of the top results as paid ad results. You get listed here by paying for Google Ads.
Google Ads can be tedious to learn and master, so to help HVAC companies, ServiceTitan integrates with Google Local Services to allow you to easily advertise your HVAC services on Google and receive HVAC job leads directly from potential customers when they click on your ad.
For example, when a homeowner searches “Indoor Air Quality Charlotte,” your Local Services ad, created using ServiceTitan, appears at the top of Google’s search results. The Google Ad they click on also leads them directly to an automated scheduling page, which lets them book an appointment with your business immediately, without having to find their way around your website for a form or a phone number.
Note: Just make sure your company operates from a physical building (headquarters, satellite office, etc.) in the specific area where you’re advertising your services, not just using a P.O. Box address. Otherwise, Google may penalize your company and remove your name from their local HVAC list.
» Learn more about SEO with this complete beginner’s guide.
2. Revamp and Optimize Your HVAC Website
Of course, a large number of potential customers who find you on Google, Nextdoor, Yelp, or anywhere else will go to your website, so you need to make sure it looks professional, is easy to navigate, and is fully optimized for organic Google searches.
A website that isn’t well-maintained or doesn’t look professional can turn off potential customers and damage the reputation of your business. That’s why it’s essential to invest in a website that looks good and is easy to navigate. It should also use relevant keywords so that your business shows up when people are searching for HVAC service providers online.
Another reason to invest in this area is that a mobile-friendly website with a responsive design ranks higher in Google searches. Customers searching online for a local HVAC company probably need one urgently and are often searching on their phone.
Make sure potential customers find you first. Quickly convert them into an HVAC lead by:
Optimizing your website. Make it appealing with a clean, user-friendly design that’s focused on SEO keywords.
Allowing customers to easily contact you. Display your phone number and other contact information at the top of your website and make sure calls are answered 24/7.
Personalizing your message. Tell your company’s story or showcase your HVAC techs’ work in behind-the-scenes videos.
Highlighting online reviews or customer testimonials. Get happy customers to spread the word about your excellent HVAC service.
Writing a blog or starting an HVAC podcast. Become an online HVAC resource for consumers and HVAC techs.
Engaging customers with Calls to Action (CTA). Use special offers, discounts, and other incentives to drive website traffic and increase HVAC service leads.
See our article for more HVAC website tips.
3. Invest in Targeted Email Marketing
Another effective way to get HVAC leads is through email marketing. Sending regular emails to your customer list promoting your services, reminding them of services they should consider (e.g., seasonal AC, furnace maintenance, or checkups) and in general keeping you top of mind so when the customer (or their family and friends) needs HVAC services, you’re the first company they remember.
Targeted email marketing tends to cost less per HVAC lead than traditional HVAC advertising channels and keeps your brand top-of-mind for customers, according to Megan Bedford of Mugyver Consulting, which works exclusively with ServiceTitan customers. Email marketing is considered one of the most effective marketing channels, earning $40 for every $1 spent.
Email marketing works — as long as it’s targeted, designed for your business, and delivers a message that’s relevant to your customers.
ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro helps HVAC companies run email marketing campaigns easily and effectively, targeting existing customers based on a specific customer type or profile.
For example, you can send an email blast to only customers who have unsold estimates reminding them that they have an estimate from you and giving them a clear phone number to call back. Just this reminder — versus not following up at all — is likely to get some fraction of those otherwise “cold” leads to respond and become paying customers.
Another example would be emailing all past customers for whom you’ve installed A/C to remind them that summer is approaching and they should get A/C maintenance. This kind of targeting lets you send specific email marketing campaigns to the customers who are most likely to respond, increasing effectiveness.
In addition, ServiceTitan has features that let you track the ROI for each campaign right in the ServiceTitan dashboard:
Our software can automatically deliver a sequence of emails, or a drip campaign, to your chosen past customers to re-engage them and get you new online HVAC leads through a timed, automated, and hyper-targeted marketing message.
To get started quickly, select an appropriate, pre-filled template from the ServiceTitan library, as shown in the GIF above, add your logo, and adjust the text to fit your needs. These professionally designed email templates represent your brand well without the time and expense of finding and hiring designers and coders to build marketing emails from scratch.
If you want to learn more, we shared new features released in Marketing Pro and discussed the best email marketing practices in our recent webinar. Among the takeaways were:
Don’t blast your entire contact list with information. Send smaller batches of targeted, automated emails to specific customer groups, such as a “We Miss You!” campaign to homeowners you haven’t heard from in a while.
Provide engaging, educational content about HVAC safety and indoor air quality with links to your blog or YouTube channel videos. You can send a series of messages, but only send out follow-up emails to people who haven’t opened the first message.
Clean up your lists regularly by removing inactive and unengaged email contacts. Marketing Pro includes an Automated Opt-In Feature to do this automatically.
Keep your subject lines free of spam triggers! Using the word “free” or exclamation points in your subject lines typically leads to customers deleting emails without even reading them.
» Watch the webinar on ServiceTitan Marketing Pro here.
How a MarketingPro Email Campaign Brought One Mom-and-Pop HVAC Company an Extra $4,000 in One Week
Previous A/C customers definitely remembered Jupiter-Tequesta Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electric, when the small HVAC company sent HVAC email marketing using ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro.
The company’s one-time, “We Miss You!” email marketing message triggered a flood of HVAC leads.
“We thought if we get 10 calls out of this, then awesome. We weren’t expecting anything crazy,” says Bill Highsmith, the company’s Process & Procedure Manager. “After one week, the revenue on that one email brought in about $4,000.”
» Click here for more email marketing tips.
4. Manage Your Online Reviews to Gain More HVAC Sales Leads
Another neglected way to get more HVAC leads is to manage your online reviews. Why? Because before making an appointment with a HVAC company, most prospective customers search for trusted nearby HVAC companies with awesome online reviews, and actively avoid companies with negative reviews or low star ratings.
Positive customer feedback on review platforms such as Google, Facebook, and other HVAC social media and business review sites can make the difference when customers decide which HVAC service to hire. In fact, 94 percent of consumers said positive reviews make them more likely to use a business, according to a Consumer Survey.
Real customers who leave positive reviews help build trust in your business. Prospective customers read an average of 10 reviews before trusting a business, and 89 percent of those people — between 35 and 54 years old — trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, according to the survey.
To help manage your online reviews, ServiceTitan includes a built-in notification tool as part of its customer experience software, automatically sending survey requests after each service has been completed. That makes it easy for customers to share their experience on an online review site (Google, Yelp, etc.) while it’s still top-of-mind.
In addition, we have a reputation management tool that lets you automate sending review requests to customers (so you can get more reviews from more customers). Our tool lets you easily stay on top of your online reviews, reply to reviews, show appreciation to customers, and get insights into which technicians or jobs are attached to which reviews, so you can better see which of your employees is producing positive or negative reviews.
How ProSkill’s Services Uses ServiceTitan’s Automated Messaging to Collect Google Reviews
ProSkill Services, which offers HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services in Arizona, has more than 3,000 Google reviews with a 5-star rating and nearly 800 Facebook recommendations. Co-owner Travis Ringe says there’s more to getting good reviews than simply asking customers for one.
“If you want to drive reviews,” Ringe says, “you have to deliver a full experience worthy of writing a review.”
You also need to make it easy for customers to leave a review, such as texting the review link directly to the customer before leaving the job site. ProSkill uses ServiceTitan’s built-in messaging tool to customize a personal message and ask customers to specifically leave a Google review.
“Google really rules the roost and I want all my reviews on Google,” Ringe says.
» Learn how to ask customers for reviews and boost your company’s online rankings.
5. Train HVAC Techs to Get More 5-Star Google Reviews
HVAC techs often balk at asking customers for reviews. It’s a common problem for many industries, not just home services. By clearly explaining how good and bad reviews directly impact your company’s bottom line — and your tech’s paychecks — you can motivate them to ask for reviews regularly.
Incentivize your techs to get more 5-star Google reviews with pay-for-performance bonus checks, or encourage in-house competition to win prizes for the most 5-star reviews. ServiceTitan user Travis Ringe, of ProSkill Services, says his CSRs and home service techs go the “second mile” to deliver a review-worthy customer experience. His tips include:
Make a good first impression, from the moment they call to book an appointment to the follow-up after completing the job.
Offer online scheduling to make it easy to do business with your company.
Book the appointment today and don’t make the customer wait.
Shorten your arrival window and use technology to allow customers to track their tech.
Determine customer satisfaction before leaving the job site to mitigate any complaints they might include in a review.
ServiceTitan’s scheduling and customer experience software lets you text customers with alerts, including: Appointment reminders, notices that the technician is on their way, and even a link to a Google review page where they can easily provide a review after the job. This makes it easy for them to leave a review and increases the chance that they will. If they feel like the technician communicated well and showed up on time, they're more likely to love the service and give you a great review.
» Learn how to get more 5-star reviews with these tips.
6. Automate Using HVAC Software and a Mobile App to Get More HVAC Leads
Looking for ways to personalize the customer service experience, but need a more effective and efficient way to do it? HVAC companies on ServiceTitan deliver better customer service by using automation to make CSRs, dispatchers, techs, and sales teams more productive.
ServiceTitan’s HVAC mobile app, which techs can use on a smartphone or tablet while out on jobs, streamlines operations in the office and in the field for a more polished and professional approach. Here’s how some popular features help generate quality HVAC leads:
When a customer calls to book a service, ServiceTitan provides the CSR with details such as call occurrence, service history, equipment used, and even special notes about previous HVAC inspections — using ServiceTitan’s call tracking software. Greet the customer by name, and turn them into a repeat HVAC lead.
Good HVAC service reviews often depend on timely and efficient service. Dispatch the nearest available tech, with the right skills, by using ServiceTitan’s dispatch software. You can also monitor the GPS location of your field techs in real time, reducing delays and missed appointments.
Provide your techs with the ServiceTitan mobile app, which offers on-site quoting and estimates, so you can give homeowners instant quotes on the work that needs to be done. This gives your customers immediate information about their HVAC issue and the options they can consider, increasing the likelihood of closing a sale.
Position your HVAC techs as true service experts by equipping them with a visual sales presentation tool. With high-quality product photos and detailed descriptions shown in a good-better-best format using ServiceTitan Pricebook Pro, it’s easier to convert HVAC sales leads into sold jobs and higher average tickets.
Increase opportunities for on-site HVAC sales leads by setting the stage in advance. Send customers a text when your HVAC tech dispatches to let them know who's on the way and when they’re expected to arrive. It’s a good way to prepare for a more comfortable customer interaction.
» Learn more about ServiceTitan’s Pricebook Pro.
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
7. Connect with HVAC Lead Generation Companies or Local Apps
To find HVAC jobs to bid on, companies can also sign up with an HVAC referral program, such as Google Local Services, Angie’s List, Home Advisor, or even Lowe’s or Home Depot. Just be careful not to spread yourself too thin and lose sight of your company’s mission to provide great HVAC service.
Ben Stark, a trades consultant and owner of a Texas HVAC company, enhances his company’s online presence by staying active on Nextdoor.com, a host for closed social groups in individual neighborhoods, and Alignable.com, a small business networking group that generates referrals from other nearby businesses.
8. Measure ROI: Understand What Marketing Efforts Are Working
Finally, one of the most important aspects of any lead generation campaign is measuring the return on investment (ROI), which means how much business you’re generating for each dollar you’ve invested in a given marketing channel (e.g. Google Ads). If you’re not paying attention to what’s working and what’s not, you’ll waste a lot of time and money on efforts that aren’t generating much for your business. Make sure you have a system in place for tracking how many leads and customers you generate and from which sources.
You should also be regularly analyzing your website data to see which sources are resulting in the most leads. Use this information to focus your efforts on the strategies that are producing the best results.
ServiceTitan offers campaign tracking telephone numbers and real-time ROI reporting for all your marketing campaigns.
You can track the number of calls, how many jobs your CSRs booked from those calls, and sales made from those jobs right in your ServiceTitan dashboard.
You can also calculate true ROI on HVAC advertising campaigns by tracking how much revenue each advertising source generated and identifying total cost per lead.
By measuring the marketing ROI for each campaign, ServiceTitan helps companies:
Know how much revenue each HVAC marketing campaign generates.
Measure how well their staff converts leads into appointments and sales.
Invest HVAC marketing dollars in the right places and in the right proportion.
Stop wasting money on ineffective ads and digital marketing platforms that don’t perform.
Whether you’re investing in SEO, Pay-Per-Click ads, social media, email marketing, or any other kind of advertising campaign, your HVAC company can track what’s working and what isn't so you can make informed decisions on the best strategy for getting more HVAC leads.
How One Heating and Plumbing Business Used ServiceTitan’s HVAC Software to Double Revenue
Greg Mericle, owner and president of Hurlburt Heating & Plumbing, says he didn’t know anything about HVAC and plumbing services when he bought his home services company in 2014. Technology, on the other hand, was something he did know.
His first major task? Automate the business and optimize the company’s website and advertising campaigns with a better software operating system, to make everyone’s job easier.
“When I got here, the company was very old school,” Mericle says. “Everything was on paper. It was sort of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of thing.”
Mericle employed ServiceTitan’s all-in-one software for residential home services, and in five years, he doubled the original revenue and size of the staff at the family-owned HVAC and plumbing company in Wisconsin.
Explaining why ServiceTitan was the right fit for his HVAC business Mericle says, “I can see reports for how many new customers we gain each week or how much revenue we bring in by zip code. Our technicians can see their schedule for the day or week, or how much revenue they’ve earned in a given period. That comes in handy when trying to incentivize our guys to meet a certain goal, because it always gamifies it and creates a competitive atmosphere.”
Try ServiceTitan’s free ROI calculator.
» Ready to learn more about what ServiceTitan can do for your business? Contact one of our product experts to schedule a demo today.
ServiceTitan HVAC Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive HVAC business software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and achieve growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country.
