Allison McCarthy founded Zoom Drain Houston in the fall of 2023.
Eager to find the best ways for a new business to market the business and generate leads, she tried several approaches.
“It didn't take long for us to realize what was really working and what we really weren't getting a lot of leads from,” McCarthy said. “Thumbtack has been really good from the beginning.”
Thumbtack is an online connection service that helps homeowners find businesses that can care for the home. Available via computer or phone, Thumbtack connects those in need to any home-related business – from plumbing to landscaping to an electrician.
ServiceTitan, the cloud-based software for the trades, provides an integration with Thumbtack, which allows Thumbtack leads to flow seamlessly onto the ServiceTitan booking screen. Each Thumbtack lead will include a phone number, and tags can be used to ensure the lead fits the business preference.
More than 70 million projects have been started on Thumbtack, a reliable indicator that the integration with ServiceTitan should help expand a business footprint and attract new customers.
“Thumbtack has been by far the best source for us,” McCarthy said. “I think we’ve got maybe 30 jobs in the last month from Thumbtack alone. Thumbtack has worked really well for our area.”
Faster scheduling, reliable data
When McCarthy and her husband, Patrick, were looking to open a trade business in the summer of 2023, they were seeking a business that was recession proof. They wanted a specialty niche, and started studying Zoom Drain. They went to Philadelphia to meet with the Zoom Drain team, including co-founder Ellen Rohr (now Brand and Industry Marketing Lead for ServiceTitan), and liked everything about it, including the support provided to startups.
Patrick, a mechanical engineer, kept his day job, and Allison manages day-to-day operations. Zoom Drain Houston was with ServiceTitan from the get-go. As Allison said, they quickly learned the benefits of ServiceTitan’s integration with Thumbtack. Two key factors: faster scheduling and the visibility of numbers.
“The integration is really great because when we get a lead on Thumbtack, it goes automatically to our bookings feature,” Allison said. “I don't have to copy all that over; you can just book the job straight from there, so it makes it simple as far as scheduling once they contact us.
“Also, just being able to track how many leads we've gotten from Thumbtack in ServiceTitan and the jobs that we've sold from Thumbtack—because obviously selling the job is the most important thing. You want to see how many Thumbtack leads you've sold and then how much revenue you've made.
“It's very simple on ServiceTitan to see under the Marketing Pro tab how well Thumbtack delivers as far as number of leads, number of direct bookings, and then revenue as well, and closed jobs.”
A fast response, automatically
A key feature to Zoom Drain Houston was to set up automatic replies to Thumbtack leads. That helped avoid the delay of responding to a query made during the night, and helped refine the booking process.
Patrick Convery, Senior Director of Franchise Marketing for Zoom Drain, calls the integration with ServiceTitan “critical.”
“It creates efficiencies across the board,” Convery said. “Any time that we can save our franchise owners and their teams means they can focus on other things, especially when it comes to digital. I'm a big believer that this is a relationship-based business. If we can automate the digital aspects of marketing and free up our time for our franchise owners, they and their teams can get out there and build their brand locally. Building those relationships is key.”
McCarthy put the cost per lead through Thumbtack at $12 to $20, she said. The speed of contact using ServiceTitan’s features also jumps out.
“Before integration we were at nine minutes average time to contact a customer,” she said. “Now we’re at one minute. The automatic response is fantastic.”
Top of mind, and top of the list
Zoom Drain Houston also relies on Marketing Pro. One example: It used Marketing Pro before a 2024 hurricane hit to let customers know Zoom Drain could help them before the storm arrived.
“I think it just helps make things seamless, less for me to think about,” McCarthy said. “It's all right in front of me, and helps us get more jobs and get to the top of that list when people are looking for our services on Thumbtack.”
The integration between ServiceTitan and Thumbtack takes effect by merely turning on a setting.
“It just creates an easy process for me,” McCarthy said. “An easy way to track where we are with Thumbtack. An easy way to keep a good database of our customers and get our response time quicker and get those jobs booked faster and get the techs on the road to the home as quick as possible.”
» Ready to set up the Thumbtack integration? Visit the Knowledge Base for instructions.
» New to Thumbtack?Receive $100 in free leads when you set up your Thumbtack profile as a ServiceTitan pro.*
*To receive up to $100 in free leads, you must activate Thumbtack services, set up targeting preferences including a form of payment, and add a review to your account.
