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  • Home Services Advertising Benchmarks (+9 Ideas for Better Results)

Understanding the many metrics that determine whether or not your marketing campaigns are successful can be difficult for home services businesses. Many home service businesses run marketing across multiple channels in highly saturated and competitive markets. How do you know how your marketing is performing in comparison to similar businesses?

This is when many home service marketers or business owners look to benchmarks to answer questions like: What’s the average cost per click for plumber ads on Google? What’s the average cost per lead for HVAC Facebook ads? What’s a good conversion rate for a home services ad? How much are other home services businesses spending per month on their advertising?

home services advertising benchmarks localiq

We looked at our proprietary data from the last year to create those benchmarks so you can get a better understanding of how your campaigns are performing. We’re sharing this data across home services subcategories that include:

  • Air Conditioning Installation & Repair
  • Air Conditioning Sales
  • Heating & Furnaces
  • Plumbing
  • Roofing & Gutters
  • Pest & Rodent Control
  • Landscaping
  • Pools & Spas

Here, you’ll find:

  • Average click-through rate (CTR)
  • Average cost per lead
  • Average conversion rate
  • Average monthly spend

And, we’re sharing these average metrics across:

Check out this data below to inform your home services marketing strategy in 2021 and beyond.

Home services advertising benchmarks: search advertising

Get updated home services search advertising benchmarks here!

home services ppc advertising average results

 

Subcategory Average Cost Per Lead Average Click-Through Rate Average Cost Per Click Average Cost Per Call Average Monthly Spend
Air Conditioning Services $55.15 3.11% $8.94 $59.15 $1,620
Air Conditioning Sales $50.91 3.28% $6.62 $54.60 $1,500
Heating & Furnaces $62.18 3.05% $7.92 $68.03 $1,800
Plumbing $48.91 2.87% $8.67 $51.94 $2,500
Roofing & Gutters $101.49 3.02% $9.03 $121.51 $1,875
Pest & Rodent Control $39.25 4.31% $6.55 $51.94 $1,250
Landscaping $38.47 4.52% $4.10 $40.85 $1,000
Pools & Spas $29.08 5.71% $2.94 $31.50 $710

Home services is a notoriously competitive industry for search advertising. In fact, five of the top 20 most expensive keywords come from the home services industry, including plumber, pest control, and restoration services.

We found that the average cost per click ranges from $2.94-$9.03 across these home services categories, with an average cost per lead between $29.08 to $101.49. And, if you compare that to available averages for the home services industry at $76.02, our home services clients across all subcategories except roofing and gutters have a lower cost per lead.

Related: Want to learn more about CPC? We’ve got you covered.

We found that the average click-through rates for the home services subcategories we looked at range from 2.87% to 5.71%.

In all, we found that our clients in these subcategories have high engagement with their ads and see a relatively low cost per lead when you think about the overall return on investment from their search advertising campaigns. For example, the average plumbing job totals $175 to $400, which would be a return on investment of 257-717%.

Home services advertising ideas for better PPC performance

If you’re looking for some tips to improve your home services PPC campaigns, here are three tips to try.

Run Google Local Services Ads

Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are ads specifically for service-based businesses that allow users to book a service without ever leaving the search engine.

run local services ads for home services ppc

LSAs are unique in that you pay per lead rather than per click, giving you additional opportunities to increase awareness for your business without spending a dime. Plus, you know that your budget is going toward qualified leads looking to book a job now.

Use negative keywords

To maximize your home services PPC budget and ensure you’re getting only quality leads, make sure you’re using negative keywords. Negative keywords are keywords you specifically don’t want your PPC ads to show for.

For example, if you don’t provide any emergency plumbing services, you don’t want your plumber PPC ad to show for “emergency plumber near me.” That’s a waste of a click to your site and potentially a waste of your time if a prospect calls your business.

negative keywords can help you maximize your home services ad performance in ppc

Source

Run PPC on Google and Bing

When most people think of PPC, they think of Google. But if you’re running PPC ads on Google alone, you’re missing a whole group of searchers who use other search engines like Bing. Not to mention devices that are powered by Bing like Apple Maps and Alexa.

why run ppc ads on bing for home services

Source

By running your PPC ads on both Google and Bing, you can increase your chances of getting new customers while maximizing your budget—especially if you’re able to optimize spend across search engines with your marketing partner. Plus, average costs tend to be lower on Bing, making it an ideal place to run PPC ads.

Home services advertising benchmarks: display advertising

home services average advertising results - localiq benchmarks

Subcategory Average Cost Per Lead Average Click-Through Rate Average Cost Per Click Average Cost Per Call Average Monthly Spend
Air Conditioning Services $160.77 0.27% $2.69 $160.77 $1,000
Air Conditioning Sales $59.74 0.14% $4.14 $59.74 $300
Heating & Furnaces $68.03 0.13% $5.47 $66.02 $1,000
Plumbing $116.75 0.15% $3.63 $116.75 $1,000
Roofing & Gutters $114.43 0.14% $4.10 $114.43 $1,000
Pest & Rodent Control $66.69 0.09% $5.42 $70.11 $300
Landscaping $108.85 0.14% $4.48 $109.95 $1500
Pools & Spas $46.53 0.15% $3.49 $46.53 $200

Display advertising is a great marketing strategy for increasing awareness about your plumbing, pool and spa, HVAC, or other home services business. A common complaint about display advertising, though, is that it’s difficult to tell whether or not it’s a worthy investment.

The cost per lead may seem high and the click-through rate may seem low, but when you consider that the goal for most display advertising is brand awareness, these numbers aren’t concerning. They should simply act as a helpful benchmark so you can understand how your display ad campaigns are performing in comparison.

That’s not to say these numbers aren’t good. In fact, the average cost per click for home services is $4.07 on Google, which is higher than what we see as the cost per click for almost all subcategories we looked at.

It’s also important to look at the budget for each of these subcategories, which ranges from $200-$1,000. When you consider the impact display advertising can have on your bottom line as far as increasing brand awareness and driving people to search for your business, this is a relatively small investment that can yield a big impact for home services businesses.

Home services advertising ideas for better display advertising performance

Here are a few expert tips to improve your display advertising campaigns to see improved cost per click, clickthrough rate, and more.

A/B test display ad design

If you feel you’re not getting the results you’d like, then it might be time to update your design. You can do this by A/B testing multiple ad designs to see which resonates best with your audience. Sometimes what you would expect to perform well isn’t highlighting what customers are looking for, which is why data is so important when it comes to design.

Here’s an example where a simple tweak in design resulted in a 17% increase in clickthrough rate:

display ad optimizations - ab test design

Run display ads for educational content

Many home service marketing strategies include running display ads to promote an offer or get people to contact them. While these are both great goals for display advertising, you might consider running display ads that promote your educational resources or content.

Home services is an industry where trust is crucial. By providing educational content, you’re able to build trust and a connection with your customers that makes you stand out from the competition. Plus, by running display ads that are geared toward helping your audience rather than selling to them, you can create a positive reputation for your business that pays dividends down the line.

boost authority for your website - plumbing blog

Run display ads with PPC

Display advertising is great on its own but is even better when run with other marketing strategies—especially PPC. Studies have shown that 27% of consumers conduct a search for a business after seeing their display ad, and there’s a 59% lift in conversion when users conducted a search related to a display ad.

run display ads and ppc together - conversion lift

So by running these strategies together, you can see better results overall.

Home services advertising benchmarks: social ads

average social ads results for home services - localiq benchmarks

 

Subcategory Average Cost Per Lead Average Click-Through Rate Average Cost Per Click Average Monthly Spend
Air Conditioning Services $62.80 1.28% $1.92 $500
Air Conditioning Sales $116.75 0.96% $1.09 $500
Heating & Furnaces $72.97 1.22% $1.55 $500
Plumbers $72.97 1.11% $1.92 $600
Roofers & Gutters $116.75 1.25% $1.68 $1,000
Pest & Rodent Control $70.11 1.51% $1.23 $350
Landscaping $58.56 1.79% $1.13 $750
Pools & Spas $70.11 1.31% $0.92 $300

Advertising on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube can help your home service business get in front of a new audience and build trust with your brand.

Want to know what to expect from your home services social media advertising? We found that the average CTR for our clients ranges from 0.96% to 1.79%, an improvement over available industry benchmarks at 0.70%. Additionally, our data shows that our clients see an average cost per click between only $0.92 and $1.92, over a dollar below the available industry benchmarks at $2.93.

Additionally, many of the subcategories we analyzed see a promising cost per lead, especially when compared to the average cost of each job.

Home services advertising ideas for better social advertising performance

Use these tips to get better results from your Facebook advertising, Instagram advertising, and other social media advertising campaigns.

Include reviews or testimonials in your social ads

We know that 87% of people read reviews for local businesses—and home services is certainly no exception. People want to make sure they’re hiring the best, most trusted businesses to complete a job in their homes.

Consider including reviews or testimonials in your social ads to highlight your service and build trust with customers right away.

improve home services social ad results - testimonials and reviews in ads

Facebook allows you to gather customer recommendations right from the platform, or you can create your own testimonials from happy customers willing to share their experiences. By adding this social proof to your ads, you can increase your average click-through rate.

Build up your organic social media presence

Social ads are great for reaching a new audience, but they only get you so far. The rest of your success on social media relies on building a solid organic social media presence. This means posting regular updates, engaging with your audience, and getting more followers.

home services marketing - social media

This can help you get more customers from social media through both your ads and your organic efforts.

Read our top tips for increasing your social media presence.

Run Facebook ads with PPC ads

Looking for an easy way to decrease your cost per lead? Our team recently found that businesses running both Facebook ads and search ads decreased their cost per lead by 3-29%. By running ads on both of these channels, you can reach a wider audience, increase awareness for your business, and get seen more—which translates to more new customers.

ppc + facebook ads decreases CPL - LOCALiQ stat

Improve your home services advertising results

The average cost per lead, cost per click, and click-through rate for plumbers, HVAC, pools and spas, landscaping, and more varies depending on budget, location, and other factors. But these home services advertising benchmarks can provide a guide for your business when it comes to measuring success and making improvements.

Not in home services and want to see search advertising benchmarks for your industry? We created search advertising benchmarks for the top 20 industries here.

Data sources

This report is based on a sample of 4,595 North American-based LOCALiQ client accounts in the home services vertical who were running search advertising, display advertising, and/or social media advertising between May 1, 2020, and June 25, 2021. Each subcategory includes at minimum 10 unique active clients. “Averages” are technically median figures to account for outliers. All currency values are posted in USD.

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