How to Get HVAC Leads: 12 Most Effective Tactics

How do I get more HVAC leads?

When it comes to how to get more HVAC leads, the three most effective strategies include:

1. Google Local Services Ads
2. Local search engine optimization
3. Lead generation sites

Learn more about using these strategies (and more) for HVAC lead generation below.

How to get HVAC leads

Should I buy HVAC leads? While buying HVAC leads is an option, it’s not the most cost-effective lead gen strategy. That’s why most of the strategies below share how to get HVAC leads without buying them.

Based on generating more than 24 million qualified leads for our clients, from electricians to HVAC companies to roofers, we’ve discovered the best strategies for HVAC lead generation:

1.     Use Google Local Services Ads (LSAs)

Use Google Local Services Ads to generate residential or commercial HVAC leads fast. These ads appear at the beginning of relevant, localized searches on Google, like ’emergency commercial hvac service’ and highlight your:

• Average rating and reviews
• Services provided
• Service areas
• Years of experience
• License and/or insurance

From these ads, users can book an appointment or contact you via phone or instant message.

Companies that pass Google’s background check and provide other necessary information (like their business license or insurance) can also receive a Google Guaranteed badge, which means if users aren’t satisfied, Google will refund the user.

Use our HVAC Google LSAs guide to learn more!

2.     Optimize for local searches

While paid ads effectively generate HVAC leads fast, they’re also expensive. That’s why it’s important for businesses to also invest in local search engine optimization (SEO), which is a more cost-effective lead generation option.

Local search engine optimization focuses on the following strategies:

1. Adding your name, address, and phone number to your website footer
2. Updating your website with localized content, like ‘commercial hvac company las vegas nv’
3. Ensuring your localized content has unique value from other localized pages

When it comes to localized content, most HVAC lead generation efforts will focus on the services offered for different locations (in some instances, these are the same services). The goal is the same: Reach users searching for those services in those areas.

As an example, a business looking to generate HVAC service leads has the following pages:

• AC Repair for Las Vegas, NV
• AC Repair for Henderson, NV
• AC Repair for Spring Valley, NV
• AC Repair for Paradise, NV

However, it’s critical to create unique content when producing this content. The mistake businesses make is creating localized content where the only difference is the city — which can create duplicate content that doesn’t rank and doesn’t reach potential leads.

3.     Get listed on lead gen sites

Most HVAC companies use lead gen sites (like the following) to get business:

• Angi’s
• HomeAdvisor (which is powered by Angi’s)
• Houzz
• Thumbtack

In most cases, generating qualified leads consistently from these sites requires paying for a subscription and/or paying or bidding on leads. From our experience as an HVAC marketing agency, we’ve found most companies come in because these platforms aren’t generating enough leads.

Not to mention, the cost of these leads makes profiting from the platform a challenge.

That’s why companies need to expand their HVAC lead generation efforts to include other channels and platforms (like the ones we’re mentioning here). With a broader lead gen net, you’ll have more cost-effective ways to get qualified leads.

4.     Claim local listings

Local listings give your business more real estate in localized search results like Google and Bing. That means when someone searches for ‘ac repair paradise, nv,’ they could see your localized content and local listing.

That repeated exposure can convince someone that your business is worth checking out.

When it comes to creating or claiming local listings as an HVAC company, start with these:

• Google Business Profile
• Bing Places
• Yelp

Once claimed, add the following information to improve your listing’s visibility:

• Name, address, and phone number
• Business hours, including upcoming holiday hours
• Service area
• Services and/or products
• Photos, like of your vehicles and team, past projects, or physical location (if applicable)

You can also enable instant messaging or online bookings on certain local listings, like Google Business Profile. If using these features, though, make sure someone monitors and manages them, like by responding to messages within 24 hours.

5.     Earn online reviews

You use online reviews to make purchase decisions, and so do HVAC leads.

Earning reviews on local listings, like Google Business Profile or your website, can significantly impact conversion rates. When people hear from other buyers — and even see you respond to unhappy ones — it can build a future lead’s confidence and trust.

Some effective strategies for getting online reviews include:

• Inform buyers they can leave a review online, like with a business card or follow-up email
• Email existing or past customers and ask them to leave an online review
• Incentivize website reviews (good and bad), like offering a gift card or raffle entry

Note: Incentivizing reviews is against Google’s policies for Google Business Profile

6.     Build trust with case studies, certifications, and more

Similar to reviews, people look for other trust signals when choosing an HVAC contractor, like:

• Case studies
• Certifications and/or insurances
• Testimonials
• Team experience

You can build trust with these signals by:

• Sharing before/after photos on your local listings
• Including case studies and testimonials on your website
• Listing certifications and/or insurances on your website, including in your footer
• Highlighting team experiences and/or trainings on your website and local listing

While word-of-mouth referrals can instantly create this trust, showcasing these trust signals online is one of the best ways to get HVAC leads — especially for sites that are getting traffic but struggling to convert it.

7.     Target specific areas with geofencing

Geofencing is another HVAC advertising strategy for lead gen. With geofencing, businesses target specific locations, like a zip code, to reach their target market (or, in some cases, target their competitor’s market) via ads.

You can even use geofencing to target ideal or active commercial leads, like by targeting the business’s location. This approach can keep your business top-of-mind throughout the buying process — and highlight you to key decision-makers.

Because geofencing uses specialized technology that’s more expensive to access, it’s often best to partner with a geofencing agency to use this lead generation tactic. While this creates more costs, it does give your business an advantage over the competition.

In comparison, ad networks like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising are accessible to all businesses, which can make advertising on these networks more competitive (and expensive), resulting in a lower return on ad spend (ROAS).

8.     Promote limited-time or seasonal offers

Limited-time or seasonal offers are another common answer for how to get more HVAC leads.

For example, you could use limited-time offers to capture leads from competitors during your peak season. In comparison, during the slow season, seasonal offers or reminders could motivate users to book routine maintenance appointments.

You can promote these offers across channels, too, like with a:

• Website banner
• Google Business Post
• Social media post
• Ad campaign

When running these promotions, ensure the offer gets removed when it ends. Otherwise, leads will continue to come in and expect the discount, which could affect customer satisfaction, close rates, and profits.

9.     Install a website chatbot for scheduling

Companies with consistent site traffic from paid, organic, or other channels can also generate HVAC service leads through a website chatbot. These chatbots can collect contact information, schedule appointments, and answer common questions.

While there are some providers offering HVAC-specific chatbots, what matters is a provider that:

• Provides reliable documentation and support
• Invests in improving the product based on customer needs and feedback
• Integrates with other tech, like your customer relationship management (CRM) software

If you’re curious about your options, check out our breakdown of the best AI chatbots.

10. Create a referral program

Referral programs are another option for HVAC lead generation.

You can promote referral programs through offline and online marketing channels, like:

• Business cards
• Email marketing
• Website

Using this HVAC marketing idea takes some time. You’ll need to think about:

• The referral reward
• The number of referrals allowed (if applicable)
• Whether the referrer and referee receive rewards

You can get ideas on creating your program with these referral program examples.

11. Use drip campaigns for repeat sales

Generating repeat business, like through seasonal maintenance, is essential for HVAC companies. Email marketing is an effective strategy because you can send scheduled emails to past customers (based on their service and/or system) to get them to book an appointment.

You can even combine this tactic for generating HVAC services leads with another one — limited-time offers.

For example, the email could invite past customers to book their maintenance and provide discounts to users who book their appointments before a specific date. This strategy is useful when wanting to get more work during slower periods.

There are some free email management platforms to get started with this tactic, like Mailchimp.

12. Reduce friction in lead gen forms

Your website forms have a tremendous impact on HVAC lead generation rates.

A confusing or drawn-out experience can stop potential leads from requesting an estimate or booking an appointment. That’s why it’s important to create forms that meet sales team needs and follow user experience best practices, like:

• Limiting the number of form fields to must-have information
• Giving form fields descriptive names, like ‘Full Name’
• Including helpful error messages, like “Enter a valid email address, like [email protected]”
• Testing forms regularly to verify usability and routing

Most form builders will follow (or at least encourage) these best practices. They’ll also make routing submissions to the appropriate place, like a CRM, seamless, which can save valuable time and help sales representatives respond faster.

3 bonus tips for HVAC lead generation

A few bonus tips for better HVAC lead generation include:

1. Research your audience

Do you know your target audience?

If not, build a marketing persona — determine your ideal demographic, from age to gender to location to career. Maybe, for example, you’re speaking to homeowners within a specific income bracket or office managers in need of HVAC units in their building.

Once you create your marketing persona, use a marketing persona generator to make a quick document reference for your team. It’ll put a name and a face to your target audience, which can help develop PPC ads and drip campaigns for your email marketing strategy.

2. Track your results

You need to track your results to measure the success of your strategy for generating HVAC service leads and spot areas for improvement. While you can use Google Analytics 4, you can also adopt other software solutions that take an in-depth look at your lead generation efforts.

MarketingCloudFX, for example, is one option.

It’s a marketing automation software that tracks the leads you generate from calls, whether from your website, print advertisements, or paid online advertisements. It also includes a few other helpful features.

With those features, you can see the complete scope of your lead generation strategy. Plus, it provides you with a wealth of information, which you can share with your team and your company’s decision-makers.

3. Create a faster website

No matter how you generate HVAC leads, from paid ads to local SEO, it’s critical your website delivers when it comes to load times. If you direct users to a slow-loading landing page, you can expect them to leave — for reference, users expect websites to load in two seconds or less.

That’s why you want to prioritize page speed optimization in your lead generation efforts. A one percent increase in your page speed can cause conversions to increase by 7%, which means more leads and more business.

One quick way to boost your website’s speed? Compress your images with a tool like TinyPNG.

Get more HVAC leads with HVAC marketing pros

Congrats! You’ve learned how to get more HVAC leads through various strategies, from geofencing to chatbots to referral programs. Getting started is a big task, though, and that’s where the HVAC marketing pros at WebFX can help.

With decades of marketplace experience and over 24 million qualified leads generated, we’re a trusted partner for heating and cooling companies. Learn how our digital marketing services can generate more leads for your business by contacting us online now!

FAQs about HVAC lead generation

Get answers to the most common questions about HVAC lead generation now:

Why is HVAC lead generation important?

Today, 80% of homes in the U.S. have an air conditioning system — and you can bet that almost all commercial properties have an HVAC system. While there are plenty of customers searching for HVAC units and service technicians, lead generation is essential if you want your business to thrive.

Why invest in HVAC lead generation? The biggest reasons include:

1. Compete with your competition

No matter what industry you’re in, there is always competition — companies that are trying just as hard as you are to ensure that their business grows. If you sit back and allow your competition to attract all your leads, your HVAC company risks losing valuable potential customers.

That’s why it’s essential for your business to maximize its online visibility, especially when 80% of consumers start their research into a product or service online. With a greater online presence, you can increase your HVAC sales leads and maximize your profits.

2. Attract the most qualified HVAC leads

Lead generation is targeted — meaning that the strategies for generating leads utilize different targeting techniques to ensure that the leads coming to you are ones that have a high chance of becoming your company’s newest clients.

For example, with SEO and PPC campaigns, you can target keywords that allow you to show up in search results when people search for HVAC services. If you offer emergency repairs, for instance, you could target the keyword, “emergency HVAC repair,” to reach users that are ready to purchase now.

In comparison to traditional marketing and advertising, online lead generation offers accuracy. You’re targeting the people most likely to become customers, which maximizes your return on investment (ROI) and delivers results that you can link to your lead generation efforts.

3. Maximize your profits

As a business, money is essential — and when it comes to your HVAC lead generation efforts, you want to get the best results and the best return on your investment. With online lead gen, you have access to a variety of strategies that deliver massive ROIs when it comes to lead generation.

A few examples include:

1. Content marketing, which generates 54% more leads than traditional marketing.
2. Email marketing, which produces 50% more sales than other lead generation methods.
3. PPC, which connects you with shoppers that are 50% more likely to make a purchase.

In short, online lead generation is a smart decision when it comes to your budget and business.

How much do HVAC leads cost?

Prices for HVAC leads vary and depend on the lead’s source, exclusivity, quality, needs, and location. For example, HVAC companies in more populated areas often have higher costs because there is more competition. On average, businesses pay anywhere from $75 to $300 per lead.

Should I buy HVAC leads?

Buying HVAC leads directly, like through data brokers, lead marketplaces, and other sites, is a common tactic for getting leads. However, it’s often expensive and ineffective, which cuts into your company’s profit margins.

Using other options for generating HVAC sales leads, like targeted paid ads, local listing optimization, and email drip campaigns, often results in a more cost-effective lead generation plan, which gives your business better profit margins — and the ability to invest in itself.

Should I hire an HVAC lead generation company?

In some cases, businesses will hire an HVAC lead generation company to:

• Develop lead gen efforts
• Improve lead quality
• Managing ongoing lead generation campaigns

How these companies accomplish the above tasks varies. Some will do cold outreach, for example, while others (like WebFX) will use digital marketing to reach leads that need your services and align with your target customer.

If you’re struggling to find the time, build the skills, or get results, hiring a lead gen company is worth considering. Before signing with one, though, do your research. Like an HVAC business, these companies should evaluate the project, provide an estimate, and outline what they’ll do.

You can learn more about outsourcing your marketing in our guide on hiring a marketing agency.

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