Get More HVAC Leads With These 11 Low-Cost Ideas

1. Figure out your unique selling point

​​What makes your HVAC business different from the other businesses in your service area? The answer is called your unique selling point (or USP).

Your USP may be your:

• Number of years in the business
• Level of HVAC certification
• Target customer base in a specific category
• Special service guarantee

Here’s one in action: Furnace Pros Niagara puts this statement at the top of their website to tell visitors they offer a 5-year certified warranty on installations.

2. Make online booking easy on your website and social media

Adding an online booking form to your HVAC website and social media pages helps homeowners book you at any time of day for emergency HVAC services.

Use an online booking system that lets customers book you for emergency HVAC repairs at a time that’s convenient for them—without having to call or email.

With Jobber, you can include descriptions of all your bookable HVAC services, as well as estimated prices and durations.

3. Use HVAC lead generation websites

If you’re willing to spend a bit more on lead generation, websites like Thumbtack, Angi, and HomeAdvisor can help you get more leads by connecting you with homeowners actively looking for HVAC contractors.

Here’s how to get the best HVAC leads from lead generation sites:

1. Choose the best lead generation site for your business. 
2. List your full range of services and your service area on your business profile.
3. Respond to messages quickly to win more HVAC jobs.
4. Ask every new customer to leave a review once the job is complete.

Many HVAC contractors start with Angi or HomeAdvisor, two popular lead generation sites that match you with residential and commercial HVAC leads in your area for a small fee per lead.

Thumbtack is another option—you can join it for free, and you only pay when a new customer reaches out directly to you.

4. Improve your free Google, Bing, and Yelp listings

The more places your business is listed online, the more leads you’ll get. Here are the most popular places for HVAC companies to create online listings:

• Google Business. A free Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the easiest way to help local searchers find you. Fill out your company contact info, add your services, and share photos of your work. It’s also a place for your customers to leave reviews.
• Bing Places. Claim your HVAC company listing on Bing—the second most-used search engine in the world—and add contact details, photos of your work, and a call to action button (like ‘Contact us’) that sends leads to your website.
• Yelp for Business. When a potential customer finds your Yelp listing, they can call you directly, click a link to your website, or request a quote directly from the listing. Once you verify your free listing, get even more leads by running Yelp Ads.

5. Advertise on Google

Google is the first place that many homeowners look to find HVAC contractors. There are two low-cost ways you can advertise on Google: Search ads and Local Services Ads.

Create pay-per-click Google Search ads

Google Search ads let you pay for advertising space at the top of Google results. When people search for your preferred HVAC keywords, like “miami air conditioning repair” or “24/7 furnace services,” they’ll see the top paid right away.

Google Ads runs an auction to choose which ads it shows. You and other HVAC businesses need to bid for advertising space.

6. Use SEO to appear on Google results for free

Wondering how to get free HVAC leads from Google? If you already have a website, you can use search engine optimization (SEO) to get your business’s website to appear on Google without paying for ads.

To increase your chances of showing up at the top of searches like “air conditioning repair” and “furnace maintenance,” follow these HVAC SEO tips.

7. Collect positive reviews from customers

When positive, detailed reviews from your customers are on display, you show potential customers how great you are. And most homeowners want proof that others have had a good experience before hiring you for HVAC work.

Try all of these methods to ask for a review and get higher-quality responses:

• Email or text your customers when the job is done to check if they’re happy with your HVAC service.
• Automate your review request process. Jobber helps you collect more positive reviews—and paired with NiceJob, you can automatically request reviews once a job is finished.
• Respond to reviews—even the negative ones—to show you’re attentive and care about customer satisfaction.
• Add a testimonials page to your website to showcase your glowing reviews.
• Share positive reviews on your social media profiles, flyers, and all your other physical and online marketing materials.

READ MORE: How to run a HVAC business: 7 management tips

8. Get referrals from existing customers

Your current customers are the best spokespeople for your business. Creating a simple customer referral program that rewards customers for spreading the word can get you higher-quality leads than any other strategy.

Follow these steps to ask for referrals and reward your customers:

1. Create a standard follow-up email you can send to every HVAC customer asking if they’re happy with the work.
2. At the end of the email, write one or two quick sentences explaining how the customer can send a referral and what reward they can get.
3. Offer your customer a reward for booking your services, like a service discount, gift card, or a donation to their favorite charity.

READ MORE: 15 brilliant customer referral program ideas (with examples)

You could also build referrals into your invoicing process. When you send an invoice with Jobber, your customer will see a button they can click to refer a friend.

9. Try social media marketing

Advertising on social media isn’t for everyone—but it’s a good avenue if you want a place to show off your work and attract HVAC leads using your team’s unique personality.

Start by creating a social media profile where you post regularly, then consider your options for paid social media marketing.

Create an active social media profile

To make the best of social media, pick one platform where you can showcase your business’s work and focus on building a presence there.

Even with a small list of followers, your social media profile can act as a portfolio. When potential customers find your profile, they’ll see all the great work you’ve done.

10. Use email to advertise your services

Email marketing is a great way to get more revenue from existing customers. Your email marketing campaigns can promote new services, inspections, maintenance, and special offers to get new job requests from your existing customer base.

To make your email marketing campaigns more effective, use these tips and tricks:

• Target email campaigns to specific groups of customers. For example, group customers based on their past services, like air conditioning repair, maintenance, or upgrades. This will help you send emails that are more relevant to these groups. 

• Keep selling to a 1:5 ratio. For every five emails you send, only one of them should be a sales pitch. Instead, provide your customers with valuable information to keep them subscribed and engaged.
• Write a compelling subject line. Convince your customers to open your email with a strong subject line, like “Want to save 25% on your utility bills?”

11. Use QR codes on all your marketing materials

Putting QR codes on all your HVAC marketing materials is an easy way to send potential customers to your website and turn them into leads.

Without having to search your company name on their phone, a lead can scan the QR code to instantly visit your website and book you for work.