How We Reduced HVAC PPC Cost Per Lead by 58% While Tripling Lead Volume
HVAC Company: 58% Cost Per Lead Reduction
📌 Introduction
A regional HVAC company serving a major metropolitan area was spending £12,000/month on Google Ads and generating 55 leads at £218 CPL. Their target CPL was £90 for the service economics to work. After 14 months of managing their own campaigns, they engaged us. Within 6 months we reduced CPL to £92 and tripled monthly lead volume to 167 — transforming their digital acquisition from a loss to their highest-ROI marketing channel.
❗ The Problem
The HVAC market is fiercely competitive in major cities, with large national HVAC companies bidding aggressively on core terms like "AC repair" and "furnace installation." The client was competing head-to-head with companies 10x their size and losing on CPCs. Their 55 monthly leads were insufficient to keep their 8 technicians fully utilised, forcing reliance on expensive offline marketing.
🔍 Identifying the Causes
Our audit found that 71% of the ad spend was wasted on three categories of inefficiency. First, broad keyword targeting was matching "HVAC" ads to searches like "HVAC salary," "HVAC training," and "HVAC certification courses" — zero commercial intent. Second, there was no ad scheduling — ads ran 24/7 including overnight hours when the business was closed and calls went to voicemail, wasting £2,400/month on leads that were never followed up. Third, the campaign had no geographic targeting refinement — ads ran across the full metro area despite the client only serving 8 of 23 boroughs.
⚠️ Consequences for the Business
Broad keyword matching meant 38% of clicks came from non-buyers. No ad scheduling meant £2,400/month was spent outside business hours generating voicemail leads that converted to appointments at 14% vs 62% for live-answered calls. Oversized geographic targeting meant £3,200/month was spent on areas outside the service territory, generating leads the client couldn't service.
✅ Solution
We rebuilt the campaign architecture from scratch. Keyword strategy: Replaced broad match with a tightly controlled phrase and exact match structure targeting 47 high-intent local service terms ("emergency AC repair [borough]," "furnace installation near me," "HVAC company [neighbourhood]"). Added 340 negative keywords covering non-commercial intent, competitor brand terms, and DIY searches. Geographic targeting: Precise targeting to the 8 served boroughs with bid increases of 25% in the highest-converting zip codes. Ad scheduling: Ads run Monday-Saturday 7am-8pm, Sunday 8am-5pm only, matching business hours when phones are staffed. Bid increases of 35% during peak hours (10am-2pm and 4-7pm). Call-only campaigns: Dedicated mobile call-only campaigns for high-intent searches to maximise phone call volume from mobile users. Local Services Ads: Set up Google LSA alongside regular campaigns (cost per booked appointment vs cost per click) for additional lead sources.
📈 Results
Month 1: CPL dropped to £156 from negative keyword expansion alone. Month 3: Geographic and scheduling optimisations pushed CPL to £121, lead volume to 98/month. Month 6: Full account maturity with Smart Bidding trained on quality call data. CPL: £92. Monthly leads: 167. Lead-to-appointment rate improved from 34% to 61% (more calls during staffed hours). Monthly revenue attributable to PPC grew from £27,500 to £83,500. ROI on ad spend: 596%.
🏁 Conclusion
Local service PPC requires fundamentally different strategy than e-commerce or B2B campaigns. Geographic precision, business-hours ad scheduling, and relentless negative keyword management are the three highest-impact levers for local service businesses. Getting these right can deliver CPL reductions that transform the economics of digital acquisition.
💡 Key Takeaways
Negative keyword management is the fastest path to CPL reduction for local service PPC. Ad scheduling aligned to business hours dramatically improves lead quality and conversion rates. Geographic targeting to actual service areas eliminates significant wasted spend. Call-only campaigns maximise phone lead volume from high-intent mobile searches.
Talk to Us, It's Free
We are always willing to help. Let us know what you are looking for, and we will develop a unique solution for you.
Thank You!
Your message has been sent successfully. We'll get back to you soon.
Business Hours
Our support Hotline is available 24 Hours