HVAC Lead Generation: 6 Proven Strategies to Get Leads

HVAC leads today mostly come from one place – the internet. If you’re looking to attract high-value leads for your HVAC business, things like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media, and search engine optimization are critical to any good marketing strategy.

Sure, you can still bring in quality leads through word of mouth and traditional advertising, but you’re missing out on a major playing field.

Are you ready to discover the secrets to finding the best leads for your business this year? Read on for six HVAC lead generation strategies that are proven to work and drive results for your small business.

Why is Lead Generation Important for HVAC Contractors?

Today in the U.S., nearly 90 percent of households have some sort of air conditioning system. That doesn’t even begin to account for all the commercial properties that also have an HVAC system installed.

With so many HVAC customers out there, there are also dozens of other HVAC businesses in your area to meet the need. If you want your business to thrive amid the competition, a solid lead generation strategy is essential.

Why should you invest in lead generation in the HVAC industry? Here are three of the most important reasons:

Stay Competitive

Just as you are trying your hardest to grow your business and attract new clients, other companies are doing the same. If you relax and take a step back from your online marketing strategy, you’re giving them the upper hand to attract all your leads.

In doing this, you are at risk of losing valuable new customers.

When you have a solid internet marketing strategy in place, it can work for you even when you’re focusing on the core of your home service business.

Attract Qualified Lead Sources

​Letting leads naturally find you may not be the most efficient route to finding qualified new leads. With lead generation tactics, you’re targeting the people who have the highest chance of converting from a lead to a client.

In SEO campaigns, for example, you can select targeted keywords that will help you show up on the search results page when people are looking for help in your service area. You could choose keywords like “emergency air conditioning repair” or “HVAC service Cleveland” to pinpoint sales leads in your area who are ready for service now.

With traditional marketing, you’re throwing a lot at a wall and hoping something sticks. There’s much less accuracy. It can be a waste of your time and money when there’s nothing to show for it.

​Maximize HVAC Sales

​Most business owners would agree that maximizing profits is the main goal. Money is a critical factor in any business, and you want to get the most bang for your buck. Lead gen strategies can improve your bottom line by offering you the best return on your investment as compared to other strategies.

For example, content marketing alone as a lead generation tactic can generate up to 54 percent more sales leads than traditional marketing can.

As far as the budget and your business profits go, HVAC lead generation is one of the smartest decisions you could make.

HVAC Lead Generation Strategies

As you’ll see below, most of the top-performing lead generation strategies are digitally based. Of course, there’s always the tried-and-true word of mouth and cold calling. However, those should only be complementary to a strong digital strategy.

Let’s take a look at the best digital marketing strategies to generate leads for your HVAC business.

1. SEO

​Search engine optimization is a great way to connect with interested users while they search. While the term itself may sound a little confusing, SEO focuses on improving your website and online presence so you can rank higher on the SERP (search engine results page) for relevant keywords that you choose.

With a higher SERP ranking, more people will see your company name and website and will thus be more likely to click it. Searchers don’t often spend the time to go through pages of results — they know that the most relevant results are typically at the top, so they stay there.

The easier people can find your website, the more leads you’ll generate. So with SEO, the goal is to make that as easy as possible.

Some of the top tactics within SEO include keyword research and content marketing. These two go hand in hand.

First, start with keyword research to determine what the most important long- and short-tail keywords are near you. With that list, begin to create content topics that may be able to include those terms and answer valuable questions that your potential leads may have.

The more valuable information you can provide, the higher Google will rank you. But the user’s experience on your website (and how much time they spend there) is also important. More on that later.

2. Email Marketing

​Email marketing is an excellent way to nurture qualified leads and convert them into customers.

If you’re most worried about your ROI, you may like to know that for every dollar HVAC professionals invest in email marketing, they typically earn another $44 back through new business.

That reason alone is why so many companies choose this strategy.

The first step to a good email campaign is a good list of subscribers. Don’t have a list yet?

Start by creating a contact form on your website where they can submit information for a free quote, helpful guide, or something valuable in return.

Once they’re on your list, you already know they are somewhat qualified because they are interested in your services enough to voluntarily subscribe to your emails.

It sets the stage for conversion down the road.

What’s great about email marketing is that it provides a way for you to guide these potential leads through the sales funnel and down to the selling point. It’s also a good way to build customer loyalty and retain the customer base you have.

There’s also the option to target your emails to specific audiences, so they receive messages tailored toward their stage in your sales process. You can even A/B test things like subject line, images, and CTAs within the emails across different audiences to gauge what the response is like.

3. PPC Advertising

PPC is another top lead gen strategy that can’t be missed. Pay-per-click advertising is like SEO in that it lets you target keywords specific to your industry and area. But PPC can work immediately, whereas SEO tends to take some time.

Since it’s a paid form of advertising, you’ll see results almost instantly. The way PPC works, you are only paying for the number of people that actually click on your ad. You’re not paying for impressions or even the times your ad was displayed.

PPC uses an auction system that gives you a chance to big on the keywords most important to you. If you want to target people looking for “HVAC installation,” for example, you could decide how much you’re willing to pay for that keyword on it and send in your bid.

If you win the highest bid on that word, your ad will show up as a sponsored post on Google search results pages above the organic results every time someone types in that query.

Since you’re only paying for your ad when it actually works, it’s one of the most cost-effective options for lead gen around.

4. Social Media

Creating a strong online presence through social media is another way to create a trusting relationship with potential customers. While social media might not be the primary online lead generation channel for HVAC companies, specifically, it’s still a valuable place to invest some time and energy.

Think about where your potential leads spend time online. Are they on Instagram? Do they prefer Facebook? How about Twitter? The most important aspect of your social media strategy will be following your audience to where they already are.

If you’re spending all your time trying to lure them to where you are, you won’t get the result you’re hoping for.

On your chosen platforms, think about what valuable information you can offer your followers to position yourself as an industry leader and trustworthy company. Social media is also a great place to share positive testimonials from past customers.

Use tactics like hashtags, location tagging, and strong images to build engagement and, eventually, a social community.

5. Phone Calls

While cold calling residents to see how their AC systems are working isn’t the best idea, there’s still a place in HVAC lead generation for cold calling commercial businesses.

Think about it: Most commercial buildings have an HVAC system installed, and they are bound to need maintenance, repair, or replacement at some point.

It doesn’t hurt to call around and start to build rapport with these companies so that when the time comes and they need HVAC services, they’ll know who to call.

6. Word of Mouth

Finally, a tried and true tactic for home services like plumbing, HVAC, electric, and more is word of mouth. Often, people will ask their families or their neighbors if they’ve had a good experience with a home service company they would recommend.

Personal recommendations and word of mouth can go far, so be sure you’re leaving all of your customers satisfied. If they’re pleased with the work you’ve done, they’ll be more likely to recommend you when people ask.

​Lead Generation Tips For Your HVAC Company

Before you set out to implement your new lead generation strategy, here are a few tips to guide you:

• Know Your Audience – If you want your potential customers to eventually become happy customers of yours, be sure you know what they want, what their pain points are, and how your offering can add value and solve their problems.
• Optimize Your UX – If you don’t want leads to leave your HVAC website and go back to Google, make sure you’re offering them a pleasant user experience. Employ good web design practices like CTAs and clear headings to keep them engaged.
• Rethink Your Lead Gen Forms – If your lead generators aren’t working for you, they’re working against you. Keep it simple and ask for their contact information like name and phone number and offer them something of value in return.
• Support With Mobile -If your website is not responsive to mobile devices in real-time, you’re missing out on quality leads on their phones or tablets.
• Track Results – Tracking results of your efforts is the lifeblood of any good marketing campaign. Without the data to support your strategies, you’ll never know what’s actually working.

Final Thoughts

If you want to draw in more leads than ever before, build your portfolio of happy HVAC customers, and make higher profits than your company has ever seen, you need to devote time, energy, and a bit of capital to HVAC lead generation.

With the six strategies and helpful tips above, you’re equipped to create a robust lead gen strategy that will put your business where you want it to be.