Glossary

Home Service Marketing Glossary

A reference guide to common marketing terms used in home services. Bookmark this page and come back when you encounter unfamiliar terminology.

A B C D F G H K L M N P Q R S V W Y

A

A/B Testing: Comparing two versions of something (a landing page, email subject line, ad creative) to see which performs better. You show version A to half your audience and version B to the other half, then measure which gets more clicks, conversions, or whatever metric matters.
Attribution: Figuring out which marketing activities led to which customers. When someone becomes a customer, attribution answers the question: what marketing touchpoint gets credit for that conversion?
Average Ticket: The average revenue per job or transaction. Calculate by dividing total revenue by number of jobs. If you did $100,000 across 200 jobs, your average ticket is $500. Useful for forecasting and evaluating marketing ROI.

B

Bounce Rate: The percentage of website visitors who leave after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate on your homepage might indicate the page isn't engaging. A high bounce rate on a blog post might be fine since they got what they came for.
Brand Awareness: How familiar potential customers are with your company. Hard to measure directly but influences how likely people are to click your ads, trust your website, and choose you over competitors.

C

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): The total cost to acquire a new customer. Calculate by dividing total marketing and sales costs by the number of new customers acquired. If you spent $10,000 on marketing and acquired 50 customers, your CAC is $200.
Call Tracking: Using different phone numbers for different marketing channels to track which sources generate which calls. Essential for attribution in home services where most leads come by phone.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click after seeing your ad or link. If 1,000 people see your ad and 30 click, your CTR is 3%. Higher is generally better, but what matters ultimately is conversions, not just clicks.
Conversion: When a visitor takes a desired action. For home services, this typically means filling out a form, making a phone call, or booking an appointment. A conversion doesn't necessarily mean a sale, just the completion of your target action.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who convert. If 1,000 people visit your website and 30 fill out a form, your conversion rate is 3%. One of the most important metrics to track and improve.
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): Similar to CAC but sometimes used more broadly. Can refer to cost per lead, cost per appointment, or cost per customer depending on context. Always clarify what 'acquisition' means when someone uses this term.
CPC (Cost Per Click): What you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other platforms typically charge on a CPC basis. Common home service keywords can range from $5 to $50+ per click depending on competition.
CPL (Cost Per Lead): What you pay to generate a single lead. Calculate by dividing marketing spend by leads generated. If you spent $5,000 on Google Ads and got 50 leads, your CPL is $100.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Software for tracking leads, customers, and interactions. Where you store contact information, log conversations, and manage your sales pipeline.

D

Direct Mail: Physical mail sent to potential customers. Postcards, letters, and flyers sent to targeted addresses. Still effective for home services, especially for neighbor marketing after completing jobs.
Display Ads: Visual ads (banners, images) shown on websites across the internet. Less targeted than search ads but good for awareness and remarketing. You've seen these as banner ads on news sites and blogs.
Drip Campaign: A series of automated emails sent over time to nurture leads. Instead of one email, you send a sequence that gradually builds relationship and trust. Also called nurture sequences or email sequences.

F

Form Fill: When someone submits a contact form on your website. One of the primary conversion actions tracked by home service businesses.
Funnel: The path potential customers take from first awareness to becoming a customer. Typically visualized as narrowing stages: awareness at the top, consideration in the middle, decision at the bottom. Called a funnel because fewer people make it to each successive stage.

G

GBP (Google Business Profile): Your business listing on Google that appears in Maps and local search results. Previously called Google My Business. Critical for local visibility.
Geotargeting: Showing ads only to people in specific geographic areas. Essential for home services since you only serve certain areas. Can target by city, zip code, or radius around an address.

H

High-Intent Keywords: Search terms that indicate someone is ready to buy. 'Emergency plumber near me' is high intent. 'How to unclog a drain' is lower intent. High-intent keywords typically cost more but convert better.

K

KPI (Key Performance Indicator): A metric you track to evaluate success. Common marketing KPIs include leads generated, cost per lead, conversion rate, and revenue from marketing.
Keyword: A word or phrase people type into search engines. Choosing the right keywords to target is fundamental to SEO and paid search.

L

Landing Page: A webpage designed specifically for a marketing campaign. When someone clicks your Google Ad, they land on a landing page built to convert them. Different from your regular website pages.
Lead: A potential customer who has shown interest and provided contact information. The definition varies by company. Some count any form fill as a lead. Others only count qualified opportunities.
Lead Generation: The process of attracting and capturing potential customers. All marketing activities that result in leads: SEO, PPC, social media, referrals, etc.
Lead Nurturing: The process of building relationships with leads over time until they're ready to buy. Typically done through email sequences that provide value and keep your company top of mind.
Lead Scoring: Assigning points to leads based on their likelihood to convert. A lead who visited your pricing page three times scores higher than one who bounced from your homepage. Helps prioritize follow-up efforts.
Lifetime Value (LTV): The total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your business. Understanding LTV helps you know how much you can afford to spend acquiring customers.
Local Pack: The group of three local business listings that appear in Google search results with a map. Also called the map pack or 3-pack. Getting into the local pack is a primary goal of local SEO.
Local SEO: Search engine optimization focused on ranking for local searches. Includes Google Business Profile optimization, local citations, and location-specific website content.
Local Services Ads (LSA): Google's pay-per-lead ad format for home services. You pay when someone contacts you through the ad, not when they click. Appear at the very top of search results with a Google Guaranteed badge.

M

Match Rate: In visitor identification, the percentage of website visitors who can be identified. A 40% match rate means 40% of your visitors are identified with contact information.
Multi-Touch Attribution: Attribution models that give credit to multiple touchpoints in the customer journey rather than just the first or last. Acknowledges that customers often interact with multiple marketing channels before converting.

N

NAP: Name, Address, Phone number. The basic business information that should be consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, and all directory listings. Inconsistent NAP hurts local SEO.
Negative Keywords: Keywords you tell Google Ads NOT to show your ads for. If you're an HVAC contractor, you might add 'jobs' and 'training' as negative keywords so you don't pay for clicks from people searching for HVAC jobs.

P

PPC (Pay-Per-Click): An advertising model where you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Google Ads and Facebook Ads primarily work on a PPC basis.
Pipeline: The set of opportunities you're actively working on. Your sales pipeline shows all leads at various stages from initial contact to close. Managing pipeline is a core CRM function.

Q

Quality Score: Google's rating of the quality and relevance of your ads and landing pages. Higher quality scores result in lower costs per click and better ad positions. Influenced by expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.
Qualified Lead: A lead that meets certain criteria indicating they're worth pursuing. Criteria might include being in your service area, having a real need, and having budget. More valuable than unqualified leads.

R

Remarketing: Showing ads to people who have previously visited your website. You've experienced this when you look at a product and then see ads for it everywhere. Also called retargeting.
Review Automation: Using software to systematically request and manage customer reviews. Sends automatic review requests after jobs are completed.
ROI (Return on Investment): The profit generated relative to the cost of an investment. If you spend $1,000 on marketing and generate $5,000 in profit, your ROI is 400%. The ultimate measure of marketing effectiveness.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Similar to ROI but specifically for advertising. Revenue generated divided by ad spend. If you spend $1,000 on ads and generate $4,000 in revenue, your ROAS is 4x or 400%.

S

SAB (Service Area Business): A business that serves customers at their location rather than at a physical storefront. Most home service businesses are SABs. Google Business Profile has specific settings for SABs.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Improving your website and online presence to rank higher in unpaid search results. Includes technical optimization, content creation, and building backlinks.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page): The page Google shows after you search. Includes ads, local results, organic results, and various other features.
Speed to Lead: How quickly you respond to new leads. Studies consistently show that faster response dramatically increases conversion rates. Also called lead response time.

V

Visitor Identification: Technology that reveals who is visiting your website even when they don't fill out forms. Matches anonymous visitors against databases to provide contact information.

W

Website Conversion Rate: The percentage of website visitors who take a desired action (form fill, phone call, etc.). The average for home services is 3-4%. Improving this rate is one of the highest-leverage marketing activities.

Y

Yard Sign: Physical signs placed at job sites to advertise your services to neighbors and passersby. A simple but effective form of local marketing.

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