Job value varies enormously within the same business
A small repair and a full installation come from different searches and are worth very different amounts. Treating them as one funnel means paying the same to win both.
Quoted work
Marketing for service businesses, measured in booked jobs
On the service business accounts seen here, enquiries arrived for jobs the business did not want, quote follow-up was ad hoc, and response time was the largest single variable in whether a quote converted. For a service business the enquiry is not the outcome. The booked job is. That changes which searches are worth chasing and what happens after somebody fills in the form.
Free, written by a person, yours to keep either way.
- 6.74x return on ad spend Google Ads
- 2,410 conversions at £19.21 each Google Ads
Certified across the platforms we buy on. 150+ businesses, 7 years.
Buying marketing as this kind of business.
Response speed decides the quote
The business that answers first frequently wins, regardless of price. This is usually the cheapest available improvement and it does not involve marketing at all.
Capacity is a real constraint
Generating more enquiries than you can quote produces annoyed prospects and bad reviews. Marketing has to be turned up and down against the diary rather than run flat out.
Priorities, in this order.
The order matters more than the list. Doing the right things in the wrong sequence is how budgets get spent with nothing to show.
- Separate high-value work from low-value work at the campaign and page level.
- Answer enquiries within the hour during working hours, and measure it.
- Build quote follow-up, because most quotes are never chased.
- Track to the booked job, not to the form fill.
Common mistakes
What goes wrong, repeatedly.
One page and one campaign for every service
Somebody searching a specific job lands on a page about the company. The mismatch is blamed on the campaign and is almost always the page. It shows as a decent click-through rate and a poor conversion rate.
Quotes sent and never followed up
The quote is the most expensive thing you produce and it is routinely sent once into silence. A short structured follow-up recovers a meaningful share at no extra cost.
Chasing the cheapest enquiries
Broad keywords bring price shoppers. Blocking that intent lowers volume and raises the value of what remains, which usually raises profit even as the lead count falls.
What the report leads with.
If the first number in a marketing report is impressions, the report does not want to lead with leads.
- Quotes issued and quotes won
- Average job value from marketing enquiries
- Time to first response
- Cost per booked job by channel
Numbers from comparable accounts.
Google Ads
6.74x
return on ad spend
£31.4K conversion value from £4.66K spend, at £15.87 per conversion.
Google Ads
2,410
conversions at £19.21 each
£46.3K spend at a £0.57 average cost per click.
Real accounts, anonymised by client agreement. Currency as recorded in the account. Movement varies by market, budget and starting position.
Questions
Questions from businesses like yours.
01 We get enquiries but they are the wrong kind of work. Can that be fixed?
Usually yes, and it is one of the more satisfying fixes. It generally means the keywords are matching broader than intended and the page is agreeing with a search you do not want to serve. Blocking that intent lowers the lead count and raises the value of what is left.
02 We are at capacity. Should we still do marketing?
Possibly not right now, and that gets said. If you are genuinely full all year, the useful work is raising prices or improving the mix of work rather than generating more enquiries. If it is seasonal, the useful work is filling the quiet months.
03 How much does response time actually matter for a service business?
More than most of the things agencies charge for. The business that answers first often wins the quote regardless of price. It costs nothing but a process, and it is the first thing looked at here.
04 What should a service business track instead of leads?
Quotes issued and won, average job value from marketing enquiries, time to first response, and cost per booked job by channel. A lead count on its own cannot tell you whether the marketing is paying.
What we would most likely run
Google Ads Agency Paid Per Qualified Lead | Mavix
Starting or rebuilding Google Ads? A straight answer on whether the searches exist, what a click costs you, and an account aimed at enquiries you would take.
Local SEO Services: Map Pack, Calls and Booked Jobs | Mavix
Local SEO for businesses that serve an area: a Google Business Profile done properly, service pages worth ranking, reviews on a schedule, every call tracked.
Media Buying: Google and Meta Ads Paid Per Lead | Mavix
Google, Meta and Microsoft ads run as one budget against one cost per qualified lead. No retainer: you pay for leads that meet a definition agreed in writing.
Next step
Send the site. We will tell you what is wrong.
Free, written by a person, and yours to keep whether you hire us or not.