What Is a Good Marketing ROI? 2026 Benchmarks for Home Services
If you spent $10,000 on marketing last month, could you tell me exactly how much money it made you?
Not how many impressions you received. Not how many clicks you got. Not even how many leads came in.
How much revenue did that $10,000 actually generate?
That is the question that matters.
For HVAC companies, plumbers, roofers, electricians, and pest control businesses, marketing costs can vary dramatically depending on the market, service, season, competition, and channel.
And if you're operating in Lubbock, Texas, national marketing benchmarks don't always tell the whole story.
In this guide, we'll break down what a good marketing ROI actually looks like, walk through the most recent published home-services search benchmarks — campaigns that ran from April 2024 through March 2025 — look at published Lubbock-specific data, and show you the five numbers every trade business should be tracking.
Table of Contents
- What Is Marketing ROI?
- ROI vs. ROAS: What's the Difference?
- The 5 Numbers Every Trade Business Should Know
- Why There Isn't One Good ROI for Every Trade
- 2026 Home Services Marketing Benchmarks
- Lubbock Marketing Benchmarks
- HVAC Marketing in Lubbock
- Plumbing Marketing in Lubbock
- Roofing Marketing in Lubbock
- Electrical Marketing in Lubbock
- Pest Control Marketing in Lubbock
- What Counts as a Good Marketing ROI
- Which Marketing Channel Has the Best ROI
- What Should You Do With These Numbers?
- Why Most Trade Businesses Can't See Their Real ROI
- How WundertreOS Helps Track Real Marketing ROI
- And Then There Are Missed Calls
- The Real Marketing Benchmark Is Your Own Business
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line: Stop Asking "What's a Good ROI?"
- Data Methodology
- About Wundertre
What Is Marketing ROI?
Marketing ROI measures how much money your marketing investment generates compared with what you spent.
The basic formula is:
Marketing ROI = (Revenue Generated − Marketing Cost) ÷ Marketing Cost × 100
For example:
An HVAC company spends $10,000 on marketing. That marketing generates $40,000 in attributable revenue. The calculation is:
($40,000 − $10,000) ÷ $10,000 × 100 = 300% ROI
That's a 300% return on the marketing investment.
But there's another metric you'll hear constantly in digital marketing: ROAS.
ROI vs. ROAS: What's the Difference?
ROAS stands for Return on Ad Spend. The formula is:
ROAS = Revenue ÷ Advertising Spend
Using our HVAC example:
$40,000 ÷ $10,000 = 4x ROAS
That means the business generated $4 in revenue for every $1 spent on advertising.
ROI and ROAS are related, but they aren't the same thing. ROAS focuses specifically on revenue generated relative to advertising spend. ROI looks at the broader profitability of the investment.
For a trade business, both can be useful. But neither tells the complete story if you're only tracking leads.
To understand whether your HVAC marketing, plumbing marketing, or roofing marketing is actually working, you need to follow the customer all the way through the funnel.
The 5 Numbers Every Trade Business Should Know
Before looking at benchmarks, let's define the numbers you'll actually be comparing.
1. Cost Per Lead
CPL = Marketing Spend ÷ Number of Leads
If you spend $5,000 and generate 100 leads: $50 CPL.
Simple enough. But CPL doesn't tell you whether those leads are good.
2. Contact Rate
How many of those leads did you actually reach? If 100 people contact you but your team only connects with 70: 70% contact rate.
This number is particularly important for businesses that generate phone calls.
3. Booking Rate
How many leads actually schedule an appointment? If 70 people are contacted and 35 book: 50% booking rate.
Now we're getting closer to the number that matters.
4. Close Rate
How many booked opportunities become customers? If 35 appointments produce 20 customers: 57% close rate.
5. Revenue Generated
Finally: How much money did those customers actually generate? If those 20 customers generated $30,000:
$30,000 ÷ $5,000 = 6x ROAS
Now you have something meaningful.
Instead of saying: "Google generated 100 leads." You can say: "Google generated 20 customers and $30,000 in revenue from $5,000 in spend."
That's the difference between lead reporting and revenue reporting.
Why There Isn't One Good ROI for Every Trade
A good marketing ROI depends heavily on the economics of the business.
Consider a pest control company and a roofing company. A pest control business may generate many smaller transactions throughout the year. A roofer might spend more to acquire a customer because a single closed job could be worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
That means the roofer may be able to tolerate a substantially higher cost per lead.
This is why asking: "What's a good cost per lead?" isn't enough.
The better question is: "What can I afford to spend to acquire a customer and still make money?"
2026 Home Services Marketing Benchmarks
One of the strongest current benchmark sources comes from LocaliQ's analysis of more than 3,200 U.S. home-services search advertising campaigns that ran from April 2024 through March 2025.
The data covers Google and Microsoft search advertising, with benchmarks for click-through rate, cost per click, conversion rate, and cost per lead.
Here are the published cost-per-lead benchmarks:
| Trade | Average Search Ads CPL |
|---|---|
| Air Conditioning (install & repair) | $127.74 |
| Heating & Furnaces | $129.02 |
| Plumbing | $129.02 |
| Electrical | $93.69 |
| Roofing & Gutters | $228.15 |
| Home Services Overall | $90.92 |
These aren't Lubbock numbers. They're U.S. search advertising benchmarks. And that's an important distinction.
The same report found that home-services search advertising had an average CPC of $7.85 and an average conversion rate of 7.33%. CPL increased for 69% of home-services categories year over year, with an average increase of 10.51%.
In other words: home-services marketing is getting more competitive. And simply generating leads is getting more expensive.
Lubbock Marketing Benchmarks
This is where things get more interesting.
There isn't a single authoritative public database that publishes the actual average ROI for every Lubbock HVAC company, plumber, roofer, electrician, and pest control company. So we shouldn't pretend there is.
Instead, we're using published Lubbock-specific marketing estimates and documented campaign results where available, while clearly labeling national data separately.
Published Lubbock data at a glance
| Trade | Published Lubbock Data | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC | ~$82 average CPL | Published local estimate |
| Plumbing | $45–$150 Google Ads CPL | Published local estimate |
| Roofing | No reliable public CPL found | National comparison only |
| Electrical | No reliable public CPL found | National comparison only |
| Pest Control | No reliable public CPL found | National comparison only |
This table is intentionally transparent. Not every market publishes reliable local benchmarks. And we'd rather tell you that than turn a national average into a fake Lubbock statistic.
HVAC Marketing in Lubbock
A Lubbock-specific HVAC PPC analysis published in 2026 estimates:
- Average CPC: $8
- CPC range: $6–$10
- Average CPL: $82
- CPL range: $70–$95
- Conversion rate: 10%
- Suggested starting monthly budget: $1,800
- Estimated leads at that budget: 20–26 per month
The source says its Lubbock figures incorporate a market-size adjustment and national HVAC benchmark references. That means this should be treated as a published market estimate, not a definitive average for every HVAC company in Lubbock.
The same analysis identifies different CPC ranges depending on search intent:
| HVAC Search | Estimated Lubbock CPC |
|---|---|
| Emergency AC repair | $5.80–$10.50 |
| AC replacement | $6.00–$9.50 |
| Furnace/heating repair | $5.50–$8.50 |
| AC maintenance | $4.50–$7.00 |
It also highlights an important Lubbock-specific factor: seasonality.
Peak summer demand can push competition higher, while earlier spring campaigns can give businesses an opportunity to build campaign history before summer demand peaks.
So if you're evaluating HVAC marketing in Lubbock, don't compare July performance to January performance as if they're the same market. They're not.
Plumbing Marketing in Lubbock
Published Lubbock plumbing benchmarks show a wide range depending on channel.
| Channel | Published CPL | Published Close Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | $45–$150 | ~10% |
| Facebook / Instagram | $25–$80 | ~6% |
| SEO | $15–$40 | ~20% |
| Google Business Profile | $10–$25 | ~25% |
The same source estimates Google Ads customer acquisition costs of approximately $450–$1,500 based on its published CPL and close-rate assumptions.
Again, these are published estimates, not an official Google dataset. But they demonstrate something important:
The cheapest lead isn't necessarily the best lead.
A $25 Facebook lead isn't automatically better than a $100 Google lead. If the $25 lead rarely books while the $100 lead comes from someone searching "Emergency plumber near me," the more expensive lead may be dramatically more valuable.
Roofing Marketing in Lubbock
Roofing has the highest lead costs of any trade in the national data — and the highest job values to match.
LocaliQ puts the national average search-ad CPL for roofing and gutters at $228.15, well above the $90.92 home-services average.
But we couldn't verify a reliable public source for a Lubbock-specific average roofing CPL.
That's worth saying plainly, because roofing is the trade where a national average is least likely to transfer. Lubbock roofing demand is driven heavily by hail and wind, which means lead volume and lead cost can swing dramatically from one season to the next — and from one storm to the next.
So the benchmark that matters for a Lubbock roofer isn't the national CPL. It's your own:
Ad spend → leads → contacted leads → inspections booked → jobs sold → revenue
Here's why. At a $228 cost per lead, a 20% close rate, and a $12,000 average job, you're paying about $1,140 to acquire a $12,000 customer. At a 5% close rate, that same customer costs you $4,560.
Both can be profitable. But they're very different businesses — and cost per lead is identical in both.
In roofing more than any other trade, your close rate deserves more attention than your cost per lead.
Electrical Marketing in Lubbock
Electrical marketing in Lubbock has many of the same challenges as other home-service industries.
Customers search for both emergency services and planned projects, including:
- Electrical repairs
- Panel upgrades
- Rewiring
- EV charger installation
- Lighting
- Electrical inspections
Local marketing providers serving the Lubbock market emphasize search visibility, mobile conversion, reviews, and service-specific landing pages as important components of electrician marketing.
However, we couldn't find a sufficiently reliable public dataset to claim: "The average Lubbock electrician pays exactly $X per lead."
And that's intentional. We'd rather give you an honest answer than manufacture a benchmark.
For national context, LocaliQ reports an average search-ad CPL of $93.69 for electricians and electrical contractors. Use that as a comparison point — not a Lubbock guarantee.
Pest Control Marketing in Lubbock
Pest control has the same data limitation.
There are companies actively marketing pest-control businesses in Lubbock, and local providers emphasize channels such as:
- Google Ads
- SEO
- Paid social
- Reputation management
- Local search
- Revenue tracking
But we couldn't verify a sufficiently authoritative public source for a Lubbock-specific average pest-control CPL.
So again: don't treat a national number as a Lubbock benchmark.
Instead, measure your own:
Ad spend → leads → contacted leads → booked jobs → customers → revenue
That gives you a benchmark that is actually relevant to your business.
What Counts as a Good Marketing ROI?
So now we get to the question you probably came here to answer. What's a good marketing ROI?
There's no universal number. But as a practical framework:
| ROAS | General Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Below 1x | Revenue doesn't cover ad spend |
| 1–2x | Weak / potentially unprofitable |
| 2–3x | Improving |
| 3–5x | Strong |
| 5x+ | Excellent, assuming attribution is accurate |
These aren't universal industry standards. They're a framework for thinking about performance.
Your actual target should depend on your margins, average customer value, repeat business, overhead, and customer lifetime value.
For example, a company with high margins and high customer value may be comfortable spending more to acquire customers than a company with thin margins.
Which Marketing Channel Has the Best ROI?
This is another question without a universal answer. Different channels solve different problems.
Google Search
Google Search captures people who are actively looking. Someone searching "AC repair Lubbock" has very different intent from someone scrolling Facebook.
That makes search particularly valuable for urgent services. The tradeoff is competition.
LocaliQ's home-services data shows CPCs and CPLs can vary significantly by category and change over time.
Google Local Services Ads
Local Services Ads use a pay-per-lead model rather than traditional pay-per-click advertising. For home-service companies, that can make the economics easier to evaluate because you're paying for a lead rather than simply paying for a click.
But you still need to know what happens after that lead arrives. A lead isn't revenue.
Facebook and Instagram
Paid social can be useful for:
- Awareness
- Retargeting
- Promotions
- Before-and-after content
- Seasonal offers
- Building familiarity
But lead quality can vary. That's why Facebook shouldn't be judged only by CPL. Measure: CPL → contact rate → booking rate → close rate → revenue.
SEO
SEO can take longer to build than paid advertising, but successful organic visibility can continue producing leads without paying for every individual click.
For local trades, that can include:
- Service pages
- Location pages
- Google Business Profile optimization
- Reviews
- Local content
- Technical SEO
- Authority-building
The important metric isn't: "How many keywords do we rank for?" It's: "How much revenue is organic search producing?"
Email and Customer Reactivation
This is one of the most overlooked opportunities in home-services marketing.
You've already spent money acquiring previous customers. So what happens if you market to them again?
- Maintenance reminders.
- Seasonal services.
- Past estimates.
- Customers who haven't booked recently.
- Customers due for another service.
- Old leads that never closed.
Email can be particularly efficient because the audience already knows your company.
Litmus reports an average email marketing ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, although that is a broad marketing benchmark and should not be treated as a guaranteed return for a trade business.
The bigger takeaway is simple: don't forget the customers you already paid to acquire.
Want a Marketing Strategy Built for Your Trade?
Every trade business has different customers, services, markets, and growth goals. Wundertre uses industry-specific playbooks to build marketing strategies around how your business actually operates.
Talk to Wundertre About Your Marketing
What Should You Do With These Numbers?
Don't look at these benchmarks and immediately decide: "I need to get my CPL down."
Instead, ask five questions.
- How much does my marketing cost? Know your total spend.
- How many leads does it generate? Track every source.
- How many leads become customers? This is where lead quality becomes visible.
- What is the average customer worth? Don't stop at the first invoice if customers routinely come back.
- How much revenue did each channel actually produce? This is the number you should use to make budget decisions.
For example:
| Channel | Spend | Leads | Customers | Revenue | ROAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | 50 | 15 | $30,000 | 6x | |
| $3,000 | 100 | 8 | $12,000 | 4x | |
| $500 | 40 | 10 | $8,000 | 16x |
If you only looked at leads, Facebook would look like the winner. If you looked at revenue, Google wins. If you looked at ROAS, email wins.
That's why you need all five numbers.
Why Most Trade Businesses Can't See Their Real ROI
Here's where marketing reporting usually breaks.
Google has its own dashboard. Facebook has another. Your website has analytics. Your CRM has leads. Your phone system has calls. Your scheduling software has appointments. Your accounting software has revenue.
And your marketing agency sends you a report with 37 numbers you've never seen before.
So the owner asks: "Okay... but did marketing make money?"
That's the problem. The data exists. It's just disconnected.
How WundertreOS Helps Track Real Marketing ROI
This is where a connected system changes the conversation.
WundertreOS is designed to bring marketing, customer, sales, and service data into one connected environment.
Instead of asking: "How many leads did Google generate?" you can start asking: "How much revenue did Google generate?"
That's a much better question.
A revenue-focused marketing system should help you connect:
Ad → Lead → Call → Appointment → Customer → Revenue
That also means tracking offline conversions. Because a phone call doesn't always show up as a neat online form submission.
A customer may:
- Click an ad.
- Visit your website.
- Call your company.
- Book an appointment.
- Buy a $5,000 service.
If your reporting only sees the click and ignores the call, booking, and sale, you're missing the most important part of the journey.
And Then There Are Missed Calls
Here's another problem trade businesses can't afford to ignore.
You spend $100 generating a lead. The customer calls. Nobody answers. They call your competitor.
Your marketing report may still count the campaign as a success because the lead technically came in. Your bank account disagrees.
That's why marketing ROI doesn't end when the lead arrives. Lead response is part of marketing performance.
For a home-service business, a missed call can represent hundreds, thousands, or potentially tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue depending on the job.
That's why connected reporting and AI-powered follow-up can be so valuable.
The goal isn't simply: generate more leads. It's: capture more of the revenue already being created by your marketing.
The Real Marketing Benchmark Is Your Own Business
National benchmarks are useful. Lubbock benchmarks are better. But your own historical data is best.
If you're an HVAC company in Lubbock and you know: $82 CPL → $250 cost per customer → $3,500 average customer value, that information is more valuable to you than knowing the national HVAC CPL.
And if you discover that:
- Google costs $100 per lead
- Facebook costs $40 per lead
- Google produces twice as many customers
- Google customers spend more
- Facebook customers rarely book
you shouldn't move your entire budget to Facebook because its CPL is cheaper.
Follow the money.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an average ROI for marketing?
There isn't one universal average ROI. Marketing ROI depends on the business, margins, customer value, channel, and attribution model. For home-service businesses, a better approach is to establish your baseline and track whether your ROI is improving over time.
What is a good marketing ROI for an HVAC company?
A good HVAC marketing ROI depends on average job value, gross margin, repeat business, and acquisition cost. A 3x return might be excellent for one company and inadequate for another. The important thing is to connect advertising spend to actual booked revenue.
How much should an HVAC company spend on marketing?
There's no universal dollar amount. Your budget should be based on capacity, market opportunity, customer acquisition economics, and growth goals. A company that can profitably acquire customers for $300 may be able to spend far more than a company whose economics only support a $100 acquisition cost.
What marketing has the highest ROI?
There isn't one universally highest-ROI channel. Search can be extremely valuable for high-intent services. SEO can compound over time. Email can be highly efficient for existing customers. Paid social can support awareness and retargeting. The highest-ROI channel for your company is the one that produces profitable customers — not simply the cheapest leads.
What is the 80/20 rule in marketing?
The 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, suggests that a disproportionate share of results often comes from a relatively small portion of inputs. For a trade business, that might mean 20% of your marketing channels, services, customers, or campaigns produce 80% of your revenue. The goal is to identify those high-performing areas and invest more intelligently.
The Bottom Line: Stop Asking "What's a Good ROI?"
The better question is: "What's a good ROI for my business?"
Your marketing doesn't need to beat somebody else's benchmark. It needs to produce profitable customers.
You need to know:
- What came in.
- What got contacted.
- What got booked.
- What got sold.
- How much revenue it produced.
- And which channel deserves more of your budget.
That's the difference between tracking marketing activity and tracking marketing performance.
Want to See Your Real ROI by Channel?
Don't settle for a report that tells you how many clicks and leads you received. Find out which marketing channels are actually producing customers and revenue.
Call Wundertre today to see how WundertreOS can help connect your marketing data to your real business results.
Data Methodology
The numbers in this article come from a combination of national advertising benchmarks, published Lubbock-specific marketing estimates, and documented campaign results.
The national home-services search advertising data comes from LocaliQ's analysis of 3,211 U.S. search advertising campaigns running between April 1, 2024 and March 21, 2025. LocaliQ states that the figures are median values used to account for outliers.
Lubbock HVAC figures are published estimates from MB Adv Agency's Lubbock HVAC PPC analysis, which combines national HVAC benchmark data with a Lubbock market-size adjustment. These figures should be treated as a published market estimate, not a definitive average for every HVAC company in Lubbock.
Lubbock plumbing figures are published channel estimates from a Lubbock-focused plumbing marketing analysis.
Where reliable Lubbock-specific public data wasn't available — particularly for electrical and pest control — we have intentionally identified the limitation rather than presenting national statistics as local averages.
That distinction matters. A benchmark is useful when you know where it came from.
About Wundertre
Wundertre is a marketing and technology company focused on helping home-service and trade businesses connect marketing activity to measurable business results.
Our work spans lead generation, customer acquisition, creative, sales systems, AI, and revenue tracking.
This article was developed using publicly available industry benchmarks and published Lubbock-market data. Where reliable local data was unavailable, we have explicitly identified that limitation rather than presenting national statistics as local averages.
