Why ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro Might Not Be the Best for Your PPC Advertising Profits
Greetings, HVAC business owners, managers, and stakeholders.
In today’s blog post, we’re going to talk about why ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro—two of the most popular software solutions in the home services industry—might not be the best choices for your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising efforts and maximizing profits. Both of these platforms are widely used in the HVAC world to help manage jobs, customer relationships, and improve operational efficiency. But if you’re an HVAC contractor or a plumbing service company considering one of these solutions, you might want to seriously rethink that decision before you jump in.
Now, I get it. You’re probably thinking, “But these tools are supposed to help streamline my business!” And that’s true. They’re both fantastic for customer relationship management (CRM), job scheduling, and workflow automation. But what most people don’t tell you is that they come with some significant drawbacks when it comes to managing your online advertising, specifically Google Ads.
The problem is that, while you might feel optimistic when you first start using them, about 9 months down the road you’ll likely realize, “Hey, this isn’t working as well as I thought it would.” By that time, you’ve invested a ton of time and money into setting everything up—training your staff, learning the system, integrating other tools, etc. At that point, pulling out and switching to something else can be a huge headache. You’re stuck.
So before you make the jump, let’s talk about the hidden costs, especially when it comes to Google Ads and how these platforms impact your advertising success. I’ll also share better alternatives and strategies to help you get more profitable HVAC leads and improve your ROI.
The Biggest Challenge: Generating Profitable HVAC Leads
We all know the hardest part of running an HVAC business is generating high-quality leads that convert into profitable jobs. But what if you could tap into an unlimited source of HVAC leads—where you could charge a rate high enough to attract the right technicians, recruit them from competitors, and ensure you’re paying competitive wages for quality talent?
Think about it—what if you could consistently get high-margin jobs and maximize your ROI from your PPC ad spend? You could easily scale your business and bring in the right customers who are willing to pay for top-notch service. But here’s the kicker: PPC advertising on Google can help you do this—if it’s set up and optimized correctly.
The reality, however, is that most HVAC contractors struggle to generate high-quality leads that actually turn into jobs at a good CPA (cost-per-acquisition). You want to make sure your ads are targeting customers who bring in solid profit margins for each job. That’s why, before you decide on a platform like ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro, you need to carefully consider the impact it will have on your paid search campaigns.
Once you start using either of these platforms, you need to make sure they don’t mess with your ability to optimize PPC campaigns. Because when you’re running ads on Google, you’re not the only HVAC company competing for clicks. There are hundreds of competitors out there, all fighting for the same customers. And it’s not just about how much you spend, but how well you optimize your ads, landing pages, and back-end systems.
If you want to be part of the top 2% of HVAC contractors who can afford to stay at the top of search results (and make $5 million or more a year), then everything hinges on how you run your ads and refine your strategy over time.
1. The Local Number Issue: Why It’s a Big Deal
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your advertising is not using local numbers. When a potential customer clicks on your Google ad, they’re asking themselves three questions—instantly:
- Do you provide the service I need?
- Do you serve my area?
- Can I trust you?
You have about 3 to 6 seconds to answer these questions in their minds. One of the easiest ways to build trust and quickly prove that you serve their area is by having a local phone number. Think about it—if you were looking for an HVAC company and you saw an ad with a generic 1-800 number, would you call? Maybe. But probably not.
Local numbers matter. They help increase conversion rates and lower your CPC (cost-per-click). But here’s the problem: ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro both have limitations when it comes to local number usage in their call-tracking systems.
- ServiceTitan uses dynamic number swapping to track calls. Sounds great, right? Well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. If you have multiple area codes you’re serving, you won’t be able to use local numbers for all of them. Instead, you’ll have to rely on their generic tracking numbers, which could hurt your conversion rates by as much as 50%.
- Housecall Pro doesn’t even support dynamic number swapping, meaning you can’t track calls at the keyword level or use local numbers effectively for your campaigns.
If you’re running high-volume PPC campaigns, this can become a major issue. Without local numbers, you could be throwing away a huge chunk of your ad budget. Imagine you’re spending $1 million a year on ads and you’re not using local numbers in your campaigns—you’re losing at least 20% of your jobs right off the bat.
What we do at HVAC Leads is set up different tracking number pools for each area code your HVAC company services. We don’t run into this problem because we use a tool like CallRail, which allows us to get around the local number issue and track conversions with local numbers.
2. Sales Opportunity Tracking: The Missing Link
In order to optimize your PPC ads and generate high-quality HVAC leads, you need to track sales opportunities. When a lead calls in, it’s not enough to just say, “Yep, that was a call.” You need to know whether it’s a good call or a bad call, and more importantly, if it turns into a profitable job. This is crucial for ROI optimization.
Both ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro have call tracking features, but they fall short when it comes to properly integrating those calls with your advertising platforms. Here’s the problem:
- ServiceTitan allows you to track calls and log them in the platform, but the data doesn’t automatically feed into Google Ads in real time. So, you’ll end up manually updating your lead status, which introduces a delay in tracking.
- Housecall Pro doesn’t even support real-time tracking, and you have to manually update which leads turned into jobs. This also introduces significant delays and data inaccuracies, which can hurt the performance of your ads.
The solution is to use a CRM like Salesforce or Zoho, which can be directly integrated with Google Ads. With real-time job status updates, Google knows when you’ve closed a job and can target similar customers based on that data. This creates a self-perpetuating feedback loop that improves your results over time.
Without this kind of system, you’re leaving a lot of potential on the table. In fact, with proper job-level tracking, you can improve your profitability threefold—getting 3x more profit out of your PPC campaigns. The key is tracking jobs and not just calls.
3. Keyword-Level Tracking: Unlocking the Power of Data
Basic call tracking just isn’t enough. If you want to optimize your ads and improve your return on ad spend (ROAS), you need keyword-level tracking. This is essential for understanding exactly which keywords drive profitable leads.
Dynamic keyword-level call tracking allows you to track which specific keywords triggered a call and, more importantly, which ads they clicked. This information is invaluable for optimizing your campaigns.
- ServiceTitan has dynamic call tracking, but again, you can’t use local numbers with it. So you can track calls, but you’ll miss the critical keyword-level data that’s necessary for optimization.
- Housecall Pro doesn’t even offer dynamic number swapping, so you won’t be able to track keywords or ads that are performing best.
What you need is a service like CallRail, which gives you the ability to track keyword-level performance and optimize in real-time. This is how we help HVAC companies fine-tune their campaigns and maximize ROI.
Why Choose a More Flexible CRM System: Salesforce and Beyond
At the end of the day, the goal is to make your advertising work for you, not against you. That’s why we recommend using a CRM like Salesforce or Zoho. These platforms are not only more flexible than ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro, but they also provide better integrations with Google Ads and other advertising platforms.
Unlike the proprietary software systems, Salesforce doesn’t suffer from the same limitations when it comes to data integration. It can handle real-time job tracking, API integration with Google Ads, and it scales with your business as you grow.
The bottom line? If you want to unlock the true potential of your PPC ads and generate high-quality, profitable HVAC leads, you need a CRM and advertising strategy that works seamlessly together. You can’t afford to waste time and money on tools that limit your advertising and tracking capabilities.
Conclusion: Choose the Right Tools for Your Advertising Success
I get it—ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro are great tools for job management and customer service. But if you’re serious about growing your HVAC business through Google Ads, you’ll need to make sure that your advertising tools are as powerful and flexible as your service tools.
By integrating dynamic call tracking (via CallRail) and choosing a more flexible CRM (like Salesforce or Zoho), you can take your Google Ads campaigns to the next level and generate more profitable leads with a much higher ROI.
If you have any questions or want to dive deeper into optimizing your PPC strategy for HVAC, feel free to leave a comment below! I’m happy to help you get the most out of your ad spend.
