Where Top Home Services Brands Find Their Best Leads

For home services marketers, the real challenge isn’t generating more leads – it’s finding better ones. Too often, low-intent leads drain your budget and stall your ability to scale. When someone’s dealing with a broken AC, in need of a new security system or looking to invest in new windows, they’re not casually browsing – they’re ready to find a solution. 

These high-stakes moments drive high-intent users, making every qualified lead that much more valuable. The question is: Are your lead gen campaigns built to capture them? With a few smart optimizations – or the right channels – you could turn urgency into opportunity and make every dollar work harder.

You Don’t Need to Start Over – You Just Need to Spend Smarter

You don’t need a brand-new lead gen strategy. Minor optimizations across your existing campaigns can drive major improvements in lead quality and ROI.

Before upping your spend, make sure your current channels are working for you. Here’s what to look for:

• Spikes in CPL: Notice a sudden rise in CPL from a certain channel? It could mean you’re targeting the wrong audience or reaching them at the wrong time.
• Leads are up, but conversions aren’t: More clicks and form fills don’t always mean better results. If conversions aren’t following, it’s time to assess lead quality. Are you attracting the right audience, or just increasing volume with low-intent leads?
• Local performance gaps: Is your geotargeting too broad? Narrow down your reach to high-intent areas, and optimize for the zip codes that generate the best leads.

The bottom line: Don’t just invest more – invest strategically. Get more from what’s already working, optimize what’s not, and double down on the channels that drive high-quality leads, not just clicks.

Top Performance Channels for High-Value Leads

Home services marketers already know which channels can drive volume, but quality is another story. If you’re looking to drive more high-intent calls and form fills, these three channels consistently deliver, especially when quality is the priority.

Search: Be There When Urgency Strikes

Search is evolving fast. With AI-generated overviews and shifting consumer behavior, showing up exactly when and where your ideal customer is ready to act has never been more critical.

• Urgency signals high intent: When someone googles “emergency HVAC repair” or “emergency plumbing services near me,” they’re not shopping around – they’re ready to book. Search ensures you’re visible at that moment.
• Tailored campaigns convert better: Search lets you customize messaging based on time of day, device, user behavior, and even local weather, so a homeowner experiencing a sudden cold spell sees your heating repair ad exactly when they need it.
• Built for local targeting: AI allows for smarter, more efficient placement-based targeting. With keyword-based targeting and geographic filters, you can serve ads only in ZIP codes that drive conversions and avoid wasting spend in low-performing areas.

Social: Meet Customers Where They Scroll

Social may not be the first place people look for home services, but it’s often where they find them. Social channels create opportunities to reach your audience in a less transactional, more engaging environment.

• Reach users in the right mindset: A homeowner scrolling through Instagram might see a video ad for a local landscaping service offering same-week appointments, making it easy for them to tap and book.
• Behavior-based targeting improves lead quality: Narrow your reach by interests, life stage, or behavior (like recent movers or new homeowners), so you’re connecting with those most likely to need your product/service.
• Low-friction CTAs drive action: Features like “Book now” or “Contact us” buttons remove extra steps, making it easier for users to convert without leaving their feed.
• Optimized for mobile interaction: Most social leads convert on mobile, making it a perfect channel for services that require quick decisions and immediate scheduling.

Programmatic: Stay Relevant Without Being Disruptive

Programmatic media delivers personalized messaging that aligns with user interests and context, offering a helpful nudge instead of a hard sell.

• Content-driven placements build trust: A homeowner researching tips to protect their home while traveling might come across a native ad for a home security system. With safety top of mind, they’re more likely to click or call for a quote without feeling interrupted.
• Precision targeting refines quality: Use behavioral and interest-based data to get in front of users already researching home services needs.
• Scalable without waste: Real-time optimizations focus spend on the placements and audiences that are driving outcomes, helping you scale while keeping quality high.

Best Practices: Turning Calls into Conversions

Generating phone calls is one thing—generating the right calls that convert into real outcomes is another. Check out some best practices to attract these high-quality call leads.

Leverage the Outcome Engine for Smarter Lead Generation

The Perform^[cb] Outcome Engine is designed to help marketers attract and convert the highest-quality leads.

• Tiered targeting based on intent: The Outcome Engine segments audiences based on real-time behavioral signals, allowing marketers to prioritize budget on users most likely to convert. One home services brand used this tiered approach to uncover new growth opportunities within their existing campaigns, increasing high-quality leads by 1,917% over four years, without spending more.
• Real-time optimization for smarter spend: Lead intent shifts quickly, especially for urgent home services. The Outcome Engine continuously adapts targeting and spend based on what’s working now, ensuring you reach users in high-intent moments.
• Expand without disruption: One of the key advantages of the Outcome Engine is its ability to identify new, high-performing lead sources without disrupting your current marketing strategy. Rather than replacing what’s already working, it pinpoints complementary channels that enhance overall lead quality and conversion rates.

Creative & Conversion Optimization

Strong creative is just as essential as smart targeting. To convert calls, you need messaging that grabs attention and sets clear expectations.

• Lead with urgency: Use action-oriented CTAs like “Need HVAC help now? Call to schedule in 5 minutes” to drive immediate response, bringing high-intent callers to the front of the line.
• Pre-qualify in the copy: Be clear about who your offer is for. By setting expectations in your copy and addressing specific pain points, you naturally weed out low-quality leads before the call even happens.
• Test creative across channels: Different channels attract different lead profiles. Testing across multiple platforms helps identify where your highest-quality leads are actually coming from.
• Measure what matters: Make sure you’re monitoring at least all of these quality metrics if you are not already – call duration, conversion rate, ROI, and caller location.

Routing, Tracking, & Compliance

Converting calls starts with getting the right person on the line and making sure every call meets brand standards. The Outcome Engine delivers 24/7 brand safety and compliance monitoring, with smart routing and detailed call tracking.

• Smarter call routing: Geo-targeting, urgency-based logic, and demographic filters ensure each call is directed to the appropriate service area, team, or partner. Whether it’s connecting to the nearest licensed contractor or matching based on specialty, routing logic is tailored to performance.
• Pinpoint what’s working with AI-powered insights: The Outcome Engine’s AI-powered call transcription and tracking technology give you granular insight into what’s working, from the ad copy that triggered the call to the conversion path that followed. With this data, you can double down on what delivers and eliminate what doesn’t.
• Filter out the noise: With built-in compliance tools, the Outcome Engine automatically filters out low-intent or non-compliant calls. In one case, an insurance marketer leveraged the Outcome Engine to drive over 14,000 paid calls with a 51% conversion rate by pre-qualifying leads and routing based on demographic data.

Maximize Lead Quality with Pay Per Call

The most successful home services marketers focus on quality over quantity, using data-backed strategies to target the right consumers at the right time. With the right call channels, smart optimizations, and partners like the Outcome Engine, your team can uncover qualified leads you may have otherwise missed, without wasted spend.

Ready to stop chasing volume and start driving real outcomes? See how the Outcome Engine can help you scale smarter with performance-based call generation.