Tracking Your Marketing ROI: What Metrics Roofers Need to Watch
As a roofer, you’re no stranger to the importance of investing in the right tools for the job.
Just like you wouldn’t tackle a roof without the proper equipment, tracking the right metrics is essential when it comes to marketing for roofers.
It’s about making sure your marketing dollars are actually working for you—bringing in leads, boosting sales, and ultimately growing your business.
But with so many numbers to follow, it can feel like wading through a sea of data.
So, let’s break it down and focus on the most important metrics you need to track to understand your return on investment (ROI) for marketing.
1. Cost Per Lead (CPL)
One of the first metrics you’ll want to keep an eye on is Cost Per Lead (CPL).
Simply put, this tells you how much you’re spending to acquire each new lead.
It’s a critical number because it gives you insight into whether or not your marketing efforts are efficient.
If you’re spending too much on leads without seeing a corresponding increase in business, it’s a sign that your marketing strategy needs some fine-tuning.
Think of CPL as the foundation of your marketing success.
You want it low enough that you’re getting a good deal, but not so low that the quality of your leads is suffering.
When marketing for roofers, a great way to lower CPL is by optimizing your Google Ads campaigns and honing in on the right keywords.
If you’re spending less to generate a lead, you’ll have more budget to put towards other areas of your business.
2. Conversion Rate
The Conversion Rate is another vital metric.
It measures how many of your leads actually turn into paying customers.
After all, leads are great, but if they’re not converting into jobs, it’s like having a leaky roof—your efforts are going to waste.
Conversion rate tells you how well your marketing strategies are working to push leads down the funnel and into actual contracts.
Roofers can improve their conversion rates by optimizing their landing pages, creating compelling offers, and ensuring a smooth customer journey from start to finish.
If your website or ad copy isn’t clear, it might be costing you potential clients. T
esting different elements like headlines, calls to action, and imagery can help improve conversions.
The higher your conversion rate, the better your ROI will be.
3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Another key metric to watch is Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
This is the total revenue you can expect from a single customer over the entire course of your relationship.
For roofing businesses, CLV is crucial because roof repairs or replacements are infrequent, but if you build a good reputation, a customer may refer you to friends and family or even come back for additional services, like gutter installations or inspections.
By increasing CLV, you’re essentially maximizing the value of each customer.
Building a strong relationship through excellent service, timely follow-ups, and targeted marketing (like email campaigns) can significantly improve CLV.
Happy customers are likely to recommend your services to others, and word-of-mouth referrals often come with a high conversion rate, improving your ROI without needing to spend extra on acquisition costs.
4. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
While ROI is the big picture, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) zooms in on a specific piece of the puzzle: how much revenue you’re generating for every dollar spent on advertising.
This is especially important if you’re using paid channels like Google Ads.
For roofers, a good ROAS ensures that every dollar you put into digital marketing is coming back to you with interest.
To calculate ROAS, divide your total revenue generated by a campaign by the amount spent on ads.
If you’re consistently seeing a positive ROAS, great! It means your campaigns are driving value.
If not, it might be time to reassess your targeting, ad copy, or bidding strategy. High-performing ads will boost your ROAS and, in turn, positively affect your overall marketing ROI.
5. Lead-to-Customer Ratio
Your Lead-to-Customer Ratio shows how well you’re closing the leads you’re getting.
It’s one thing to attract leads, but converting them into customers is where the magic happens.
This ratio will help you understand if there are gaps in your sales process, such as follow-up speed or presentation quality.
For roofers, a low lead-to-customer ratio could mean that either the leads coming in aren’t high quality, or the sales process isn’t efficient.
To fix this, make sure your team is trained to handle inquiries quickly and professionally.
Marketing for roofers is a competitive market, so the quicker you can respond to potential customers, the better your chances of winning the job.
6. Website Traffic and Engagement
Lastly, keep an eye on Website Traffic and Engagement metrics.
If you’re running any form of digital marketing, your website is likely one of the first places potential customers visit.
How much traffic are you getting? How long are people staying on your site? Are they clicking on your calls to action?
These engagement metrics tell you how effective your website is in attracting and keeping visitors.
Roofers can boost traffic through effective SEO strategies, especially local SEO, to ensure they appear in relevant searches.
If people are leaving your site too quickly (a high bounce rate), it might be time to revisit your content, design, or load speed.
A well-optimized website means more visitors turn into leads, and more leads mean more potential jobs, which directly impacts your ROI.
Balancing Paid and Organic Strategies: Why Both SEO and Google Ads Matter
As a roofing contractor, you’ve likely heard the phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
When it comes to marketing for roofers, that’s exactly the mindset you need to adopt.
While many businesses focus on either SEO or Google Ads, the real key to success lies in finding the perfect balance between these two powerful strategies.
By leveraging both, you can cover all your bases and create a marketing engine that drives consistent leads, both in the short and long term.
Let’s dive into why both SEO and Google Ads should be part of your digital strategy.
Click here to learn more about Google Ads
Click here to learn more about SEO
1. Immediate Visibility with Google Ads
Let’s be real—roofing is a competitive industry.
Sometimes you need leads quickly, especially during peak seasons or after a major storm hits.
This is where Google Ads come into play.
With paid advertising, you can bid for the top spots on Google’s search results, ensuring that your business is visible to potential customers when they’re actively searching for roofing services.
Best of all, you can start seeing results almost immediately.
Google Ads are especially useful for local roofing businesses that want to target customers in their specific service areas.
You can geo-target your ads to ensure that people searching for “roofers near me” will see your business first.
Plus, by focusing on the right keywords, your ads will appear to people who are ready to book a service, boosting your chances of turning clicks into paying customers.
It’s fast, effective, and gives you the control to adjust your strategy based on performance.
2. Long-Term Gains with SEO
While Google Ads offer immediate results, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the long game.
Think of it as laying the groundwork for future success.
With SEO, your goal is to rank organically on Google for roofing-related searches without having to pay for clicks.
This takes time, effort, and a well-thought-out strategy, but the rewards can be huge.
Imagine this: you invest in SEO today, and over time, your roofing business starts ranking on the first page of Google for terms like “best roofing contractor in [your city]” or “roof replacement services near me.”
These organic results feel more trustworthy to customers, and the best part?
Once you’ve climbed the rankings, the leads keep coming in without the ongoing costs associated with ads.
By optimizing your website’s content, using the right keywords, and making sure your business appears in local search results, you’ll build a sustainable flow of leads for the long haul.
3. Why You Shouldn’t Choose One Over the Other
Now, you might be wondering: which is better, SEO or Google Ads? The answer is both!
In marketing for roofers these powerful tools complement each other perfectly, helping you achieve both short-term and long-term marketing goals.
While Google Ads provide immediate visibility, SEO builds trust and authority over time. It’s like having a fast sprint runner and a marathon champion on your team—you need both to win the race.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you run a roofing business and are looking to drive more leads during a slow season.
You can run a Google Ads campaign to target urgent keywords like “emergency roof repair” and get instant traffic to your website.
Meanwhile, you’re continuously working on your SEO to improve rankings for broader terms like “roofing contractors near me” or “best roofing services,” which will pay off in the coming months.
Using both strategies together means you’re not relying on just one source of traffic, protecting your business from market fluctuations.
4. Making the Most of Your Budget
When it comes to marketing for roofers, budget is always a consideration.
Running Google Ads costs money every time someone clicks on your ad, so you want to make sure that money is spent wisely.
By pairing paid ads with organic SEO, you’re essentially spreading your budget across two powerful strategies.
This reduces the risk of putting too much into one basket and can actually save you money in the long run.
For instance, if your website starts to rank well organically through SEO, you may not need to spend as much on Google Ads over time.
You can shift some of your ad budget to focus on highly competitive keywords that are difficult to rank for organically or use ads to promote seasonal services.
This way, you’re making sure every dollar you spend on marketing is doing double duty by covering both immediate and future lead generation efforts.
5. Creating a Unified Strategy
The beauty of combining SEO and Google Ads is that you can create a unified digital marketing strategy that works seamlessly.
With the right approach, both can support each other.
For example, the keyword research you do for your Google Ads campaigns can inform your SEO efforts, helping you target the same high-converting search terms in both paid and organic results.
By tracking the performance of your ads and the organic traffic coming from your SEO efforts, you’ll gain valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t, allowing you to fine-tune your approach.
Having both strategies in place also means you can cover more ground.
Some customers may click on an ad, while others may prefer to click on an organic result.
By showing up in both spots, you increase your chances of capturing those valuable leads.
It’s all about maximizing your visibility and ensuring you’re in front of potential customers no matter how they choose to search for roofing services.
Tips for Lowering Cost-Per-Lead: Optimizing Ads for Higher-Quality Roofing Leads
When you’re running a roofing business, every penny counts.
That’s why reducing your cost-per-lead (CPL) while still getting high-quality roofing leads is crucial.
But how do you do that without compromising your lead flow?
The good news is, by making a few tweaks to your ad campaigns, you can optimize your spending and bring in better roofing leads at a lower cost.
Let’s dive into some simple, effective strategies to help you cut down your CPL and get the most out of your marketing budget.
1. Target the Right Keywords for Roofing Services
The first place to start when marketing for roofing to being is optimizing your Google Ads with keyword targeting.
Not all keywords are created equal, especially when it comes to marketing for roofers.
The trick is to avoid generic or broad terms like “roofing” or “roof repair” because while they bring in a lot of traffic, they may not lead to high-quality prospects.
Instead, you want to focus on long-tail keywords—more specific phrases that reflect what your ideal customer is searching for.
For example, instead of targeting “roof repair,” try phrases like “affordable roof repair in [your city]” or “emergency roof repair near me.”
These keywords help filter out unqualified traffic and attract leads who are further down the buying funnel and more likely to convert.
Additionally, localizing your keywords ensures that you’re getting clicks from potential customers in your service area, which will improve the relevance of your leads and ultimately lower your CPL.
Click here if you want to learn more about increasing your ROI using Google ads click here
2. Refine Your Ad Copy to Speak to Your Ideal Customer
The way you craft your ad copy plays a massive role in attracting high-quality roofing leads.
Marketing for roofers isn’t just about getting the clicks—you want the right people to click.
One of the best ways to optimize your ad copy is to make it as specific as possible, clearly highlighting what makes your roofing business stand out.
Include phrases that resonate with potential customers, such as guarantees, fast response times, or financing options.
For example, if your roofing company offers free estimates, include that in your ad copy: “Get a Free Roofing Estimate in [your city]—Call Today!”
Or if you specialize in certain roofing materials, mention that too: “Expert in Asphalt Shingle and Metal Roofing—Contact Us Now!”
By making your ads highly relevant to your target audience, you’ll not only attract more qualified leads, but also reduce clicks from users who are less likely to convert, thus lowering your CPL.
3. Use Geo-Targeting to Focus on Your Service Area
Geo-targeting is one of the most effective ways to optimize your ads and lower your CPL in marketing for roofers.
You don’t want to waste ad spend reaching people outside your service area, so make sure you’re using geo-targeting features to show your ads only to people located within your desired radius.
To maximize this, start by setting up your campaigns to focus on the cities, neighborhoods, or zip codes you service.
For example, if you’re a roofer in Dallas, there’s no point in showing your ads to someone looking for a roofer in Austin.
By narrowing down your ad delivery to the areas you actually serve, you can eliminate wasted clicks and ensure that your ads are only reaching people who are potential customers.
This will drastically improve the quality of your leads and lower your CPL.
Learn more about geo-targeting here
4. Optimize Your Landing Pages for Higher Conversions
Your landing page plays a significant role in determining your ad campaign’s success.
Once someone clicks on your ad, you want to make sure your landing page is designed to convert that visitor into a lead.
If your landing page isn’t optimized, you might find yourself spending more on clicks that don’t convert, which will drive up your CPL.
To lower your CPL and increase your lead quality, ensure that your landing page is clear, concise, and easy to navigate.
It should match the message in your ad, have a prominent call-to-action (like “Request a Free Quote”), and offer trust signals such as customer reviews or industry certifications.
The goal is to make it as simple as possible for visitors to take action.
The fewer steps between them landing on your page and contacting you, the better your conversion rate will be.
5. Monitor and Adjust Your Ad Schedule
Running your ads at the right time can make a significant impact on your CPL.
Some may see that a strategy for optimization in marketing for roofers is setting times of the day or days of the week may perform better than others, depending on your audience’s behavior.
By monitoring when your ads perform best, you can adjust your schedule to maximize your budget.
For instance, if you notice that your ads perform better during weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but weekends have a higher CPL with fewer conversions, consider pausing your ads during off-peak times.
This ensures that your budget is spent when your potential customers are more likely to be searching for roofing services.
A well-optimized ad schedule will help reduce wasted spend and improve your overall lead quality.
6. Leverage Negative Keywords to Avoid Unqualified Leads
One often-overlooked strategy for lowering CPL in marketing for roofers is using negative keywords.
Negative keywords help prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant searches, which can lead to wasted clicks and higher CPL.
For example, if you don’t offer commercial roofing services, you should add “commercial” as a negative keyword to ensure your ads aren’t shown to people searching for “commercial roofing contractors.”
Or, if you don’t offer DIY services, you can use negative keywords like “DIY roof repair.”
This way, your ads are only shown to people searching for services you actually offer, which will improve your lead quality and lower your CPL.
7. Test and Refine Your Bidding Strategy
Bidding plays a critical role in determining your ad placement, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend top dollar to get good leads.
You can reduce your CPL by continuously testing and refining your bidding strategy.
Start by experimenting with different bid amounts and settings.
You might find that certain times of the day or types of devices (like mobile vs. desktop) give you better results at a lower cost.
Google Ads also offers smart bidding strategies like “Maximize Conversions” or “Target CPA” that use machine learning to optimize your bids automatically.
By testing these strategies and adjusting based on performance, you can keep your CPL low while maintaining a steady flow of high-quality roofing leads.
Continuous Optimization: Testing and Adjusting for Better Performance
In the world of marketing for roofers, the key to success lies in one important concept: continuous optimization.
It’s not enough to simply set up a campaign and hope for the best. To really maximize your marketing dollars, you need to constantly test, tweak, and refine your approach.
Think of it like roofing—just as you regularly check and maintain roofs to prevent leaks or damage, you need to regularly monitor and improve your marketing campaigns.
By making small, data-driven adjustments, you’ll ensure your ads perform better over time, driving more qualified leads to your roofing business.
Let’s break down how you can continuously optimize for the best results.
1. Why Continuous Optimization Matters
In digital marketing, you can’t just set it and forget it.
Campaigns, especially those on platforms like Google Ads, are constantly influenced by changes in competition, customer behavior, and industry trends.
As a roofer, your goal is to stay ahead of these changes to make sure your marketing dollars are being well spent.
Continuous optimization is about staying proactive and fine-tuning your campaigns to respond to those shifts.
By testing different elements of your ads and adjusting based on what works, you can lower your cost-per-click, improve your conversion rate, and ultimately generate higher-quality leads.
This is especially crucial for roofers, where every lead can translate into a significant project.
The more efficiently you run your marketing campaigns, the better your return on investment (ROI) will be.
2. Testing Ad Variations for Maximum Impact
One of the simplest ways to continuously optimize your marketing is by testing different variations of your ads.
This is often referred to as A/B testing or split testing.
The concept is simple: you run two or more versions of an ad, change one small element (like the headline or call-to-action), and see which one performs better.
For example, you might test one ad that says “Get a Free Roofing Estimate Today!” against another that says “Need Roof Repairs? Call for a Free Quote!”
By analyzing the results, you can determine which version resonates better with your audience.
Maybe one headline gets more clicks, or a particular call-to-action leads to more conversions.
Once you identify the winning variation, you can roll it out across your campaign, improving your overall performance.
The beauty of A/B testing is that it gives you real data to make decisions, so you’re not just guessing what will work best.
3. Adjusting Bid Strategies Based on Performance
Your bidding strategy is another area where continuous optimization is key.
Google Ads allows you to set bids for keywords, which determine how much you’re willing to pay for each click.
But, just like in roofing, where no two jobs are the same, no two keywords are created equal.
Some will bring in high-quality leads, while others may just waste your budget.
To get the best results, you should regularly review how your bids are performing and adjust them accordingly.
For example, if a certain keyword is generating a lot of traffic but few conversions, it may be worth lowering your bid or even pausing that keyword altogether.
On the other hand, if a keyword is driving a lot of high-quality leads, you may want to increase your bid to ensure your ad stays competitive.
The key here is to stay flexible and responsive to your campaign’s performance.
Google Ads also offers automated bidding strategies that adjust your bids based on your goals.
For example, Target CPA (cost-per-acquisition) bidding automatically sets your bids to get the most conversions at your desired cost per lead.
By experimenting with these tools and fine-tuning them to your specific needs, you can improve your campaign’s efficiency and get more roofing leads for less money.
4. Tracking and Analyzing Key Metrics
Optimization is impossible without good data, and the best way to gather that data is by tracking key metrics.
In marketing for roofers, the most important metrics to watch include click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost-per-click (CPC), and cost-per-lead (CPL).
By keeping an eye on these numbers, you can see which parts of your campaign are working and which need improvement.
For example, if your CTR is low, it may indicate that your ads aren’t appealing enough to your target audience. I
n that case, it’s time to go back to A/B testing and experiment with new headlines or ad copy.
If your conversion rate is low, it could mean that your landing page isn’t doing its job.
You might need to simplify your form, add more trust signals (like customer reviews or certifications), or make your call-to-action more compelling.
The key to continuous optimization is regularly reviewing your metrics and making small adjustments based on what the data is telling you.
The more you optimize, the better your ads will perform over time, leading to more roofing leads and higher ROI.
Using third party agencies that utilize extensive data tracking like, The Google Leads Funnel, can manage all of this plus more making marketing easier than you may have thought.
5. Leveraging Audience Targeting and Retargeting
Audience targeting is another area ripe for optimization. In marketing for roofers, you want to make sure your ads are being shown to the right people—those who are most likely to need your services.
Google Ads allows you to target specific demographics, interests, and locations, so you can tailor your campaigns to your ideal customer.
But just because you set up targeting parameters once doesn’t mean they should stay that way forever.
As you gather more data, you can refine your audience targeting to focus on the segments that perform best.
Maybe you notice that homeowners in a certain zip code convert at a higher rate, or that people searching for roof repairs during storm season are more likely to book your services.
By continuously refining your audience targeting, you can ensure your ads are being seen by the people who are most likely to become paying customers.
Retargeting is another powerful tool in your optimization toolbox.
Not every potential customer will convert on their first visit to your site, but that doesn’t mean they’re a lost lead.
Retargeting allows you to show ads to people who have already visited your website or engaged with your business in some way.
By keeping your brand top of mind, you can increase the chances that they’ll return and convert later on.
