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HVAC PPC Case Study
How an HVAC Company Generated 928 Heat Pump Leads at $58.99 Each
Heat pump installation carries the most expensive pay-per-click keywords in HVAC Google Ads, routinely $20 to $42 a click. This campaign did not bid into them. It built volume around them at $2.18 a click and produced 928 leads at $58.99 each, returning 2.03x in tracked conversion value. The entire result came from a single paid search campaign.
- Google Ads · Search · Heat Pump Installation
Verified Results · Feb 1 to May 30, 2026
Heat Pump Google Ads Delivered 928 Leads at $58.99 Each
Every figure below is taken directly from the Google Ads campaign view for the reporting period.
928
Heat Pump Leads
across four months
$58.99
Cost Per Lead
▼ 43% vs. $104 HVAC average
$2.18
Cost Per Click
research-phase inventory
2.03x
Conversion Value Per Dollar
$111,058 tracked value
531,759
Impressions
from a single ad group
25,154
Clicks
at a 4.73% click-through rate
Metric
Result
Conversions (leads)
928.08
Cost per lead
$58.99
Conversion value
$111,057.65
Conversion value per dollar spent
2.03
Total cost
$54,745.92
Average cost per click
$2.18
Clicks
25,154
Impressions
531,759
Click-through rate
4.73%
Conversion rate
3.69%
Campaign Snapshot
How the Heat Pump Installation Campaign Was Structured
The full configuration, so the result can be judged in context and the approach repeated.
Campaign type
Search
Ad groups
1, single theme
Reporting period
Feb 1 to May 30, 2026
Buying behaviour
Considered, high-ticket purchase
Ad format
Responsive search ads
Conversion actions
Phone calls and form submissions
Optimization score
59.3%
Focus
Heat pump installation, lead generation
Daily budget
$700.00
Duration
Four months
Bid strategy
Smart Bidding, conversion based
Keyword match types
Phrase and broad, tightly negated
Location targeting
Service area radius
The Challenge and the Strategy
Why We Avoided the Most Expensive Keywords in HVAC
Heat pump installation is the most expensive thing an HVAC contractor can advertise. Installation keywords routinely cost $20 to $42 a click, and industry data puts the resulting cost per lead somewhere between $400 and $1,400. Those prices are not irrational. A heat pump install carries an $8,000 to $18,000 ticket, so contractors will pay a great deal to reach a buyer at the moment of decision.
The trouble is that everyone arrives at that moment together. Bottom-funnel installation terms are where every contractor in the market concentrates its budget, which is precisely why the clicks cost what they do. For a company without the deepest pockets in its area, winning that auction head-on is expensive and slow.
So we built the campaign around those keywords rather than inside them. Heat pumps are a considered purchase, and homeowners spend weeks reading about efficiency, running costs, rebates and system types before they ever search for an installer. That earlier demand is abundant, far cheaper, and almost entirely uncontested by contractors fixated on the bottom of the funnel.
The trade is explicit and worth stating plainly. Earlier-stage traffic converts at a lower rate, and this campaign converted at 3.69% rather than the rates an emergency repair campaign enjoys. But it bought its clicks at $2.18, a fraction of what bottom-funnel installation terms command, and cheap enough clicks make a modest conversion rate irrelevant to the only number that matters. The cost per lead came in at $58.99.
The Execution
How We Reached Heat Pump Buyers at $2.18 a Click
Sidestepped the Installation Head Terms
We deliberately left the $20 to $42 bottom-funnel installation keywords to competitors. Those terms are where budgets collide, and a contractor entering that auction pays the market's most expensive prices for its scarcest inventory. Adding them as negative keywords kept the campaign out of that auction entirely rather than relying on bid caps to hold it back.
Built Volume Around Earlier Heat Pump Demand
We targeted the research phase instead, where homeowners are comparing systems, efficiency and running costs. That demand is plentiful and largely uncontested, which is how a single ad group reached 531,759 impressions. Phrase and broad match carried the reach, and the search terms report was reviewed continually so any query drifting toward paid installation intent became a negative keyword.
Accepted a Lower Conversion Rate for a Lower Click Price
Earlier-stage traffic converts less often, and we planned for that rather than fighting it. Ad schedule and device bid adjustments were tuned to the research-phase pattern rather than the emergency one. At $2.18 a click, a 3.69% conversion rate still produces a $58.99 lead, which is the trade the whole campaign was built on.
Tracked Conversion Value to Prove the Trade Worked
A cheap lead is only useful if it is worth something. Conversion tracking recorded phone calls and form submissions, and we tracked conversion value alongside volume. The campaign returned 2.03 in tracked value for every dollar spent, a 2.03x return on ad spend (ROAS), confirming the earlier-funnel traffic was producing real opportunities.
Benchmarked
Two Routes to the Same Cost Per Lead
The clearest way to read this campaign is against the same company's emergency AC repair campaign, which works in the opposite way. One wins on intent, the other wins on price, and they arrive within a dollar of each other.
| Campaign | Cost Per Click | Conversion Rate | Cost Per Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| AC repair, urgent intent | $4.60 | 7.71% | $59.67 |
| Heat pump, considered purchase | $2.18 | 3.69% | $58.99 |
The AC repair campaign pays double the click price and converts at double the rate. The heat pump campaign halves both. The arithmetic lands in the same place, which is the useful lesson: cost per lead is a product of two numbers, and a campaign can win on either one. Contractors who judge a campaign on conversion rate alone will kill the second one before it ever shows its cost per lead.
One number deserves an explanation before anyone else raises it. A $2.18 cost per click is far below what HVAC advertisers normally report, and that is not because this campaign outbid the market more cleverly. It is because it is buying different inventory. Bottom-funnel installation searches cost $20 to $42 because they are scarce and every contractor wants them. Research-phase queries cost a fraction of that because almost nobody is bidding on them. The campaign is not buying the same clicks cheaper, it is buying earlier clicks at earlier prices, and the lower conversion rate is the honest cost of that choice. A 4.73% click-through rate (CTR) also lifts Quality Score, which raises Ad Rank and cuts what Google charges to hold the same position in the paid results, and a landing page written for the research question is what keeps that score up.
Which is why the comparison that actually matters is cost per lead, where the traffic type no longer distorts the picture.
| Metric | This Campaign | HVAC Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per lead vs HVAC average | $58.99 | $104 | 43% cheaper |
| Cost per lead vs non-branded search | $58.99 | $149 | 60% cheaper |
| Conversion value per dollar spent | 2.03 | 1.00 breakeven | 2x tracked value |
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways for Heat Pump Google Ads Campaigns
- Cost per lead is a product of two numbers, not one. This campaign halved both its click price and its conversion rate against the company's AC repair campaign, and landed within a dollar of the same cost per lead.
- You do not have to win the most expensive auction. Installation head terms run $20 to $42 a click. Targeting the research phase around them reached heat pump buyers earlier in their decision, at $2.18 a click.
- Considered purchases justify earlier-funnel targeting. Heat pumps carry $8,000 to $18,000 tickets and weeks of research before purchase, which makes the research phase a legitimate and far cheaper place to acquire a lead.
- Track conversion value, not just volume. Returning 2.03 in tracked value per dollar spent is what proves earlier-stage leads were real opportunities rather than cheap noise.
FAQ
Heat Pump Google Ads Costs, Answered
How much does a heat pump installation lead cost on Google Ads?
A heat pump installation lead typically costs between $400 and $1,400 on Google Ads when bidding on bottom-funnel installation keywords, against an HVAC category average of $104 across all services. This campaign produced leads at $58.99 by targeting earlier-stage heat pump demand rather than competing for installation head terms.
Why are heat pump keywords so expensive on Google Ads?
Heat pump keywords are the most expensive in HVAC, running $20 to $42 a click, because a single installation carries an $8,000 to $18,000 ticket. That ticket value justifies aggressive bidding, so every contractor in a market concentrates budget on the same bottom-funnel installation terms and drives the price up. Heat pump services also saw the largest cost per lead increase in HVAC at 14% year over year.
Should HVAC contractors bid on heat pump installation keywords?
HVAC contractors should bid on installation keywords only if their budget can absorb $20 to $42 clicks and their close rate justifies it. A lower-cost alternative is to target the research phase, where homeowners compare systems, efficiency and running costs before searching for an installer. This campaign used that approach to reach a $58.99 cost per lead while returning 2.03 in tracked conversion value per dollar spent.
What We Did
Services Used in This Heat Pump Google Ads Campaign
- Google Ads (PPC)
- Paid Search Management
- Keyword Strategy
- Search Terms Report Analysis
- Negative Keyword Management
- Funnel-Stage Targeting
- Responsive Search Ads
- Conversion Value Tracking
- Search Campaign Management
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