You write the check every month. $2,000 to Google Ads. $500 to Yelp. Maybe another $800 for some SEO work. Your marketing person sends you a report full of impressions, clicks, and "leads generated."
But here's the question that actually matters: how many of those leads turned into paying customers?
If you can't answer that question with specific numbers, you're flying blind. And flying blind with your marketing budget is one of the fastest ways to burn through cash in a home service business.
Let's fix that.
The "How Did You Hear About Us?" Problem
Most home service businesses try to track their marketing the old-fashioned way: they ask the customer.
"Hey, how did you hear about us?"
Seems reasonable, right? Except it almost never gives you accurate data.
Here's why:
Customers don't remember. They Googled something, clicked on a few results, maybe saw your Yelp listing, then called you. When you ask how they found you, they say "Google." But was it your Google Ad? Your Google Business Profile? Your organic SEO listing? They have no idea — and neither do you.
They give vague answers. "I found you online." "A friend recommended you." "I've seen your truck around." These answers feel helpful but they're completely useless for making marketing decisions.
Your team doesn't ask consistently. Even if you've trained your team to ask, they forget. Or they're busy and skip it. Or they ask but don't write it down anywhere.
The result? You're spending thousands per month on marketing with no real visibility into what's working. You could be pouring money into a channel that produces zero revenue while ignoring the one that's bringing in your best customers.
The Real Cost of Not Knowing
Let's say you're spending $2,000/month on Google Ads and $500/month on Yelp. That's $30,000 per year on just two channels.
Now imagine that your Google Ads are generating 20 calls per month but only 3 turn into paying jobs ($2,400 in revenue). Meanwhile, Yelp is generating 8 calls per month but 5 of them turn into jobs ($4,000 in revenue).
If all you're tracking is call volume, Google Ads looks like the winner — 20 calls vs. 8. But when you look at actual revenue, Yelp is producing nearly double the return at a quarter of the cost.
Google Ads cost per customer: $667
Yelp cost per customer: $100
Without tracking revenue per channel, you'd never know this. You might even cut your Yelp budget to put more money into Google Ads — the exact wrong move.
This isn't a hypothetical. This is what happens to real home service businesses every single day.
The Call Tracking Solution
Here's how the smartest home service businesses solve this problem: dedicated tracking phone numbers for each marketing channel.
The concept is simple. Instead of putting your main business number on all your ads, you use a different phone number for each source:
- Google Ads → (555) 123-4001
- Google Business Profile → (555) 123-4002
- Yelp → (555) 123-4003
- Facebook → (555) 123-4004
All these numbers forward to your main phone, so you answer calls exactly the same way. The difference is that now you know exactly where each call came from — automatically, without asking the customer anything.
When the phone rings and you see it came through your Google Ads tracking number, that lead is tagged as a Google Ads lead. When it comes through your Yelp number, it's a Yelp lead. No guessing. No surveys. No human error.
Going Beyond Call Counts: Tracking Actual Revenue
Here's where it gets really powerful. Tracking calls per channel is a good start, but it's only half the picture. What you really want to know is: how much revenue did each channel produce?
Think about it this way. Ten calls from Google Ads and ten calls from Yelp might look the same on a report. But what if the Google Ads calls are price shoppers asking for quotes they never book, while the Yelp calls are ready-to-buy homeowners who book on the spot?
To get the full picture, you need to track each lead from first call all the way through to "job completed, invoice paid." That means:
1. Call comes in → automatically tagged with the source
2. Lead is created → you can see the source right on their record
3. Job is booked → the source carries forward
4. Job is completed → revenue is recorded against that source
Now you can pull up a report that shows you exactly what each marketing channel produced in real dollars. Not impressions. Not clicks. Not "leads." Actual revenue in your bank account.
Real Examples: What Business Owners Discover When They Start Tracking
When home service businesses start tracking revenue by source for the first time, there are almost always surprises. Here are some common patterns:
The expensive channel that doesn't convert. One HVAC company was spending $3,000/month on Google Ads. When they started tracking, they discovered that while the ads generated plenty of calls, most were for basic questions or price comparisons. Their actual cost to acquire a paying customer through Google Ads was over $800 — on jobs averaging $600. They were literally losing money on every Google Ads customer.
The cheap channel that's a goldmine. A plumbing company paying $200/month for their Yelp listing considered canceling it because it "didn't seem to bring in many calls." When they tracked the numbers, they found that Yelp was generating 6 booked jobs per month — their highest-converting channel by far. They kept it and cut their underperforming Facebook ads instead.
The referral source nobody was tracking. An electrician realized that his Google Business Profile — which costs nothing beyond the time to set it up — was actually his #1 source of new customers. He'd been ignoring it for years while spending heavily on paid channels. He shifted focus to getting more Google reviews (which boost GBP rankings) and saw his inbound calls increase 40% in three months.
How to Calculate Your True Cost Per Acquisition
Once you're tracking revenue by channel, you can calculate the number that actually matters: cost per acquisition (CPA).
The formula is simple:
CPA = Monthly marketing spend on that channel ÷ Number of paying customers from that channel
Here's an example for a home service business spending on three channels:
| Channel | Monthly Spend | Calls | Booked Jobs | Revenue | CPA |
|---------|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| Google Ads | $2,000 | 25 | 6 | $4,800 | $333 |
| Google Business Profile | $0 | 15 | 8 | $6,400 | $0 |
| Yelp | $500 | 10 | 5 | $4,000 | $100 |
Looking at this table, the decisions become obvious:
- Google Business Profile is free and producing the most revenue. Invest time in reviews and photos to keep it growing.
- Yelp has the best paid CPA. Consider increasing the budget.
- Google Ads is the most expensive per customer. Optimize or reduce the spend.
Without this data, you'd be guessing. With it, you're making decisions based on real numbers.
The Dangerous Vanity Metrics
Watch out for marketing reports that focus on metrics that sound impressive but don't mean anything for your bottom line:
- Impressions: How many people saw your ad. Great, but seeing an ad doesn't pay your bills.
- Clicks: How many people clicked your ad. Better, but clicking isn't calling.
- Click-through rate: The percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked. This tells you if your ad copy is good, but not if it's generating revenue.
- "Leads generated": This one's tricky because it sounds useful. But what counts as a "lead"? A form fill? A phone call? A wrong number? If your marketing company counts every call as a lead, the numbers will look great — but your bank account will tell a different story.
The only metric that matters is revenue per channel vs. spend per channel. Everything else is just noise.
Setting This Up for Your Business
Getting proper lead source tracking in place doesn't have to be complicated. Here's what you need:
1. A tracking number for each marketing channel. These are regular phone numbers that forward to your main line. You need one for each source you want to track.
2. A way to tag leads automatically. When a call comes in on a specific tracking number, the lead should be automatically tagged with that source. No manual entry, no asking the customer.
3. A pipeline that tracks revenue. As leads move from "new" to "booked" to "completed," you need to record the revenue and keep the source tag attached.
4. A dashboard that shows the breakdown. You should be able to see at a glance: how many leads came from each source, how many converted, and how much revenue each produced.
Systems like FlowLine set this up automatically — each tracking number is assigned a source label, every inbound call is tagged, and your dashboard shows revenue by source in real time. But regardless of what tool you use, the important thing is that you're tracking this data somehow.
Stop Guessing, Start Knowing
Most home service businesses make marketing decisions based on gut feelings and vague customer feedback. "Google Ads seem to be working." "I think we get a lot from Yelp." "Word of mouth is probably our biggest source."
Probably. Seem. Think.
Those aren't words you'd use to make any other business decision. You wouldn't order a truck based on what you "think" you can afford. You wouldn't hire someone based on what they "seem" like. You'd look at the numbers.
Your marketing deserves the same discipline. Track where every lead comes from. Track how much revenue each channel produces. Then put your money where the results are.
The businesses that do this consistently are the ones that grow. The ones that don't are the ones still wondering why their marketing "doesn't seem to be working."