Still spending thousands every year to get back the same customers you helped last season? If your HVAC marketing cost keeps going up without locking in long-term loyalty, it may be time to rethink how you’re spending your money.
Let’s walk through a more sustainable way to grow starting with the customers you’ve already earned.
1. Are You on the Marketing Treadmill?
Every year, it’s the same routine. You refresh your ads, send out another round of postcards, offer a seasonal discount just to get phones ringing.
But here’s what no one talks about: a big chunk of your budget is going toward people who already know who you are.
Trying to bring back past customers can be worthwhile but not if you’re approaching it the same way you would with someone brand new. Reacquisition takes a different approach, and doing it the old way can cost more than it’s worth.
2. The Real Cost of Re-Acquisition
Let’s break it down.
The customer acquisition cost (CAC) for home service businesses has gone up. Between ads, SEO, and other lead-generation efforts, you might be paying hundreds just to get a single booked job. That’s especially painful when the homeowner was already once a customer.
Now compare that to a retained customer. You’re not spending money on ads. You’re not competing with five other contractors. You’re their primary go-to contractor and expected hero in their hour of need.
If you’ve never taken a close look at how your marketing ROI stacks up between first-time and repeat customers, now is a good time. A quick calculation can tell you where your money’s doing the most work.
Too often, contractors overlook this because they think churn is just a normal part of the business, but it doesn’t have to be.
3. Marketing Spend Without Retention Is a Leaky Bucket
Picture pouring water into a bucket full of holes. That’s your marketing strategy without a focus on customer retention.
If you’re constantly spending to replace lost customers, you’re working harder just to stay in place. But when you keep the ones you already have, your marketing starts to build something not just plug gaps.
There are plenty of low-effort ways to keep customers coming back, from annual tune-up reminders to Home Comfort-as-a-Service. Home Comfort-as-a-Service (HCaaS) models like the Premier Program®, lock in loyalty by turning one-time buyers into long-term customers. These small touches can make a big difference in keeping your calendar full.
4. Retention Is the Real Growth Engine
This is where true HVAC business growth starts.
The contractors who grow steadily year after year aren’t chasing just one-time installs. They’re selling value – building steady relationships, offering dependable service, and giving people a reason to come back without needing a flashy promotion.
And the truth is, most customers don’t need to be impressed. They just want things to be easy. A large study showed that loyalty often comes down to how little effort it takes to do business with you, not how much you impress them.
It’s not about wow moments. It’s about being consistent and easy to work with. For many contractors, that consistency comes from adopting recurring revenue models like Home Comfort-as-a-Service (HCaaS), which turns retention into a built-in part of the business. We’ll look at how those models work in practice next.
5. Why Recurring Revenue Models Work
One of the best ways to hold onto customers and stabilize your business through a recurring revenue model.
In HVAC and plumbing, that often means offering maintenance agreements or Home Comfort-as-a-Service. Our Premier Program® is one example that allows contractors to create ongoing value for customers and predictable, recurring revenue for themselves.
Customers love it because it simplifies things. They don’t have to remember to call or worry about sudden expenses. You love it because it helps flatten the seasonal curve.
The result? Long-term loyalty, reducing churn, and better cash flow.
6. Less Ad Spend, More Predictability
Here’s a quick scenario.
Say you’re currently keeping 40% of your customers each year. That means 60% are walking out the door and you’re paying to replace them.
Now, in HVAC and plumbing, tracking retention isn’t always straightforward. A homeowner may call you for an AC tune-up this year, then go to another contractor for a plumbing repair, and you’d never know. From your perspective, they might look “retained,” but unless you’re tied together in an ongoing plan, that relationship is fragile.
That’s why programs built around recurring revenue, like Home Comfort-as-a-Service (HCaaS) through the Premier Program®, make retention measurable and real. When a customer is enrolled, you know they’re staying with you. That lowers your customer acquisition cost, reduces your HVAC marketing cost, and improves your marketing ROI because each dollar supports a long-term relationship, not just a single call.
Instead of pouring all your budget into recovery, you can reinvest in growth like training your team or expanding your service area.
7. How to Shift Your Strategy
You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. Here’s where to start:
- Rethink how you measure customer retention. In HVAC and plumbing, it’s tough to know if a customer is truly “retained” unless they’re connected to you through a service or recurring revenue model. A one-off tune-up doesn’t guarantee they’ll call you back next time. That’s why structured programs are key.
- Adopt Home Comfort as a Service (HCaaS). Ongoing plans like the Premier Program® give customers predictable comfort and give you confidence that they’re part of your business. This makes retention measurable, consistent, and far less costly than reacquiring the same customer through ads.
- Turn replacement sales into long-term relationships. Most contractors see a replacement job as the end of the cycle. But it can be the start of something bigger. By enrolling those customers into a recurring plan at install, you create loyalty that lasts far beyond the initial sale.
- Align your marketing and sales. When everyone is focused on long-term value, not just first-time transactions, you build a business that grows more predictably and spends less to keep customers engaged.
Make the Most of the Customers You Already Have
If your HVAC marketing cost keeps going up and your revenue is still unpredictable, the problem might not be how much you’re spending but what you’re spending it on.
A shift toward customer retention through long-term agreements like Home Comfort-as-a-Service (HCaaS) can lower your customer acquisition cost, improve your marketing ROI, and drive real HVAC business growth without needing to double your ad budget every year. At Comfort Connect, we help contractors build long-term stability through the Premier Program® and financing solutions that make customer loyalty easier to secure, revenue more predictable, and growth less dependent on constantly rising marketing costs. Because the best customers aren’t the ones you have to chase with more marketing, they’re the ones who commit to staying.
