{"id":5646,"date":"2018-11-28T16:10:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T16:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holmesmedia.co.uk\/?p=5646"},"modified":"2021-01-13T14:24:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T14:24:46","slug":"customer-acquisition-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boilerguide.co.uk\/trade\/blog\/customer-acquisition-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Acquisition Cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

How much does it cost you to find a customer?<\/h2>\n

Aside from good old \u2018word of mouth\u2019, how else can a heating engineer find new customers? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Paying to advertise via traditional marketing can feel like throwing money into a black hole with fingers crossed. It\u2019s harder than ever to make your business stand out in the crowd and, even when you can, it\u2019s often luck of the draw whether your marketing is seen by the right people.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve taken a look at the most popular marketing platforms for heating engineers, what each is likely to cost you and, of course, why Boiler Guide is different.<\/p>\n

Yell.com<\/h3>\n

Yell.com is an online version of the Yellow Pages. You can place a free listing on the website but this will only be visible for customers in the area that you\u2019re business is registered in, not necessarily the customers you want. For maximum visibility in multiple locations and in as many different \u2018categories\u2019 as possible, you\u2019ll need to pay a subscription.<\/p>\n

Checkatrade<\/h3>\n

Checkatrade is another subscription based online business directory. They have a slightly different angle to Yell.com as they don\u2019t allow any business to sign up. You must pass strict background checks, promise to meet \u2018The Checkatrade Standard\u2019 and agree to have customer feedback visible on your Checkatrade profile page.<\/p>\n

Which? Trusted Traders<\/h3>\n

Which? Trusted Traders is an \u201cendorsement scheme\u201d. To become a Which? Trusted Trader you need to apply online and pass a detailed assessment. There is an upfront, non-refundable \u00a3240 assessment fee and then an ongoing monthly fee. If you\u2019re accepted as a member you get a dedicated profile page on their website and can use their logo in your marketing to \u201cgive your customers confidence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rated People<\/h3>\n

Rated People offer similar benefits to the trade directories and endorsement schemes but they also sell sales leads. However, to be able to buy them you need to join Rated People as a member and pay a subscription. The most popular is \u00a335 +VAT per month; for that you\u2019ll then get \u00a345 back in \u2018credit\u2019 to spend on leads each month as well as a membership discount scheme.<\/p>\n

How much does it cost you to get a new customer?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not always easy to pin down what the subscription costs for each service are but from our research we\u2019ve put together a comparison:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n <\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nUpfront Cost<\/th>\nLowest Monthly Fee<\/th>\nMinimum Contract Length<\/th>\nLowest Annual Cost (Approximate)<\/th>\nGuaranteed Access to Customers?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Yell.com<\/strong><\/td>\nNone<\/td>\nFrom under \u00a310<\/td>\n12 months<\/td>\n\u00a3120<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Which? Trusted Traders<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a3240<\/td>\nFrom \u00a360<\/td>\n3 months<\/td>\n\u00a3720<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Checkatrade<\/strong><\/td>\nNone<\/td>\nFrom \u00a369.99<\/td>\nUnknown<\/td>\n\u00a3839<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rated People<\/strong><\/td>\nNone<\/td>\nFrom \u00a335<\/td>\n12 months<\/td>\n\u00a3420<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boiler Guide<\/strong><\/td>\nNone<\/strong><\/td>\nNone<\/strong><\/td>\nNone<\/strong><\/td>\nUp to you. Buy as many or as few leads as you want. Priced from only \u00a36.<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

With the exception of Rated People, all of these services charge you for being a member or having a listing. Payments you’re being asked to make with no guaranteed contact with customers.<\/p>\n

In the case of Rated People you can buy sales leads which come through their website (some of the cost of which is covered by your subscription fee). However, even if you don\u2019t need leads, you still need to pay the subscription fee. So in busy times when you\u2019re finding your own customers, your Rated People membership is a cost with no ROI.<\/p>\n

Does your business need more sales?
\nTry our lead buying platform today<\/h4>

Try Us Today<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

How does Boiler Guide compare?<\/h2>\n

You control the costs<\/h3>\n

At Boiler Guide we don\u2019t charge you for your company profile on our websites. There\u2019s no monthly subscription fees or commission on the work that you win. We only charge you for the leads you choose to buy. You\u2019re under no-obligation to buy any leads at any time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We typically hear that our boiler sales leads convert at around 35%. That means for every 3-4 leads you buy from us, 1 should turn into a paying customer. So at an average price of \u00a330 per lead for a new gas boiler, a new customer will cost you approximately \u00a385. Of course, if you nail your sales process an impress enquirers when giving your quote, you’ll be paying less per customer.<\/p>\n

No contract<\/h3>\n

Some services tie you in with minimum contracts. So, if you decide you don\u2019t need the advertising or leads anymore, you\u2019ll be obliged to pay for the duration of the contract. At the very least, you’ll need to see out a notice period.<\/p>\n

We believe that it\u2019s important for you to stay in control of your business. We only want you to buy leads when you need them. In fact, we\u2019re so confident that you\u2019ll see the value in buying our leads that we don\u2019t need to tie you in with contracts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contact with real customers <\/h3>\n

Aside from Rated People, none of the other services actually provide you with leads for customers. Your money buys a profile on their website, but whether that results in new customers or not is a gamble. At Boiler Guide, we put you in the driving seat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The leads you buy from Boiler Guide are customers who have actively requested quotes from companies in our network. They\u2019ve asked to hear from businesses like yours! We contact every customer who submits an enquiry to check they are both genuinely interested and to confirm their contact details. <\/p>\n

If the lead is in the right location and the type of work you want, we\u2019ll let you know. Then you can decide whether you want to buy it or not. When you do buy a lead, it\u2019s up to you to contact the customer and provide your quote.<\/p>\n

Free advertising with your own business listing<\/h3>\n

With Rated People, Checkatrade and Which? you\u2019ll pay for a profile page or listing on their website to advertise your business as part of your subscription.<\/p>\n

At Boiler Guide we also give you your own business profile on our website, the difference is we don\u2019t charge you anything for it. Yell.com are the only other service to offer a free listing, but this is only visible to people searching in the specific region that your business is registered to. With Boiler Guide, your free business listing is visible to over 3,000,000 visitors to the Boiler Guide website, wherever they are in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does your business need more sales?<\/p>\n

Try our lead buying platform today<\/h4>

Try Us Today<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Become a trusted Boiler Guide installer<\/h3>\n

Like Which?, Rated People and Checkatrade, we check all businesses who register with us to ensure they have the correct accreditations and their quality of service meets our standards. We then make it clear to customers that only businesses which pass our initial and ongoing quality checks are able to provide quotes.<\/p>\n

In addition, the customer feedback you receive via Boiler Guide customers will be displayed on your company profile. Here you\u2019ll build up a collection of reviews and an average \u2018star\u2019 rating. The better your feedback, the more leads we will offer you. <\/p>\n

When customers use our directories to contact you directly (as many do) they will obviously veer towards the company with the best reviews. That means you\u2019re more likely to win a customer via a direct enquiry which we don\u2019t charge for.<\/p>\n

Improve your visibility (and reputation) in Google<\/h3>\n

Simply by signing up and adding your profile to the Boiler Guide website (both of which are completely free to do) you stand a much higher chance of being found in a Google search thanks to our digital marketing expertise and daily SEO. But that\u2019s not all…<\/p>\n

Your online reputation matters and Google is by far the most popular and influential search engine in the world. In the last year or so Google has started collecting reviews from websites which are trusted by users and now publishes them alongside a company\u2019s listing in Google search results.<\/p>\n

So when a customer searches for your company, Google will show them how you\u2019re rated on a select few of the most reputable and reliable websites. This regularly includes the Boiler Guide rating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Your Boiler Guide rating in Google is a quick and easy way for a potential customer to make a judgement about whether or not they want to hire you. Imagine for a second that you\u2019re choosing between 2 heating companies. One has no visible reviews in Google and the other has a 5 star rating from Boiler Guide. Which one would you choose to contact?<\/p>\n

How else can you advertise your business online?<\/h2>\n

Search engine marketing<\/h3>\n

SEM is sometimes referred to as paid search advertising, PPC (pay-per-click) or CPC (cost-per-click). You can buy adverts on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, most of which are sold on a CPC \/ PPC basis. This means you only pay if someone clicks on your advert which takes the user through to your website.<\/p>\n

Native advertising<\/h3>\n

Native advertising is placing adverts in websites which don\u2019t look like adverts but more like natural parts of a webpage, e.g. articles or blog posts. You\u2019ll have seen headlines or images around in websites which can easily be mistaken for just another piece of content, but they will have been written with the intention of advertising a business or getting you to click through to another website. Often they will be labelled as \u201cpromoted\u201d or \u201csponsored\u201d. The idea behind it is that modern customers have grown accustomed to tuning out banner adverts when they\u2019re browsing online, but native advertising should bypass those habits and catch their attention.<\/p>\n

Social media advertising<\/h3>\n

You can also advertise on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. You create the advert and choose which demographic of people you\u2019d like it shown to based on age, gender, location or interests. Like PPC \/ CPC on search engines, you\u2019ll only be charged when the advert delivers what you want it to, whether that\u2019s a click through to your website or a certain amount of impressions (views).<\/p>\n

What are the pros of online advertising?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n