Case study · Heating Companies · UK
Heating Engineer Case Study UK: +114% Leads
How a 12-engineer heating company in Bristol grew enquiries 114% and cut cost per lead 48% in 6 months with AEO, Email Marketing and Google Ads.
Illustrative case study: the business is anonymised and the figures are modelled on typical results for this market.
Heating Companies · UK
Heating
A 12-engineer heating company based in Bristol, serving the wider Bristol area and focused on boiler replacements and new installs, plus boiler repairs and breakdowns. Before working with us, 57% of enquiries came through Checkatrade and similar paid platforms, where the same lead often went to three or four competitors. The goal was more exclusive enquiries, a lower cost per booked job and a pipeline the owner controls.
Results After 6 Months
Leads per month
+114%
Cost per lead
-48%
Marketing-sourced revenue
+140%
Return on marketing spend
16.5x
The challenge
Where the business was stuck
- Winter breakdowns create urgent demand, but boiler and heat pump installations are where the margin sits.
- Grants and regulations change the market quickly, and marketing that doesn't keep up falls behind.
- Annual servicing customers are valuable, but few heating businesses market to them systematically.
- Peak season (breakdowns and replacements surge from october to february; heat pump and planned installation campaigns work best in spring and summer) was not being planned for, so budget ran out when demand was highest.
The approach
Three services, one goal
We focused on AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), Email Marketing and Google Ads, the three channels with the best cost per booked job for heating businesses in Bristol. Every call, form and chat was tracked to a booked outcome from week one, so every decision was based on revenue, not clicks.
What we did
The technical work behind the numbers, service by service.
Service 1
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
- Rewrote 21 service pages so each opens with a direct 40 to 60 word answer to the question buyers actually search.
- Added FAQPage, HowTo and Service schema and question-led headings to target featured snippets and People Also Ask.
- Built a price and timeline guide for boiler replacements and new installs with tables that answer engines can lift straight into results.
- Optimised for voice and conversational queries such as "how much does boiler replacements and new installs cost near me".
Service 2
Email Marketing
- Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the sending domain and warmed it up, taking inbox placement from 67% to 94%.
- Segmented 5,700 past customers and quote recipients by job type, area and last service date.
- Built 5 automated flows: welcome, quote nurture, post-job review request, annual service reminder and win-back.
- Sent a monthly campaign with seasonal offers for boiler replacements and new installs and related work, A/B testing subject lines and send times.
Service 3
Google Ads
- Restructured the account into 32 single-theme ad groups by job type, with exact and phrase match only and a 376-term negative keyword list.
- Installed call tracking and imported booked jobs from the CRM as offline conversions, so bidding optimised for revenue, not form fills.
- Moved from manual CPC to Maximize Conversion Value with a target ROAS once 50+ conversions a month were flowing.
- Set up and managed Google Local Services Ads next to search campaigns, disputing invalid leads weekly.
The numbers
Before and after
| Metric | Before | Month 6 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiries per month | 35 | 75 | +114% |
| Cost per lead | £82 | £42 | -48% |
| Cost per booked job | £330 | £152 | -54% |
| Lead-to-job rate | 25% | 28% | +3 pts |
| Website conversion rate | 3.0% | 3.9% | +30% |
| Marketing-sourced revenue / month | £30k | £72k | +140% |
| Share of leads from paid directories | 57% | 28% | -29 pts |
| Featured snippets and PAA answers | 3 | 37 | +34 |
| Email open rate | 18% | 52% | +34 pts |
| Search impression share | 29% | 68% | +39 pts |
Lead growth
Enquiries per month
Marketing-sourced revenue went from £30k to £72k a month, measured from booked boiler and heating jobs in the CRM.
Optimisations That Moved The Numbers
- 01
The business now holds 37 featured snippets and People Also Ask answers, up from 3.
- 02
Direct-answer intros raised organic click-through rate on question searches from 1.9% to 6.5%.
- 03
Email flows now bring in £20k of repeat and referral work a month from customers who were already on the books.
- 04
The 376-term negative keyword list cut wasted spend on jobs, DIY and supplier searches by 47%.
The 6-month timeline
From tracking to scale.
Weeks 1 to 2
Audit, tracking and baseline
Call tracking, conversion tracking, CRM connection and a full audit covering AEO, Email Marketing and Google Ads.
Weeks 3 to 6
Build and launch
AEO, Email Marketing and Google Ads live for boiler replacements and new installs, plus boiler repairs and breakdowns.
Months 2 to 4
Optimise
Weekly search term, call and landing page reviews. Budget and effort moved to the jobs that close.
Months 5 to 6
Scale
Expansion into Glasgow and nearby areas, plus new services with proven demand.
Illustrative case study: the business is anonymised and the figures are modelled on typical results for this market. Your results depend on your market, budget, capacity and follow-up. We share realistic forecasts in your free audit.
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