Case study · Plumbers · Ireland
Plumber Case Study Ireland: +117% Leads
How a 12-van plumbing business in Galway grew calls and enquiries 117% and cut cost per lead 38% in 6 months with Google Ads and Email Marketing.
Illustrative case study: the business is anonymised and the figures are modelled on typical results for this market.
Plumbers · Ireland
Plumbing
A 12-van plumbing business based in Galway, serving the wider Galway area and focused on bathroom installations and renovations, plus leak detection and burst pipes. Before working with us, 60% of enquiries came through trade directories and similar paid platforms, where the same lead often went to three or four competitors. The goal was more exclusive calls and enquiries, a lower cost per booked job and a pipeline the owner controls.
Results After 6 Months
Leads per month
+117%
Cost per lead
-38%
Marketing-sourced revenue
+142%
Return on marketing spend
6.2x
The challenge
Where the business was stuck
- Emergency jobs go to whoever answers first, so missed calls after 5pm quietly hand revenue to competitors.
- Lead marketplaces sell the same enquiry to three or four plumbers, which drives prices down and win rates with them.
- Low-value tap and toilet jobs fill the diary while hot water, re-pipe and bathroom work, the jobs that pay, go elsewhere.
- Peak season (burst pipes and heating calls rise in winter; bathroom projects peak in spring) was not being planned for, so budget ran out when demand was highest.
The approach
Two services, one goal
We focused on Google Ads and Email Marketing, the two channels with the best cost per booked job for plumbing businesses in Galway. 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
Google Ads
- Restructured the account into 33 single-theme ad groups by job type, with exact and phrase match only and a 310-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.
- Added ad scheduling and location bid adjustments so budget follows the hours and areas that produce booked work.
Service 2
Email Marketing
- Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the sending domain and warmed it up, taking inbox placement from 66% to 99%.
- Segmented 3,800 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 bathroom installations and renovations and related work, A/B testing subject lines and send times.
The numbers
Before and after
| Metric | Before | Month 6 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calls and enquiries per month | 54 | 117 | +117% |
| Cost per lead | €64 | €40 | -38% |
| Cost per booked job | €152 | €84 | -45% |
| Lead-to-job rate | 42% | 47% | +5 pts |
| Website conversion rate | 3.3% | 4.6% | +41% |
| Marketing-sourced revenue / month | €16k | €39k | +142% |
| Share of leads from paid directories | 60% | 28% | -32 pts |
| Search impression share | 35% | 66% | +31 pts |
| Email open rate | 18% | 42% | +24 pts |
Lead growth
Calls and enquiries per month
Marketing-sourced revenue went from €16k to €39k a month, measured from booked booked jobs in the CRM.
Optimisations That Moved The Numbers
- 01
The 310-term negative keyword list cut wasted spend on jobs, DIY and supplier searches by 26%.
- 02
Offline conversion import let bidding favour bathroom installations and renovations searches, raising average lead value by 44%.
- 03
Email flows now bring in €2.8k of repeat and referral work a month from customers who were already on the books.
- 04
Segmented campaigns reach a 42% open rate and 3.5% click rate, compared with 18% for the old one-size newsletter.
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 Google Ads and Email Marketing.
Weeks 3 to 6
Build and launch
Google Ads and Email Marketing live for bathroom installations and renovations, plus leak detection and burst pipes.
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 Limerick 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.
Plumbers case studies in other countries
More case studies in Ireland
Let's Discuss Your Growth
Tell us about your business. We'll reply with a plan, realistic lead volumes and costs.

