Intro - What to Use This For
Are you struggling to generate leads from your website, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, mailers, or other marketing avenues? In competitive industries like HVAC, sometimes it takes an enticing special offer to get homeowners to bite.
A good special offer can make the difference between getting almost no leads, and getting hundreds of form fills and calls. This list is not comprehensive by any means, but will give you 25 ideas for HVAC promotions that you can run through various advertising platforms.
25 Special Offers to Run for HVAC Services
1. $49 Tune-Up
The Tune-Up offer can apply to an AC, furnace, or the entire HVAC system. Don’t worry about making money on the Tune-Up itself - it’s simply an avenue to lead to big ticket repairs or entire system replacements. To make a Tune Up offer stand out, do a lower than normal price for your area, provide a clear list of what the Tune-Up includes, name it something special, or do all three. Other ideas for what to call it are “Safety Check,” “Cleaning,” or “Rejuvenation.”
2. 0% APR For 60 months or 72 months
Financing a new HVAC system and saving money on interest is an attractive option to homeowners. Based on personal experience, this offer works very well to generate replacement leads. The longer the term (60 months, 72 months, etc.) the better it seems to work. Keep in mind that only some banks offer terms like these.
3. No Payments No Interest for 24 Months
Not having to start making payments for a while is another attractive financing option to homeowners.
4. New HVAC System as Low as $129 per Month
A low monthly payment offer simply highlights how low the payment could be on a new HVAC system. Look at offers from your financing partners. On a longer term loan, with good interest rates, and a less expensive system, just how low could you get the monthly payments to? That being said, it’s probably a good idea to balance this out with what’s attractive versus what’s realistic for most people.
5. New AC or Mini Split as Low as $69 per Month
The goal of low monthly payments is to feature, well, a low monthly payment. To make the monthly rate even lower, you can feature the payments on the furnace or AC only, rather than the entire HVAC system. The lower number will catch more eyeballs, and some folks may only need to replace their AC or their furnace anyways.
6. $2150 Off a New HVAC System
A simple cash upfront savings. Putting some kind of time limit, or volume limit, on this offer may increase urgency and get you more leads. Most companies offer a flat $1000, $1500, or $2000 discount. But a $1380 or $2105 may help your offer stand out more.
7. 25% Off Labor to Install a New HVAC system
Most companies run flat discounts or financing offers. To stand out, you could offer a % off of the labor it takes to install the HVAC equipment. At the end of the day, the effect is exactly the same as a cash discount. But it presents the offer differently, and may help you grab more attention.
8. Free Furnace with Purchase of AC
Similar to a discount offer - but you cover the equipment cost (and maybe the labor cost) of a furnace, when someone purchases an AC from you. You can put some parameters around this to make it more profitable; for example, a free furnace with the purchase of select AC systems. So the homeowner would have to purchase a high end system in order to get the free furnace, which would help cover your cost.
9. Free Water Heater with HVAC Installation
If your company offers plumbing services, giving away a free water heater with a new HVAC system can be another great attention-grabber.
10. Free Air Scrubber with HVAC System Replacement
Another promotion to make it more appealing to use your HVAC company for their system replacement.
11. Free Tune-Up for First Responders and Vets
People love to see first responders and vets being supported. Offering a free tune-up, or other special discount, for vets and first responders is a great way to get leads while building up goodwill in the community.
From a more psychological perspective - people pay extra attention to special offers that are specific to them. If you are a first responder, and you see a discount for first responders, versus a general discount for everyone, you’re more likely to appreciate and utilize it. Because of that, you may actually get more leads, for less money, if you run a free Tune-Up for first responders instead of a free Tune-Up for anybody.
12. AC or Furnace Giveaway
With this promotion, you offer to give away a free AC or furnace to one lucky winner out of everyone who enters. To enter, all someone needs to do is submit their contact info. Since all someone has to do is give you their info for a chance to win a new system, this type of promotion easily generates a high volume of leads at a very low cost per lead. To generate more buzz, you can record a live name drawing video and post it to your social media as well.
13. Up To $3,650 In Tax Credits and Rebates on Select Systems
Homeowners can save on taxes for energy efficient upgrades made to the home. Not all homeowners know this - so running an ad or promoting this can help you generate inquiries and sales. If you’re not familiar with this government program, you can learn more about it here: https://www.energystar.gov/about/federal-tax-credits
14. Free Second Opinion On Replacement Estimate
Functionally, this works the same way as giving a free estimate. However, it will specifically appeal to homeowners who already had someone quote them for a new system, and weren’t sold on the value to price ratio. Or, maybe they doubt that they actually need a replacement. Running this promotion can get you in front of homeowners who have HVAC systems that need repaired or replaced, giving you a chance to earn their business.
15. Free Second Opinion on Repair
This offer works the same way, except with a repair. Homeowners might not be convinced that they need an expensive repair, and may want a second opinion.
16. $50 to $100 Off a Repair
A simple coupon for homeowners to save a little bit of money on their HVAC system repair. If they were going to call someone anyways, and then see your promotion, this might be all they need to push them over to your side of the fence.
17. Financing on Repairs over $500
Not all homeowners realize financing repairs is even an option. And not all HVAC contractors offer financing. If a homeowner is sitting with a non-functioning HVAC unit that needs a $1500 repair, seeing this promotion might be enough to get them to call you.
18. $200 Off Duct Cleaning
While duct cleaning can be profitable in itself, and help keep your guys busy during shoulder seasons, they can also lead to duct work replacements and other high-ticket items. A dollar discount or percentage discount on a duct cleaning can help you generate plenty of leads, a percentage of which could turn into much more profitable jobs.
19. Same-Day Install or Same-Day Service
During busy seasons it can be a challenge for homeowners to get their HVAC system replaced or repaired quickly. If your company is in the position to offer same-day install or service, this alone might be enough to get lots of homeowners responding to your ad.
20. 10-Year or Lifetime Workmanship Warranty
Homeowners want to know that if something goes wrong, they will be taken care of. It’s a terrible feeling when a company you hire improperly installs your system and won’t take responsibility for it. Running an ad that features a 10-year workmanship warranty, or even a lifetime workmanship warranty, may be enough on its own to get homeowners to reach out. An ad like this may be even more effective in markets that are heavily saturated with “storm chasers” or other fly by night companies who aren’t around to take responsibility when things go wrong.
21. Free Duct Cleaning with HVAC System Replacement
Along with their new HVAC unit(s), homeowners will get a fully rejuvenated duct system. This makes the HVAC replacement feel more complete, since the whole HVAC system has been affected.
22. 5% Discount for Military and First Responders
Provide a 5% discount for HVAC replacements for military, first responders, etc.
23. 5% to 15% Off Repair for Teachers, Military, First Responders
Provide a 5% discount on repairs, rather than replacements. To minimize your risk, you could include a limit. For example, 15% off repairs that cost up to $2,000.
24. Selling Your Home? Get a Full System Report for $125
Homeowners going through the process of selling their home will want to do whatever they can to increase the value of their home. Making sure the HVAC system is in good shape could be part of that. Offering a full system report where you inspect the condition of the HVAC units, ductwork, etc., could be helpful to sellers and open an avenue to additional repairs or replacements.
Another note on this: to really deliver the value, you should offer a printed report or at least something that looks nice in a PDF format. It should include a list of what was checked and what your assessment is. If a homeowner buys a report from you, give them an actual report - not just verbal suggestions.
25. $99 Cooling Tune-Up PLUS No-Breakdown Guarantee
This offer allows homeowners to get their system tuned up with a guarantee added; if their unit breaks down, they will be refunded the cost of the tune-up. This provides you with the opportunity for potential repair and replacement work, either during the initial Tune-Up, or if the unit stops functioning later on.
3 Bonus Tips: Making it Work for You
Not everyone will be able to offer all of the above offers. You may need to get creative. And what really matters is doing something that will work for your company, in your circumstance, in your market. Here are a few ways to make them work for you.
1. Limits and Disclaimers
When you design an offer to run, you get to decide the limits. For example, if you want to offer a larger discount than competitors, you could make that offer only apply to select HVAC systems or select packages. This will help ensure you earn enough profit to cover the cost of offering the discount.
Another way to minimize your risk is to set an end date to the offer, or a limited number of redeemable coupons available.
With a little bit of brain power, there are a multitude of ways to ensure that you can offer the deal in a way that doesn’t break the bank.
2. Stand Out in Your Market
To be attractive, offers need to stand out and have lots of perceivable value. See what your competitors are running on TV, Facebook Ads, billboards, mailers, etc. This will give you an idea of what offers homeowners are being blasted with, and how to make your offers better - or at the very least, make them different.
3. Compete Indirectly if You Can’t Compete Directly
Everyone wants the big ticket item. There may be a lot of competitors in your area that offer really insane deals on duct replacements. It may be impossible to directly compete. In that case, maybe offering a discount on duct cleanings would be enough to get you in the door, and give you an opportunity to get in front of customers who may be ideal candidates for replacements.
Wrapping Up
If your HVAC company is interested in running Facebook Ads and you need help coming up with creative offers to stand out in your market, Service Allies can help. We look at what competitors are running in your market, and come up with offers we feel will compete and help you get leads. Please schedule an intro meeting with Service Allies to see if we can be a good fit for each other.
