Key takeaways
- Cost per lead is a Google number. Cost per booked call is your number, and only your field software can confirm it.
- Split the math by job type. Repair calls, panel upgrades, EV chargers and generators close at different speeds and values.
- Generator leads bought in a storm month often sell weeks later, so judge them on a longer window.
- The cheapest fixes are usually answering every paid call and splitting campaigns by service.
Google Ads cost per lead for an electrical contractor is ad spend divided by the calls and forms the ads produced, and on its own it tells you very little. One lead is a tripped breaker, the next a panel upgrade, the next a robocall. The number worth managing is cost per booked call, checked against jobs in your own software.
Cost per lead vs cost per booked call
Cost per lead counts every contact the ads produce. Cost per booked call counts only the ones that turn into a visit on a tech's schedule. The gap between them is where most owners lose track of what their ads are doing.
| Number | What it counts | Where you can verify it |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per click | Every tap on an ad | Google Ads only |
| Cost per lead | Calls over a set length and form fills | Google Ads and your call tracking |
| Cost per booked call | Leads that became a scheduled visit | ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber |
| Cost per sold job | Visits that became invoiced work | Your invoices |
Only the last two live in systems you control. If a report stops at cost per lead, you are being asked to trust a number you cannot check. That is the verification gap, and closing it is the whole point of this page.
From cost per lead to cost per booked call
- Leads you pay for Where it leaks: Spam and wrong numbers
- Real inquiries Where it leaks: Calls nobody answers
- Conversations Where it leaks: Quoted, never followed up
- Booked call Your real number: cost per booked call
Calculating your number
- Pick one month and one channel. Use Google Ads search campaigns only. Keep Local Services Ads, Facebook and referrals out of this count.
- Take spend from the account billing. Use the figure on the account in your name, not the one in the agency's report.
- Count the leads you can trace. Calls need a tracked number on the ads and the site, or you are guessing (call tracking setup). Forms need a conversion that fires on submit, not on page view (how conversions are counted).
- Match each lead to a job record. Search your field software by the caller's number or name. Mark each lead as booked, not booked, or not a real lead.
- Split by job type. Separate repair and troubleshooting calls from panel upgrades, EV charger installs, generators and lighting. They close at different rates and different values.
- Divide spend by booked calls in each group. Then set that cost next to what each group usually invoices. That comparison says whether the campaign pays.
A worked example
This is an example with made-up round numbers, not a benchmark. Say a month of Google Ads costs $3,000 and the dashboard shows 60 leads, or $50 per lead.
| Line | Count |
|---|---|
| Leads in the ads dashboard | 60 |
| Spam, robocalls and utility outage callers | 10 |
| Out of area or work you do not do | 10 |
| Real prospects | 40 |
| Booked: repair and troubleshooting visits | 14 |
| Booked: EV charger installs | 3 |
| Booked: panel upgrade estimates | 2 |
| Booked: generator site visits | 1 |
| Total booked | 20 |
Cost per booked call is $150, three times the cost per lead. Whether that is good depends on what those 20 visits invoice. In this example, the repair calls alone might not carry the spend; the two panel estimates and the generator visit decide the month, and the generator may not sell until well after the month closes.
Why costs rise around storm season
Costs rise around storm season because generator demand arrives all at once. More homeowners search after the first long outage, more contractors bid on the same words, and clicks get more expensive in the same weeks.
Two things make the math harder then. Outage calls meant for the utility pile into your lead count and inflate it with junk. And generator jobs close slowly: a site visit, a quote, a fuel question, a permit and equipment lead times can push the sale weeks past the click. Judge generator campaigns on a longer window, such as the 60 to 90 days after the lead, and judge repair campaigns month by month. Remodel-driven work like rewiring and kitchen circuits runs steadier, which makes it a cleaner baseline for comparing months.
Lowering cost per booked call
The fastest savings come from booking more of the leads you already pay for, not from cheaper clicks.
- Answer every paid call. A missed call during a panel install is a lead you paid for and handed to the next contractor.
- Split campaigns by service. A panel upgrade search and a "light switch not working" search should not share a budget or a landing page. See landing pages for Google Ads.
- Tell Google which leads booked. Import booked or sold jobs as conversions, so automated bidding learns from work, not form fills.
- Run ads only in hours someone answers, and cut budget on days the schedule is already full.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
We match your ad leads to jobs in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber, split the numbers by repair, panel, EV and generator work, and show you a cost per booked call you can check yourself. You keep the ad account and the call tracking, the setup is done by an agreed date, and from then on the monthly figure is cost per booked call by job type. Bring a month of spend to a growth consultation and we will do the math with you. To see how that number anchors a monthly report, read Google Ads management for electricians.
Sources
- About conversion measurement, Google Ads Help
- Set up tracking calls to a phone number on a website, Google Ads Help