Here’s a conversation I have all the time with pest control owners: “Dan, I’m spending money on Yelp and Thumbtack, but I have no idea if they’re actually working.”
That’s a huge problem. If you’re spending money on paid directories and you can’t track which ones are generating calls and which ones are burning cash, you’re flying blind.
I run Pest Control SEO, and I’ve helped hundreds of pest control companies set up proper tracking systems so they know exactly where their leads are coming from and what they’re actually worth. Today I want to show you exactly how to track ROI from paid directories so you’re only investing in platforms that actually make you money.
You Need Call Tracking for Every Platform
Let me start with the baseline. A lot of pest control companies don’t even have this in place, but you absolutely need some kind of call tracking system.
This goes for every single platform you’re getting leads on. Maybe you’re just getting leads from one platform right now. Okay, fine. Then you don’t need call tracking yet. But once things get more advanced, once you have Google Ads going, your website generating leads, Google Business Profile working, paid directories running, Facebook ads, Facebook groups, there are so many different sources.
If you’re actually doing every single lead generation strategy well, you might have 50 different tracking numbers when they’re all spread out properly.
And here’s what you absolutely cannot do: use one number across all those different platforms. You have to know what’s working.
This ties directly into testing different paid directories. You might try out Yelp. You might try Thumbtack and Angi. Why should you stay using a platform? The reason you stay is because you can see that you’re generating calls from it.
All of this ties back to actual lead generation. We always have to start from first principles here. Are we driving calls from this? We can worry about how quality the leads are or how much they cost later. But first, are we driving any calls from this? Is this actually working?
And obviously you need to put some effort into it. You’ve optimized the profile. You’ve given it a fair shot. Maybe no one in your area is using that paid directory. Or maybe it’s too expensive and you’re not willing to spend enough on the platform to properly test it.
Those are all different things to consider. But ultimately, you need to have a distinct number, a call tracking number, across all these paid directories.
Set Up Unique Tracking Numbers
For every paid directory you set up, use a distinct tracking number. That might be through CallRail. That might be through Go High Level. Whatever platform you want to use, just make sure you have one of these systems in place.
You need to know how many calls you’re driving from each platform and whether it makes sense to continue investing in them.
What Are Realistic Benchmarks?
People always ask me what benchmarks they should be looking for. Everything’s different, right? SEO is a long term play. Facebook ads can be both branding and short term. Google Ads is short term. Door to door has its own metrics. All these different strategies yield different results and different benchmarks.
So is there an average benchmark for paid directories?
Here’s what I’ve noticed overall: the platforms all kind of even out. When everyone starts doing Google Ads and they get too expensive, people start moving to Facebook Ads. Then Facebook Ads get too expensive and people move to paid directories. The market equalizes itself over time.
Every platform ends up being more or less the same in terms of cost. You might get a better cost per lead on Facebook than Google Ads, but generally they’re going to be in the same range.
The initial answer is this: there’s not one paid directory that’s going to be way cheaper than the others. And you can’t expect paid directories as a whole to be cheap.
I talk to pest control owners who say, “I want a 10X ROI. I want a crazy ROAS.” That’s not how it works. You’re going to have to be willing to maybe even break even on the first service to then get that lifetime value.
You might pay $100 for the lead and you might charge $100 for that first monthly service. You didn’t make any money on the first service. You’re going to have to be okay with that.
But then you hit them for $100 every single month, and that’s for five years. Bang, you just made a ton of money.
This is especially true because pest control is a recurring service. Wildlife would obviously be different. You might pay a few hundred dollars for a lead, but that might actually be a $10,000 job. So that’s how it compares.
Expect Similar Costs Across Platforms
To get actually tactical with the numbers, you’re going to pay around the same for paid directory leads that you pay on other platforms. Again, it depends on how competitive your market is and what your area is like.
You can really expect to spend more or less the same that you do on other platforms. That might be $100 per lead. That might be $60. For most companies, you’ve kind of identified a range and it’s going to be around that range across the board.
Paid Directories Are Fairly Short Term
Paid directories aren’t a long term play like SEO, but they’re decently short term. You’re essentially paying per lead.
I think about half of the home service platforms are pay per lead. Yelp isn’t. You’re just paying to show up a certain amount of times. But a lot of them are, or more accurately, pay per conversation, which is kind of strange.
They are more short term. You’re paying to talk with the lead and you either convert them or you don’t. That’s essentially what it is.
Give Every Platform at Least Three Months
How long should you test a paid directory before deciding if it works? Should you try it for a day? A week?
As a general rule across all platforms, you have to give it at least three months. That’s paid directories, but that’s also anything else. If you’re trying Google Ads, at least three months. If you’re trying Facebook Ads, at least three months.
A month really isn’t enough. A month usually is just when you start to get going on most of these platforms. And you have to be willing to kind of lose money in the first month.
You’re just figuring out what’s going on with this certain paid directory. You’re learning how it works. The paid directory platform is also understanding what you’re looking for in leads. Okay, you’re having conversations only with this type of person. We’re going to show more of that type of person to you.
Or the platform notices, wow, you’re picking up the phone really fast to everyone. You haven’t missed a call. We’re going to show your ad to more people.
That’s how it begins to ramp up. You’re also getting reviews during this time. So that’s essentially what the learning period looks like.
Your Competition Is Willing to Lose Money
Here’s something really important when looking at marketing, whether it’s paid directories, Facebook ads, Google Ads, or anything we’ve been talking about: you have to be willing to see the lifetime value of the customer and be seen above the competition.
Your competition is willing to break even or even lose money in the beginning. That’s just the reality.
And I know it’s hard to stomach, especially if you don’t have a big budget. It’s tough when someone tells you, “Hey, you’ve got to spend $500 to $2,000 your first month on this paid directory and we probably won’t expect anything in return.”
You’re thinking, “Dang, really?”
But yes. You need to get accustomed to replying to the leads. You need to learn how the platform works. The platform eventually starts promoting you more. You need to get more reviews. You just have to kind of accept that loss during the learning period or learning curve.
You’re understanding how the platform works. You’re getting accustomed to it. The platform is getting accustomed to you, knowing who you are, the type of people you interact with, the type of jobs you want to take on, and the types of reviews you’re getting.
It’s an investment. Even though paid directories are much shorter term than SEO, they’re still an investment.
When to Adjust or Discontinue a Platform
So when should you actually adjust your strategy or just discontinue a paid directory altogether?
This piggybacks right off what I just said. If you genuinely try for three months and you get at least 10 reviews, that’s a good threshold. At least three months, at least 10 reviews.
If after that the cost per lead is just too high, or the leads are just too bad quality, they’re not worth working with, whatever the issue is, then I would say that was a valid attempt. You can safely say it doesn’t work.
Maybe that’s just for right now. Maybe that’s just in your area. Maybe in a few years it’ll be better. Or maybe just a few cities over, that same platform is actually really good.
It’s not that any particular platform doesn’t work universally. I’ve seen every single paid directory work for somebody. I’ve seen companies crush with Yelp. I’ve seen companies crush with Angi.
Actually, there’s one company I’m thinking of with Angi. They were doing really well. I think they had over 1,000 reviews on Angi. They were totally crushing it. And they told me that in the past five years or so, the leads just became way worse quality.
But I don’t know, that’s in Portland, Oregon. That might not be true in your area. You just have to see for yourself because every market’s going to be different.
Track Everything and Make Data-Driven Decisions
The bottom line is this: you cannot make good decisions about paid directories without proper tracking.
Set up unique call tracking numbers for every platform. Give each platform at least three months and 10 reviews before you judge it. Be willing to break even or lose money in the beginning to capture that lifetime customer value.
And when a platform isn’t working after a fair test, cut it. Don’t keep throwing money at something that’s proven it doesn’t work in your market.
But also don’t give up too early. Too many pest control owners try a platform for two weeks, don’t see instant results, and bail. That’s not how this works.
Give it a real shot. Track your numbers. Make decisions based on data, not feelings.
Keep Learning and Growing
Want to connect with over 2,000 pest control business owners who are tracking their numbers and scaling profitably? Join our free Facebook group, Pest Control Millionaires. We share what’s working, what’s not, and help each other make smarter marketing decisions every day.
And if you want the complete guide to building a pest control marketing system that actually generates ROI, check out Zip Code Kings. It’s the pest control marketing bible, and it’ll show you exactly how to track, test, and scale every marketing channel in your business.
Now go set up those tracking numbers and start making data-driven decisions.
