Contractor Marketing Glossary

The terms we use on the blog, explained in plain English. Blog posts link the first mention of each one here.

A2P 10DLC: The registration US carriers require before a business can send text messages from a regular 10-digit phone number. Unregistered business texts get filtered or blocked.
Above the fold: The part of a web page you see without scrolling. Your phone number and main call-to-action button belong here.
Attribution: Working out which marketing channel brought in a lead or customer, so you know what's actually paying off.
Average ticket(average job value, average order value): The average amount a customer pays per job. Raising it is often easier than finding new customers.
Backlink(backlinks): A link to your website from another website. Links from trusted, relevant sites help your site rank higher in Google.
Bounce rate: The share of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page.
CAC(customer acquisition cost): Customer acquisition cost: total marketing spend divided by the number of new customers it produced.
Call to action(CTA): The one next step you want a visitor to take, like "Call now" or "Get a free quote", usually shown as a button.
Citations(citation): Listings of your business name, address and phone number on directories and other websites. Consistent citations help Google trust your business.
Click-through rate(CTR): The share of people who click after seeing your listing, ad or email. Clicks divided by impressions.
Close rate: The share of estimates or sales conversations that turn into signed jobs.
Conversational AI(Conversation AI): Software that texts or chats with leads in natural language, answers common questions and books appointments automatically.
Conversion rate: The share of visitors who take the action you want, such as calling or submitting a form.
Core Web Vitals: Google's measurements of how fast, stable and responsive a page feels to real visitors. Part of how Google judges page experience.
Cost per lead(CPL): What you spend, on average, to get one new lead from a channel. Ad spend divided by the number of leads it produced.
CRM(customer relationship management): Customer relationship management software: one place to track your customers, leads, jobs and follow-up.
Direct mail: Printed marketing sent by mail, like postcards and door hangers. EDDM is a common low-cost way to reach whole neighborhoods.
Dispatch board: A schedule view in field-service software that shows which technician is going to which job and when.
E-E-A-T: Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness: the qualities Google's quality guidelines look for in helpful content.
EDDM(Every Door Direct Mail): Every Door Direct Mail: a USPS service that delivers your mailer to every address on a carrier route without buying a mailing list.
Field service management(FSM): Software that runs booked jobs: dispatch, technician scheduling, parts and inventory, and job reporting.
Funnel(sales funnel): The steps a stranger takes to become a customer, for example: sees an ad, visits a page, fills out a form, books an estimate, buys.
Google Business Profile(GBP): Your free business listing on Google Search and Maps, with your hours, services, photos and reviews.
Impressions: How many times your listing, ad or post was shown to someone, whether or not they clicked.
Landing page: A web page built for one offer and one action, usually where an ad or campaign sends people.
Lead(leads): A person who has shown interest in your services, for example by calling, texting or filling out a form, but hasn't booked yet.
Lead magnet: Something useful you offer in exchange for contact info, like a checklist, calculator, guide or free inspection.
Local service ads(LSA, Google Local Services Ads): Google's pay-per-lead ads for service businesses, shown at the top of local searches with a Google screening badge.
LTGP(lifetime gross profit): Lifetime gross profit: the total profit one customer brings you over every job they ever do with you.
Map pack(3-pack): The map and three business listings Google shows at the top of local searches like "plumber near me."
Missed-call text-back(missed call text-back, text-back): An automatic text sent to anyone whose call you miss, so the conversation keeps going instead of ending in voicemail.
NAP(NAP consistency): Name, address and phone number. Keeping them identical everywhere you're listed helps Google trust your business.
NFC review card(NFC review cards, NFC card): A card a customer taps with their phone to open your review page instantly, with no searching or typing.
Nurture(lead nurture, nurture sequence): Automated follow-up by text and email that keeps in touch with leads who didn't book right away.
Organic traffic: Website visitors who come from unpaid search results, as opposed to ads.
Pay per click(PPC): Advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad, like Google Search ads.
Pay per lead(PPL): Buying leads one at a time from a lead seller. These leads are often sold to several competing businesses at once.
Reactivation campaign(database reactivation): A targeted offer to past customers or old leads who haven't booked in a while. Often the fastest way to fill a slow week.
Retargeting(remarketing): Showing ads to people who already visited your website or engaged with your business.
Review velocity: How steadily new reviews come in over time. A steady stream signals an active business to Google and to customers.
ROI(return on investment, ROAS): Return on investment: what you got back compared to what you spent. ROAS is the same idea for ad spend specifically.
Schema markup(structured data): Code on your website that tells search engines exactly what a page contains, like your business details, reviews or FAQs.
Self-generated lead(self-gen, self gen): A lead you create yourself, by door knocking, talking to a customer's neighbors or asking for referrals, rather than one from marketing.
Service area page(service area pages, location page): A page on your website for a specific town you serve, so you can show up for searches in that town.
Show rate: The share of booked appointments where the customer is actually there when you arrive.
Speed to lead: How quickly you respond after someone calls, texts or fills out a form. Minutes make a big difference in who wins the job.
Supplement: In insurance roofing work, a documented request to the insurer for items the adjuster's first estimate missed, such as code-required materials.
Unique selling proposition(USP): The clear reason a customer should choose you over the next company, in one sentence.