5 Tips to Retain Your HVAC Customers and Increase Your ROI in 2024

Nothing leaves you feeling pampered in a restaurant like a waiter who refills your glass before you ask, and nothing leaves your HVAC customers feeling pampered like your delivery of a valued service before a crisis erupts. Excellent customer service is key to retaining customers. The good news? Improving your customer retention rate by just 5% can improve your profits by 25% or more.  

Here are five ways you can leverage your HVAC recordkeeping to improve your customer service and retain customers. 

1. Maintenance Reminders - Your customers are busy people. Annual HVAC maintenance doesn’t typically head their “to-do” lists. You can help. Use your records to schedule proactive maintenance reminders. A postcard, email, or phone call should do. 
2. Service History - Maintain a comprehensive service history for each customer, including past repairs, installations, and maintenance visits. Your knowledge of each customer’s “particulars” instills confidence and communicates care on subsequent service calls. Having the information at your fingertips relieves your customers from having to plow through their records and receipts. 
3. Warranty Tracking - Keep track of warranty information for equipment installed or serviced. This ensures that warranties are utilized effectively and provides customers with peace of mind regarding their HVAC investments. 
4. Equipment Inventory - Maintain an inventory of equipment installed, including model numbers and installation dates. This saves the customer from having to dig into paperwork and helps you tailor recommendations for replacements or upgrades. 
5. Customer Preferences - Document customer preferences, such as preferred communication channels, preferred service times, and specific requirements for their HVAC systems. This level of personalization enhances the customer experience and increases customer loyalty. 

CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE (CLV): WHAT HVAC CONTRACTORS NEED TO KNOW 

Imagine that a broken fan belt or clogged drain line prompted a homeowner’s call. You might provide the fix, welcome the check, and consider it all a good day’s work. Or, you might provide the fix, welcome the check, and consider this the beginning of a relationship that you proactively nurture.    

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the amount of money you can expect a customer to spend on your business throughout that customer’s entire relationship with your business. FirstPageSage puts the CLV for an HVAC customer at $47,200. HVAC customers typically begin with smaller jobs and scale up after 6-8 months. ¹

Your effective recordkeeping can help you facilitate ongoing communication with the “small job” homeowner, even in the form of seasonal maintenance tips and offering promotions or discounts. Your consistent communication helps to keep you top-of-mind and encourages repeat business.

Sources Cited

“Average Customer Lifetime Value (LTV / CLV) for a Services Company.” First Page Sage, 28 Dec. 2023, firstpagesage.com/reports/average-customer-lifetime-value-ltv-clv-for-a-services-company-fc/.