Case Study — Heating Oil Delivery
Growth You Own,Not Leads You Rent
How a Northeast heating oil dealer cut its cost per new customer by 39% and moved off pay‑per‑lead directories in a single heating season.
Worth a quick conversation?The Challenge
A regional heating oil dealer in the Northeast was growing the hard way: buying leads from pay‑per‑lead directories. Each lead cost $30 to $45, and the same homeowner was sold to three or four competing dealers at once, so every quote turned into a price‑per‑gallon bidding war.
Close rates ran around 9%, which put the real cost of a new customer near $425. Most of those customers were one‑time will‑call orders shopping the day's lowest price, not accounts. The dealer was paying every week to build a directory's brand instead of its own.
The Approach
Top Funnel Media rebuilt acquisition around channels the dealer owns, structured as one connected funnel:
- Awareness: paid social and video in oil‑heat‑dense ZIP codes, seeded from the dealer's own delivery data.
- Demand capture: Google Search and Local Services Ads covering emergency, price, and brand terms, with budgets tied to heating degree days.
- Conversion: retargeting and first‑fill offers to recover quote abandoners before a directory resold them.
- Retention: email and SMS flows that move will‑call buyers onto automatic delivery and budget plans.
Every lead was exclusive. Every dollar built the dealer's name, not a lead broker's.
A Strategy Built Around the Heating Season
Pre‑Season
AUG – OCT
First‑fill offers and automatic delivery enrollment while CPCs are still low. Budget‑plan and price‑protection messaging for households locking in before winter. Prospecting audiences built now feed retargeting all season.
Peak Season
NOV – MAR
Same‑day and emergency delivery coverage on Search and Local Services Ads. Budgets flex with heating degree days, so spend follows cold snaps, not the calendar. Brand defense keeps directories from outranking the dealer on its own name.
Shoulder Season
APR – JUL
Burner tune‑ups, tank upgrades, and service‑plan enrollment keep the funnel warm. Pre‑buy and cap‑price programs pull next season's revenue forward. Retargeting runs at low CPMs while competitors go dark.
Targeting by Usage, Not Guesswork
- Delivery history segmented by annual gallons and K‑factor; the highest‑usage households seeded lookalike audiences.
- Oil‑heat‑dense ZIP codes prioritized from the dealer's own route data, with current customers suppressed from prospecting.
- Will‑call converts entered a degree‑day‑timed email and SMS path built to move them onto automatic delivery.
- Search coverage split by intent: emergency (“oil delivery today”), price (“heating oil prices near me”), and brand.
Buying Leads vs. Owning the Funnel
| Pay‑Per‑Lead Directories | The Owned Funnel |
|---|---|
| Same lead sold to 3–4 competing dealers | Every lead exclusive to the dealer |
| Wins go to the lowest price per gallon | Sells reliability, service, and automatic delivery |
| One‑time will‑call orders | Recurring automatic delivery accounts |
| Every dollar builds the directory's brand | Every dollar builds the dealer's brand |
Buying leads from the same directories as your competitors? We'll walk through what an owned funnel would look like for your delivery area. No pitch, no pressure.
Start a conversationThe Math That Matters
A $38 shared lead at a 9% close rate is really a ~$425 customer, and usually a one‑time will‑call order.
The owned funnel delivered a $259 blended cost per new customer, and 63% of them enrolled in automatic delivery.
At roughly $2,300 in annual deliveries and 6+ years of typical retention, each account is worth about $14,000 over its lifetime. That is why owning the customer beats renting the lead.
Own the customer, not the lead.
A 20‑minute conversation about your delivery area, your season, and where the leaks are. A clear roadmap either way.
Get in touch