In a mid-sized town of 30,000 people, one of our clients at Roofing Webmasters generated 100 roofing leads in one day.
The pattern continued for several days, to the point that the roofer netted over 1 million in revenue. At first glance, the culprit for this spike was an act of God, a brutal hailstorm that damaged countless roofs.
However, upon screening each lead call, it became evident that the roofer’s online presence allowed him to capitalize on the event.
His local competitors and some rambunctious storm chasers hustled to knock on doors. However, it was too late; our client had won their business.
Nearly 70% of roofing companies say they struggle with lead generation, which demonstrates a disconnect between strategy and execution.
There’s a saying that success is the intersection of effort and opportunity, perfectly summarizing the generation of roofing leads.
As a veteran of the digital marketing industry and the marketing consultant of thousands of roofing companies over the past decade, I will finally share everything I’ve learned about roofing lead generation.
In this guide, you will learn:
- The value of different lead types
- Proven lead generation strategies for roofers
- The 9 best channels to get leads
- Real-life anecdotes of roofers multiplying their leads
- My advice on roofing leads based on my experience as an agency owner
Roofing Lead Generation Basics
A local roofer starts their roofing business in a mid-size market of 60,000 people. They register a business, hire some employees, and rent an industrial space for their business address.
There’s just one problem: they don’t have any leads. They decide to canvass local neighborhoods, knocking on doors and handing out flyers.
Most homeowners already have a roofing provider, and others are skeptical of this new company.
They go online to check the company’s reviews and see that it has none and doesn’t have a website. The owner is forced to contact 3rd-party lead sellers to get their first customers and earn some reviews.
Unfortunately, these 3rd party leads are “Shared leads” and are not converting at a high rate.
They managed to convert a few, but customers didn’t leave a review because they assigned credit to the lead seller (their initial point of contact) rather than to the roofing company.
The owner goes out of business, and his roofing career is over.
Types of Leads for Roofers
When contractors buy roofing leads, they might be buying shared leads or exclusive leads. You should understand that there is a substantial difference in the value of each lead type.
A shared lead is not particularly valuable, whereas an exclusive lead is highly valuable to your company. There are also varying types of leads based on industry niche.
For example, contractors who exclusively perform commercial roofing work will seek leads in the commercial industry.
Other roofers may focus on metal roofing, storm damage roofing, and other sub-categories of the industry.
Some of the most popular lead types include:
Exclusive Roofing Leads
Exclusive leads are prospects who contact your roofing company only.
Since they are more likely to convert, they generally cost more to acquire from 3rd parties. However, a solid online presence helps roofers produce exclusive leads for free.
In addition, exclusive prospects are more likely to become regular customers after their initial service.
Finally, the exclusive model contrasts with the shared model, since shared leads share their contact information with multiple roofing companies in the same area.
Shared Roofing Leads
Shared leads are the most common type when buying from a 3rd party lead seller. These leads are not particularly valuable because they are given to multiple roofing companies.
As a result, you are competing against others for the sale, which lowers the customer’s lifetime value, even if they convert.
When that customer requires additional roofing services, they are more likely to seek out the lead seller than your company.
Now, you must “win” the battle again to gain them as a repeat customer. With that in mind, you are helping the lead seller build their brand instead of investing in your own company.
Commercial Roofing Leads
For value purposes, leads for commercial roofers are the most coveted.
For example, most businesses know that commercial roofing jobs pay the most and create the most future opportunities for more sales.
Commercial projects are the high-ticket jobs, whether TPO roofing or modified bitumen leads. It only takes one job to return your investment.
9 Proven Channels to Get Roofing Leads
You can cut out the middleman by investing in lead generation strategies that deliver the best roofing leads.
The companies you buy leads from use many of these strategies for their own brands, then sell the leads to roofers like you.
You can stop relying on 3rd party entites with the methods below:
1) SEO for Roofers
Ranking on Google search results is an excellent way to generate leads for roofers. SEO entails local, technical, and on-page optimizations, citations, link building, and content marketing.
For roofing contractors, ranking on the Local Map 3-Pack is vital to earning new customers. For example, when users search for roofing services near me, they see a local pack of 3 nearby roofing companies.
Getting in the top 3 local rankings requires optimizing your Google Business Profile, getting more reviews, and strengthening your NAP citations.
In addition to Map 3-Pack rankings, traditional organic results remain a valuable source of user engagement.
Organic results also inform AI-generated answers, such as those found on Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
Furthermore, a comprehensive SEO strategy strengthens your conversion rates by helping users easily access information about your brand and reputation when searching for your company name.
2) Facebook Ads
Roofing companies can generate leads on Facebook using Facebook Ads. Investing in a Facebook Advertising strategy can produce consistent, high-quality leads for roofing companies.
Instagram ads are part of Facebook’s Ad platform, so roofers can appear on both social media platforms when running promotions.
With billions of active users on each platform, the combined number provides a massive potential audience for your ads.
Lead ads from Facebook are especially useful for lead generation. When users see your ad, they can submit a pre-populated form that already contains contact information pulled from their profile.
As a result, conversion rates increase significantly. Learn more about Lead Ads below:
3) Canvassing
Contractors can find customers through community platforms like NextDoor, which often establishes more immediate trust in a particular roofing company than a traditional PPC advertisement.
In addition, many companies find incorporating mobile software into their canvassing efforts helpful. You can improve neighborhood canvassing by investing in your sales team.
It’s not enough to randomly assign jobs to individual salespeople; companies must consider strengths, weaknesses, and area expertise.
Sales pitches convert better when coming from people who have confidence in the subject. One way to build sales confidence is to assign nearby homes to one salesperson.
Instead of traveling multiple blocks to complete their daily canvassing, salespeople can focus on a cluster of houses on one street.
This strategy is especially effective after hailstorms ravage an area. Learn more about canvassing below:
4) Content Marketing
Producing high-quality content and sharing it across platforms helps businesses generate more leads.
For instance, a blog post about metal roof repair can get clicks on Google search results and serve as a great Facebook share.
You can even distribute excellent content to your email list as part of a more extensive promotional campaign or newsletter.
Aside from text-based content like blog posts, businesses can also produce visual content such as videos, images, and infographics.
Canva is an excellent resource for creating engaging infographics without needing design experience. In addition, most modern smartphones can shoot and edit high-quality videos with little expertise required.
Finding where to distribute content is vital to proper content marketing. For example, your consumers may engage with your posts on Facebook but not necessarily on LinkedIn.
Using analytics reporting across platforms helps determine which type of content is best for each forum.
5) Email Marketing
Email blasts can reach thousands of people instantly, so long as you’ve built a genuine list from prior encounters.
The stats say that email marketing returns over $40 for each dollar spent, an outstanding ROI. But, of course, your open rate will depend on the quality of your campaign.
Still, it’s shocking that more roofers don’t utilize email blasts for lead generation. While direct mail also applies to leads, emails can reach more prospects quickly.
In addition, technological advancements have made it easier to send high-quality emails.
According to research, follow-up emails can increase conversions by 74%, making them a no-brainer technique for businesses.
Learn more about adequately executing an email marketing campaign below:
6) Apps & Software
Use technology to your advantage by downloading lead generation apps and software for your business. For example, software like RoofSnap can streamline sales pitches and increase conversions.
Getting notifications every time a storm hits one of your service areas empowers you to deploy your canvassers and salespeople to the appropriate zones.
Job scheduling apps are also helpful, and while they don’t directly generate leads, many of the software comes with additional features that help promote your business and close sales.
Don’t overlook digital marketing software, such as our proprietary tool, DataPins, which empowers roofers to showcase recent roofing jobs on their websites to improve rankings and conversions.
7) AI Platforms
AI platforms powered by large language models such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude are quickly becoming places where homeowners go to find, compare, and evaluate local roofing companies.
Maximizing visibility in AI search starts with a strong SEO foundation but extends into a newer discipline known as GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization.
Roofers can improve AI visibility by publishing NLP-friendly content that showcases unique expertise rather than standard cookie-cutter service pages.
AI platforms use a technique called “query-fan-out,” where they search for 8 or 9 subqueries based on the user’s prompt and synthesize the results into a comprehensive response.
Roofing websites that rank for each of the subqueries, or are mentioned in top results (such as a list of the “top roofing companies in Dallas” are most likely to be cited in the AI-generated response.
The other foundational elements of your digital marketing strategy also apply to GEO, such as reviews and reputation management.
Local roofing companies can expect AI-driven platforms, such as Google’s AI Mode, to become increasingly essential for lead generation.
8) Paid Advertising (PPC)
Google Ads and Local Service Ads have become a major source of lead generation in the roofing industry, especially as Google rewards local pack ads with “call” and “website buttons” while stripping them from the non-sponsored Google Business Profiles.
Mobile users are typically seeing Google LSA Ads before an AI Overview, followed by a Map 3-Pack (which may include one or more sponsored profiles).
As you can imagine, these modern mobile SERPs are resulting in fewer organic map pack clicks and more clicks going to various sponsored results
Keep in mind that Google LSA is a separate platform from Google Ads, and that LSA requires a background check and uses a pay-per-lead model rather than pay-per-click (PPC).
A hybrid approach has been shown to deliver the best results, requiring appearing in LSA, AI Overviews, Google Ads, and the organic map pack.
9) Business Directories
Niche directories like HomeAdvisor and Angi’ can help businesses generate online leads. These brands have high authority, so people trust them when searching for contractors.
Similarly, they may appear in search results for relevant queries and appear in top 10 lists in a given area. As for buying leads directly from directory platforms, most people advise against it.
Since directories primarily offer shared leads, meaning they give the same prospect’s contact information to multiple businesses, the value decreases significantly.
Still, optimizing directory listings will ensure consistent NAP citations across the web and improve your overall search engine optimization.
In addition, some homeowners still consult with directory lists rather than traditional search results when choosing a service.
Real-Life Anecdotes of Roofers Generating Leads
At my agency, Roofing Webmasters, we’ve helped roofing companies net 1 million and even 2 million in revenue from lead generation.
You can see some of the brands we’ve worked with below
Local Roofer Benefits from Hail Damage Leads
One of our clients’ cities experienced a hailstorm, resulting in 100 leads in a single day and a net revenue of 1 million. This client was optimized on Google, allowing him to dominate the marketplace against competitors.
New Roofing Company Dominates Map-Pack
One of our newer roofing companies utilized DataPins to rank for long-tail keywords on the Local Map 3-Pack. They quickly accumulated 50+ reviews and began ascending for primary keyword terms.
They generated so many leads that they bought a new truck and hired more employees.
How Much Do Roofing Leads Cost?
The cost of roofing leads can range from $20 to $300.
The low end of this spectrum requires an “act of God,” which means a severe storm like a hail storm or a hurricane in your service area.
The least expensive leads are those generated through organic search results with a comprehensive SEO strategy.
Next Steps to Get Roofing Leads
Every roofing company wants leads, but the debate over the best ways to generate them has raged for decades.
As the owner of a digital marketing agency for roofers, I’ve helped thousands of roofers generate consistent, exclusive leads using the channels outlined above.
While there is no silver bullet for lead generation, proven strategies and methods can maximize your visibility without overspending.
Roofing companies that have found the most success have established a strong organic foundation, with an SEO-optimized website and hundreds or thousands of customer reviews on Google, Yelp, and other platforms.
Using this guide, you too can create a long-term branded lead source through digital marketing. To get in touch with Roofing Webmasters about generating roofing leads, contact us here.
Author: Nolen Walker
Nolen Walker is the founder of Roofing Webmasters, assisting roofers with SEO and digitial marketing for 16+ years. Nolen is also the creator of DataPins™ and author of A Complete SEO Guide for the Roofing Small Business Owner . In addition, Nolen hosts The Roofing SEO Podcast on Spotify .
