Every term an agency might throw at you, explained in the shortest, clearest way we can. No marketing jargon, no self-important footnotes.
Meta's AI-powered campaign type that auto-targets, auto-places, and auto-optimizes. Works well for home service lead gen once the account has historical conversion data. Newer accounts should start with traditional campaigns until the pixel learns.
Meta's ad placement outside Facebook and Instagram — apps and websites that have partnered with Meta. Quality is inconsistent for home service lead gen; most of our clients exclude it for better lead quality.
An audience setup with no interest, behavior, or demographic constraints besides location and age — letting Meta's algorithm find buyers. Often outperforms narrow targeting in 2026 because the algorithm has more signal from the pixel.
A Meta setting where budget is set at the campaign level and the algorithm distributes it across ad sets dynamically. Useful when you have multiple ad sets and trust the algorithm to find winners. ABO (ad set budget optimization) gives more manual control.
Meta's server-side tracking method — sends conversion events from your backend directly to Meta, bypassing browser-based pixel blocking. Improves attribution accuracy by 15–30%, especially post-iOS 14. Should be running alongside the Meta Pixel.
An audience built from your own data — website visitors, customer email list, video viewers, Instagram engagers, etc. Used mostly for retargeting. Updates automatically as new people meet the criteria.
A Meta ad format where you upload multiple headlines, images, videos, and CTAs — and Meta auto-combines them into the best-performing variations per viewer. Useful for testing but can make reporting messy.
A native Meta lead capture form that opens inside Facebook/Instagram — no landing page redirect. Pre-fills name + email from the user's profile. Higher conversion rate but lower lead quality than landing pages. Use for volume; use landing pages for quality.
An audience Meta builds based on people similar to your customer list, lead list, or pixel events. 1% lookalikes are narrowest; 5–10% lookalikes are broadest. Useful as a starting point but often outperformed by broad targeting in 2026.
A tracking snippet installed on your website that reports user actions (page views, form submissions, purchases) back to Meta. Powers retargeting, conversion tracking, and lookalikes. Should be paired with the Conversion API for accurate attribution.
Where your ads appear: Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Reels, Stories, Audience Network, Marketplace, etc. Auto-placements let Meta distribute; manual placements give you control. For home services, Feed + Reels + Stories usually perform best.
Meta's video view goal — counts as a 'view' if someone watches 15+ seconds (or the whole video if shorter). Cheap placement signal for top-of-funnel brand awareness, not a conversion metric.
The first 1–2 weeks of a new Meta campaign when the algorithm is learning. Don't judge performance during this window; don't make aggressive changes. After 50 conversions, the campaign exits learning phase.
Running ads through someone else's Instagram or Facebook account (with permission). Common for agency-run contractor ads that use an influencer's or owner's personal account for credibility. Increases trust signals.
Google's pay-per-lead ad format for service businesses. Triggered by 'near me' searches; ads appear above traditional search. Lead cost is set by Google; you only pay when someone calls or messages. Requires Google Business Profile verification + background check.
Advertising Cost of Sale — the percentage of revenue spent on advertising. If you earn $10,000 in revenue from $2,000 in ad spend, ACoS is 20%. Used interchangeably with cost-of-goods in e-commerce but less common in home services; ROAS is more typical here.
Percentage of ad views that resulted in a click. Calculated as clicks ÷ impressions × 100. Good CTR for home service Meta ads is 1.5–3%. Below 1% usually signals weak creative or wrong audience.
Total ad spend divided by the number of acquired customers (booked jobs, not just leads). For home services, healthy CPA is usually 5–15% of average job value. A $10K job should cost less than $1,500 to acquire.
Average amount paid per ad click. On Meta, home service CPC is typically $0.50–$2.50. Google Search CPC for contractors can range $3–$30 depending on trade and market.
Amount spent to generate one lead. On Meta for home services: $10–$35. On Google Search: $25–$120. LSA: often $50–$200 but billed per-lead not per-click. CPL alone isn't enough — always measure cost per booked job.
What you pay to have your ad shown to 1,000 people. Home service CPM on Meta: $8–$25. High CPM usually means poor creative engagement, saturated audience, or wrong placement.
Average number of times each person has seen your ad. For prospecting, keep it under 3.0. For retargeting, 5–8 is fine. Over 10 usually means ad fatigue is hurting performance.
Total number of times your ad was displayed (one person can see it multiple times). Different from reach, which is unique viewers.
Unique number of people who saw your ad at least once (vs. impressions which counts repeat views). Tracks audience coverage.
Revenue earned per dollar spent on ads. 4x ROAS means $4 earned for every $1 spent. For home service ads, 3–5x is solid, 5–10x is excellent. Don't chase ROAS alone — 10x ROAS on $500/mo is worse than 3x on $5,000/mo.
When an audience has seen the same ad creative too many times and stops responding. Symptoms: CTR drops, CPM rises, CPL climbs. Fix it by rotating new creative every 2–4 weeks and monitoring frequency (ideally under 3.0 for prospecting audiences).
The visual and copy elements of an ad — video, image, headline, body, CTA. 'Creative is the new targeting' — because audiences are now algorithmic, creative is the single biggest performance lever left.
The first 2–3 seconds of a video ad. 80% of viewers drop off if the hook is weak. Great hooks use pattern interrupts, direct callouts, numeric claims, or curiosity. 'Your roof might be leaking and you don't even know it' > 'Hi, I'm Mike.'
Ad creative that looks and feels like it was made by a real customer, not a brand — phone-shot, unpolished, first-person. Often 2–3× cheaper per lead than polished brand ads because it blends into the organic feed.
Instant SMS, email, or call workflows triggered when a new lead comes in. Critical for home services — response speed under 5 minutes triples close rates. Tools: GoHighLevel, Zapier, HubSpot, Twilio.
The dedicated page users land on after clicking an ad. Separate from your homepage; designed around one offer and one conversion goal. A great contractor landing page loads in under 2 seconds, has social proof, shows pricing or the offer clearly, and has a single CTA.
How fast you contact a new lead after they submit a form. Under 5 minutes triples your close rate; under 1 minute is 6× more effective than under 5 minutes. Automation is non-negotiable for this.
Running two versions of an ad, creative, or landing page simultaneously to see which performs better. On Meta, this is built into the platform as 'Experiments'. Test one variable at a time — headline, image, or audience — never all at once.
How an ad platform decides how much to pay per impression or click. Meta options: lowest cost, cost cap, bid cap, ROAS goal. Google options: maximize conversions, target CPA, target ROAS, manual CPC. For home services on Meta, lowest cost is usually the default starting strategy.
The multi-step path from first ad impression to booked job: awareness → interest → lead → appointment → close. Each step has its own conversion rate; a healthy funnel converts 8–15% of leads to booked jobs.
The specific deal in your ad — 'free roof inspection', '$50 off first service', 'price match guarantee'. A strong offer beats a weak one even with the same creative. Most ad agencies underestimate how much the offer matters vs. the media.
Advertising to cold audiences who have never heard of your business. Makes up 70–80% of most ad budgets. Opposite of retargeting. Goal: introduce your brand, capture interest, drive first-time leads.
Showing ads to people who have already interacted with your business — visited your site, watched a video, filled out a partial form. Typically 2–5× cheaper per conversion than prospecting because intent is higher.
See A/B Test — same concept, different name.
The sequence of offers a prospect moves through — from low-commitment (free inspection) to high-commitment (full roof replacement). Every home service ad campaign benefits from a clear value ladder rather than one giant offer.