ROI Calculator for Local Advertising

ROI = (gross margin from new customers − ad spend) ÷ ad spend. The honest version layers in repeat business: a single new customer is worth more than their first ticket because most local services have meaningful retention. We use LTV (lifetime value = avg ticket × (1 + repeat-rate × 2.5)) × gross margin as the per-customer value, then compare LTV-margin to CAC for the LTV:CAC ratio.

Industry standard for local services: 3:1 or higher (HubSpot, Bain). Below 3:1 means you're spending too much to acquire customers relative to what they're worth; above 5:1 generally means you're underspending on growth and could profitably invest more in acquisition. Some categories with strong recurring revenue (lawn care, pest control, pool service) target 5:1-10:1 because retention is so high.

Pull from your CRM or invoicing system: of customers acquired in a 12-month window, what % had at least one additional invoice in the next 12-24 months? Most home-services operators land at 30-50% repeat rate. Recurring service businesses (lawn, pest, pool) hit 70-85%. One-time-purchase businesses (real estate, moving) sit at 5-15% but get high referral rates.

If your LTV:CAC drops below 2:1 sustained, you're losing money on growth. Pause that channel and diagnose. Common causes: auction inflation (CPLs rose without your noticing), lead-quality degradation (close rate dropping), pricing erosion (avg ticket falling), or seasonality you didn't budget for. Don't pause too fast: month-to-month variance is normal; trend across 90 days.

CPVD's structural advantage is that the rate is fixed from $0.25 (background), unlike auction-priced channels that inflate when competitors enter or seasons spike. Predictable unit cost makes CAC easier to forecast. Tunnels and zones are priced higher for hyper-local precision but the principle is the same: rate is fixed, which lets you model CAC at planning time instead of finding out at month-end. The LTV side of the ratio doesn't change, but a more stable CAC denominator stabilizes the whole equation.

Use your actual blended gross margin from the last 12 months of finished jobs. Industry rough ranges: HVAC 35-50%, plumbing 40-55%, roofing 25-40% (high materials cost), landscaping 40-55%, dental 50-65%, restaurants 60-70% (food cost is the dominant variable). Don't use revenue per customer; gross margin is what you actually keep.

The Starter tier opens with a $50 deposit, and that deposit becomes your ad budget. Background deliveries on Starter run $0.50 per verified delivery, so the first deposit buys 100 GPS-verified deliveries to real driver phones. There is no auction and no platform fee stacked on top.

Four public tiers: Starter ($50 minimum deposit, background only), Local ($250, up to 2 tunnels and 1 zone), Pro ($1,000, up to 8 tunnels and 5 zones), and Enterprise ($3,000, up to 25 tunnels and 15 zones). Per-delivery background rates step down by tier, from $0.50 on Starter to $0.25 on Enterprise. An Agency tier is available through sales.

No. Every tier has a fixed, published rate per verified delivery. The price you see is the price you pay, whether it is game day or a Tuesday morning. Higher tiers carry lower per-delivery rates.

Background runs city-wide across every active driver in the metro. A zone is a neighborhood-sized area you hold exclusively: while it is yours, no competitor can run there. A tunnel is a one-mile stretch of road you can place anywhere, and it follows the road's contours, ideal for the approach to your shop or a route your customers already drive.