Attribution window

What it means

The period during which a conversion is credited back to the thing that produced the first visit. Thirty days is a common default. Shorter windows undercount slow decisions; longer ones credit the channel with work that closed for other reasons.

Two agencies reporting the same account on different windows will produce different numbers without either being wrong, which is why the window belongs in the report rather than in a settings panel.

Why it matters in HVAC

This trade has two customer journeys with almost nothing in common. A failed compressor in August is searched once and booked within the hour. A full system replacement is researched across three weeks with three quotes, and a thirty-day window barely covers it.

Run one window across both and you systematically undercount replacement work, which is the revenue that actually matters. Replacement is also the job most likely to arrive through organic search rather than an emergency call.

How to check it

Ask what the window is, whether it differs by service type, and whether it is first-touch or last-touch. Then compare the agency’s conversion count against bookings in your own CRM for the same month. The gap between those two numbers is the conversation.

Where the window hides a whole revenue line

Plumbing & HVAC SEO makes the point in its own pricing model: replacement work changes the arithmetic entirely, a single system replacement can cover a month of marketing on its own, and return should be modelled on revenue per lead across service, repair and replacement rather than the service ticket alone.

A short attribution window quietly excludes exactly that work. The homeowner who read your furnace page in October, took two other quotes, and booked in November falls outside a thirty-day window and lands in your reporting as nothing at all.

The fix is not a longer window applied to everything. It is asking for the window by service type, and knowing which of your two customer journeys each report is describing.