Pay-per-lead sites vs running your own ads for a home care agency
By the Margin Media team · Updated
For a home care agency, pay-per-lead sites are quicker to start and need no marketing skill, but the same family is often sold to several agencies, so the first to call wins. Your own ads take more setup and weekly attention, and the enquiry comes to you alone. Which is better depends on how fast your office answers.
How do pay-per-lead sites work for home care?
A family fills in a form on a directory or referral site, and the site passes their details to agencies that pay for them. Some sites charge for each lead, others take a fee when a client starts. Read the terms: they differ a great deal, and so does how many agencies receive the same family.
How do the two compare?
Neither is better in every case. The table sets out, row by row, where each one is strong and where it leaves a home care agency exposed.
| Pay-per-lead sites | Your own ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Who else gets the family | Often several agencies at once | Only you |
| Time to first enquiry | Fast, once you have signed up | Slower: campaigns and pages have to be built |
| Skill needed | Little: the site does the marketing | Someone must manage the account every week |
| What you own afterwards | Nothing: stop paying and it stops | The account, its history and the pages |
| What it rewards | Speed of your first call | Speed, plus a good page and reviews |
| Control over area and service | Limited to the site's filters | You choose towns, hours and search terms |
When is a lead site the better choice?
A lead site is the better choice when you are new, have no website worth sending anyone to, and can call every lead within minutes. It is also a fair way to test a new town before investing there. If your office can't call back quickly, shared leads are an expensive way to phone people who have already chosen.
How does Margin run ads for a home care agency?
Margin builds and runs ads for the agency in an account the agency owns, with a booking page for each campaign, so an enquiry isn't shared with anyone. The ad budget is the agency's own money, paid to the platform.
Because speed decides both routes, Margin also answers. Mia picks up every call, and a missed caller is texted back within a minute once carriers have approved the agency's texting number. Booked assessments land on the portal calendar and the office is told.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for home care agenciesSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
Are home care lead sites worth paying for?
They can be for a home care agency that calls every lead within minutes and tracks which ones start care. Work out what you paid in a quarter, divided by clients who started. If you can't answer fast, the leads go to whoever did.
Why do home care leads from referral sites never answer the phone?
Often because another home care agency reached them first, or because they filled in a form at night and are at work when you ring. A quick text saying who you are and offering a time to talk is easier to answer than a call from an unknown number.
Can a home care agency use lead sites and its own ads together?
Yes. Both need a phone answered fast and a record of which enquiry came from where. Keep the sources labelled separately so each home care enquiry can be traced back to what it cost you.