What to ask an agency before it markets your windows

The last week of February is when window and door companies hear the most pitches. Spring quoting is weeks away, the install calendar is thin, and every agency with a home improvement package knows the owner is setting the budget for March to May. Some of those agencies will do good work. Others will run the same campaign they run for any other contractor, and a window company finds out what that costs when the first in-home appointments do not sign.

Window advertising has its own rules and its own history, and an agency that has not met them will write ads that sound persuasive and create problems. These are the questions we would want any window or door company to put to an agency, including us.

The claims an agency will be tempted to write

Start with the ad copy, because that is where a generic agency shows itself fastest.

• A savings percentage. In February 2012 the FTC settled with five replacement window sellers over pledges such as a “40% Energy Savings Pledge” and “50% Energy Savings Guaranteed”. Under the orders, even an “up to” figure needs evidence that all or almost all buyers are likely to reach it. ENERGY STAR, which exists to promote certified products, says certified windows, doors and skylights cut heating and cooling bills by an average of up to 13% against non-certified ones, and that new windows may not pay for themselves in energy savings alone.
• The tax credit. The IRS allows no 25C credit for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Ask any agency what it would say about the federal credit this spring. The only right answer is nothing.
• Older homes. EPA lists window replacement as work that is always covered in homes built before 1978, regardless of square footage, and firms without lead-safe certification cannot advertise that work. An agency writing “we replace windows in historic homes” for an uncertified company is writing an ad the company is not allowed to run.
• License numbers. California’s license board wants the number in all forms of advertising. Washington requires the contractor registration number in ads, internet ads included. Florida requires a general, building or residential license, a local license that covers window work, or a certified glass and glazing license before anyone installs a window.

If an agency’s sample ads promise to cut energy bills in half, or still mention the credit, the conversation can end there.

Questions to ask in the first meeting

• “Show me ads you have written for a window company.” You are looking for products named plainly, a license number where the state wants one, and no percentages the company cannot back up.
• “How would you set up Local Services Ads for us?” Google’s category is Window repair, which covers installing and repairing windows and may include doors, skylights and other glass. There is no separate door category, so entry and patio doors need search campaigns and pages of their own. Since October 2025 the ads carry one Google Verified badge, and Google checks general and professional liability insurance, the state license where one applies and a verified Business Profile. Google puts screening at three to four weeks on average, so an agency that promises ads live next week has not done this before.
• “How will you get us reviews, and what should they say?” BrightLocal’s 2026 consumer survey, out this month, found 13% of consumers had spent more than $5,000 after reading reviews, and 70% had made a purchase they regretted after reading them. A homeowner spending that kind of money reads past the stars. Reviews that name the product, the town and the crew are worth more than a stack of five-star ratings with no words.
• “What happens between the lead and the appointment?” If you sell in the home, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule applies to any sale of $25 or more made there, even when the homeowner invited you, with three business days to cancel. California adds five days for buyers 65 and older. An agency booking your appointments should know the close has rules, and should build confirmation calls and texts that cut no-shows without adding pressure.
• “Who owns the accounts?” The ad account, the call tracking numbers, the Business Profile and the review history should be in your name, in writing.

What the first ninety days should look like

For a window company the order is not the usual one. Leads are expensive and the sale is slow, so measurement comes before more traffic. A plan we would sign off on reads roughly like this:

• Weeks 1 to 3, tracking. Every call and form tagged by source and by product: windows, entry doors, patio doors, repair. One written definition of a qualified appointment. Every existing ad and page read for savings claims and leftover credit language.
• Weeks 2 to 6, proof. License numbers where required, EPA firm certification on pages about older homes, real photos of your own installs, and a review request after each finished job.
• Weeks 4 to 9, visibility. The Local Services Ads application under Window repair, search campaigns split by product and by repair against replacement, and profile services that list what you actually install.
• Weeks 8 to 13, follow-up. A sequence for every quote that did not sign, and a note to past customers about the openings they did not replace the first time.

An agency that wants to start with a big search budget before tracking exists will show you a busy April and no way to know which of it signed.

What a monthly report should show

The test of a report is whether it follows a homeowner from first call to signed contract.

• Calls answered and missed. Home services businesses let 14% of calls go unanswered in CallRail’s January 2025 release, which drew on 1.1 million leads.
• Appointments set, appointments held and jobs sold, by source. A form fill is not a sale, and in this trade it is not even close.
• Cost per sold job, not just cost per lead. In LocaliQ’s home services edition for the year to March 2025, the median Doors & Windows Sales lead cost $200.34 and only 4.41% of clicks became leads, after click prices rose more than 46%. A report that stops at leads leaves out the number that pays your installers.

What we are telling window companies this month

• Pull every ad, landing page and sales sheet you plan to reuse this spring, and delete savings percentages and any credit language before an agency sees them.
• Ask each agency for sample window ads and a sample report that ends in sold jobs.
• Start the Local Services Ads application now if you want it running for the spring peak.
• Decide which products you want more of, and hold every proposal to that list.
• Ask every winter customer for a review that names what you installed.

An agency that can answer these plainly is worth a second meeting. Our page on marketing for window and door installers shows the order we work in, and our notes on Google Ads and Local Services Ads and on reviews cover the parts most proposals get wrong.