Pest Control

Between $80 and $240 depending on contract value and DMA competitive intensity. The right number is always relative to LTV. A $120 CAC on a 4-year average contract life is a great unit economics number; a $120 CAC on a 14-month average contract life isn't. Most pest operators don't measure LTV by acquisition channel, which is the gap that lets channel-mix decisions get made on wrong data.

Yes, but as one channel among five, not as the only acquisition motion. D2D produces high contract volume in dense suburban geographies. It also produces high churn (consumers who say yes at the door often regret the contract within 60 days). Operators who run D2D in isolation typically have churn problems. Operators who run D2D balanced with paid search, local SEO, paid social, and lifecycle compounds save offers and win-backs see materially better LTV.

Three lifecycle interventions. First, the 60-day check-in (most churn happens in the first quarter). Second, the seasonal cross-sell (mosquito customers add tree, lawn customers add mosquito). Third, the structured win-back at month 18 to 24, where customers who churn during seasonal transitions can be reactivated at meaningfully lower CAC than new acquisition. Most pest operators run lifecycle reactively. The ones who run it as a discipline retain materially better.

Pest is the most subscription-native trade in the home services portfolio. The economics are CAC vs. LTV on recurring contracts, not lead-gen to close. Platforms that treat marketing as a subscription discipline (measuring CAC against contract value, owning save offers and win-backs, balancing D2D against digital) compound far faster than those running it as a service-trade lead engine. EQT's playbook at Anticimex (over 400 acquisitions globally) anchored on subscription discipline and centralized marketing infrastructure.

Each has distinct seasonality, ticket size, and creative. Termite is high-ticket, longer-cycle, conversion-driven. Mosquito is seasonal subscription with neighbor-cluster cross-sell dynamics. Rodent is emergency-driven year-round. The marketing engine has to treat them as three distinct funnels under one brand, not one campaign.