Welcomemat's Q2 report benchmarks car wash marketing performance
The digital marketing firm's third quarterly IMPACT report draws on data from thousands of wash locations to compare paid ads, SEO and fundraising results.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
Welcomemat has published the Q2 2026 edition of its IMPACT Marketing Report, the third installment in a quarterly series that compiles benchmarking data from car wash operators across the country. The report is meant to help owners and marketing staff measure their own performance against industry norms, according to reporting from Car Wash Business Center.
The company, which markets itself as a digital marketing platform built for the car wash industry, says the report is assembled from campaign data across thousands of locations using its platform. The stated goal is to give operators a picture of what is working across the sector so decisions rest on measured results rather than guesswork.
What the report covers
The Q2 edition examines several marketing metrics that matter to washes competing for local customers. Those include paid advertising performance on Google Ads and Meta platforms, local SEO trends, the high-value search keywords driving visibility, and results from fundraising campaigns. The report reviews advertising costs, engagement measures and overall campaign effectiveness across the paid channels.
On the search side, the report looks at which keywords generate the most visibility for wash businesses and how local search is shaping customer acquisition. Jonathan Kierman, a Welcomemat vice president, said reliable benchmarks matter as consumer behavior shifts, noting the report offers "a data-driven view of what's working across the industry."
To accompany the release, the company hosted a free webinar titled "Benchmark Your Marketing: Insights from the Q2 IMPACT Report," now available on demand. The session walked through the findings and how operators can apply the benchmark data. Viewers can expect coverage of SEO trends, paid advertising benchmarks, fundraising results and the metrics tied to customer acquisition and membership growth. The report can be downloaded from Welcomemat's website, and operators can join a mailing list to receive future editions.
Why it matters for operators
Vendor-produced reports carry an obvious caveat: the data comes from one platform's customer base, and the publisher has an interest in demonstrating the value of its own services. Operators should read benchmarks with that context in mind rather than treating them as neutral industry averages.
That said, the underlying metrics the report tracks are the ones that determine whether a marketing budget pays off. Cost per acquisition on Google and Meta, keyword visibility in local search, and conversion from campaigns into memberships are the numbers that separate profitable spend from wasted spend. If an operator has no idea how their own paid media costs or SEO ranking compare to peers, any external reference point is useful for spotting whether performance is lagging.
The practical move is to pull your own numbers first. Know your cost per new member, your Google Business Profile visibility, and your return on paid campaigns before comparing against any published benchmark. With that baseline in hand, a report like this can help identify where a wash is overpaying or underinvesting, and free educational webinars are a low-cost way to sharpen a marketing team's understanding of current search and advertising trends. The fundraising angle is also worth noting, since local fundraiser partnerships remain a proven low-cost acquisition channel for community-focused washes.
