Solar Leads Pricing: What a Solar Lead Should Cost
Solar lead prices run from a few dollars for aged data to several hundred for a live-transferred, verified homeowner. This page explains what drives the price, what the market ranges look like, how Solcertain's pay-per-lead and pay-per-call pricing works, and how to compare offers on the number that matters: cost per sale.
How Solcertain prices leads
You pay per lead or per qualified call, in any mix, and change the mix as your team changes. Leads are paid for from prepaid credit that never expires, so there is no retainer and no long-term commitment. Cost per lead is set by state, lead category and lead type and quoted for your territory.
Pay per lead
You pay for each exclusive, verified homeowner lead delivered to your CRM, inbox or dialer in real time. Each lead has passed 13 validation checks, carries a TrustedForm certificate, and includes the homeowner's answers on ownership, roof, bill and credit. Your team handles the follow-up.
Pay per call
You pay only when a live transfer meets the qualification bar agreed for your campaign: a homeowner who owns their home, is in your service area, is actively interested in solar and wants to speak now. Calls that do not qualify are not billed.
What is included at any price
- Real-time delivery to any CRM, by text, email or API.
- ZIP-code and service-radius targeting you can change week to week.
- A weekly report covering spend, cost per lead, cost per appointment, contact rate and what we changed.
- A seven-day return window on exclusive, live-transfer and non-exclusive leads (see below).
Current price ranges
Cost per lead is quoted per territory because it moves with state, utility and competition far more than with anything else. Four lead types are available, at different prices and with different return terms:
- Exclusive leads: generated for your company and delivered to you alone. The type we recommend for most installers.
- Live transfers: the homeowner is qualified on the phone and connected to your rep in real time. Billed only when the call meets the agreed bar. See solar appointments.
- Non-exclusive leads: sold to more than one company, at a lower price.
- Value leads: older or unscreened-intent contacts at a discount, sold final with no returns.
Credit is bought in packs on the account funding page: $500, $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000 of lead credit, with payment processing included in the pack price and weekly payment plans available on larger packs. Credit is applied as leads are delivered, does not expire, and can be used across any lead category.
What determines the price of a solar lead
Five things move the number more than anything else.
Exclusive or shared
A shared lead is sold to several installers at once, often within minutes. It is cheaper per unit and far more expensive per sale, because the homeowner is fielding calls from everyone who bought it. An exclusive lead goes to one company and costs more up front. We sell both, and recommend exclusive for any team that can work its leads properly.
Lead type
A website lead (a homeowner who completed a solar survey) costs less than a booked appointment, which costs less than a live transfer where the homeowner is qualified and on the phone. Each step up removes work from your team and raises the price per unit. See our guide to solar appointment setting for how the three compare on show rate and cost per sat appointment.
Geography
Cost per lead varies widely by state and even by ZIP code. Markets with high electricity rates, strong incentives and less installer competition produce cheaper leads. Saturated metros with dozens of installers bidding on the same homeowners produce expensive ones. Campaigns targeted by ZIP code, rather than by state, are how the price is kept down.
Verification depth
A lead that has been phone-validated, checked for fraud and bots, and carries a consent certificate costs more to produce than a raw form fill. It also converts at a rate that makes the raw form fill the more expensive option once you count the calls your reps make to disconnected numbers. Our verification guide covers the checks.
Season and demand
Solar demand rises in spring and summer and around incentive deadlines. Prices follow. A campaign that runs through the year averages that out; a campaign switched on in June pays the peak.
Market price ranges for solar leads
Ranges below are the market figures we publish in our guide to buying solar leads. They describe what installers are typically quoted across vendors, not Solcertain's prices.
| Lead type | Typical market range |
|---|---|
| Shared residential solar leads | $15 to $100 |
| Exclusive residential solar leads | $50 to $500 |
| Commercial solar leads | $50 to $300 |
The spread inside each row is the geography and verification effect described above.
Real numbers from a client campaign
- Cost per website lead
- $28.71Cost per website lead
- Website leads
- 497Website leads
- Total spend
- $14,300Total spend
- Appointments scheduled
- 113Appointments scheduled
- Cost per appointment scheduled
- $126.30Cost per appointment scheduled
- Click-through rate
- 2.93%Click-through rate
The report below is one client's week, published on our residential solar leads page. It shows how cost per lead and cost per appointment relate in practice.
A separate client was paying $127 per lead in California before we restructured her campaigns; in the same account it dropped to $7. That result is documented in the campaign-structure case study. It is not a promise about your market, but it shows how much of the price is structure rather than fate.
Returns: what happens when a lead is bad
A price is only meaningful alongside the return terms. Ours, in short: you can request a return review within seven calendar days of receiving an exclusive, live-transfer or non-exclusive lead. A lead qualifies if it is outside your selected area, the number is disconnected, it is a duplicate, the contact is a job seeker or a competitor, or, for solar, the contact is a renter or lives in a mobile or manufactured home.
Leads are not returnable because the homeowner was not interested, did not answer, did not qualify for financing, wanted a ground mount, or did not close. An approved return re-credits the lead price to your balance for future leads. Value leads are sold final. The full policy is in our Terms of Service.
How to compare solar lead prices properly
The price per lead is the least useful number on any quote. Work every offer through to cost per sale:
- Contact rate. What share of leads does your team actually reach? Phone-verified leads sit far higher here than raw form fills, because the numbers ring.
- Appointment rate. Of the homeowners reached, how many book? In the client week above, 497 leads became 113 appointments, a 23% lead-to-appointment rate.
- Show rate. How many booked appointments happen?
- Close rate. How many sat appointments become signed deals?
A $40 lead with a 60% contact rate, 35% appointment rate, 65% show rate and 30% close rate costs $976 per sale. A $90 verified lead with 85% contact, 40% appointment, 75% show and 35% close costs $1,008 per sale. The two are within 3% of each other on cost per sale despite one being more than twice the price per lead, and the $90 lead used far fewer rep hours to get there. Run this arithmetic on every quote before comparing the top line.
Questions to ask before you pay for solar leads
- Is the lead exclusive to my company, in writing?
- How was the homeowner's consent captured, and can I see the TrustedForm certificate?
- What was verified before delivery: phone, ownership, address, fraud, duplicates?
- How old is the lead when it reaches me?
- What is the replacement policy, and what is the window?
- Can I target by ZIP code and change it weekly?
- What is in the weekly report?
- Is there a minimum commitment or a contract term?
Any vendor who cannot answer all eight is pricing in that you will not ask. Our FAQ answers them for Solcertain.
Solar Leads Pricing FAQ
How much do solar leads cost?
Market quotes run from about $15 for shared leads to $500 for exclusive, verified residential leads, with commercial leads at $50 to $300. Where a specific lead falls depends on exclusivity, lead type, geography, verification depth and season.
Why are exclusive solar leads more expensive than shared leads?
Because you are the only company calling that homeowner. A shared lead costs less per unit and a great deal more per sale, since every installer who bought it is chasing the same deal and only one wins.
Does Solcertain charge a retainer or monthly fee?
No. Leads and calls are paid for from prepaid credit that does not expire, with no retainer and no long-term commitment. Managed campaign services are available separately and are scoped and priced in writing before they start.
Do I pay for calls that do not qualify?
No. Live transfers are billed only when the call meets the qualification bar agreed for your campaign.
Can I set a budget?
Yes. You choose how much credit to add and campaigns run against it; delivery pauses when the balance runs out and resumes when you top up.
How do I get a quote for my territory?
Book a demo. We will look at your service area and target volume and quote the mix of leads and calls that fits your team.