The quick verdict
Cold Facebook ads underperform for residential solar acquisition by a wide margin. Loaded CAC runs $1,500-$3,500 per closed install vs $250-$500 for mailed solar quotes targeting the same homes. Facebook's value in solar is retargeting — close warm leads from your other channels at a fraction of cold-traffic cost. Run Solar Launch for acquisition; run Facebook for retargeting on top.
Side-by-side
| Metric | Mailed Solar Quotes | Facebook Ads (cold) |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting precision | By street + roof viability + home age | Demographic guesses |
| Can filter for roof orientation | Google Solar API integration | No |
| Can filter for homeowner status | Yes (BatchData property records) | Indirect (likely-homeowner targeting) |
| Can filter for income to finance $15K-$40K | By neighborhood median home value | Indirect (income brackets) |
| Cost per home contacted | $1 per mailed quote | $1.50-$4 per click |
| Typical close rate (to install) | 2-4% of mailings | 0.3-0.8% of clicks |
| Loaded CAC per closed install | $250-$500 | $1,500-$3,500 |
| Lead durability (re-contacts the home) | Yes — physical mail | No — gone after ad expires |
Why Facebook fails for cold solar
Residential solar has four properties that Facebook's ad platform can't filter for:
- Roof viability. Roof orientation, shading, age, and structural condition determine whether the home is even viable. Facebook has no signal for any of this.
- Visual product. Facebook ad creative is generic stock photos. The homeowner needs to see THEIR roof with panels to convert — exactly what mailed solar quotes deliver.
- Financing-required ticket. $15K-$40K means the homeowner needs to qualify for financing. Facebook can't target by credit profile.
- Long sales cycle. 30-90 days from first contact to install. Facebook ads are episodic — when budget ends, the audience reset.
What Facebook IS good for in solar
The Facebook campaigns that work for solar installers are retargeting: anyone who scans a Solar Launch postcard, visits your site, or watches a video gets a low-budget Facebook/Instagram retargeting flow. Retargeting CAC for warm leads typically runs $150-$400 — about 5-10× cheaper than cold acquisition. Reserve 10-15% of your marketing budget for retargeting; don't spend cold-acquisition dollars on Facebook.
Recommended budget allocation
- 50-60% mailed solar quotes — the acquisition engine.
- 10-15% Facebook retargeting — close warm leads.
- 5-10% Google ads (bottom of funnel) — capture brand searches + high-intent queries.
- 15-25% D2D warm follow-up — door-knock neighborhoods that received mailings 7-14 days prior.
- 5-10% capacity-fill broker leads — only when self-gen channels saturate.
Acquisition that targets by roof, not by demographic.
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