How much do solar leads cost in each state?

The cost of solar leads fluctuates from state to state. For example, states with highest energy prices and strongest incentives are typically the busiest — and most competitive — solar markets in America, so solar leads are more expensive in these areas. Leads in states with less homeowner interest in solar may be cheaper overall, but because there’s a lower supply of leads, you may pay a premium for them. Areas that have a lack of solar installers should see low lead prices.

So, what’s the average cost of a solar lead in your state? Take a look at the table below, which breaks down each state’s average lead cost, conversion percentage, and cost per sale.

Please note that this is a compilation of prices that we see in the market and this does not reflect pricing of SolarReviews leads at any specific time.

State	Average lead cost per sale for multi-installer leads from a defined, organic source	Average lead cost per sale for multi-installer leads from an undefined, lower-quality source
Alaska	$450	$450
Arizona	$613	$833
Arkansas	$450	$400
California	$1,929	$3,167
Colorado	$557	$725
Connecticut	$1,286	$2,667
D.C.	$900	$1,750
Delaware	$357	$833
Florida	$488	$550
Georgia	$483	$400
Hawaii	$563	$975
Idaho	$360	$1,167
Illinois	$360	$400
Indiana	$360	$400
Iowa	$360	$400
Kansas	$360	$400
Kentucky	$360	$600
Louisiana	$360	$600
Maine	$360	$400
Maryland	$1,333	$2,167
Massachusetts	$1,400	$2,500
Michigan	$360	$367
Minnesota	$650	$900
Mississippi	$450	$367
Missouri	$450	$400
Montana	$450	$333
Nebraska	$450	$333
Nevada	$483	$600
New Hampshire	$557	$967
New Jersey	$1,400	$2,500
New Mexico	$557	$833
New York	$1,357	$2,633
North Carolina	$363	$600
North Dakota	$225	$333
Ohio	$300	$400
Oklahoma	$360	$333
Oregon	$414	$733
Pennsylvania	$360	$500
Puerto Rico	$483	$600
Rhode Island	$656	$1,300
South Carolina	$613	$725
South Dakota	$450	$400
Tennessee	$483	$600
Texas	$557	$633
Utah	$700	$1,300
Vermont	$483	$733
Virginia	$360	$667
Washington	$483	$800
West Virginia	$450	$300
Wisconsin	$450	$400
Wyoming	$450	$333

Factors impacting the cost of solar leads

There are many factors that will change the cost of solar leads, from the quality of the lead source to the state of the overall solar market. Here are some location-specific factors that change the cost of leads state to state:

• Availability of consumers

• Average conversion rate in the state 

• Attractiveness of solar as an investment

• Electricity prices and local solar incentives

• Demand for regional leads from solar companies

No matter where you’re located, there are some additional factors that will impact the cost of a solar lead. These include:

• The quality of the lead source: Lead source can tell you a lot about the intent of the customer, and thus, the chances you may convert the lead in to a sale. Low-intent audiences usually come from sources like social media, while high-intent leads come from Google search and direct website traffic.

• Source of initiation: Organic lead sources initiated by the consumer charge more than outbound lead generation methods where the interaction with the consumer is generated by telemarketing or email.

• Whether the origin of the lead is defined or is not disclosed: Some lead aggregator sites will sell cheap leads but won’t disclose how they’ve acquired the leads. Be wary of lead prices that seem too good to be true.

• The number of solar companies that a lead is sold to: Exclusive leads, which are only sold to one company, are much more costly than leads sold to two or more companies. Aggregators will sell the same lead to dozens of companies, lessening the lead price and quality. Reputable lead-gen companies will only sell to a maximum of four companies — and will tell you exactly how many other companies have purchased the lead.

• The date of lead acquisition: Staler leads are cheaper than fresh leads from newly interested homeowners.

What makes up total customer acquisition costs, and what part of this is lead generation cost?

Customer acquisition costs have two major components:

• Wages and/or commissions paid to salespeople who sell the system

• Lead, appointment or warm transfer costs paid to either third-party providers or spent on internal marketing efforts. 

Whether you buy leads externally or generate them all yourself, you can work out how much you’re spending on leads by deducting your sales team’s payments from your overall customer acquisition costs. Lead generation costs can then be converted to a cost per job won and a cost per watt of solar installed.

How much is the average cost of solar leads in the U.S.?

To work out the average cost of solar leads per job in the U.S., we need to deduct the average amount of money paid to sales people (currently $0.18 per watt) from the average total cost of customer acquisition (currently $0.43).

This gives us an average cost of $0.25 per watt for residential solar lead generation in America. Given the average residential job is 5.6 kW, this equates to an average lead spend per residential solar job of $1,400.

However, this number varies greatly by state. Anecdotally, we can say it varies from as little as $500 per job in places like Texas and Florida up to around $2,000 in states like California and Massachusetts.

Final thoughts

As you can see, solar lead costs vary widely by state. The cheapest solar leads are available in North Dakota, while California sees the most expensive lead prices. The average lead spend per residential solar job is $1,400 in the U.S.

If you’re ready to see how much you can purchase solar leads for, click below to register your company with SolarReviews or schedule a no-obligation demo with one of our client success managers.