What we have actually generated
Most agencies selling solar leads will show you a logo wall. Here is the account data instead, and every figure has a published screenshot behind it on the portfolio.
| Market | Leads | Cost per lead |
|---|---|---|
| Kanpur | 13,435 | ₹22.37 |
| Prayagraj | 9,598 | ₹20.13 |
| Lucknow | 8,419 | ₹24.81 |
| Bareilly | 3,011 | ₹24.57 |
| Kannauj | 923 | ₹39.55 |
| Varanasi | 813 | ₹10.87 |
| Delhi and Noida | 561 | ₹63.11 |
| Mahendragarh | 278 | ₹37.64 |
| Gorakhpur | 265 | ₹34.86 |
| Gurugram | 255 | ₹55.76 |
| Hardoi | 98 | ₹5.86 |
| Gonda | 33 | ₹51.36 |
In one account alone that is 25,431 verified leads at a blended ₹21.75, from ₹23,42,677+ of managed spend. The ten-fold spread between Hardoi and Delhi NCR is the most useful thing on this page: it is the reason no honest agency can quote you a single national cost per solar lead.
How solar lead generation actually works
Most Indian homeowners are not searching for solar. They are annoyed about an electricity bill. That single fact decides the channel mix.
Meta Ads carry the volume. Instant Forms inside Facebook and Instagram let you interrupt someone who has the problem but has not started looking for the solution. Two taps, pre-filled, almost no friction. That is where the ₹5 to ₹40 leads come from in Tier-2 markets.
Google Search catches the ones already deciding. Fewer leads, much higher cost. In our Lucknow solar Google account a conversion cost ₹339.19 against a 6.67% click-through rate and ₹15.39 per click. That is not a bad number — it is a different person at a different stage. Comparing it with a ₹20 Meta form lead, as many agency decks do, is the most common way solar businesses are misled.
Follow-up decides everything after that. A ₹11 lead reached 30% of the time costs ₹37 to actually speak to. A ₹40 lead reached 80% of the time costs ₹50. The cheaper market is not automatically the better one.
What moves cost per lead, in order
| Lever | Evidence from our accounts | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Creative angle | Bareilly: four ads, identical ₹250 budgets, same week | ₹23.82 vs ₹97.04 — four-fold |
| Market | Same offer, Hardoi against Delhi NCR | ₹5.86 vs ₹63.11 — ten-fold |
| Audience width | Mahendragarh: open vs manually narrowed | ₹32.69 vs ₹53.85 |
| Creative format | Gorakhpur: static vs video, same ad set | ₹34.86 vs ₹71.35 |
| Frequency | Kanpur at 3.3 vs Varanasi at 2.1 | Cost drifts up past ~3 |
Notice what is not on that list: budget size. Adding money to a campaign with the wrong angle buys more expensive leads, not more of them. The Bareilly test cost about ₹2,760 to settle and then ran at ₹24 a lead for the rest of the account.
The vocabulary that changes a solar campaign
Solar advertising fails more often on language than on targeting. A buyer who has just received a high electricity bill does not know what an inverter costs, but they do know their monthly unit rate. Writing ads in the installer's vocabulary rather than the buyer's is the most common avoidable mistake in this category.
| Term | What it means for the campaign |
|---|---|
| System size in kW | Decides the ticket and therefore what a lead can be worth. A 3 kW residential rooftop and a 50 kW commercial rooftop are different campaigns. |
| Sanctioned load | Caps what the buyer can install. Worth asking as a qualifying question on larger systems. |
| Net metering | The reason the bill falls. The mechanism most buyers have heard of but cannot explain. |
| On-grid vs off-grid | On-grid suits almost all rooftop buyers. Off-grid messaging attracts a different, smaller audience. |
| Discom | State-specific. The approval process differs, so copy written for Uttar Pradesh does not transfer to Haryana. |
| Subsidy scheme | The national rooftop scheme and state schemes change. Creative referencing them needs a review date. |
| Payback period | The framing that works for commercial buyers, where capex versus opex is the real decision. |
| Site survey and feasibility | The actual next step after an enquiry. Offering it converts better than offering a quote. |
Two practical rules come out of that table. First, lead with the electricity bill rather than the panel, because the bill is the problem the buyer actually has. Second, treat residential rooftop and commercial rooftop as separate campaigns — the ticket, the objections and the decision-maker all differ, and averaging them produces a cost per lead that describes neither.
On the offer itself, a free site survey or feasibility check outperforms a quote request. It asks for less, it is a real next step, and it gives your team a reason to be at the property. MNRE and state portals publish the current scheme details; creative that quotes specific amounts should carry a review date, because those figures move.
Residential and commercial need different campaigns
Residential buyers respond to bill savings and subsidy eligibility. The ask is small — a phone number — and Instant Forms suit it.
Commercial and industrial rooftops are a different sale: payback period, capex versus opex, and a decision taken by more than one person. The lead costs considerably more and should, because the ticket is larger. Running both through one campaign averages them into something that serves neither.
What we do not promise
We do not guarantee a lead count, because nobody controls the auction and a guarantee is usually met by buying low-quality volume. We do not quote a national cost per lead, because our own data varies ten-fold by city. And we publish the campaigns that did not work — Gonda produced 33 leads at ₹51.36 and we recommended stopping — because a portfolio of only wins tells you nothing about what to expect in your market.
How an engagement runs
| Period | What happens |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Tracking set up to match what your sales team receives. Baseline agreed. |
| Weeks 3–6 | Two genuinely different creative angles, two ads each, identical budgets, one market. |
| Weeks 7–10 | Fund the winner, cap the loser rather than deleting it. Add the second market. |
| Weeks 11–13 | Honest read: scale, change the angle, or stop. Including the recommendation to stop. |
Who this suits
Rooftop solar installers, EPC companies and solar distributors with a sales team that answers quickly. We work with businesses across India from Lucknow. City-level data is published for Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Bareilly and seven more markets, and the organic side is covered in SEO for solar installers.
Frequently asked questions
What does a solar lead cost in India?
In our accounts, between ₹5.86 and ₹63.11 depending entirely on the market, with most Uttar Pradesh markets between ₹20 and ₹40. Metro markets cost considerably more. Any company quoting one national figure is quoting their cheapest market.
How many solar leads have you generated?
25,431 verified Instant Form leads at a blended ₹21.75 in one account, from ₹23,42,677+ of managed spend across 12 markets. Every figure has a published screenshot on our portfolio.
Do you guarantee a number of solar leads?
No. Nobody controls the ad auction, and a lead guarantee is usually met by buying low-quality volume. What we commit to is a tested creative approach, a reporting cadence, and telling you plainly when something is not working.
Are cheap solar leads worth having?
They need more qualification. A ₹11 lead has given a name and number after two taps, with no research behind it. Track connection rate and site-visit rate alongside cost per lead, or you will optimise toward leads nobody can reach.
Meta or Google for solar lead generation?
Meta for volume — it interrupts someone annoyed about their bill. Google for intent — it catches someone already comparing quotes. Our Lucknow solar search conversions cost ₹339.19 each, against ₹5 to ₹70 Meta form leads in the same category.
Can you run solar campaigns in commercial and industrial segments?
Yes, as separate campaigns. The buyer, the objections and the ticket size are all different, and running both through one campaign averages them into something that serves neither.
How long before solar campaigns produce leads?
Leads usually appear within days. A cost per lead you can trust takes two to three weeks, because the creative test needs to run long enough for the difference between angles to be real rather than noise.
Which cities do you cover?
Published data covers 12 markets across Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR and Haryana. We work with solar businesses anywhere in India — the method transfers, the cost per lead will not.
Performance figures on this page come from selected campaigns and reporting periods in our portfolio records through September 2026. Several screenshots are filtered views of the same ad account, so totals are calculated from distinct accounts only. Results vary with market, budget, targeting, offer, competition and sales follow-up.