Using aerial photos for solar lead generation
Jan 2025
Discover how aerial imagery revolutionizes solar lead generation by enhancing accuracy, efficiency, and scalability with Nearmap insights.
Jan 2025
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Revolutionizing solar lead generation in the U.S.
The U.S. is witnessing an unprecedented surge in residential solar adoption. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), over five million solar installations are now powering American communities, making the industry a cornerstone of the nation’s transition to clean energy.
With government incentives like the solar Investment Tax Credit and falling installation costs, there is immense potential for continued growth. SEIA projects that the number of installations will double by 2030, reaching 10 million, and triple by 2034, solidifying solar as the dominant source of new electricity generation in the U.S.
Despite this growth, over 90% of U.S. homes still lack solar installations, presenting enormous untapped potential. Providers who know how to generate solar leads with precision will benefit the most in this competitive market. Advanced technologies like high-resolution aerial imagery are revolutionizing how companies conduct solar marketing, unlocking new levels of efficiency, accuracy, and growth. Let’s take a closer look.
What is solar lead generation?
Investment Tax Credit is the process of identifying and attracting homeowners or businesses interested in installing solar energy systems. While the goal remains the same, the approach has evolved dramatically. Traditional methods like door-to-door sales or cold calls are labor-intensive and less effective. Newer data-driven solutions can efficiently target high-quality leads, streamline sales processes, and develop the best solar lead generation practices.
Traditional vs. modern approaches to solar lead generation
The traditional approach: Laborious, costly, inaccurate
Traditional solar lead generation methods, while once effective, now face several challenges:
- Difficulty identifying ideal neighborhoods: Without advanced data, pinpointing high-potential areas for solar marketing campaigns is labor-intensive and imprecise.
- Limited accuracy in assessing roof suitability: Traditional tools like satellite imagery lack the precision to accurately measure roof dimensions, pitch, or shading, leading to potential miscalculations and inefficiencies.
- Time-consuming onsite visits: Initial site assessments typically require personnel to evaluate properties manually, slowing the lead generation and conversion process.
- Door-to-door sales: Canvassing neighborhoods is time-intensive, dependent on personnel availability, and often met with homeowner resistance.
- Cold calls: Calling potential customers yields low conversion rates and risks alienating prospects due to unsolicited outreach.
- Mail campaigns: Physical mailers can reach homeowners but often lack the precision of advanced targeting methods, leading to higher costs with uncertain ROI.
The modern approach: How aerial photos are revolutionizing solar lead generation
Modern lead generation strategies are redefining how companies identify and convert potential customers. High-resolution aerial imagery, combined with historical data and AI insights streamline the process from prospecting to installation.
- Identifying high-potential areas: With updated aerial imagery, solar providers can efficiently analyze entire neighborhoods to pinpoint regions most likely to adopt solar, including:
- Homes with roofs with ideal dimensions, pitch, and orientation for solar panels.
- Areas with minimal shading from trees or other obstructions.
- Booming suburbs with growth opportunities, such as homes with swimming pools but no solar installations.
- Remote assessment of roof suitability: Advanced imagery and AI tools allow solar companies to measure roof dimensions, evaluate pitch, and perform shading analyses — all from a desktop. This eliminates the need for time-consuming and costly onsite visits during the early stages of lead generation.
- Faster and more accurate quotes: Using aerial imagery, providers can remotely calculate material and labor costs with remarkable precision. This enables companies to generate accurate quotes quickly, often within minutes, giving them a competitive edge.
- Reducing operational costs: Solar providers can allocate resources more effectively by minimizing unnecessary site visits and focusing on qualified leads. This results in lower operational costs and higher ROI on lead generation campaigns.
Case studies: Location Intelligence for solar design automation
Aerialytic: Precise estimations in a fraction of the time
Aerialytic, a North American-based solar technology company, is pioneering AI-driven solar design automation using Nearmap data to help calculate precise shading measurements for solar estimations in a fraction of the time it would take manually.
The challenge: From customer prospecting to design and installation, the solar industry has been historically fragmented in its communication. While the technology to calculate solar costs exist, it’s mostly a manual process.
The solution: Nearmap provides total ground truth — from up-to-date aerial coverage to immersive 3D data. Aerialytic integrates Nearmap advanced aerial intelligence models to streamline high-resolution renderings for their solar design projects. Details matter in quoting, and Nearmap data adds dimension to Aerialytic’s quotes and empowers them to be as accurate as possible.
The business impact: As the company continues to incorporate Nearmap into their workflows, Aerialytic helps solar professionals effectively reduce the complexity and costs of projects by empowering rapid, accurate designs through a combination of artificial and aerial intelligence.
Smart Energy Answers: Tailored solar proposals in minutes
Smart Energy Answers, a leading solar provider, uses high-resolution aerial imagery from Nearmap to deliver accurate, tailored proposals quickly.
The challenge: Relying on outdated satellite imagery caused inaccuracies in site assessments, leading to missed opportunities and inefficiencies.
The solution: Up-to-date, high-resolution images from Nearmap allowed Smart Energy Answers to evaluate properties remotely and create interactive, customized proposals in under five minutes. This streamlined process improved customer trust and reduced onsite surprises.
The business impact: With accurate property data, Smart Energy Answers avoided delays and increased their ability to meet customer expectations, helping accelerate the transition to renewable energy.
The Nearmap advantage: Smarter solar workflows
Empower faster solar prospecting, quotes, accurate designs, and installations with an intelligent view of your entire market.
- Fewer site visits, bigger profits: Prospect an entire region for solar leads in minutes and measure virtually to deliver accurate quotes — all while competitors are still driving to initial site visits.
- Accelerated business growth: Combine the power of frequently updated imagery, historical content, and AI data to identify growth opportunities — like homes with swimming pools and no solar panels and in booming suburbs.
- Create winning designs and fast-track installations: Design solar panel installations and estimate solar output with unparalleled precision using 3D aerial mapping. Showcase your work with beautifully clear and detailed imagery.
Why Nearmap?
Industry-leading, high-resolution solar imagery to supercharge business performance.
- Currency: Regularly updated imagery ensures solar providers have the most accurate data for decision-making.
- Accuracy: Nearmap high-resolution imagery supports precise roof measurements, reducing errors and increasing customer trust.
- Ease of access: Cloud-based access allows teams to work from anywhere, streamlining collaboration and project planning.
- Coverage: Nearmap offers comprehensive coverage across U.S. urban and suburban areas, ensuring reliable data for solar providers nationwide.
Ready to transform your solar business?
Nearmap aerial imagery is revolutionizing the solar industry. With a market primed for growth, advanced tools give you the competitive edge you need to thrive. Ready to make lead generation, quoting, and installations faster, more accurate, and more efficient than ever?
Discover how Nearmap tools can supercharge your solar business.