08:41
Why solar websites don’t convert (and it’s not the forms)
This is one of the most common problems we see on solar websites, and it has nothing to do with traffic volume or tools.
Most installers already have enough conversion mechanisms.
Forms. Phone numbers. Quote tools. Chatbots.
The issue is that nobody wants to use them.
In this video, I break down the difference between conversion drivers and conversion mechanisms, and why confusing the two is quietly killing website performance across the industry.
Solar is in a rare position. You can model ROI, forecast savings, and show long-term outcomes in a way most industries can’t. Yet that proof almost never shows up where it matters most — on the website.
Instead, installers keep adding more “how” without fixing the “why”.
This isn’t theory. It’s pulled directly from real sites, real ad accounts, and real discovery calls.
For context, this video was originally recorded on 8 January 2026, views & strategies may have changed since.
Featuring
Video transcript
If you have a solar business with a website, you need to watch this. And if you’re thinking about getting a new website built, you definitely need to watch this.
We’re going to talk about conversion drivers versus conversion mechanisms.
They’re fancy words. They get thrown around a lot—especially by web developers. I’ve been guilty of that myself in the past, but I want to clear it up properly today.
A conversion driver is something that actually makes someone want to take an action.
A conversion mechanism is the thing that allows them to take that action.
The driver comes first. It creates intent.
The mechanism captures it.
So, a conversion driver is what makes someone want to:
Reach out to you
Start a chat
Enter their email
Request a quote
A conversion mechanism is:
The email input field
The multi-step quiz
The quote tool
The AI chatbot
The contact form
The phone number
That’s the how. But the why has to come first.
For solar websites, examples of conversion drivers include things like:
Having a proper team page with professionally shot headshots.
Having a strong case studies section that shows real customer transformations.
And for some reason, every industry seems to understand this except solar.
Solar is one of the few industries where you can reliably forecast and predict ROI over time—and do it in a way that’s fully compliant with MCS requirements. It genuinely blows my mind that more installers aren’t charting that out and showcasing it on their websites.
You send savings projections in proposals.
You talk about them in sales calls.
They’re one of the core pillars of the buying decision.
And yet, when it comes to the website—the place where people decide whether or not to trust you—that entire concept disappears.
This is exactly why our clients’ case study pages perform so well. They have the highest conversion rates on the entire site. We chart savings over time and people genuinely react like, “Wait—why am I seeing this here? I thought I’d need a quote to see something like this.”
That’s a conversion driver.
Another one is customer reviews. A proper “wall of love.” Video testimonials. Google reviews. Trustpilot reviews. Everything pulled into one place.
Now let’s talk about conversion mechanisms.
Someone has just seen Barry talking about how great his install was.
They’ve seen Caroline explaining her experience.
They trust the company.
Now—and only now—they’re ready to act.
So they use the mechanism:
The multi-step form
The contact form
The quote tool
Here’s where most solar websites go wrong.
They confuse conversion drivers with conversion mechanisms—and they couldn’t be more different.
I had a discovery call last Friday. Really nice guy. He said, “I’m not getting any leads from my solar website.”
He was spending £2k a month on Google Ads through an agency. Cost per click was about £4. Keywords looked fine. That’s roughly 500 high-intent visitors hitting his site every single month.
Zero leads.
One phone call.
One contact form submission.
Nothing meaningful.
His proposed solution?
“I’ve just added an AI chatbot.”
“I’m going to build a new quote tool.”
“I want something where they answer a few questions and get an estimated price.”
All of that sounds great—but I’d put money on the fact that none of that is the real issue.
It’s not that he didn’t have enough conversion mechanisms.
It’s that no one wanted to use the ones he already had.
I pulled up his website.
There wasn’t a single photo of the owner.
No team photos.
No case studies.
No real installs shown properly.
The best you got was a generic photo of panels on a roof that could have been stock imagery. No uniforms. No branding. Nothing tying it to a real business.
And I told him straight:
“You don’t need a new chatbot. You need a reason for people to use the stuff you already have.”
One of our clients has been running Google Ads for a long time. They convert at around 4%.
Their conversion mechanisms?
A phone number.
A basic contact form.
That’s it.
No AI chatbot.
No fancy multi-step funnel.
No price estimator.
And yet people happily fill out a long, boring, single-page form—because the website gives them enough proof that the company is good at what they do.
So here’s the rule:
Focus on the why before the how.
The how is optimisation.
The how is what you do when you’re going from 6% to 8%.
The why is what gets you from 0% to 3% in the first place.
I stopped recording, but I’ve got to do the mandatory pitch.
If you want a copy of the document we’re building, click the link somewhere on this post.
If you want the implementation of everything I’ve talked about, carry on through that same link. You’ll go through a short multi-step page with a few questions about your business. From there, we’ll see if you’re qualified to work with us, on which offer, and whether it makes sense to book a call.
Awesome.
Other resources
1:26
Can I pay via commission?
2:22
What kind of installer is the right fit?
0:16
What is the minimum installation volume required to work with you?
1:27
What growth can I expect from you?
1:46
Why run ads if we have referrals?
1:43
How much does it cost to work together?
1:31
Why is your minimum ad spend £2,500 per month?
2:30
What ROI should I expect from our campaigns?
1:24
How quickly should I expect results?
0:42
What is your contract structure / notice period?
3:12
Why do you cost more than other agencies?
1:31
Do you offer locational exclusivity?
1:15
What do I do if I'm not ready to work with you yet?
0:17
How long does a discovery call take?
1:09
What do we cover on a discovery call?
1:07
Do I need to make a decision on the discovery call?
1:08
How do I prepare for our call?
1:47
Why does every decision maker need to be on the call?
1:11
Do you really have limited capacity?
3:15
Why can't I just do this in-house?
2:08
Who actually works on my account?
0:44
How deep is your experience in renewables marketing?
0:41
What makes you different from my local, generalist agency?
0:31
Why does each one of your team members have a dedicated role?
0:29
How do you deliver consistent results?
0:50
How is your team structured and how will it grow?
0:21
Why do you limit how many clients you take on each month?
0:53
What standards do you hold yourselves to?
0:46
Why should I trust you with my growth?
0:31
Why do you not track hours / bill by the hour?
1:00
What do you actually film on a shoot day?
0:53
How should I prepare for my shoot?
0:15
How often do you need to film new ads?
0:23
Why do higher spenders need more ads?
0:41
How many sites do you film in one day, and why so many?
0:19
What does a shoot day look like?
0:25
How far in advance should I plan my shoot?
0:31
What should I expect if I've never been on camera before?
0:32
Why do you put more emphasis on authenticity than scripting?
0:26
How fast can you turnaround the content from the shoot?
25:21
Who works in your creative team?
3:09
How do you combat creative fatigue?
1:19
Why do you push video ads over image ads?
1:21
What do I actually need to say on camera?
1:25
How do you decide on the messaging for my ads?
2:11
Why do you not script the shoots?
0:56
How do I make sure I get good leads from my ads?
0:47
How do you come up with ad ideas?
4:30
How do you know an ad idea will actually perform?
6:39
Who is on your creative team?
0:26
Why won't you run a campaign without video ads?
1:18
How fast do solar ads actually work?
1:10
Why do Facebook Ads work so well with Solar?
1:13
How do you decide which ads to scale?
1:21
What cost per lead will I get?
0:51
How scalable are Facebook Ads?
0:45
Do Meta Ads still work in competitive areas?
2:40
Are the leads exclusive to us?
4:56
Why your Meta ads are failing in 2026
5:56
How small funnel changes are cutting solar lead costs in half
4:57
What actually happens on a Solar on Steroids discovery call
9:21
Why low production solar ads are outperforming everything else
3:45
How to choose which solar and battery products to sell
8:18
Why speed decides whether Meta solar leads close or disappear
3:59
Why you do not need to be entertaining for solar ads to work
4:57
Why solar installers get better on camera over time
1:12
Solar on Steroids 2025 mastermind event
14:10
Why authenticity beats scripts in solar ads
11:46
The four ad types that actually work for solar
18:04
Breaking down a high performing solar ad, frame by frame
15:21
Why solar installers need to niche down to win
12:58
How we avoid failed solar video shoots
14:32
Why most Meta ad accounts collapse over time
18:41
What it’s actually like working with us (start to finish)
17:02
Why our clients stay (and why we barely lose any)
1:13
We’re hiring videographer / director hybrids (UK-wide)
13:41
Why educational solar ads drive £15k average deals
15:04
Why this solar ad worked immediately after launch
11:22
What I actually do on solar video shoot days
12:18
Why this local solar ad converts so well
14:26
What actually happens on a solar video shoot day
13:12
How to stand out with video ads (even if you do it yourself)
09:48
Why we covered client ad spend and nearly broke ourselves
06:09
Why attribution massively underreports Meta ads impact
04:46
Why I’m not allowed in our clients’ ad accounts
05:12
Why creative testing decides long-term Meta ads success
11:03
Why video-first marketing doesn’t kill differentiation
10:41
Why we haven’t lost a client in almost two years
08:36
Why we charge a setup fee for Meta ads
07:58
Why cost per lead is a misleading metric in solar
08:27
Why multi-channel marketing outperforms single-channel ads
08:11
Why speed to lead changes solar sales performance
06:54
Why dynamic headlines change funnel conversion rates
09:02
Why always booking a follow-up improves solar close rates
03:18
How leveraging bigger brands improves ad engagement
07:46
Why our Meta ads campaigns perform before they even optimise
5:06
Should you call solar leads in the evening?
9:12
Why great service is the real driver of solar reviews
4:09
Why following up more often isn’t being annoying
6:18
How conditional logic improves solar lead quality
3:41
Why local solar installers win by being relatable
8:57
UTM parameters explained for solar installers
6:42
Why Meta ads should nurture solar leads, not just generate them
3:58
The funnel question that filters serious solar buyers
2:46
The solar growth document we’ve spent 50+ hours building
8:44
How to use animations without hurting solar website conversions
9:18
Why organic content still matters for solar installers
4:32
Where to send Meta ads if you want higher-quality solar leads
11:18
Why systems have to come before scaling solar leads
10:56
Why solar ROI should be shown before the quote
18:27
How i’d start solar marketing from scratch in 2025
12:41
Time in the market beats timing the market for solar
9:52
Why location pages work so well for solar installers
14:08
You don’t need much traffic to make solar websites profitable
11:34
Why we changed the first question in our solar funnels
6:21
UK solar demand Is about to spike (this changes everything)
7:58
How to stop blocking your solar leads from converting
10:14
What actually converts above the fold for residential solar
14:32
A tour of the biggest residential solar website we’ve ever built
06:48
How we hire using the same funnel we use for lead generation
07:36
Meet solar buyers where they already spend time online
06:12
The one-star review strategy that builds instant trust
09:12
Why being yourself works better than “performance” in solar ads
06:58
Why solar installers should collaborate, not compete
08:58
Why multi-touchpoint marketing beats better ads
05:06
Why “free” ruins solar lead quality
09:21
How to score commercial solar leads (properly)
11:11
Why top-of-funnel solar ads can produce cheaper leads long-term
07:54
Solar installers: your reviews are hurting you
09:47
Why entry-point installs beat solar-first sales
10:18
Why video is the most reusable sales asset in solar
09:12
Why solar case study pages convert better than service pages
08:26
Residential vs commercial solar intent isn’t what you think
11:02
Why most solar proposals kill deals before they’re read
09:34
Speed to lead is why social solar leads don’t convert
47:18
What we’ve actually been doing to generate solar demand