Rising ad costs, algorithm changes and shared leads are squeezing solar margins. Here's how letters and digital work better together than either alone.
If your lead flow depends on Facebook, Instagram or Google, you don't really own it. You rent it.
The platform sets the price. The platform changes the algorithm. The platform decides who sees your offer, and so do the ten other installers bidding on the same postcode. When costs rise or an account gets restricted, your pipeline dries up overnight.
The three problems with digital-only solar marketing
- Cost creep. Every installer in your area competes in the same auction for the same homeowners. As more players bid, cost per lead goes up and lead quality usually goes down.
- Shared and low-intent leads. Lead-form submissions and marketplace leads are often sold to several installers, or come from people who tapped a button without reading the offer.
- Platform risk. Policy changes, ad rejections and account suspensions are outside your control. A business built on one platform is one policy update away from a slow month.
Letters give you a channel you control, and we run it for you
An addressed letter isn't auctioned. Nobody outbids you for the homeowner's letterbox. With Stash Direct Mail it's also done for you, end to end:
- We generate your target database in your service area. Or you can use your own prospect list.
- We send your letter through our mail house.
- We track every response with a QR code unique to each household, and alert you once scanned.
Targeting ad platforms can't match
Meta and Google target interests and approximate locations. They can't guarantee the person seeing your ad owns the home, lives in a house, or doesn't already have panels. Stash Direct Mail targets at the property level:
- Homeowners only, not tenants
- Houses only, not apartments
- No solar panels for system sales, or existing solar when you're selling batteries
And at the right moment: homeowners who've just moved into a home without solar, owners of systems over 10 years old, and areas recently affected by storms.
And unlike a feed ad, a letter gets attention. Australia Post-commissioned research found 81% of people are more likely to read and retain information sent by mail versus 63% for email (Accenture, 2020).
Why "letters and digital" beats "letters or digital"
This isn't an argument to switch your ads off. It's an argument to stop relying on them alone.
The strongest campaigns use each channel for what it does best:
| Channel | Job in the campaign |
|---|---|
| Personalised letter | Reaches a targeted homeowner directly, explains the offer in full, earns trust, sits on the bench |
| QR code on the letter | Turns interest into a trackable response tied to a property address |
| Search ads | Catch the homeowner who reads the letter, then Googles your business name |
| Social retargeting | Keeps your brand in front of people who visited your site after the letter landed |
The letter does the heavy lifting: precise targeting and attention. Digital becomes the reminder, not the whole engine. That usually means you can spend less on ads, because you're no longer paying the platform to find the homeowner for you.
How to run it
- We build the list. Qualified homeowners in your area, optionally narrowed to a timing segment: new movers, 10+ year old systems or storm-affected streets.
- We send your letter first. One offer, one next step, a unique QR per household.
- You line up digital to land the same week. Branded search and retargeting with the same offer and look as the letter.
- You follow up every QR scan fast. We send you the scan alert; it's a warm lead at a known address, not an anonymous click.
- Measure by cost per install across the whole campaign, not by channel in isolation.
The bottom line
Digital ads aren't going away, but depending on them is risky and getting more expensive. Stash Direct Mail gives you a channel you own, targeted at the property level and timed to the moment, with every response tracked to a property address. You supply the letter; we do the rest.
