A home battery, solar system, or EV charger doesn't sell like a normal DTC product – the price point needs financing, the install needs a local electrician and a permit, and the buyer has been burned by inflated savings claims before. We build the launch around those realities instead of pretending this is a $60 skincare drop.
The Problem
DTC playbooks break at a five-figure price point
A home battery, EV charger, or whole-home energy monitor is not an impulse buy. Cart abandonment flows and one-click checkout built for consumer packaged goods do nothing for someone weighing a purchase against a home equity line or a 10-year financing term. This category needs a longer consideration path built around financing calculators, side-by-side system comparisons, and a sales-assisted checkout most ecommerce teams have never built. Skip that step and ad spend produces form fills that stall in a spreadsheet instead of paid customers.
The sale doesn't end at checkout – it ends at install
Ship a battery or charger and the customer still needs a licensed electrician, a building permit, and often a utility interconnection approval before the product does anything. That gap between purchase and working install can run four to twelve weeks depending on the jurisdiction and the local installer network's backlog. Brands that treat this like a standard fulfillment problem lose customers to cancellation during the wait, and every cancelled order after real ad spend is money that's gone for good.
Your savings claim is only true in some zip codes
The federal ITC, state rebate programs, and individual utility net-metering rules change what a customer actually pays and saves, and they change by state and sometimes by utility territory within a state. A national ad that quotes one payback period is wrong for a meaningful share of the audience it reaches, and buyers who are already comparing quotes will catch it fast. Getting this wrong isn't a minor accuracy issue – it's the quickest way to turn an interested prospect into a public complaint about greenwashing.
Buyers assume your energy savings number is inflated
A decade of overreaching solar sales tactics and "free money from the government" pitches has left residential energy buyers primed to distrust the first number they see. Generic testimonials and stock lifestyle photography read as exactly the kind of marketing this audience has learned to tune out. Trust has to be earned through specific, verifiable claims – real system specs, real warranty terms, real installer credentials – before a conversion event happens, or cost per lead climbs because the audience simply doesn't believe the pitch.
How We Help
We start with an assessment of the actual buying journey in the states and utility territories you're licensed to sell in – which rebates apply where, how long install typically takes by region, and which installer or dealer network you're relying on to close the loop after purchase.
Strategy comes next: a messaging architecture that localizes automatically by zip code instead of quoting one national payback number, a financing narrative built around the actual lenders and lease structures you offer, and a proof strategy that leads with specifics – system specs, warranty terms, installer licensing – instead of lifestyle imagery and vague savings claims.
Execution covers the full funnel: a site built around a financing calculator and a real consideration path rather than one-click checkout, ad creative sequenced from category education through localized offer, and a post-purchase communication track that keeps the customer informed through permitting and install instead of going dark the moment the order clears.
Measurement ties spend to what actually predicts revenue in this category: quote-to-install conversion rate, cancellation rate during the permit-and-install gap, and cost per installed customer rather than cost per lead.
What makes this different from a normal launch agency is that we operate as an embedded part of your team, not a vendor delivering a campaign and moving on.
The deliverable isn't a one-time campaign. It's a launch system built to keep matching your message to the buyer's actual zip code, actual financing options, and actual install timeline as all three keep shifting under you.
What we deliver
- State-and-utility-territory rebate and incentive map feeding automatically localized messaging
- DTC site and funnel built around a financing calculator and sales-assisted checkout, not one-click purchase
- Trust-and-proof creative system built on verifiable specs and warranty terms instead of lifestyle claims
- Installer-capacity-paced media plan so lead volume never outruns real install scheduling
- Post-purchase communication track covering the permit-and-install gap, plus a measurement framework tracking cost per installed customer
In most DTC categories the sale ends at checkout. In this one, checkout is the moment your customer starts waiting on a permit office and an electrician's schedule – and that wait is where launches actually die.
Our Methodology
Our DTC cleantech launch runs as a 90-day sprint before it becomes a standing program, not an open-ended retainer. The first 30 days map the terrain: which states and utility territories you're actually selling into, what rebate rules apply in each, what your installer network's real capacity is, and what proof points you have to work with. Nothing launches until that map exists, because a national campaign built without it burns budget on households that can't get the deal advertised.
Days 31 to 60 build and test the funnel itself: the financing-forward site experience, the localized creative sequence, and the post-purchase communication track for the permit-and-install gap. We run this in parallel with a small-scale media test in one or two territories rather than going national on day one, so the first real signal comes from actual buyers, not a model.
Days 61 to 90 scale the launch across your licensed territories with weekly reviews against install-capacity data, not just lead volume. Traditional agencies hand over a campaign and a lead count. We stay tied to what happens after the lead – whether the order survives permitting, whether the installer network can absorb the volume – because that's what determines whether the launch actually produced customers.
How We Work
The first 30 days are discovery and build: mapping incentive eligibility by territory, auditing your installer or dealer network's real capacity, and building the financing-forward funnel and localized creative. You'll see a working site experience and a media plan by day 30, not a slide deck of recommendations.
Days 31 to 60 run a controlled launch in one or two territories where the rebate rules and installer capacity are clearest, so we can validate the funnel against real buyers before committing spend everywhere you're licensed. We review weekly against quote-to-install conversion and cancellation data, not just cost per lead.
Days 61 to 90 expand to your full licensed footprint, with the geo-tier messaging and install-pacing model adjusting as we go. The team is fractional and embedded – typically a strategist, a performance marketer, and a creative lead who know your installer network and financing options by name, not a rotating account team.
Past day 90, most clients move to a standing cadence: monthly reviews of rebate-program changes by state, quarterly creative refreshes as proof points and warranty terms evolve, and continuous media pacing tied to installer capacity. You should expect direct access to the people doing the work, not a project manager relaying updates from someone else's desk.
- A funnel that converts on financing terms and verifiable proof instead of one-click impulse mechanics
- Media spend paced to installer capacity so lead volume doesn't produce a wave of permit-stage cancellations
- Messaging that localizes automatically to each household's actual rebate and utility eligibility
- A measurement framework judged on cost per installed customer, not cost per lead
If your cleantech & energy company needs dtc brand launch leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does a DTC launch engagement with Winston Francois typically cost?
Most cleantech DTC launch engagements run in the $20,000 to $45,000 per month range depending on how many states or utility territories you're launching into and how much creative and site work is needed at the start. Early months tend to sit at the higher end because of the site build, financing-calculator integration, and creative production; later months trend lower once the system is running.
How long does it take to launch a cleantech DTC product with this approach?
The full 90-day sprint gets you from terrain mapping to a scaled launch across your licensed territories. Most clients see a working funnel and a first-territory test live by day 30, and expansion to additional states happens through days 60 to 90 as install-capacity and rebate data confirm the model is holding.
How closely does your team integrate with ours during the launch?
The team works as an embedded extension of yours for the duration of the engagement, not a separate vendor delivering a campaign in isolation. That typically means direct Slack access, weekly working sessions with your sales and install operations leads, and shared visibility into CRM and install-scheduling data so the media plan reflects real capacity, not a guess.
What makes this different from hiring a traditional DTC launch agency?
A traditional DTC agency applies the same playbook regardless of product: fast checkout, short attribution windows, lifestyle creative. That playbook assumes a shippable product with no permit, no installer, and no rebate variance by zip code, which describes almost nothing in this category.
How do you measure ROI on a launch like this?
We track cost per installed customer, not cost per lead, because a lead that cancels during permitting never generated revenue. That means tying media exposure to CRM stages – quote requested, site visit scheduled, permit filed, install completed – and reviewing cancellation rate by territory as closely as conversion rate.
Is our company a good fit for this kind of launch?
This fits companies selling a physical energy product directly to consumers – home battery, solar, EV charging hardware, or home energy monitoring devices – who have at least a working installer or fulfillment relationship in the territories they want to launch in. It's a poor fit for companies that haven't yet locked in an installer network or financing partner, since the funnel we build depends on those pieces being real, not hypothetical.
Do you handle the installer network and financing partnerships for us?
No – we build the marketing, funnel, and measurement system around the installer network and financing partners you already have or are actively securing. We'll flag where a capacity gap or missing financing option is limiting what the funnel can responsibly promise, but sourcing and contracting those partnerships stays with your operations team.
