Business Goal

Joseph Smart Solar operates in a high-value, regulation-driven solar market, with a core focus on:

• Commercial solar projects
• Industrial-scale installations
• Large-capacity, high-intent B2B clients

The challenge was not traffic volume.

The challenge was lead quality.

Google Search Ads were already generating demand but a significant portion of that demand was misaligned with the business model.

The Core Problem

Despite running search campaigns with negative keywords in place, three issues persisted:

1. Residential / Villa Leads Polluting the Funnel

A high volume of villa and residential enquiries continued to enter the pipeline, despite the business being optimized for commercial and industrial projects.

These leads:

• Had low project value
• Were often not technically feasible
• Consumed sales and ops bandwidth

2. CPL Was Improving, But Lead Quality Was Inconsistent

While average cost per lead showed improvement, conversion volume alone was misleading.

Lower CPL ≠ better performance

if sales-qualified leads do not improve.

3. WhatsApp & Call Leads Bypassing Filters

Even after form-level improvements, residential users were still entering via:

• WhatsApp
• Direct calls

These channels bypassed most keyword-based filtering.

Strategy Shift: From Lead Volume to Lead Control

The optimization approach moved away from “more leads” toward earlier qualification and intent enforcement.

The system focused on three control layers:

1. Search intent
2. Form-level qualification
3. Entry-point friction

Step 1: Search Intent Tightening (Keyword-Level Control)

Budget and visibility were progressively shifted toward high-intent B2B queries, such as:

• Industrial solar installation Dubai
• Commercial solar EPC UAE
• Warehouse solar solutions
• Factory rooftop solar systems

Loose, ambiguous terms were deprioritised or isolated.

Campaign structure was refined using:

• Tighter ad groups
• Higher keyword-to-ad relevance
• Regular search term audits

This reduced exposure to users searching with residential intent, even when keywords overlapped semantically.

Step 2: Early Qualification Inside the Lead Form (Upstream Filtering)

Keyword filtering alone was not sufficient to control lead quality.

Even with strong negative keywords and high-intent search terms, a portion of residential and low-feasibility users continued to submit enquiries. To solve this, qualification was moved upstream, directly into the lead capture process itself.

The lead form was redesigned as a decision system, not a basic contact form.

Form Design Philosophy

The objective of the form was not to maximize submissions. It was to prevent the wrong submissions.

Every question was designed to do one of three things:

• Confirm eligibility
• Disqualify early
• Route leads correctly

If a user could not meet minimum feasibility or intent criteria, the system prevented unnecessary handoff to sales.

Step-by-Step Qualification Logic

Step 1: Basic Contact Details (Always Shown)

The form begins with standard identification fields:

• Full name

• Phone number
• Email address

This ensures traceability while keeping friction low at the entry point.

Step 2: Type of Solar Service (Primary Logic Trigger)

This is the most important control point in the entire funnel.

Question: What type of solar service are you looking for?

Options:

• Residential
• Commercial
• Industrial / Warehouse

This single selection determines the entire downstream logic of the form.

Key principle: If a lead cannot self-identify their project type accurately, it should not progress further.

Branch-Level Qualification Paths

Residential Path (Controlled, Not Prioritized)

Residential users are evaluated strictly on regulatory feasibility and consumption viability.

Location Check (Authority-Based):

• Dubai → Eligible (DEWA supported)
• Abu Dhabi → Eligible (ADWEA supported)
• Sharjah → Pending (SEWA – manual review)
• FEWA regions (Ajman, RAK, UAQ, Fujairah) → Limited feasibility (10% TCL cap)
• Other locations → Automatically disqualified

Electricity Bill Screening:

• Below AED 400 → Not feasible
• AED 400–800 → Conditionally feasible
• Above AED 800 → Feasible

System Type Validation:

• On-grid → Allowed
• Hybrid → Allowed
• Battery-only → Automatically disqualified with a polite decline message

This prevents low-value residential leads and battery-only enquiries from entering the sales pipeline.

Commercial Path (High-Intent Filtering)

Commercial leads are evaluated based on scale and seriousness.

Location validation follows the same authority-based logic.

Consumption Screening:

• Below AED 2,000 → Not feasible
• AED 2,000–8,000 → Feasible
• Above AED 8,000 → Highly feasible

System Type Check:

• On-grid → Eligible
• Hybrid → Eligible
• Battery-only → Tagged as “Unqualified – Battery-only”

Only commercially viable businesses proceed as qualified leads.

Industrial / Warehouse Path (Core Revenue Focus)

This path is optimized for large-scale, high-value solar projects.

Connected Load Qualification:

• Below 50 kW → Not feasible
• 50–200 kW → Feasible
• 200 kW+ → Highly feasible

System Type Validation:

• On-grid → Eligible
• Hybrid → Eligible
• Battery-only → Automatically disqualified

This ensures only industrial-scale opportunities reach the sales team.

Step 3: Project Readiness (Intent Scoring)

To separate active buyers from researchers, a readiness question is introduced:

• Immediately
• Within 1–3 months
• Just exploring

This allows prioritization without blocking leads unnecessarily.

Step 4: Optional Data (Signal Enhancement, Not Friction)

Optional fields capture high-intent signals without forcing completion:

• Roof size / available area
• DEWA bill upload or consumption data

Users who provide these signals are automatically marked as higher intent.

Automated Lead Segmentation (Behind the Scenes)

Every submission is auto-tagged based on responses:

• Qualified – Residential
• Qualified – Commercial
• Qualified – Industrial
• Manual Review (SEWA / FEWA cases)
• Unqualified – Battery-only
• Unqualified – Low feasibility

Sales teams no longer review raw leads. They review pre-classified opportunities.

Impact on Lead Quality

This form logic achieved three outcomes simultaneously:

• Reduced irrelevant and non-feasible enquiries
• Protected sales bandwidth from low-quality leads
• Improved alignment between marketing, sales, and operations

The result was not fewer leads. It was cleaner demand.

Why This Matters

Most lead forms are designed to collect information. This form was designed to make decisions.

By enforcing qualification before submission, Google Search traffic was converted into sales-ready signals, not noise.

That shift—from form to system—is what enabled consistent delivery of qualified commercial and industrial solar leads.

Step 3: Ad Copy Repositioning (Expectation Control)

Ad copy was rewritten to signal exclusion, not inclusion.

Instead of broad solar messaging, headlines and descriptions emphasized:

• “Commercial & Industrial Solar Only”
• “For Warehouses, Factories & Large Properties”
• “DEWA-Approved Commercial Systems”

This reduced residential users before they clicked.

Strong copy acts as a filter.

Step 4: Controlling WhatsApp & Call-Based Leads

Direct-response channels were creating a leakage problem.

Two key actions were taken:

1. Delayed WhatsApp & Call Visibility

Call and WhatsApp buttons were intentionally delayed (15 seconds), ensuring users engaged with content first.

This reduced impulsive, low-intent clicks.

2. Pre-Screening Before Chat

A simple pre-chat question was introduced:

“Is your property Commercial or Industrial?”

This prevented residential users from reaching sales teams without qualification.

Results Snapshot (Search Campaign Performance)

Across the measured period:

• 46,000+ impressions
• 3,800+ clicks
• 8.3% CTR (strong intent signal for Search)
• 345 total conversions
• Average CPC ~ AED 6.66
• Cost per conversion ~ AED 345

More importantly:

• A significant reduction in residential enquiries
• Higher sales acceptance rate
• Less wasted follow-up effort
• Better alignment between marketing and operations

The win was not volume.

The win was quality.

What Actually Made the Difference

The real impact came from:

• Filtering users before they convert
• Making disqualification visible and intentional
• Treating ad copy as a gatekeeper
• Designing friction where friction protects value

Problem → Solution → Next Action Summary

Problem: Residential leads entering despite negatives

Solution: Mandatory project-type fields + stronger B2B ad copy

Next Action: Expand negative keyword list, A/B test stricter messaging

Problem: CPL improving but lead quality inconsistent

Solution: Focus spend on high-intent commercial/industrial keywords; tighter ad groups

Next Action: Further campaign restructuring and weekly search term reviews

Problem: WhatsApp & call leads bypassing filters

Solution: Delayed CTAs + pre-chat qualification

Next Action: Implement chatbot-based filtering logic

Final Takeaway

This case study proves a critical truth in B2B performance marketing:

Lead generation is easy.

Lead control is the real skill.

By shifting focus from acquisition volume to intent enforcement, Google Search Ads became a predictable, scalable source of qualified commercial and industrial solar leads—not noise.

That’s not optimization.

That’s system design.