The objective
About the project
Client: UPK Energy (upkenergy.pro) — a supplier of off-grid energy solutions.
Product: hybrid inverters (Deye, Livoltek), battery banks, solar panels (Longi). Turnkey design and installation services.
Geography: Ukraine.
Seasonality: high season (winter 2024–2025), expectation of blackouts.
Target audience:
- Private-house owners: a need for full autonomy (heating, light, water).
- Small and medium business (SME): a need for business continuity (offices, shops, cafés).
- Apartment residents: a need for backup power (inverters + batteries).
Build a flow of targeted requests to buy and install expensive equipment. The main challenge — high competition in season and the need to filter the audience (cut off those looking for cheap "power banks" and attract buyers of full systems from 5 kW).
The main challenge of the project
High in-season competition and the need to filter the audience: we had to cut off seekers of cheap solutions and bring in buyers of full systems.
The non-standard solution and insight: narrow segmentation instead of "everyone" revealed the non-obvious — women homeowners turned out to be the cheapest and most converting segment, and "saving" worked better than "fear of blackouts". Budget was reallocated in their favor.
Strategy
We used a strategy of narrow audience segmentation on Facebook & Instagram. Instead of broad "everyone" targeting, we split campaigns by gender, property-ownership type and business interests. This made it possible to uncover non-obvious insights about cost per lead.
Core messages:
- Product: "Deye/Livoltek — elegance, silence, reliability".
- Service: "We'll advise, deliver and install".
- Business: "Anti-blackout solutions for your business".
Implementation
1. Audience segmentation (Facebook Ads)
4 key targeting groups were created and tested:
- "Homeowners — women" (30–60): interests: home improvement, solar energy.
- "Homeowners — men" (30–60): interests: technology, electronics, DIY.
- "Small and medium business": Facebook page admins, "Entrepreneurship" interests.
- "Electronics buyers": a broad audience of men interested in gadgets (Comfy, Citrus, etc.).
2. Creatives and formats
- Visuals: we used photos of equipment in interiors (Livoltek) to show aesthetics and compactness rather than industrial cabinets.
- Campaign objective: "Engagement" with a switch to messengers (Direct/WhatsApp) for fast consultation.
- Scripts: the sales team got scripts with "emotional anchors" (a sense of control, safety) to handle incoming requests.
3. Budget optimization
During the work, the "Technical support" campaign proved inefficient (CPA > 400 UAH) and was stopped. The budget was reallocated to the unexpectedly effective "Women — homeowners" segment.
Implementation
1. Ad account structure
Campaigns were split by meaning vectors:
- "Anti-blackout solutions" campaign: emphasis on safety and having light 24/7.
- "Saving on electricity" campaign: emphasis on solar stations and payback.
- "Equipment with installation" campaign: selling the turnkey service.
- Instagram campaign: testing the visual channel.
2. Audience segmentation
Within the campaigns, 5 targeting groups were tested:
- "Homeowners — women" (interest: home improvement).
- "Homeowners — men" (interest: technology).
- "Homeowners excluding cities" (region).
- "Small and medium business".
- "Electronics buyers" (broad interest in gadgets).
An example of one audience's setup.
Results
| Metric | Value |
| Average request cost | 100–110 UAH at volumes of 200+ leads |
| Cost per lead in season | $2–3 |
| Best segment ("women homeowners") | CPA 71.88 UAH |
| Instagram vs Facebook | pure IG — 4x more expensive (stopped) |
Source: the Meta ad account for upkenergy.pro, November 2024 — January 2025.
Analysis period: November 2024 – January 2025.
The analysis showed a clear split in effectiveness by message type. "Saving" worked better than "Fear of blackouts".
1. Campaign-level effectiveness
- Leader — the "Solar: Save on electricity" campaign:
- Result: 122 chats started.
- CPA (cost per result): 90.07 UAH.
- Spend: ~10,988 UAH.
The rational "saving" message attracted the cheapest and most massive traffic.
- The "Anti-blackout solutions" campaign:
- Result: 91 chats started.
- CPA (cost per result): 112.74 UAH.
The blackout theme is relevant, but the auction here is overheated, which raises cost per lead by 25% compared to "saving".
- Underperformer — the "Instagram (Engagement)" campaign:
- CPA (cost per result): 365.75 UAH.
Pure Instagram traffic turned out to be 4 times more expensive than Facebook. The campaign was stopped as unprofitable.
2. Ad-set-level effectiveness
A detailed breakdown by ad groups confirmed the hypothesis that women are an underrated segment in the energy niche. The campaign showed that the stereotype "men buy equipment" works worse in this niche. The female audience (home keepers) reacted more actively to questions of ensuring home comfort and safety.
- Top segment: "Homeowners — women". CPA: 85.62 UAH. The lowest customer-acquisition cost. The audience reacts actively to creatives about comfort and stability.
- Mid segment: "Homeowners — men". CPA: 113.83 UAH. The male audience is more skeptical and expensive to acquire. Competition for this target is higher.
- Expensive segment: "Electronics buyers (men)". CPA: 136.51 UAH. The most expensive segment. The audience is "diluted" by interest in small gadgets, which reduces conversion into buying expensive inverters.
Bottom line: by reallocating budget from expensive campaigns (Instagram, Installation) to the effective "Saving" campaign and the female audience, we held the average request cost within 100–110 UAH at volumes of over 200 leads. The client received a steady flow of orders, scaling exactly the combinations that proved profitable in the numbers.
Performance by segment (CPA — cost per chat started/lead):
- "Homeowners — women" segment:
- Cost per result: 71.88 UAH.
- Insight: the most converting and cheapest segment. High engagement.
- "Small and medium business" segment:
- Cost per result: 101.26 UAH.
- Insight: steady demand. Business is willing to pay for ready turnkey solutions.
- "Homeowners — men" segment:
- Cost per result: 117.09 UAH.
- Insight: a pickier audience, high competition for this segment.
- "Electronics buyers" (men) segment:
- Cost per result: 132.19 UAH.
- Insight: the most expensive segment. Many "empty" clicks from people looking for small electronics.
Bottom line:
By turning off inefficient groups and scaling the female audience, we managed to reduce the average request cost. The client received a flow of valid requests to install inverter systems at the peak of the season at $2–3 per lead, which is an excellent figure for the energy niche with a ticket from $1,000.
| Promotion region | Ukraine |
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Project team
The project was handled by the SEOquick team:
- Alyona Polyukhovich — paid search & targeting (PPC + Meta)
Full team and roles — on the About page.
What's next
A similar performance case: Full-Funnel Advertising for Real-Estate Sales — the See–Think–Do funnel.
Need a flow of requests for an expensive product? The concrete next step is to discuss a lead-generation strategy for your niche.