Offer Configurator for Solar Systems

Helion installs around 1500 PV systems annually - 80% of all inquiries are now generated via this configurator.

The process works in such a way that interested parties (so-called leads) are generated via social media channels, Google search (organic and paid advertising) and the website, as well as other configurator mandates, including IKEA Switzerland, and with simple questions and in be asked step by step in a "wizard" about their living situation, their building technology and their infrastructure in a very short time - regardless of which end device the user uses to access it.

Switzerland-wide 3D GIS building data from the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo (swissBUILDINGS3D 2.0) can be requested via an interface by entering the address. This building data contains further information about the building, such as orientation, roof pitch and roof area and thus actually everything that is needed for the design of a photovoltaic system.

In order to ensure that a correct offer is created, products and services can be managed in the background using an administrable Configure Price Quote (CPQ) solution with a set of rules. Additional product and service information, as well as the price, is fetched from the ERP via an interface. This ensures that the data is only maintained in one place - the so-called “single source of truth“.

In the end, the customer can configure a personal and accurate web guide price offer (+-15%) for their own solar system without specialist knowledge and laborious research of the kWh. This with a high level of detail, right down to the parts list.

The offer can of course be adjusted afterwards or exported as a PDF - everything is fully automated and without the help of a sales consultant.

The solar system configurator runs completely autonomously in the first phase of the sales process, i.e. the generation of recommended offers, and acts as a lead qualification tool. This was deliberately designed as the preparation of an offer in the solar industry, for example by measuring the roof on site, was relatively costly and time-consuming. This was a high investment with an uncertain outcome as customers balked at the price after being offered it, out of ignorance.

With the solar system configurator, however, potential new customers (leads) can now be offered at low cost and a binding target price estimate can be offered. If the lead is ready to take the next step, he will be further advised and qualified by telesales managers. Potential challenges such as the age of the building are marked for the employee. Only when all questions and parameters have been answered in this phase does the cost-intensive planning continue.

The configurator also delivers important behavioral data of the leads throughout the entire sales process - e.g. at which step the configurator was exited - to the marketing automation tools. These, in turn, use targeted measures to nurture potential prospects over a period of 3-6 months along the decision-making journey and also continuously supply the configurator with new leads. All leads flow into the integrated Hubspot CRM of the THEIA e-commerce platform for further processing.

Due to the multi-tenant system architecture of this configurator solution, further fascinating business models and opportunities for monetization open up.

Thanks to the system's white labeling capability, the same configurator can be presented and of course used in different corporate identities (CI) or corporate designs (CD). As a result, the customer does not even notice that they have left the existing application or website. All data, from customer data to product and service rules, can be managed independently and completely separately by these clients (tenants).

This ability makes it possible to license the developed configurator as an independent software product to other partner companies such as IKEA Switzerland, Meier Tobler, Audi and many others. A transformation with new sales prospects from a production company to a software license provider is therefore possible!