Lead generation software is one of the most effective ways to reach a new audience of potential clients. In this guide I walk you through the types of lead generation software that are available and what to look for when choosing which software is best for you.
With the rapid growth of online marketing and internet use, it is vitally important to have a website and create a lead generation strategy. This will put your company in front of the eyes of the right people using techniques that would not even be possible without the internet. The purpose of this article is to help any company determine which are the best lead generation software options that are freely available to use today.
When choosing lead generation software, beginning businesses have a lot of questions. How does this software work? What are different methods people use? Will it require training? Can you really make money using a lead generation software package? These are all valid concerns for someone looking for the right lead generation software for their business.
There are so many lead generation software available online that promise you to fill your business with qualified leads. You can compare and contrast based on the features and pricing plans, but in reality, how do you know which is actually effective for your business? Is there a best lead generation software that really works? Here’s what you need to know about lead generation software.
What is lead generation software?
Lead generation software is a platform that will help you automatically generate and collect leads from specific channels and route the collected leads to sales or marketing teams for conversion. As leads can be generated and found from any channels, from email to social media platforms to landing pages, there are many different types of lead generation software catered to different, specific channels. For instance, landing page-focused lead generation software. And then there are some platforms that provide all-in-one lead generation and marketing automation solutions.
Pipedrive
Pipedrive prides itself on simplicity, and it really is easy to use.
This piece of automatic lead generation software tracks all interactions with leads easily. Then you can see all the data in one unified dashboard whenever you check in.
It also makes it easy to know what action to take next.
Key Features:
- Design sales pipelines from scratch or by using one of Pipedrive’s templates
- Coaching to help you meet your sales targets and goals
- Security dashboard so you can monitor how, when, where, and by whom your company data is being accessed
- Integrates with over 250 other tools
Pricing: Pipedrive’s Essential plan is $12.50/month, with the Advanced package being $24.90/month. Their Professional level is $49.90/month.
Drift
Drift helps you deliver helpful and personal service to customers by conversing with them.
This tool runs off the cornerstones of “Conversational Marketing” and “Conversational Sales.”
Drift allows you to talk with your website visitors instead of just asking them to fill out forms and wait for follow-ups.
Key Features:
- Integration with other sales and marketing platforms that personalize each person’s experience based on their history with your business
- Chatbot to qualify and guide your leads
- Eliminate back and forth communication with leads and connect with them in real-time on your website
Pricing: Drift has a free version to get started. To get pricing, you will need to speak with a sales agent.
Intercom
Need a modern messaging service to fully engage site visitors? Intercom could be the answer.
A messenger app connects you with your customers to give them higher satisfaction and loyalty to your business.
Bots, live chat, and other communication-based apps within Intercom are available to help your leads and customers whenever they need.
Key Features:
- Self-service chat and help features to free up your time without sacrificing customer service
- Connects with 300+ other tools so you can talk with confidence
- Collects information from customers so you can follow up later
Pricing: Intercom starts at $67/month for their Starter plan for small businesses. Otherwise, pricing is based on the number of employees on your plan and the number of site visitors.
CallPage
CallPage generates more phone call-based leads for your business.
Using a button on your website, potential leads will enter their phone number. Then, within 28 seconds, they will receive an automatic callback, no matter where they’re located. Of course, you can set business hours, so you’ll only receive calls then.
With lead qualification and sales, speed is key with communication. CallPage helps you bridge that gap.
Key Features:
- Targeting rules, so the callback button only appears when leads are the hottest
- Fully customizable popups
- Call analytics dashboard to give you insight into your calls
Pricing: CallPage’s Basic plan is free, covering 15 leads a month. From there, it’s $159/month for their Professional plan and $379/month for their Premium package.
WPForms
Pricing: Plans start at $299.50 per year
Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 485 reviews on G2
WPForms is one of the most popular drag-and-drop WordPress form builders on the market. More than 4 million professionals use it to build smarter forms and surveys. Sales and marketing teams can create custom lead generation forms, gather information about their audience, and collect payments.
WPForms also integrates with many of your favorite sales and marketing tools, including Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and Zapier.
HubSpot
Pricing: Free, paid plans vary depending on which features you need, but start at $45 per month
Rating: 4.5/5 stars on GetApp (Based on 1394 reviews)
HubSpot is one of the biggest and well-known tools on the market for SaaS companies and agencies. The all-in-one marketing and CRM solution has features for managing contacts, posting to your blog, creating landing pages, finding new leads, and more. Pricing primarily depends on what features you need as HubSpot consists of three main platforms: HubSpot CRM, HubSpot Sales, and HubSpot Marketing. However, free plans are available for all three platforms.
Marketo
Pricing: Paid plans start at ~ $900/month
Rating: 4/5 stars on GetApp (Based on 292 reviews)
Marketo is another all-in-one solution that features lead management, lead scoring, email marketing, email automation, and analytics. Again, pricing will depend largely on the features you need, and you will need to get in touch with sales to receive pricing information. However, we’ve seen packages start at roughly $900/month.
Pardot
Pricing: Paid plans start at $1,250/month
Rating: 4.5/5 stars on GetApp (Based on 254 reviews)
With Pardot (now part of Salesforce), you can create landing pages, conduct A/B testing, capture leads, integrate Google Adwords, create email campaigns, and set up email automation. There is no free trial available; however, you can view a demo by filling out a lead form on Pardot’s website.
CallPage
Best For: Callback automation
Suited For: Small to big businesses
Integrations: Yes
CallPage is one of the best callback automation and lead generation software that will help you connect with buyers immediately. You can collect leads from the website and contact them instantly without letting them wait on the phone.
How to Qualify Leads Using CallPage?
- Add a fully customizable popup on the website to collect visitors’ contact information.
- Automatically transfer the data to the consultant and connect with the customer within 28 seconds.
- A popup prompts the potential customers to provide their phone number >>The widget connects them straight to your consultant >> The consultant talks with your potential customer on their mobile or landline.
- Offers mobile responsive popups.
- Call your leads directly from the CallPage dashboard.
- The analytics dashboard displays the client’s data and interactions like source, date, time, name, the manager who spoke with the client, customer geolocation, and much more.
- See call status and other information – received calls, missed calls, unanswered calls, and upcoming calls.
- It supports several integrations, such as Salesforce, Slack, and other CRM tools.
Pros
- The built-in SMS feature makes it easy to qualify the leads after the call.
- The analytic dashboard shows real-time stats of every installed widget and lead process.
- Work on Facebook as well.
Cons
- One of the most expensive callback apps in the market.
Price: Free basic plan. Paid plans start at $159/month
Sendblaster
Best For: Bulk emails, email marketing
Suited For: Small to medium companies
Integrations: Yes
Sendblaster is also an email marketing and lead generation tool that lets you capture new leads through targeted mail campaigns. You can run mass mail campaigns, organize your mailing lists, and track your mail campaigns’ progress from a single screen.
What Makes Sendblaster a Useful Lead Generation Tool?
- Set up your email campaigns and send bulk emails to your contacts to generate new leads.
- Pay once and use the product to send emails to an unlimited number of users.
- It provides free templates to create professional emails in minutes.
- Send different attachments to different users by creating programmable tags and storing the attachment path or file names in the database.
- You can set rules to segment contacts and automatically organize your user lists.
- Directly import customers’ details into Sendblaster from another mail software like Outlook or Thunderbird.
- Track your mail campaign progress, such as open and click rates, users’ actions, responses, and more.
Pros
- You can save multiple SMTP profiles with individual configurations and use them as required. Eliminates the need to set the configuration each time you change ISPs.
- The online photo editor in the visual tool comes in handy to edit and process photos on the spot as you design the campaign.
Cons
- Requires technical knowledge to set up. We advise you to take help from the development or IT team.
- The HTML editor feels a little buggy sometimes. Needs an update to make it more intuitive.
Price: $129 (one-time fee)
Wisestamp
Best For: Email outreach, Email marketing
Suited For: Small to big companies
Integrations: Yes
Wisestamp is a lead generation software that lets you generate and manage professional email signatures for your cold outreach, as well as email marketing campaigns. Simply click through to the app, use one of the many templates to edit and generate a beautiful-looking email signature in minutes.
What Makes Wisestamp a Useful Lead Generation Tool
- Can be easily installed on any email client of your choice, including Outlook, Yahoo, Mac, Office 365, or Gmail
- Easily link to lead magnets from within your email signature in order to capture leads passively from your email messages
- Include dynamic content from your blog, Twitter, or other social media networks to improve click-throughs and conversions from your email signature
Pros
- Email signatures look professional, thanks to the prebuilt templates that save manual work.
- User-friendly WYSIWYG editor to see a real-time preview of the email signature.
- Manage signatures on multiple mail accounts from a single Wisestamp account.
Cons
- Needs more widget options for the email signature.
Price: Free plan available. PRO plan is charged at $5.80/month (billed annually)
What are the benefits of using lead generation software?
With the right software, you get to generate and convert more quality leads from multiple channels, achieve higher conversion rates, expand your customer base, and eventually boost your sales and revenue.
Conclusion
Lead generation is one of the most powerful and cost effective ways to drive new business. The problem is, using traditional methods of outreach can often feel like ‘cold calling’ and never give you the results you are after. In order to get more sales, you need to have more leads. This is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of sales. In fact, the method of lead generation is a popular topic that’s been widely discussed online these days. With the help of lead generation software and the best lead generation software, you can easily generate high quality leads.
As the name suggests, lead generation software is a kind of computer program that facilitates in generating leads. Every business has to generate leads to succeed. Actually, there’s no business that survives without leads. No matter how you promote your business, there are always people who can help your business grow in different ways. If you have a business of your own, if you want to promote it and help it grow, then you will surely need to consider lead generation software.