Table of contents
Automation has changed everything about business, including how sales and marketing teams generate leads. Today, lead generation software lets you connect with more potential customers in less time, making your whole sales process more efficient.
What does lead generation software do?
Lead generation software works like a magnet, attracting people who might be interested in your product or service. It collects contact information for those leads and delivers the information to your marketing and sales teams so they can follow up.
Lead generation tools gather data from a variety of channels, from email to social media to landing pages. Some tools focus on a single channel, while others cover multiple channels.
Why do you need lead generation software?
It brings in more leads
Because lead generation tools use automation, they can cover more digital ground than anything you can set up manually. More coverage means more potential customers.
It attracts more qualified leads
With lead generation software, you can target people who are more likely to be interested in your products or services. This reduces the amount of time and money that you spend pursuing people who aren’t interested.
It keeps you organized
The more leads you have, the more complicated your lead management gets and the more you risk having someone fall through the cracks. Lead management software can alert you to new leads, automatically follow up with leads and help you to remember when to reach out.
It fast-tracks the sales process
The first stages of lead generation — attracting, qualifying and following up — tend to involve a lot of time investment. Lead generation software automates these processes and narrows down your pool of leads so your sales reps can get started faster, with more qualified leads.
The stress-free approach to delivering more MQLs
Top 20 lead generation software for 2021
The top lead generation tools offer all of these benefits, though each one does the job with different feature sets. Read on for an overview of the various options.
1. Calendly
Calendly is a scheduling tool that makes it easy for people to reach out to you. With Calendly, you get a personalized link that takes people to an availability calendar that you set up.
Calendly is a widely applicable lead generation tool that can be used across multiple marketing campaigns. You can:
Embed the link on your landing pages
Share it on your social media
Add it to your marketing emails
From that link, people can sign up for meeting times with you, either in person or via videoconference. Because your schedule only includes times you’ve marked as available, you don’t have to worry about the back-and-forth of confirming. The lead picks a time, and you both get confirmations. From there, you can get to work closing the sale.
Pricing:
Basic: Free — one calendar per user and one event type
Essentials: $8 per user per month — unlimited event types
Professional: $12 per user per month — unlimited event types plus integrations with Mailchimp, Salesforce, HubSpot, PayPal and more
Webinar: How marketing teams drive pipeline with Calendly
2. Unbounce
Unbounce helps you to capture more leads with customizable landing pages, pop-ups and sticky bars. Using the drag-and-drop builder, anyone can create beautiful, mobile-optimized designs.
Unbounce offers some great conversion-focused features. It’s easy to create and add two-step opt-in forms and lead capture forms that give you the information you need to follow up. You even get a real-time data dashboard and included A/B testing to check on how your lead generation is going.
With Unbounce, you get to customize the experience for each potential lead. Dynamic text replacement matches the content on your landing page, pop-up or sticky bar with the visitor’s search term, and SmartTraffic sends them to the pages where they’re most likely to convert.
Pricing:
Unbounce has four pricing plans, all of which include unlimited landing pages, pop-ups and sticky bars. Options are:
Launch: $80 per month, up to 500 conversions across one domain
Optimize: $120 per month, up to 1,000 conversions across three domains
Accelerate: $200 per month, up to 2,000 conversions across seven domains
Scale: $300 per month, up to 3,000 conversions across 15 domains
Choose annual billing to get 10% off these prices.
3. Adobe Marketo
Adobe Marketo a part of the Adobe Experience Cloud, focuses on driving conversions by creating personalized engagement across multiple touch points and audiences. It’s one of the most comprehensive lead generation tools available, incorporating functionalities ranging from personalized marketing content to detailed lead nurturing.
One of Adobe Marketo’s best features is the Sales Insight dashboard, which lets you see each lead’s interactions with your company at a glance. There, you can see the most important information about a lead, including the person’s last important interaction with your company and how sales-ready they seem to be.
Pricing:
Adobe Marketo offers four pricing tiers: Select, Prime, Ultimate and Enterprise. All packages are custom-priced.
4. SharpSpring
Another richly featured lead generation tool, SharpSpring works by tracking leads as they interact with your marketing materials. It collects key information about each person’s behaviors and, most importantly, aggregates that information into reports you can easily understand and use.
SharpSpring lets you view all of your lead data using the included marketing automation customer relationship management (CRM), or you can choose to connect your existing third-party CRM. Plus, with daily VisitorID reports sent to your email, you’ll always know who your hottest leads are.
Pricing:
SharpSpring has custom-priced agency and enterprise plans, plus three base-price plans for small to medium-sized businesses:
$550 per month for up to 1,500 contacts
$850 per month for up to 10,000 contacts
$1,250 per month for up to 20,000 contacts
There’s also a one-time onboarding fee of $2,399, which includes 60 days of support.
5. OptinMonster
OptinMonster markets itself as “the most powerful conversion optimization toolkit in the world.” OptinMonster does one thing extremely well, and that’s targeting your existing web traffic with personalized offers that double as lead capture forms.
With OptinMonster, all you have to do is create a branded offer, which will show up on your webpage based on a certain trigger. One of the most popular triggers uses the tool’s Exit-Intent Technology, which displays your offer when the user’s browsing behavior indicates that they’re about to bounce out.
OptinMonster also lets you target idle visitors, show targeted messages based on lead source and customize your offer based on where the potential lead is on your website. And with on-site retargeting, you have even more options to capture leads while they’re on your site.
Pricing:
OptinMonster has four pricing tiers:
Basic: $14 per month for one site
Plus: $30 per month for two sites
Pro: $47 per month for three sites
Growth: $80 per month for five sites
Depending on when you sign on, you may be eligible for special savings on any or all of these plans.
6. Leadpages
Leadpages works similarly to OptinMonster in that it generates leads through customized landing pages, pop-up boxes and alert bars. Leadpages can also build full websites, so it’s a great choice for small businesses that need more foundational solutions.
One of the best things about Leadpages is that it doesn’t stop with lead capture forms. With opt-in text messages and email trigger links, you can invite subscribers off-page and encourage them to return and convert.
Also, unlike other website and landing page builders, Leadpages focuses on conversions first and foremost. It features built-in search engine optimization (SEO) and an easy-to-use analytics tool so you can track your lead generation efforts.
Pricing:
Leadpages has three pricing plans, with each higher tier offering more site coverage and features. Options are:
Standard: $37 per month for one site
Pro: $79 per month for three sites
Advanced: $321 per month for up to 50 sites
With annual billing, you can save up to $984 per year on your subscription. A 14-day free trial is available.
7. Prospect.io
Prospect.io drives lead generation by automating your prospecting efforts. Its two primary functions are to find and verify prospect emails and to help you reach out to those prospects with outbound email campaigns.
Prospect.io’s strongest feature is its powerful email-seeking algorithm, which can find almost anyone’s address quickly and accurately. Once you have that address in hand, Prospect.io creates personalized emails using custom-built templates that you can share with the rest of your team.
Prospect.io also helps you to follow up with multi-touch drip campaigns that incorporate email as well as phone contact. Additionally, thanks to robust reporting, you can track the success of those campaigns and change them as needed.
Pricing:
Prospect.io has two pricing plans:
Essential: $89 per month and $29 per month for each additional user
Business: $149 per month and $39 per month for each additional user
Each plan includes a certain number of Email Finder credits. You pay one credit for each email that Prospect.io discovers, and you can replenish them a la carte as you go.
8. AeroLeads
Like Prospect.io, AeroLeads generates leads by finding and verifying business email addresses. But AeroLeads doesn’t stop with emails — it also finds prospects’ job titles, business phones, company, location and up to a dozen other data points.
Once you have the information about your prospects, you can store it in your AeroLeads account or export it to a CSV. AeroLeads also lets you transfer your lead information to commonly used CRM and sales tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho CRM and more.
Pricing:
AeroLeads uses a credit-based system similar to Prospect.io, except that you don’t buy credits a la carte. Each membership plan comes with a certain number of credits, and you pay one credit for each record you add. Options are:
Take-Off: $49 per month for 1,000 credits and limited exporting
Climb: $149 per month for 4,000 credits with more software integrations
Cruise: $499 per month for 15,000 credits and unlimited users
AeroLeads also offers a custom-priced Enterprise plan that lets you choose the number of credits on your account.
9. RollWorks
RollWorks is an account-based marketing platform that lets you identify and engage with your target customers. RollWorks is all about efficient targeting that lets you optimize your ad spend, so you have the best chance of marketing to the people who want to hear from you.
With RollWorks, you build a target account list including the contact information for those companies’ key decision-makers. You can reach out to those decision-makers using personalized ads, automated follow-ups and more.
RollWorks has a database that includes hundreds of millions of contacts across more than 12 million companies. That’s part of why RollWorks can claim to deliver five times the return on investment (ROI) compared with other account-based marketing tools.
Pricing:
RollWorks has four membership tiers. The Starter tier costs $974 for one target account list. The higher tiers — Higher, Standard and Ultimate — are custom-priced.
10. CallPage
CallPage is a callback automation platform that generates leads by offering free calls to site visitors. Once you’ve installed the CallPage tool, your visitors will see a CallPage icon in the corner of your site. When someone clicks on it, they have three options:
Get a call back in 28 seconds
Get a call back later, at a time of their choosing
Leave a message
CallPage also displays triggered pop-ups to customers using an advanced scoring system. When someone takes a particular action, like spending a certain amount of time on-page or trying to leave your website, CallPage will automatically offer them a callback.
CallPage also collects and records key prospect information like site visit history, social media profiles and more, and displays this information to your reps before they call.
Pricing:
CallPage has three monthly plan options:
Basic: Free for up to 15 callbacks per month, with the option to buy up to 30 calls for $29 per month
Professional: $159 per month for up to 150 monthly callbacks
Premium: $379 per month for up to 400 monthly callbacks
Choose annual billing and save 25% on the cost of service.
11. Callingly
Similar to CallPage, Callingly encourages your web visitors to fill out lead capture forms and then routes that information to your sales team.
Callingly’s strongest feature is its ability to customize notifications. You specify the rules that prompt automated calls to sales reps. When a rep answers, they get a customized briefing about the lead.
Callingly records the phone call that follows and sends the recording plus related analytics to your CRM. Customers get a phone call back in seconds, and you get the information you need to move forward with your qualified leads.
Pricing:
Business: $49 per month for growing companies
Agency: $249 per month for agencies and resellers
Enterprise: Custom pricing for large organizations
12. Leadfeeder
Leadfeeder is a visitor-tracking software that tells you what companies have visited your website, what they looked at and whether they’ve come back. It matches those visitors with its large database of contacts. That way, you learn not only who to contact but also how to reach out to them.
Leadfeeder’s reporting interface is one of its best features. You see your hottest leads at the top of your list so it’s easy to prioritize your lead nurturing efforts. Another top feature is Leadfeeder’s personal email alerts, which tell you when specific companies visit your site.
Pricing:
Leadfeeder offers a free and paid version of its service. The paid version starts at $69 when billed monthly or $55 billed annually. Pricing is based on how many unique leads the tool delivers to you each month.
13. LeadBoxer
LeadBoxer is a behavioral tracking platform that identifies visitors to your website. By matching data with various company database sources, it provides you with key lead information like industry, company size, domain and more.
LeadBoxer will use this information to automatically score leads for you, so you can focus on nurturing those that are the most promising. You also get email notifications when a lead is marketing-qualified or purchase-ready, so you don’t miss an opportunity.
Pricing:
LeadBoxer has two pricing plans:
Basic: $195 per month
Premium: $495 per month
Both support unlimited leads plus segmenting, scoring and notifications.
14. Lead Forensics
Lead Forensics also identifies and tells you about your website visitors. You get contact information plus data on visitors’ business affiliations, search behavior and financial profile.
Lead Forensics will use this information to prioritize your leads, based on criteria that you determine. Your team also gets access to a customized “Watch List,” which tells you when leads have visited your website, plus a user-friendly Lead Manager that makes it easy to track a lead’s journey.
Pricing:
Lead Forensics creates custom-priced packages. The process starts with a free trial, during which the company tracks your traffic and suggests how the tool would best meet your needs.
15. Intercom
Intercom uses live chat to generate and capture leads. It automatically reaches out to new and returning visitors, offering targeted messages that gather the information you need to follow up meaningfully.
Intercom sends the information it gathers to members of your sales team so they can follow up. You also have the option to schedule meetings or start phone calls directly from the chat.
Pricing:
Intercom has four basic pricing tiers:
Start: from $39 per month for basic chat and messaging
Grow: from $99 per month including self-service support
Accelerate: from $499 per month including reporting and automated workflows
Scale: from $999 per month including advanced features
You can also sign up for add-ons like advanced lead generation and product tours to fast-track your sales.
16. Voila Norbert
Voila Norbert offers lead generation as well as recruitment, PR and networking. It’s primarily an email-finding tool that uses a robust database to track down contact information, so you can grow your list.
Voila Norbert can verify your email list so you reach more of your leads. It advertises a 98% deliverability record and more than 1.4 billion emails verified to date.
Pricing:
Voila Norbert bases its pricing on the type of service you need. Prospecting packages start at $49 per month and go up to $499 per month, or you can choose the pay-as-you-go plan. Pricing for email verification and enrichment depends on the number of addresses you need the company to service.
17. Leadformly
Leadformly uses interactive web forms to generate leads and gather contact information. Using a drag-and-drop builder, you create customized lead forms that engage web visitors and help them to tell you more about their needs.
Based on leads’ responses, Leadformly will score each lead and automatically send appropriate follow-ups, so you miss fewer qualified leads. Built-in ROI tracking, lead valuation and A/B testing help you to get the most out of your efforts.
Pricing:
Leadformly uses sliding-scale pricing based on the number of leads you capture monthly. Prices start at $37 per month for 250 leads.
18. LeadQuizzes
LeadQuizzes works much like Leadformly, except that it uses quizzes and surveys to collect information about your leads. You tell LeadQuizzes where and how you want your quizzes to appear, as well as how you want to promote them.
LeadQuizzes features a reporting platform that lets you view and analyze quiz results. You can use this information to learn more about your audiences and make smarter marketing decisions.
Pricing:
LeadQuizzes has three pricing plans:
Standard: $49 per month for one account and up to 4,000 visitors
Pro: $99 per month for five accounts and up to 50,000 visitors
Premium: $249 per month for 15 accounts and unlimited visitors
19. Extole
Extole is a referral marketing tool that lets you create a powerful, low-effort customer acquisition channel. Features include customized referral rewards, profiles for your best advocates and audience targeting to help you build the most effective program possible. Extole users can track the success of their program with a dashboard that offers real-time insight into program performance.
Pricing:
Extole is a custom-priced service. Quotes are available through the company’s sales team.
20. RightHello
RightHello is a business-to-business (B2B) lead generation company that offers prospecting automation plus sales strategy development and email campaign design. It uses a database of more than 5 million companies to send you names and contact information with a 90% deliverability rate.
With RightHello, you can send custom pitches to leads and launch custom-designed campaigns. A/B testing helps you to track the results for various target groups, so you can continue to refine your approach.
Pricing:
RightHello is another custom-priced product. Contact the company to learn more.
The takeaway
All of these tools can help you to generate more leads and close more sales. Remember to bookmark this page and come back to it for reference as you research your options. Feel free to try out combinations of solutions. Your growing business is worth the investment.
How to convert more leads with sales funnel automation
Related Articles
Don't leave your prospects, customers, and candidates waiting
Calendly eliminates the scheduling back and forth and helps you hit goals faster. Get started in seconds.
Calendly eliminates the scheduling back and forth and helps you hit goals faster. Get started in seconds.