Lead Forensics - Cheaper alternatives?

[360interactive]

I've just been contacted by a sales rep of Lead Forensics. I know all the data they offer you could extrapolate from Google Analytics, but I do like the idea of what they offer.

They are expensive though, at £150 per month with a minimum 12 month term. Anybody know of any alternatives out there?

 

[360interactive]

Also found A1 Web stats at £50 per month and no monthly commitment. Any users of this type of service on here?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

As the customer you can always demand a 2 or 3 month trial if they say no then what are they hiding

 

[Kelley Boyle B2C Data Ltd]

There are loads of companies selling leads out there, I would recommend joining the leads group on linked in - companies who are happy with particular services often leave recommendations or endorsements

 

[Kelley Boyle B2C Data Ltd]

where ever you get your leads from I would make sure they have the call recordings (if call surveys) or proof of the lead if internet based, and make sure they are willing to offer (and put it in writing) a replacement policy for incorrect leads

 

[360interactive]

They are providing website data rather than leads. If you take a look at the websites it explains whats involved.

Chris, i agree with that. I personally don't like to be tied into a service like this, if they're confident in what they provide why tie someone in for 12 months?!

 

[Hillyer]

Have a look at Artesian (http://www.artesiansolutions.com/). I think they are the similar to what you are looking for. I would recommend them.

 

[quartzdata]

Also look at https://canddi.com/ - a bit cheaper and I don't think there is any long term commitment. I saw the sales director, Fred, do a presentation at an exhibition - very impressive. He is an ex-Google employee and knows his stuff.

Good luck

 

[Frimley111R]

I used these in my old job for many years. I am not sure why they only do contracts (ask them) but their system worked well and I didn't have any issues. They've done very well out of this and expanded a lot. For me it was a nice simple way to locate site visitors. That said i have not tried and other mentioned here.

Also, what is a lead group on LI?

 

[Andy Harris]

There are many alternatives to Lead Forensics. A1WebStats (our product) is one of them. I would recommend that anyone should trial several systems because they all differ in various ways. Our view on the whole IP tracking thing is that companies can be seduced into what they think is magic (seeing which companies go to their website), which can be useful - but is it the answer? No!

The answer is in using analytics in an intelligent way, to better understand how people use your website (and how people find your website in the first place), so that positive changes can be implemented, which leads to more of those companies making contact in the first place. This usually comes from using a combination of systems (we find our subscribers use us in combination with Google Analytics).

In summary, try out various solutions (ensuring you get full access to all the data of course, not just what the provider wants you to see!) and see which solution/company feels right for you. Ignore any 'special offers' (sales tactics) and don't feel pressured to jump in any particular direction. But, as we always say to people, do consider using at least one of the solutions on offer, whoever the provider is - businesses are gaining huge amounts of extra business from better understanding their website visitors, which will ultimately make them stronger in comparison to their competitors.

 

[tacticalsales]

We've been using LF for over a year now, love it. We were initially unhappy with the contract but nonetheless it worked out well. Don't tell them I said this - but we managed to the get the price down with some simple negotiation and an upfront 12 month payment, granted it was a big risky seeing as it may not have worked out but we have used it on a daily basis since.

 

[360interactive]

After a little further research i've actually come to the conclusion that charging £150 a month with a 12 month minimum term for Lead Forensics is not worth it, considering the competition out there and the amount of data you can actually extract yourself from Google Analytics. I may try A1 webstats though.

 

[bashluiz]

I have come across a few alternatives to Lead Forensics. Ruler Analytics are great, they offer a free trial and they can report on B2C as well as B2B. Another great alternative is whoisvisiting.com. They have a 14 day free trial without the need of a credit card and they also have some of the best value rates. Their start off monthly price is only £29 a month, which, as a small agency is a great cost.

 

[whoisvisiting.com]

I have come across a few alternatives to Lead Forensics. Ruler Analytics are great, they offer a free trial and they can report on B2C as well as B2B. Another great alternative is whoisvisiting.com. They have a 14 day free trial without the need of a credit card and they also have some of the best value rates. Their start off monthly price is only £29 a month, which, as a small agency is a great cost.

Thanks for the shout out Bash! Lead Forensics are a great tool as are Ruler and ourselves. We all tend to appeal to different markets and certainly a different demographic of customers. Whoisvisiting.com has customers across the globe typically servicing the SME market (although we do have some large corporates) and offer a really simple solution to identifying customers. We've written a popular article (trying to stay as impartial as possible!) on Lead Forensics alternatives you can find on our website. Needless to say all the aforementioned have a great client list and we here great words about all!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Really depends what your sites sell and who your customer is

If for instance you mainly sell to companies yes you get the name of the company but no idea of who in that company and trying to find them out when they just did a quick look does not make them buyers after all how many sites have you visited without any intention to buy

Some customers may also get put off by big brother watching them

I am just saying think it through before you commit to this type of monitoring and with say email you can go directly to the purchasing manager with many lists

 

[tombuckland]

Although the company I currently work for uses lead forensic, we barely use it and its not worth the money. Saying that, this is simply because we are to busy to use it, but saying that lead forensics wouldn't be worth it unless you get quality traffic you are not converting and have set up a method of contacting people who leave your site.

 

[hargreaves56]

Thumbs up for Canddi and A1webstats.

 

[dandrew]

I've just come out of a contract - it was too expensive for my small business. I found an alternative to Lead Forensics with a little bit of research. We do particularly well with this type of lead generating software, but our business does not have high margins, and it is small, so we needed a lower cost. I found A1 and and whoisvisiting.com, as well as a few others that don't have contracts and have products that can rival LF. Choose wisely as the knight out of Indiana Jones says! I've switched from Lead forensics to an alternative now, and I'm more than happy with the savings

 

[Ruler Analytics]

Please excuse the self promotion but Ruler Analytics (www.ruleranalytics.com) offers the functionality to identify companies looking at your site as well as more detailed visitor analytics if you are seeking to learn more about your website visitors and customers. The entry level pricing is cheaper than Lead Forensics also.

 

[Andy Harris]

Here at A1WebStats we encourage businesses to trial a few systems alongside each other, and we covered this in detail in a recent blog - http://www.a1webstats.com/2015/10/07/lead-forensics-competitors/. It may also be of interest to see our blog that refers to this forum as being the only genuinely impartial way to compare providers in this space - http://www.a1webstats.com/2016/02/24/lead-forensics-reviews-2016/. Hope those are helpful to some people.

 

[Swansea SEO]

I am also considering LF, but was wondering if there was a 'free process', at least to start with. Once my new SEO biz is established, I anticipate that I wont have the time to do it myself and hopefully will have sufficient funding to 'pay' for the service, going forward. Also, I think it is essential to truly understand the process before 'paying' or 'automating' the process. Sorry if this sounds cheap, but as a 'start up', don't want to be spending unnecessarily on 'services', where I initially I could complete myself.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Russell Mills]

We had been using Leadforensics, and were frustrated by the sales results (ROI) - we found that the leads it generated, while many, were cold and difficult for sales to follow up on.

When searching for alternatives we identified other suppliers, and selected CANDDI. This service, at base level, is the same as LF, with addition of a powerful 'dashboard' that allows us to see at a glance individual visitor activity - B2B, B2C, mobile phone, social media, and email interaction.. When you actually understand the difference - it is quite amazing!

You have to put a bit more work into using CANDDI - however the results and conversion of leads to sales is better than prevoious system - 100%

 

[jblz]

All I know about Lead Forensics is they have a persistent sales team.

For anyone who has used them (or any competitor), how accurate are they with their lead identification?

Free IP lookup services such as who.is, mxtoolbox, or evenRIPE for EU can translate an IP found from your website analytics back to a company. Larger companies/enterprises often have their IP space associated with them and will therefore be available through these services.
Do they show if SME staff have visited your website? Using SME office IP addresses I'm aware of on above tools I largely just get their office ISP. I'm intrigued to know if they really do show more than is publicly available online.

 

[Chris Needham]

Whoisvisiting is definitely cheaper. You can also find the data in Google Analytics as it the company details is taken from the name of the network, however, you have to wait a day before you get the data and you have to do the research yourself.