7 Lead Enrichment Tools For the Best Insights in 2024

Shorter inbound forms lead to higher conversion rates and faster speed-to-lead. But if you’re only capturing five data points (three of which are first name, last name, and email), how can you learn enough to qualify the lead and personalize your sales outreach? That’s where lead enrichment tools come in.

Lead enrichment software gathers, organizes, and analyzes lead data to provide deeper insight for marketing and sales. When a lead fills out an inbound form, lead enrichment can gather hundreds or thousands of data points pertaining to a potential lead. 

The result? Faster and more accurate lead qualification, more personalized sales outreach, and more possibilities when it comes to automations and workflows. Plus, if you use any AI-based lead scoring, qualification, or routing tools, these data will greatly improve the accuracy of your models. 

Read on to learn our top recommendations for lead enrichment tools to help your marketing teams choose the best option for your RevOps stack.

Best lead enrichment tools, at a glance

1. Default: Best lead enrichment tool with built-in automations
2. Apollo.io: Best lead enrichment tool for comprehensive data
3. Clearbit: Best lead enrichment tool for AI
4. ZoomInfo: Best lead enrichment tool for B2B marketing
5. Cognism: Best lead enrichment tool for European data
6. FullContact: Best lead enrichment tool for identity resolution
7. Pipl: Best lead enrichment tool for spam & fraud detection

1. Default: Best all-in-one lead enrichment tool

Default is the overall best lead enrichment tool on this list. The main reason: it’s an all-in-one platform. Default not only enriches leads, but captures, qualifies, routes, schedules, and nurtures them. And it does all this without the need for extensive (and expensive) integrations or developer support. 

Key features

• Real-time data enrichment built into no-code conversion forms—integrated data from Clearbit and Apollo.io to help maintain an accurate contact database
• Lead qualification models that leverage enrichment data, form data, CRM data, and behavioral data from product-led growth (PLG) funnels to ensure alignment with your ideal customer profile
• Automated lead routing and scheduling immediately upon conversion
• Advanced, flexible sales & marketing automation workflows built with a no-code, drag-and-drop interface 
• Dozens of sales and marketing software integrations

Limitations

Default is built to replace your existing inbound tech stack. If you’re looking for a solution that simply sends enrichment data to your existing marketing & sales technology, Default may not be for you. 

Pricing

Default offers three pricing tiers. All tiers come with unlimited automations. They vary based on how many enriched leads you get per month. The Inbound plan starts with 250 enriched leads per month, the Studio plan offers 500 enriched leads per month, and the Scale plan comes with up to 2,000 enriched leads per month. Plans start at $350 per month. 

2. Apollo.io: Best lead enrichment tool for comprehensive data

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Image source: Coda

As lead enrichment tools go, Apollo.io is one of the best in the business. The platform’s extensive database with 200M+ contacts and 60M+ companies is hard to beat. That’s one reason why our own lead enrichment software leverages their database. 

Key features

• Built-in lead enrichment from an extensive contact and company database with demographic data, firmographic data, and more
• Advanced search filters that include behavioral and buyer intent signals
• Marketing automation sequences and email campaigns based on custom filters and triggers for qualified outreach
• Integration with major CRMs and marketing and sales platforms
• Analytics, reporting, and AI-based functionality

Limitations

Apollo.io’s primary limitations have nothing to do with their database but other platform functionality. From our quick survey of G2 reviews, we noticed that some users report sent emails ending up in spam folders. Additionally, some users note that the reporting figures can sometimes be inaccurate. 

Pricing

Apollo.io’s pricing system has four, credit-based tiers. While you can get started with their Free tier, you really only start getting useful features at the Basic ($49 per user per month) level. The Professional ($79 per user per monthly) tier adds more advanced features, including some limited AI capabilities. At the Organization ($149 per user per month) tier, you’ll get the full range of Apollo.io’s capabilities. 

3. Clearbit: Best lead enrichment tool for AI

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Image source: Clearbit

Default also uses Clearbit as one of our lead enrichment data sources. One thing that sets this tool apart is the use of AI to automatically detect changes and errors in the data, making adjustments in real time. 

This results in one of the most accurate and up-to-date contact databases on the market, which is probably why HubSpot acquired them last year. 

Key features

• Comprehensive database with 100+ attributes per contact (e.g. company size, contact information, industry, etc.)
• AI-powered change detection to enable automated record updates and ensure accurate contact data
• Powerful APIs and Webhooks make it easy to integrate with other sales technology (including Default)

Limitations

Clearbit’s primary limitation is that it’s a lead enrichment point solution. The platform itself doesn’t really do much with the data. For that, you need an integrated marketing or sales automation software, like Default. 

Pricing

Clearbit does not provide public pricing data. 

4. ZoomInfo: Best lead enrichment tool for B2B marketing

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Image source: RFDM Solutions

ZoomInfo's sales intelligence platform is a household name among B2B marketing and sales teams, primarily due to its database of 1.3B+ company profiles and 600M+ professional contact profiles. For sales teams in particular, the platform has over 135M phone numbers, as well as buyer intent data to enable precise targeting at the highest point of interest and need. 

Key features

• Billions of company profiles, including phone numbers, company size, intent data, IP-to-company matching, and more (great for B2B companies!)
• Targeted advertising with a native Demand-Side distribution platform
• Leverage IP addresses to pull company data based on site visits alone
• Single-field, data-enriched website forms

Limitations

ZoomInfo is strong on the database side, not so strong on the marketing and sales automation side. Other platforms make it far easier to act on your data. Additionally, ZoomInfo’s price point is higher than most small businesses can afford. 

Pricing

ZoomInfo does not provide pricing details on their website. However, their pricing tiers are split into three categories: Marketing, Sales, & Talent. From what we can tell, the Sales plan focuses primarily on contact data, the Marketing plan on buyer intent and digital advertising, and the Talent plan on candidate sourcing intelligence. 

5. Cognism: Best lead enrichment tool for European data

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Image source: Cognism

Navigating the European data world isn’t for the faint of heart. Complex regulations and compliance standards make it difficult for companies who go it alone. That’s why many companies turn to Cognism's sales intelligence platform: their database is 100% secure and compliant with GDPR and CCPA requirements. 

Key features

• International database covering EMEA, NAM, and APAC that’s fully compliant with GDPR & CCPA
• Rigorous email and mobile phone validation standards (roughly 70M mobile numbers)
•  Automated cleaning and enrichment of Salesforce data

Limitations

Cognism is a point solution. Although their database is appealing, taking action on the data they offer requires integrations with other solutions. 

Pricing

Cognism doesn’t provide public pricing data on their website. 

6. FullContact: Best lead enrichment tool for identity resolution

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Image source: FullContact

Identity resolution can be a challenge not only for internal organizational security, but also inbound and outbound marketing and sales. If a lead comes to your website with a similar name to an existing contact, you’ll want to verify their identity to decide which type of outreach to engage with. 

FullContact is the leading lead enrichment solution for identity resolution. 

Key features

• Lead identification to find high priority website visitors
• Built-in identity resolution to unify prospect and customer records
• Append data to existing records to build more holistic pictures of your contacts
• First-party data storage, management, and obfuscation

Limitations

The primary criticism of FullContact is its high price point. Additionally, some users have trouble with load times and sync speed. These can present problems if your goal is to accelerate speed-to-lead. 

Pricing

FullContact does not provide public pricing data on their website. Capterra, however, reports an average $99 per feature per month. 

7. Pipl: Best lead enrichment tool for spam & fraud detection

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Image source: Pipl

Like FullContact, Pipl is built primarily as an identity resolution tool. However, Pipl’s main value prop is the elimination of spam, crime, and fraud within online communities. For marketing and sales teams, Pipl helps online commerce and social media marketers automated solutions to enable scalability while mitigating risk. 

Key features

• Access a Trust Score for each user action through a simple API integration
• Customize your own thresholds for approvals, denials, or actions requiring additional vetting
• Built-in trust signals to inform manual or machine learning-enabled decision-making
• Verify edge cases manually with the Pipl Trust Console

Limitations

Pipl has a very narrow use case: fraud detection and prevention. It also seems geared more toward B2C and ecommerce users and is probably less helpful for B2B companies. 

Pricing

Pipl does not provide publicly available pricing data. 

How does the lead enrichment process work? 

Lead enrichment is a multi-step process, most of which happens before you’ll see the data in your software. If you’re looking to include any of the above tools in your RevOps tech stack, you may or may not be getting into the weeds of how enrichment works. 

Data collection

The first step in lead enrichment is to collect data from various sources: public databases, social media, business directories, and proprietary sources. The more sources you have, the more comprehensive and accurate your database will be. 

The most common forms of data collection are using algorithm and scraping techniques to access and classify the most relevant information. 

Data classification

The data must then be classified and organized into a useful format. For example, having an email address and phone number isn’t helpful if those data are classified as “Notes” and “Birthdate.” 

If the scraper or algorithm has access to the relevant metadata, this process is relatively straightforward. Short of that, you can use typical formatting conventions to classify data (e.g. any text ending in @ + a recognizable domain is classified as “email address” or any 10-digit number is classified as “phone number.” Otherwise, there are a number of machine learning algorithms that can accelerate data classification. 

Data append

Data append technically happens at multiple points in the lead enrichment process. When a new contact record is created, an enrichment tool can append scraped data to existing, proprietary records. When contact records are updated, the tool can append the new data to the existing record in real time. 

Data append also takes place when lead enrichment databases add new sources or data points to their records. 

Data validation

Any high quality lead enrichment tool will use standard validation techniques to maintain its quality and accuracy. Common strategies include:

• Cross-referencing information across multiple sources
• Using third-party data verification services for contact information
• Using AI to identify verify employment status, job titles, and other information

Data integration

Once your enrichment tool has captured and validated the data, the next step is to integrate it with your marketing and sales technology. This is usually the point of the process where you’ll start to see the magic happen.

There are a variety of integration practices that work with different technologies. These include ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), ELT (Extract, Load, Transform), data streaming, APIs, and more. 

Data updates

Any piece of data you have has a limited shelf life. Key to ongoing lead enrichment success is the ability to continually update your data in real time. Job changes, updated contact info, or real-time behavioral and intent data can change a lead’s qualification status, so it’s important to get these updates as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Benefits of lead enrichment tools

Lead enrichment tools benefit sales and marketing teams in a variety of ways. Here are some ways it can dramatically improve your sales efforts.

Faster lead qualification & scoring

The biggest benefit is the acceleration of inbound lead qualification and speed-to-lead. A typical conversion-optimized lead form only captures 3-5 data fields. That’s never enough to determine whether the lead is a good fit or ready to buy. Enrichment data provides a more holistic picture not only of who the lead is, but where they sit in their buying journey. This enables salespeople to qualify and reach out faster and improve the likelihood of a response, scheduled sales meeting, and purchase. 

Reduced lead research time

Most sales reps find themselves in a time management bind. The more they know about their leads, the more effective their outreach and sales conversations will be. However, if they spend all their time doing research, they’re not out there initiating conversations and finding new business. 

Lead enrichment tools help alleviate this challenge. By not only capturing data, but also leveraging AI to summarize key points, this tool can help reps significantly reduce research time without a corresponding lag in sales effectiveness. 

More personalized marketing & sales outreach

A recent Forrester-Adobe study showed that 72% of B2B leads expect highly personalized content from the products and services they buy from. To accomplish this, sales reps need far more data than a typical research process will surface. 

Lead enrichment enables more targeted engagement, including customized messages and offers that resonate with individual lead preferences and pain points. When you add intent and behavioral data into the mix, you can also add timeliness into the mix, further increasing the likelihood of a conversion.  

More effective lead nurturing

The typical lead nurture workflow is a static funnel, where all leads receive the same messaging regardless of how relevant it is to them. This approach can kill your credibility—the opposite of its intended effect. 

With enrichment data + a highly flexible, no-code automation solution like Default, you can build dynamic workflows that allow for hyper-personalized automated outreach. Your messages can vary based on the lead’s behavior, intent, demographics, and more. 

Better segmentation

The more nuanced your segmentation, the more effective and personalized your messaging—one-to-one, batch, and automated—can be. With lead enrichment tools, you can segment based on a combination of factors: industry, job title, intent, behaviors, and more. 

Improved AI-enabled solutions

AI rises and falls based on the data used to train and update it. The more data you have on your leads, the better your AI models can use predictive analytics in your lead scoring models, lead routing software, and workflow solutions. 

How to choose the best lead enrichment tool

A number of factors can play into choosing the best lead enrichment tool to help execute your sales strategies. Here are some of the most important to consider so you can ensure you're getting the best insights into your potential customers.

Data sourcing

Where does your lead enrichment tool get its data? This is the first place you should start. Many lead enrichment solutions source data exclusively from public sources, essentially making them glorified aggregation tools. While this can be helpful and save time, you can do better.

The best lead enrichment tools source data from a combination of public and private sources. Apollo.io, for example, has two million providers within their network. 

Data validation, updates, & quality

Knowing where the data comes from is only the first step. The next is to see how they validate and update the data to maintain its overall quality. This is one area where AI can play an important role. 

For example, Clearbit uses AI to identify data changes and update them in real time. Plus, the more data sources a lead enrichment tool has at its disposal, the more effectively it can automated updates. 

Data velocity

For lead enrichment to effectively support modern marketing campaigns, your platforms must have a high data velocity. You can’t wait an hour or more for a contact record to update. It’s critical the data reach its destination as quickly as possible. This applies both to the initial conversion and subsequent record changes. 

Integrations & automations

Having extra data in your CRM does you no good if it’s not being used to improve sales decisioning, accelerate marketing and sales funnels, or automate mundane & repetitive tasks. Direct integration between lead enrichment and forms, routing, scheduling, qualification, and workflows is a must-have. 

Additionally, we have clients who integrate our lead enrichment data with their CRMs, sales engagement platforms, marketing automation tools, productivity software, and more. 

AI-powered capabilities

Although the role of AI in the broader GTM and RevOps ecosystem is still a matter of debate, we’ve found that AI provides a ton of value when it comes to lead enrichment. Some specific use cases we’ve found include:

• Automatically identifying changes in data and updating records across the board
• Summarizing enrichment data to accelerate sales reps’ lead qualification flows
• Providing more data for predictive lead scoring models, improving their accuracy
• Analyzing contact records for more dynamic lead routing and workflow customizations

Price

Lead enrichment tools are certainly worth the investment. But too many options are overpriced, usually because they come with a bunch of paid or add-on features you don’t really need. We highly recommend looking at the various pricing tiers for each tool to determine where you can get the most value. 

How to automate the lead enrichment process

Lead enrichment can sometimes run the risk of slowing the sales process. With more data at their disposal, salespeople can often spend more time qualifying leads and planning more personalized outreach.

To avoid this slowdown, it’s critical to automate your lead enrichment processes. Here are three tips to keep your inbound flows moving quickly:

• Choose a lead enrichment tool that integrates directly with the rest of your inbound flow to avoid potential data loss or lead deceleration
• Use AI to aggregate and summarize key data on potential customers—this reduces lead qualification times by 31%
• Set up dynamic, sophisticated lead routing flows to account for the high amounts of demographic, behavioral, and intent data at your disposal—these can be based either on rules-based flows, or AI-enabled predictive analytics

Once your inbound funnels start generating hundreds of leads per month, you’ll be glad you set up these automations. 

Here are some examples of lead enrichment templates that are automatically available through Default:

Enrich & route leads from inbound forms

Enrich & start warm inbound sequences

Enrich & route leads to existing accounts

Lead enrichment tools FAQ

What is a lead enrichment tool? 

A lead enrichment tool is software that automatically adds third-party data to that lead’s contact and account records. Examples of data used in lead enrichment include demographics, firmographics, behavioral data, and intent data. 

How do you enrich leads?

Lead enrichment requires four components: 1) a CRM where the contact & account records live, 2) a third-party enrichment data source, 3) a common datapoint for record matching & verification (typically name and email address), 4) an API that pulls enrichment data from the third-party into your CRM. 

Can you automate lead enrichment?

Yes, you can automate lead enrichment. This process involves the use of APIs to pull in third-party data at the moment of conversion. From there, you can build additional rules-based and AI-enabled automations based on your newly available data. 

Final thoughts on lead enrichment tools

Lead enrichment tools are critical to increase both inbound conversion rates and speed-to-lead. What’s more, these tools enable more personalized, customer-centric outreach during and after the buying journey. 

Default’s commitment to improving and accelerating inbound success is why we offer built-in, real-time data enrichment software to enhance our workflows. Schedule a demo to see it in action. 

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