Jumpstart Your Marketing Efforts With These 7 Lead Generation Tools

Want to generate leads like a pro? Knowledge is part of the equation — and lead generation tools are the other (big!) part of the equation. That’s because, as part of your lead gen campaign, you’re going to be capturing leads, collecting contact information, managing email campaigns, sending out follow-up messages, tracking analytics, and much more. 

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? It is — but the right set of tools will bring your team together, give them the functionality to collect and utilize data, and help them capture leads and nurture them through your sales funnel. 

Ready to learn more? We’ve got the scoop. Keep reading to learn about different kinds of lead generation software and to see what makes our list of the most essential tools.

What Is a Lead?

Curious about lead generation tools? Let’s start with the basics: What is a lead?

A lead is someone who is interested in the product or service that a business offers. That leads us to lead generation, which is a marketing strategy that involves engaging potential customers, getting them interested in your products or service, and thus, transforming them into leads who are likely to make a future purchase. 

In other words, the idea is to move potential customers through each stage of your lead generation funnel. It works like this:

• Awareness is the first stage of the lead gen funnel in which you use a lead magnet to attract buyers’ attention (and turn them into a lead).
• Interest is the stage where, after gaining the customer’s attention, you display the value of your products or services.
• Consideration is the stage where you provide information about specific benefits so that potential customers can see how your product or service would be advantageous to them.
• Action is the second to last stage, where customers decide to purchase or become a subscriber to the product or service they’ve been considering.
• Conversion is the final stage in which you make the sale.

What Are Lead Generation Tools?

Broadly, lead generation tools are any type of tool (e.g., app, marketing platform, widget, plugin, and so on) that can help you progress customers through any portion of your sales funnel. Popular types of lead gen tools include things like:

• Apps that help you design, personalize, and optimize marketing emails
• Analytical tools designed to help you gather customer data
• Quizzes, which provide an engaging experience while gathering customer data
• Form builders, which let you create lead capture forms to collect email addresses, phone numbers, and other contact information
• Lead management tools designed for lead scoring so that you can analyze which leads are most productive
• Email list builders, which help you gather email addresses that you can use for outreach campaigns
• Chatbots, wiki builders, and other knowledge-base solutions that help customers educate themselves
• Apps for building landing pages and other website assets

That’s by no means a comprehensive list — but you get the idea! If it can help you generate and advance leads, then it’s a lead generation tool.

What Are B2B Lead Generation Tools?

B2B and B2C businesses follow similar strategies for lead generation, but since your target audience will be vastly different — businesses and their leadership as opposed to consumers in general — you’ll likely end up using some tools that are more business-focused for B2B lead gen. 

For example, if you’re selling commercial grade printers, tech purchasers at businesses will probably want to see case studies or whitepapers demonstrating how your printers will benefit them — and you can gate this kind of content behind a lead capture form that asks for an email address in exchange for downloading the documents. In that case, you’ll need an app that lets you create and launch lead capture forms on your website.

But what if you’re selling sneakers to consumers interested in athletics? They’re unlikely to read case studies about shoes — and you’ll be better served by, for example, a quiz that engages customers by helping them choose the perfect shoe while also collecting valuable data points about their preferences, desires, and intents. By providing a genuine value exchange — in this case, a product recommendation for some information about their preferences — they are more likely to share their email address with you for future communications.

What Is the Best Tool for Collecting Leads?

Now there’s a great question! And the answer? There is no one tool to rule them all! Instead, you’ll need a blend of things, like email marketing tools, customer relationship management (CRM) software, SEO tools, a landing page builder, and other apps and widgets designed to help you attract attention, nurture quality leads, and move them through your sales pipeline.

And that’s why we’ve rounded up some of the best lead generation tools available. Read below for a selection designed to help you accomplish a variety of tasks.

1. Jebbit

If there’s one platform that can help you enhance several aspects of your lead generation campaign, it’s Jebbit. Jebbit lets you create interactive customer experiences so that you can build engagement among your target audience.

So how does that help you with lead generation? Here are some examples: With Jebbit, you can create product match quizzes, or you can create polls for fandoms to engage with. In the beauty industry, retailers often create personalized beauty quizzes to help customers address everything including finding the right skincare products or the perfect makeup shade.

As customers interact with these experiences, you get instant results in the form of first-party data. That’s the kind of data that you can use to refine your lead generation campaign so that you’re reaching more people and encouraging greater numbers of customers through your sales funnel.

But it doesn’t stop there. You can also set up these experiences to acquire leads by collecting email addresses, which gives you the ability to nurture leads with a targeted email marketing campaign.

2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator goes beyond your usual social media analytics to give you a fully fledged lead generation and nurturing platform geared toward B2B sales. 

Use Sales Navigator to identify potential customers on LinkedIn. From there, the platform lets you track their activity on LinkedIn so that you can get a deeper understanding of customer needs, motivations, and other important indicators. Lastly, Sales Navigator gives you the ability to connect with potential customers, strike up a conversation, and build deeper relationships.

3. OptinMonster

OptinMonster offers a blend of tools and widgets that you can use on your website and for email outreach to convert leads into paying customers. This includes things like pop-ups, gamified wheels, scroll boxes, and other interactive elements. 

It starts with a drag-and-drop builder where you can create a visually appealing offer — no code needed. From there, you can use OptinMonster’s analytics to help you show that offer to the right audience. You can also conduct A/B testing and analyze results in real time so that you can make improvements to your lead generation strategy.

4. Zapier

While Zapier isn’t specifically a lead generation tool, it still earns a spot on the list for one big reason: automation. The typical lead generation campaign requires that you use multiple sales tools, management tools, CRM tools, marketing software, and more. Zapier lets you integrate all of these apps and platforms into a customizable workflow that will make your marketing efforts much more efficient.

5. Salesforce

If you’re looking for a CRM platform, Salesforce is one of the most well-recognized options out there. You can use it to bring all of your data sources together in one unified spot — plus bring your sales team, marketing department, IT teams, and others together into a single space where everyone can view and act on customer information. Essentially, this software lets your entire company collaborate to deliver better customer experiences so you can increase the numbers of new leads and your conversion rates.

6. MailChimp

Need to send out cold emails, promotional offers, or other types of marketing emails? MailChimp is your go-to option, promising to help you increase the number of reads, clicks, and sales. It offers AI tools and templates to help you build eye-catching emails, and you can also use MailChimp to automate both emails and SMS communications. 

Robust analytical tools are available to help you divide your customer base into segments, analyze performance, visualize your sales funnel, and more.

7. Intercom

Intercom is all about communication. With it, you can improve customer experiences by giving them on-site access to both automated and human chats. Not only can you use Intercom for automated customer support, but you can also use it to encourage website visitors to convert. 

With automated, interactive chat prompts, Intercom can help you answer customer questions or get them interested in your product with brief messages designed to inform and entice.

Get Your Lead Generation Campaign Off to the Right Start With Jebbit

Every great marketing strategy begins with data — and ends with conversions. Jebbit is a lead general tool that gives you both. Build awareness, boost engagement, and nurture your leads through the sales process by using Jebbit to create beautiful surveys, lookbooks, quizzes, and lead forms. 

Along the way, you’ll be gathering first-party data that you can use to refine your strategy and expand the reach of your business.

If you’d like to learn more, book a demo or strategy call with one of our experts.