ZoomInfo is a powerful lead generation tool and database that specializes in B2B industries. ZoomInfo offers four main products; a sales, marketing, operations and talent acquisition solution. While it’s not a customer relationship management tool itself, it can integrate with one and be a major source for identifying and funneling leads into the sales software.

Even though Zoominfo is one of the largest databases on the market with over 8 million online sources, some of its alternatives are worth taking a peek into. A sales prospecting tool can be a major addition and investment to a business’ sales process, so matching a provider to their specific industry, needs and selling style is ideal.

Pricing

It’s typical for some B2B database providers to not have their pricing listed directly on their website. That’s the case for ZoomInfo, but they do disclose what available tiers they offer. Zoominfo also provides unique scalability by offering three different support packages: standard, preferred and premium. The support options range from free live chat support, access to a knowledge center and ZoomInfo University, to a more white-glove service, depending on an organization’s budget.

Below are ZoomInfo’s three flexible packages:

• SalesOS: Access company insights and contact information. Contact for quote.
• MarketingOS: Pipeline management and digital marketing solutions. Contact for a quote.
• TalentOS: Source and manage candidates for company recruitment. Contact for a quote.

Key features of ZoomInfo

Data enrichment

Users can cleanse and enrich their data, turning it into actionable insights with standardization, deduplication, normalization, segmentation, transformations and leads-to-accounts mapping through rules-based data orchestration. This feature can also enrich user’s CRM and marketing automation tools at the frequency of their choice with easy-to-configure enrichment workflows, which ensures all the information across tools is consistent (Figure A). This showcases ZoomInfo’s integration capabilities.

Lead segmenting and scoring

From the leads that are identified and gathered, users can create buyer segments based on job function, seniority, industry and company size (Figure B). This feature can also score based on attributes and scoring models, including account-based scoring, intent-based scoring and multi-dimensional and composite scoring. This segmenting and scoring feature is an advanced offering by ZoomInfo because it not only funnels leads into the database, but also organizes them exactly how the business wants them.

Automated workflows

Businesses can launch personalized outreach to capture new high quality leads and targeted accounts based on their website traffic and prospects’ buying signals (Figure C). When a lead is scored within a certain range or completes an action with high buying intent, they’ll immediately get an email or some other outreach strategy connecting them with a sales team. This feature is a unique B2B database offering, allowing organizations to immediately respond to critical market signals with automated outreach and sales activities.

Contact tracking

Contact tracking is a feature that runs in the background of a user’s existing lead database. It ensures all the information associated with each contact profile is up-to-date, including if the contact changes job title or company (Figure D). This helps organizations follow their best relationships and identify if these moves will influence existing business or even open the door for new opportunities. ZoomInfo launched this tracker to help retain unique visibility for key buyers.

ZoomInfo pros and cons

Alternatives to ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo can support small businesses, mid-market and enterprise-level organizations. This makes it a great option for businesses of different sizes and industries. There are other lead generation and B2B databases that offer similar services, such as Apollo, UpLead and Lusha.

If you’re wanting competitive starting prices or access to advanced technology features, there are some other options to consider.

Apollo

Apollo is powerful sales intelligence software that can improve a company’s go-to-market within one platform. It helps users build segmented lists, manage contact information and even engage with B2B leads. Compared to ZoomInfo’s 321 million, Apollo has over 275 million contacts currently being managed. Both options offer end-to-end sales data and tracking.

SEE: For a full comparison between these two providers, check out our Apollo vs. ZoomInfo article.

UpLead

UpLead is a B2B database that provides a 95% accuracy guarantee along with over 50 unique search criteria for users to filter and find active leads. Compared to ZoomInfo, UpLead has a shorter free trial period of only seven days, but three paid tiers that start at $99 per month for 170 credits. Both B2B database providers offer third-party integrations and advanced lead augmentation features.

SEE: For more information, head over to our comparison piece between UpLead and ZoomInfo.

Lusha

Lusha is a competitively priced B2B database with an advanced prospecting API that connects users with true decision makers and authority figures of their target accounts. Compared to ZoomInfo, Lusha has a free tier and is an affordable option for small businesses. Both Lush and ZoomInfo can provide quick onboarding to their platforms, all while ensuring users have the freshest contact information available.

Review methodology

To review and critique ZoomInfo, I used an in-house rubric to score the B2B database and lead generation tool. Our rubric consists of defined criteria and subcriteria around the most important factors when evaluating any lead generation company and B2B database providers. I used ZoomInfo’s own online resources in addition to real user feedback, scores and reviews as reference points.

The following is the breakdown of the criteria used to score ZoomInfo:

• Cost: Weighted 25% of the total score.
• Core features: Weighted 25% of the total score.
• Advanced offerings: Weighted 20% of the total score.
• Customer support: Weighted 10% of the total score.
• Technology features: Weighted 10% of the total score.
• Reporting and analytics: Weighted 10% of the total score.