5 Most Common Outreach Tools on the Market

Reading Time: 14 minutes

Working with clients requires a first step: to find an email address. Then you’re reaching out.

Email exchange is currently the most popular form of communication with clients—globally.

Where to start the first step when you don’t have that email? This is where the right outreach tool can help you. But hey—how does it work?

There are many ways to find the right (and still valid) email address of your prospect. The more data you have, the better.

In this post, you’ll find out why these 5 most common outreach tools on the market

Choose the right one for you—let’s get it started.

Overview: How Do Outreach & Email Marketing Tools Work?

1/ Apollo.io

Honestly? My number one. Apollo.io stands out as a tool for sales prospecting and automation, offering its users a vast database of verified contacts. Users can easily search through this data and incorporate it into predefined sequences. Its effectiveness in the realm of sales engagement has made Apollo widely acclaimed, boasting numerous success stories within the sector.

2/ UpLead

UpLead stands out as a B2B contact database platform, designed to assist companies in crafting tailored contact lists and generating leads that are already pre-qualified, thanks to its integrated email verification feature. This service streamlines the lead generation process, ensuring that businesses connect with relevant and reliable contacts, thus enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their outreach strategies.

3/ Seamless.ai

What is the function of Seamless.AI? Seamless operates as an AI-driven search engine that identifies and confirms emails and phone numbers of professionals targeted by you or your sales team, doing so instantly. Envision Seamless as a live search engine dedicated to your business networking needs.

4/ ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo stands out as a premier software for go-to-market strategies, designed to integrate and simplify functions across sales, marketing, operations, and talent acquisition. Renowned for its ability to assist companies in identifying and converting leads into customers, it eliminates the need for juggling multiple software tools and platforms. ZoomInfo provides a suite of four solutions: SalesOS, MarketingOS, OperationsOS, and TalentOS, offering a broad and adaptable range of features. In our in-depth review of ZoomInfo, we put the software through its paces to determine whether it meets the needs of your business.

5/ GetProspect

GetProspect offers a cloud-operated tool for extracting emails, delivering comprehensive contact lists to businesses that encompass job titles, business email IDs, LinkedIn profile links, company details, and more. This aids entities of various scales in managing leads and handling prospect information efficiently. Its main functionalities encompass verifying profiles, facilitating data transfer both inwards and outwards, and managing projects and teams.

Accuracy and Database Size

—> How Is Apollo Data Sourced and Collected?

Apollo gathers and checks information from various sources to ensure it’s accurate. Here are the four main ways Apollo collects data:

• Data contributor network: Apollo has a huge pool of over 2 million contributors who share their business contact details. Apollo uses these contributions to double-check information using connected email inboxes and customer relationship management systems (CRMs).
• Engagement suite: Apollo has special tools to keep an eye on email interactions, tracking which emails get responses and which don’t, to make sure the email addresses are correct.
• Public data crawling: Apollo uses its own special software to search the internet, look through websites that anyone can see, and gather a broad collection of information about people and companies.
• Third-party data providers: Every month, Apollo adds over 270 million records to its database from trusted third-party sources. These partnerships help make Apollo’s data even more reliable and up-to-date.

Apollo’s data comes from many places, not just one. By mixing different sources, clever software, and a big network of data contributors, Apollo can provide really good data that covers a lot and is high-quality.

—> How Is UpLead Data Sourced and Collected?

UpLead takes a detail-oriented approach to data collection to ensure high-quality, accurate information. Here are the main methods UpLead employs:

• User Contributions: UpLead has a community of users who share their business contact information. These contributions are carefully vetted and cross-verified to maintain accuracy.
• Web Scraping: UpLead uses web scraping tools (its capabilities) to gather publicly available information from various websites. This technique helps in building a robust database of business contacts and company details.
• Verification Tools: UpLead’s proprietary software helps in verifying email addresses and other contact information by tracking email interactions. This ensures that the data remains accurate and up-to-date.
• Data Partnerships: UpLead partners with reputable data providers to enhance its database with additional records. These partnerships help UpLead maintain a broad and reliable dataset.

—> How Is Seamleass.ai Data Sourced and Collected?

Here are the key methods Seamless.AI uses to gain its data:

Network Contributions: Seamless.AI has a large network of contributors who share their business contact details. These contributions are validated through various checks to ensure data accuracy.

Automated Crawling: Seamless.AI uses automated web crawling technology to gather information from publicly available sources on the internet. This helps in building a wide-ranging database of contacts and company information.

Interaction Monitoring: Seamless.AI’s proprietary tools track email interactions to verify and update contact information. This ensures that the email addresses and other details are correct and current.

Collaborations with Data Providers: Seamless.AI partners with well-established data providers to enhance its dataset. These collaborations help Seamless.AI maintain a rich and reliable data repository.

—> How Is Zoominfo Data Sourced and Collected?

ZoomInfo gathers its data from a variety of reliable sources to ensure accuracy and completeness. Here are the primary methods ZoomInfo uses to collect its data:

• Direct Contributions: ZoomInfo leverages a vast network of users who contribute their business contact information. These contributors provide up-to-date details, which are then verified through multiple checks to ensure reliability.
• Web Crawling: ZoomInfo employs advanced web crawling technology to scan publicly available information across the internet. This process allows them to collect extensive data on companies and professionals from a wide range of websites.
• Proprietary Software: ZoomInfo uses proprietary tools to monitor email interactions and validate contact information. This helps in maintaining the accuracy of email addresses and other critical contact details.
• Partnerships with Data Providers: ZoomInfo collaborates with trusted third-party data providers to supplement its database with additional records. This integration ensures that ZoomInfo’s data remains comprehensive and current.

—> How Is GetProspect Data Sourced and Collected?

GetProspect focuses on precision and reliability in its data collection methods. This how it works in their case:

• Community Contributions: GetProspect relies on a network of contributors who provide business contact details. These details are rigorously checked and verified to ensure their accuracy.
• Web Mining: GetProspect uses advanced web mining techniques to collect publicly accessible data from numerous websites. This method allows for a comprehensive gathering of information about professionals and businesses.
• Email Verification: GetProspect employs specialized tools to verify email addresses and other contact information by monitoring email responses. This helps maintain the accuracy and reliability of their data.
• Third-Party Data Integration: GetProspect integrates data from trusted third-party sources into its database. These integrations ensure that GetProspect’s data is extensive and up-to-date.

Pre-Conclusion: What You Really Need to Know

In the case of email marketing and outreach tools, a common question is: data acquisition and accuracy. Do these tools really do this in accordance with GDPR? By using them, am I at any risk? Is using this data legal?

In short: there’s nothing to worry about.

I have personally used each of the above tools. Sometimes for longer periods (for my own professional needs) and sometimes for shorter periods (to test them on a dozen or so leads).

The data is consistent, and as a user, you have nothing to worry about.

I know you might ask me:

“Simon, so what if my prospect asks me: ‘How did you get my data?!”

The answer couldn’t be easier: I use a third-party tool. It provides me with all the data that I need. I found it through your LinkedIn profile, just like other salespeople who’d like to reach out to you.

I have had similar questions myself, and they never led to any significant problems. If you want to use a good solution, any of the above tools is suitable.

My recommendation 👇

P.S. If you want to know about Apollo.io, in particular, here’s a comprehensive review: Apollo.io Review: The Best Outreach Tool on the Market

Pricing & Plans

1/ Apollo

Here’s a brief rundown of what each of Apollo’s plans offers:

Apollo Free Plan:

• Start without any cost with our Free plan, which offers 50 email credits per month.
• Enjoy basic sequence automation with a limit of two sequences.
• Utilize basic filters for streamlined searches.
• Benefit from our LinkedIn and Gmail extensions.
• Send up to 250 emails every day.
• Track email opens, clicks, replies, and meetings.
• Integrate with HubSpot & Salesforce (Pull Only), Zapier, Outreach, and SalesLoft.
• Limited API access for basic integrations.
• Export your data easily with CSV export.

Apollo: Basic Plan – $15.00 per user/month:

• Enhance your outreach with 200 email credits each month.
• In addition to all the features of the Free plan, remove the sequence limit and email sending limits.
• Access advanced filters for more precise targeting.
• Get advanced reports and dashboards (pre-built) for insightful analytics.
• Full integration with all email providers.
• Customize your database with custom fields.
• Manage opportunities efficiently.
• Create automated workflows with the rules engine process builder.
• Test and optimize your emails with A/B testing.
• Keep track of your tasks manually.

Apollo: Professional Plan – $47.00 per user/month:

• For larger teams (minimum of 3 seats), get unlimited email credits and 50 mobile numbers per month.
• The Professional plan includes all the features of the Basic plan plus:
• Use the dialer to make calls directly from the platform.
• Record calls to ensure quality and compliance.
• Customize your pipeline with custom stages.
• Enjoy advanced HubSpot integration for a two-way sync.
• Select up to 1,000 records at a time for bulk operations.
• Create customizable reports for tailored insights.

Apollo: Custom Plan:

• Our Custom plan is designed to meet the unique needs of your business with unlimited email credits.
• Specify the number of custom mobile numbers as per your requirements.
• This plan includes all the features of the Professional plan, plus:
• Select up to 10,000 records at a time for extensive outreach campaigns.
• Benefit from data enrichment & job change alerts.
• Get call transcriptions, international dialing, and local presence options.
• Create permission profiles for team access control.
• Get advanced API access for deep integration.
• Personalize your onboarding experience with a dedicated customer success manager.

Take advantage of advanced Salesforce integration for a comprehensive two-way sync.

2/ ZoomInfo

Pricing in details:

ZoomInfo: Professional Custom Plan

• Comprehensive professional and company profiles
• Direct phone & verified email addresses
• Tailored prospect lists & alerts

ZoomInfo: Advanced Custom Plan:

• Includes features of the Professional plan, plus
• Location & corporate hierarchy data
• Department org charts
• Mobile phone & personal email addresses

ZoomInfo: Elite Custom Plan:

• Includes features of Advanced plan, plus
• Purchasing Intent Data
• Company Attributes
• Dynamic data-driven workflows

ZoomInfo has restricted access to all features in its pricing. To gain full access, logging in is required. Log in to check it out here 👇

3/ Seamless.ai

Pricing in details:

Seamless: Free Plan:

• 50 credits
• Email Addresses
• Cell Phones
• Real-time Search Engine
• Enterprise Security and Compliance
• Export Download
• Premium Integrations
• Writer Premium
• Support Features
• Self-serve Knowledge Base
• Email Support

Seamless: Basic Plan:

• 250 credits per month
• Email Addresses
• Cell Phones
• Real-time Search Engine
• Enterprise Security and Compliance
• Export Download
• Premium Integrations
• Writer Premium
• Support Features
• Self-serve Knowledge Base
• Email Support
• Live Training Webinar

Seamless Pro Plan:

• Daily Credit Refresh
• Email Addresses
• Cell Phones
• Real-time Search Engine
• Enterprise Security and Compliance
• Export Download
• Writer Premium
• Pitch IntelligencePremium Integrations
• Free admin Seat
• Advanced Org Management
• Job Changes Premium
• Autopilot Premium
• Data Enrichment Premium
• Buyer Intent Data Premium
• Support Features
• Self-serve Knowledge Base
• Email Support
• Live Training Webinar
• Priority Support Queue
• Onboarding Specialist
• Live Chat Support
• Dedicated Success Manager

Seamless: Enterprise Plan

• Custom Credits or User
• Email Addresses
• Cell Phones
• Real-time Search Engine
• Enterprise Security and Compliance
• Export Download
• Writer
• Premium
• Pitch Intelligence
• Premium Integrations
• Free Admin Seat
• Advanced Organization Management
• Job Changes Premium
• Autopilot Premium
• Data Enrichment Premium
• Buyer Intent Data Premium
• Support Features
• Self-serve Knowledge Base
• Email Support
• Priority Support Queue
• Onboarding Specialist
• Live Chat Support
• Dedicated Success Manager
• Quarterly Business Reviews
• Phone Support

4/ GetProspect

GetProspect: Free Plan

Pricing: $0 monthly

Valid Emails: 50

Verifications 100

Included Features:

• 1 email account
• 50 active leads
• 200 emails monthly
• Automated follow-ups
• Custom tracking domain
• Email reply tracking
• LinkedIn extension
• Advanced filters
• API Access
• Export files in CSV and XLSX formats
• Team data sharing

GetProspect: Starter Plan

Pricing: $49 monthly

Valid Emails: 1,000

Verifications: 2,000

Phone Numbers: 5

Everything in Free, plus:

• Unlimited email accounts
• 1,000 active leads
• 5,000 emails monthly
• Attachments in emails
• Link tracking
• CSV Enrichment
• Zapier integration
• Priority live-chat support
• Dashboards and Reports
• Custom properties

GetProspect: Growth 5k Plan

Pricing: $99 monthly

Valid Emails: 5,000

Verifications: 10,000

Phone Numbers: 5

All Starter features plus:

• Unlimited email accounts
• 25,000 active leads
• 100,000 emails monthly
• Email A/B testing
• Native integrations
• Team credit sharing

5/ UpLead

Uplead: Free Trial

Pricing: $0 for 7 days

Credits: 5

Free Trial includes:

• Verified Emails
• Mobile Phones
• Chrome Extension
• The Basics: Essential
• Pricing $99 per mont
• Credits 170 monthly

Everything in Free and:

• Verified Emails
• Mobile Phones
• CRM Integration
• Company News

For Individuals: Plus

• Pricing $199 per mont
• Credits 400 monthly

Everything in Essentials and:

• Data Enrichment
• Email Pattern Intel
• Techno graphics
• Advanced Filters
• Suppression List Uploads

Uplead: For Organizations, Professional

Pricing: Let’s talk (Custom)

Everything in Plus and:

• Buyer Intent Data
• All Search Filters
• Full API Access
• Advanced CRM Integrations
• Competitor Intelligence
• Team Management
• Dedicated Success Manager
• Onboarding Specialist
• Priority Phone Support

Which Outreach Tool Should You Consider? My Objective Opinion

Choosing just one tool is always tough, and it was hard for me to decide while writing this text. Nevertheless, I had to choose based on my own experience.

For nearly 2 years, I’ve been working on Apollo.io.

It’s effective, gives a full mailing base, and in most cases, the email addresses provided are correct (which is extremely important!)

Moreover, you can use Apollo as a fully automated CRM for your customer base.

You can easily:

• send emails,
• automate your responses,
• collect & review your prospects and customers.

For me, it’s my number 1 🙂

Alternatively, I use ZoomInfo & GetProspect. Each of these tools is effective, though Apollo.io (in my opinion) slightly outperforms them.

Of course—the final call is up to you.

5/ Customer Support & Resources

I know that customer support is extremely important for SaaS-based tools, but I won’t go into too much detail here.

Each of the above tools has high-level customer support! 🙂

By high-level, I mean:

• Response time is dynamic
• You don’t pay extra for support
• A real human helps you, not an AI robot
• Specialists solve your problem as long as needed
• Communication occurs via email, phone, Skype, etc.
• You can be sure their specialists will solve your problem(s)

Customer support is one of the main pillars of a SaaS-based company. Issues with the service, payments, or other problems are their bread and butter. If you don’t receive support, how would you figure out the problem?

Using several tools, I had the opportunity to speak with specialists from different countries. However, I particularly liked one tool. And that’s why I recommend it here:

Outreach / Email Marketing Tools: Pros and Cons

1/ Apollo.io

✅ Pros: Apollo.io stands out as a top-notch email marketing and outreach tool, providing access to a vast database of business contacts. This data ensures that users can find the right individuals for their campaigns. The platform’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate and utilize its extensive features effectively. What’s also important; this email-finding tool is highly accurate, ensuring that messages reach the intended recipients.

❌ Cons: Despite its many advantages, Apollo.io has some drawbacks. Similar to other tools, Apollo.io lacks clear pricing information on its website, which can be frustrating for potential users. While the support team is helpful, response times can occasionally be slower than expected, especially during peak hours. But it happens with every given tool on the market, no need to be worried about.

2/ UpLead

✅ Pros: UpLead excels as an email marketing and outreach tool, known for its high-quality data. The platform provides accurate contact information, which is essential for effective email campaigns. Users appreciate the ease of use and the quick setup process, which allows for immediate access to valuable data. UpLead also offers a variety of filters and search options, making it easy to find the exact leads needed for specific campaigns.

❌ Cons: On the downside, UpLead’s pricing can be on the higher side compared to some other tools. Additionally, while the data quality is high, the volume of available contacts may sometimes be less than expected in certain niche industries.

3/ Seamless.ai

✅ Pros: Seamless.ai is an email marketing and outreach tool that stands out for its advanced AI-driven data collection. The platform provides users with accurate and up-to-date contact information, making it a valuable asset for email campaigns. Seamless.ai is particularly praised for its automation capabilities, which help you to move forward with the outreach process and save valuable time. The user-friendly interface makes it easy to integrate into existing workflows.

❌ Cons: First thing first: the pricing structure can be complex, with different tiers that may not be immediately clear to new users. Also, the platfom can be a bit more more complicated to understand it at the first time. Behind its complexity stands a very well-developed platform. So everything has its pros and cons.

4/ ZoomInfo

✅ Pros: Companies invest heavily in targeting the right individuals and producing high-quality leads. Yet, even the most effective advertising techniques don’t guarantee that the messages reach the key decision-makers within the desired demographic. ZoomInfo enables companies to access direct contact details of their intended audience, significantly streamlining, if not entirely removing, the extensive effort involved in lead generation.

❌ Cons: The company doesn’t disclose its prices (let’s say that it can be a con) on the website, and even direct inquiries fail to yield straightforward pricing information. That would be it. 😉

5/ GetProspect

✅ Pros: GetProspect is a reliable email-finding tool that supports email marketing and outreach efforts by offering precise and verified contact information. This accuracy makes email marketing campaigns more effective. The platform is easy-to-use, allowing users to quickly find and export email addresses. GetProspect’s handy Chrome extension simplifies the process of finding emails directly from LinkedIn profiles, and its affordable pricing provides good value for the features offered.

❌ Cons: However, there are some limitations to consider with GetProspect. Compared to other tools, GetProspect offers fewer integrations with CRM and marketing platforms. That’s why this better serves as an outreach/email marketing tool than as a dedicated CRM (that’s my personal opinion).

Recommendations: Consider These 3 Features Before Choosing the Right Tool

Currently, you’ll find many similar tools in the market for outreach/email marketing. In my opinion, two of them particularly stand out. Let me explain this to you in detail.

Apollo.io: The Outreach Tool That Will Really Help You to Convert Prospects Into Customers

Whenever someone asks me for a recommendation, I always suggest Apollo.io first.

Personally, I have used Apollo for over two years for both professional and private purposes, and fortunately, I have not been disappointed.

It is a well-developed, effective, and cost-effective SaaS solution. I particularly recommend using it for three purposes:

1/ Gathering Data

Data collection is key. The more data you have, the more effective and easier prospecting becomes. Apollo is really effective in this and almost always provides data with 100% accuracy.

2/ Creating Email Sequences

Creating email sequences is primarily about increased efficiency and work automation. If you contact 100 clients daily, you know how time-consuming it is. Assuming you manage to contact 100 clients in a day, you can now do it within a few minutes with Apollo.io’s email automation.

3/ Apollo.io As Your Sales CRM

Access to data, automation, and precision. This is everything salespeople love (and not only them). Hence, you can use Apollo as your CRM, and you wouldn’t have to choose external CRMs (such as Hubspot, and so on).

ZoomInfo: The Most Developed Outreach Tool on the Market

People say that ZoomInfo is the most developed outreach tool on the market. After testing it and reaching out to my prospects, I understand where this opinion comes from.

ZoomInfo possesses all the features that Apollo.io has and all the other tools combined. It is not only an outreach and email marketing tool, but you can also use it as a CRM for your entire organization.

Salespeople, the marketing team, and even the HR department.

This last department is particularly intriguing.

ZoomInfo allows you to gather data on your potential candidates and organize it appropriately in your CRM. You can access this data whenever you want.

👉 Choose Apollo.io if you’re looking for the right solution to start with.

👉 Choose ZoomInfo if you are looking for a large CRM/Outreach tool for a bigger team (at least 10 people).

My recommendation:

Afterword

I think you now know what the 5 most common outreach tools on the market are.

When choosing the right solution, consider what your actual needs are:

>> Are you looking for an effective and cost-effective solution for starters or to test it out?

>> Are you looking for a solution that your entire team (or maybe your entire company) will use, and money is not a big deal for you?

Once you have an answer to this, you’ll know which solution will work best in your particular case.

I hope this content helps you find the answer, but if you need additional knowledge—feel free to write to me or leave a comment, and I will definitely help.

P.S. I mentioned Apollo.io several times as my #1. Here you’ll find the answer why: Apollo.io Review: The Best Outreach Tool on the Market.

Thank you for reading & contributing!
Simon

Author Profile

Simon Gorlak

Simon Gorlak is a Digital Marketing Expert with over 8 years of experience. He specializes in 3 areas: SEO, Lead Generation on LinkedIn, and Email Marketing. Simon's blog gathers knowledge that helps Marketers & C-level to increase profits from their online businesses. Also, his content helps to reach the most difficult customers, make others' content to be read & purchased. Besides digital marketing, Simon speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish & works as a Head of Business at an Indian Start-up.

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