Smart Forms and Inbound Lead Validation

[Jeff_Smith3]

The existing discussions on this topic I've seen are several years old, so I wanted to ask again and see what recent advice is out there. What do marketers use to help them with their form validation and data enrichment? I'm looking for something that will help us capture firmographic and demographic data about a lead as it converts on our website. For example, we don't want to ask for State, ZIP Code, or company size on our forms (in order to keep them short), but that information would be nice for routing.

We currently have DiscoverOrg and do utilize their webhook after a lead gets created, but if we can have the lead self-select their correct company upon conversion, that would increase the number of correct matches and useful data. I feel like trying to get that through the webhook after the fact is less effective. I do understand that DiscoverOrg offers FormComplete (maybe from their RainKing acquisition?), which does some interesting stuff with forms; however, that tool requires you buy into their larger database option (including a required pay by credit situation), which has its own downsides and concerns.

I remember Marketo having this exact form functionality previously (although it doesn't seem to anymore...?), and so I looked up ReachForce, which is now owned by Leadspace. This is what I'm evaluating currently, but I'd really like to know if there are any other options out there.

[SanfordWhiteman]

If Marketo ever did this natively, it was a long, long time ago!

You can look at Clearbit if ZoomInfo doesn't work for you. I've used both... pluses and minuses abound. Happen to detest ReachForce because the way it "integrates" but that isn't a comment on the data quality. I wrote this post on the Products Blog about ZoomInfo, whose principles can be generalized. May do one for Clearbit as just spec'd out a project today.

[Jeff_Smith3]

Thanks a bunch Sanford! I'll definitely check out your blog post.

Yeah, Marketo used to use ReachForce for its forms (webinar reg is what I remember), but you're right that it was probably ages ago and I just haven't noticed the change. Anyway, I'll give Clearbit a look...thanks!

[Melissa_Day]

I've built logic in the past to separate a lead's email domain from their address to match to a company domain, which you could pull from your DiscoverOrg webhook. That said, I subscribed to this thread to see what other information is out there! Data validation tends to be tricky (and expensive).

[cslauson]

We use Ringlead Intelligent forms on our Demo Request forms. When a lead fills out the form and starts to type their company name a drop down will pop up that will let them select their company. When they select their company more accurate firmographics and enrichment can take place. The trouble is you'll need the whole RingLead Suite to utilize this feature, but it is an awesome product that I use for Deduplication on person creation, segmentation, and lead to account matching.

[Jeff_Smith3]

Well, I know you! 🙂

Ringlead is a good tool, but the trouble with so many of these is that you have to have their full product in order to use this one piece that you want. And Ringlead is a bit pricey if I remember.

The SmartForms product by Leadspace sounds like it does the same thing, except you can buy it as a standalone product for $25k annually. However, we may need the lead to account matching technology, too, so I may hold off and see what makes the most sense. Thanks for chiming in my friend!