LeadCrowd vs The World: How We Compare to Other Lead Gen Firms

If you’re looking to buy leads in the financial services sector, whether that’s for mortgages, insurance, pensions, equity release or estate planning, you might have considered using a lead generation firm. But how do you select the most suitable for your needs? This helpful comparison will get you started.

How do lead generation firms work?

Lead generation companies operate in many sectors, however, they are particularly active in the financial services industry. In general, all lead generation companies, ourselves included, sell leads to financial advisers, financial planners and other types of brokers, to save them the significant time, hassle and expense of sourcing their own leads.

However, not all lead generation companies are created equally. There are distinct differences in terms of:

• The type and quality of the leads offered

• Price and charging structure

• Exclusivity of leads purchased

• Flexibility - such as whether or not you’re bound to a contract or have to commit to a minimum leads purchased per month arrangement

Below, we look at how LeadCrowd stacks up against our top competitors in the lead generation space.

Who are LeadCrowd’s top competitors?

There are a plethora of lead generation companies operating in the financial services space, but each have unique methods of operation, pricing structures and lead quality. Here’s how our top competitors stack up against us:

1. Unbiased

Unbiased is known as a consumer-facing website used to source financial advisers or mortgage advisers. However, they also offer the leads generated from their site for sale to IFAs via a monthly contract plan. Monthly membership fees start from £87 for a self-employed individual, with an additional cost for each lead that rises substantially depending on the client's wealth or the mortgage/property value (all plus VAT). They also offer larger plans for regional and national firms.

Leads purchased are exclusive to you, but there is no guarantee of how many leads you will receive per month, this is dictated by your own criteria.

How we compete: At Leadcrowd you are not bound to a membership, we only charge per lead, and you can buy as few or as many leads as you like.

2. VouchedFor

VouchedFor are known as a review website, however they also offer an enquiry service to potential customers. Those members of the public who create a profile can ask specific questions related to their financial needs, which VouchedFor then sells on to IFAs and brokers. They don’t have a per lead cost and membership is £45+VAT per month. However, they do not guarantee a minimum number of leads per month, quoting 8+ additional customers per year.

How we compete: While queries from a review site are likely to have high intent, there is no guarantee that you’ll receive any suitable leads through this service. In contrast, at LeadCrowd our qualified leads are plentiful and available on demand, whenever you need them.

3. Simply Online Leads

Simply Online Leads generate financial services leads on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) bidding model, allowing clients to purchase real-time leads without long-term contracts or minimum order requirements. They generate these enquiries primarily through their own internal PPC, SEO, and social media campaigns, offering both standard data leads and live transfers where the customer is pre-qualified before being connected.

How we compete: While SOL operates a similar PAYG model to us, they don’t offer leads to suit such a wide range of budgets. Our marketplace offers unsold real-time leads at a significantly lower price, which is ideal for newer advisers, or those working part time hours.

4. Lead Pronto

Lead Pronto offers both digital marketing and lead generation services to a variety of sectors, predominantly in home improvements, but with some financial and legal services. They operate a flexible Pay Per Lead model and a Revenue Share option, where they only earn a commission when you close a sale. They use a multi-channel lead collection model, utilising PPC, SEO and social media across each industry.

How we compete: While Lead Pronto offers a flexible opportunity to buy leads, they don’t specialise in financial services leads, meaning they will likely generate fewer relevant opportunities. They do provide mortgage leads, but do not advertise the availability of leads from any other financial sector. On the other hand, we operate exclusively in financial services, providing leads from across the market; from insurance to pensions, and from mortgages to estate planning.

5. Performance Leads

As the name suggests, Performance Leads operate a strictly performance-based lead buying model. This means customers typically pay finders fees only on completed, revenue-generating jobs rather than upfront for advertising. Their approach utilizes a multi-channel strategy using data analytics, A/B testing, and targeted content to identify and qualify audiences before passing them on.

How we compete: While Performance Leads offer strategic regional targeting to help you find the right demographic of customer, we offer a highly granular targeting criteria. This allows you to target a radius of a particular county, and even specific postcode areas, if you’re looking to find leads in a specific area of the country.

6. Lead Tech

Lead Tech offers a far more involved bespoke growth plan, including forecasts and projections for scaling your business, as well as leads, sourced from multiple marketing channels such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads and Bing Ads. They also offer an appointment setting service, using their generated leads to connect you directly with customers.

These services are provided on a contract basis, with different levels of contract arranged bespoke to your needs.

How we compete: While contracts may work for some larger firms, we understand that there are lots of independent IFAs and mortgage brokers operating on a smaller budget. That’s why we provide our leads with maximum flexibility. We don’t expect you to buy a minimum amount of leads per month or even year, they’re just available if and when you need them, 24/7.

7. Online Mortgage Advisor

This brand used to sell leads but no longer operate in this space. We can provide you with the mortgage leads they once supplied, along with other types of finance including bridging finance, protection insurance, secured loans and equity release.

8. Bark

Bark offers leads in a broad range of industries, including financial services. While sign up is free, the leads they send you are neither free, nor exclusive. If you choose to use a lead that is sent to you, you’ll need to pay to unlock the contact details for that lead. However, there is no guarantee that someone else won’t beat you to it, as the lead could have been purchased by any number of people.

Their pricing structure is based on purchasing credits, of which you buy a set number. These credits expire if unused, which is money down the drain.

How we compete: At Leadcrowd we only provide 100% exclusive leads, so you won’t be fighting against multiple brokers for clients that have likely been badgered again and again about the same enquiry. You’ll also only pay for leads you choose, not for credits that will potentially remain unused.

9. Giving Mortgages

Giving operates a similar credits-based model as Bark. They only offer mortgage leads, which are provided in real-time from their own PPC pages across various marketing platforms. However, you’ll need to invest a minimum of £200 for a pack of ‘lead credits’. You’re then able to view information about each lead before you buy, and each is priced at a set number of credits. Once you’ve purchased a lead with your credits, the contact details become available.

How we compete: Our PAYG pricing structure means you won’t need to buy a minimum number of leads or credits to get started. Our mortgage leads start at as little as £30, and there are no minimum purchase limits, you’ll only pay for what you need at the time. We also have leads available across the financial services spectrum.

10. Smarter Clicks

Smarter Clicks focus exclusively on Equity Release clients over the age of 60. They sell their leads at a fixed cost per lead, but offer no transparency on their pricing structure. To find out how much leads are going to cost you’ll need to make an enquiry with them directly.

How we compete: We offer full transparency with both our pricing structure and advertising costs. This information can be found easily on our website, as we believe everyone should have access to full pricing information in order to make an informed decision about using our services. We also offer a broad range of financial services leads, whereas Smart Clicks only serve equity release advisers.

11. Digital Roo

Digital Roo offers a range of financial services leads from mortgages and secured loans to life insurance and Equity Release leads, as well as a range that are less relevant to the field, such as for Solar panels. They operate on a pay per lead, no contract basis and leads are priced according to their respective industry and value.

How we compete: While they offer a similar pricing structure and flexible approach to lead supply to us, we can offer financial leads in significantly more categories within each specialism. For example, while their mortgage leads are limited to remortgage only, we can offer mortgage leads for a wide range of clients, from standard purchase and remortgage through to Buy-to-let, commercial and bridging finance.

12. RMT Direct Leads

RMT provides leads for various areas of the financial services industry, such as mortgages, pensions and FA. They have a tiered membership structure which seems to consist of 3 levels, but further information is not available without making an enquiry. Mortgage leads are sold at a fixed cost, and payment options vary depending on the level of membership you hold.

How we compete: RMT has a fairly convoluted membership and pricing structure, which is difficult to fully grasp without contacting them. It’s also unclear how leads are purchased and delivered on their website. We offer full transparency in both cost, payment and lead delivery specifics. We also operate on a much larger scale, with them claiming to have generated 14,000 leads in total over a 13 year period vs. our 264,000+ in just 9.

13. The Lead Engine

The name is a little misleading here, as this is not a lead generation business. You can’t buy leads directly from them, but they do claim to be able to help you increase the leads you develop organically through your own branded site. Essentially they provide targeted digital marketing advice to financial services firms with an existing brand presence. They would be less suitable for FAs and brokers operating independently who don’t have a large digital marketing budget. There is no suggestion of pricing or payment structures available on their site.

How we compete: It’s difficult to draw a direct comparison to an entirely different service. However, buying exclusive real-time leads from engaged clients vs. putting time and effort into your long-term in-house lead generation plan in the hope of future leads, is a no brainer. Buying leads directly from us when you need them saves time, effort, and likely significant cost, overall.

14. Professional Leads

Professional Leads generate leads in the legal, expat pension, and financial advice niches. They also provide an appointment booking service within these fields. Leads are priced individually, with pension leads starting at £120, and they don’t have tie-ins or contracts. You also need to become a partner and they will create a brand platform for you, allowing customers to choose your business directly.

How we compete: They operate in niche areas of the finance industry, with no mention of mortgage or other property finance lead availability. It’s also fairly restrictive in that you need to be a partner and have a brand platform to use their services.

15. The PPC Machine

The PPC machine operates a similar business model to the Lead Engine, in that they help brands to organically collect their own leads, rather than having them available for sale. They also offer outsourced Digital Managers for your organisation. There are no fees advertised, but they offer a 60 day money back guarantee if you don’t get improved Google Ads results in that period.

How we compete: Again, this is a very different service to the one we offer, so while they help individuals to develop their own leads, they have none available to buy. At LeadCrowd we offer exclusive real-time qualified leads at the click of a button.

16. Financial Advisers

This is a brand that operates another completely different business model, which consists of selling PPC pages on their own site to finance firms. They act as a directory, so list financial services firms for a monthly fee of £30 to help boost traffic to your site through their own adverts and an SEO link back to your own site. They also offer a lead buying membership option through their sister company Performance Leads (see #5).

How we compete: For a more direct comparison, see our review of Performance Leads above, as their service is more similar. When it comes to Financial Advisers, there is no real comparison, as it’s purely a service aimed at improving your SEO performance. While this could lead to future leads, there is no guarantee it will.

17. What Mortgage

What Mortgage is a well known consumer facing brand for mortgage related information. Their focus is to help prospective mortgage borrowers to make an informed decision about the products they choose and where they take advice from. As they do not operate as lenders or brokers, the high intention traffic they create is sold to brands who create a listing in their index of service providers. These can be purchased in packages ranging from £1000 for 3 months (after a 1 month free, but limited trial). The paid subscriptions contain a contact form so that businesses can contact you directly if they land on your listing.

How we compete: This is another one that’s difficult to do a direct comparison for, as it’s essentially just an advertising service. While the annual subscription contains 1 feature listing and banner adverts, there is no guarantee you will secure leads. Our leads are collected for you, qualified, and ready to go. There’s no uncertainty or waiting months to gauge progress.

How to decide which lead generation firm is right for you

This table provides a quick and easy comparison of the main factors most advisers are focussed on when they are looking to buy quality financial leads:

Can’t I just generate my own leads?

Yes, you can of course generate leads for yourself if you have a professional website with strong SEO and a substantial PPC budget. However, this can be costly and time consuming. Lead generation companies usually employ a specialist marketing team and financial writers to produce the right type of web content to attract genuine leads.

As well as the direct financial outlay, such as paying for Google Ads to target specific keywords, there is a level of specialist knowledge required to successfully market a website, especially in a sector as highly competitive as financial service. However, larger firms with an in-house marketing team to generate their own leads may also benefit from using a dual approach, both generating and buying leads, to maximise growth opportunities.

Are you a mortgage broker or financial adviser who needs leads to build their business? Sign up for an account on LeadCrowd for free and begin sourcing the enquiries you need today.