Google InMarket Leads: a complete overview

11-MINUTE READ · By Misty Faucheux

Google Analytics has always been an effective tool for determining what your audience is interested in – and what they’re not. As the years have gone by, however, Google Analytics hasn’t changed all that much. Sure, e-commerce reporting was added, allowing us to get more insights into transactions on our site as well as where visitors are abandoning carts and the like. But, it was hard to tell really understand what customers wanted and get deeper insights into overall customer behavior.

Google has released another update to its platform to try and fix this problem. Google now allows you to integrate the Google InMarket Leads data into Google Analytics.

What is InMarket Leads?

Google InMarket Leads is powered by Fastbase, Inc., which is a company that provides extensions that allow you to get more insights from Google Analytics. Fastbase specializes in providing real-time data to companies who subscribe to their products, and this includes providing data on who has visited their website. The tool combines data from Fastbase’s powerful database of information with Google Analytics.

With InMarket Leads, you can see the companies who are looking for something that is extremely relevant to your product or service. Marketers can leverage the tool to build a custom list by searching for different keywords, products or services that you either offer or are targeting. While you won’t get the exact names of people (that would break several privacy rules), you will get information on the companies that are searching for businesses just like yours. When you sign up for InMarket leads, you’ll get the names, email addresses and phone numbers of these businesses.

Google InMarket Leads has effectively captured information on over 130 million companies. Since it is Google, that means that you can get real-time data on all types of searches – about companies worldwide. The platform is being advertised as an alternative to Google Ads because you get leads almost as the searches occur.

How to use InMarket Leads

The extension is extremely easy to use. Just go to google.leadbase.com, and log in with your Google account. Then, put in your search terms within the search box. You can select a location and search period to further narrow down searches. But, this is limited. You can either look for leads within United States as whole or worldwide. You can’t focus on certain areas or cities.

Your search periods are also limited to the following:

• • • 1 month
    • 3 months
    • 6 months
    • 12 months

Once the program has finished its search, you’ll see the number of potential leads as well as a price. Now, this is something that is different than most standard Google products. There is a fee to use this system, and you must weigh this with your other budgetary concerns.

 

If you choose to pay for your leads, you can download them into a spreadsheet. In the spreadsheet, you’ll see detailed company information as well as the keyword that they used to do the search. You’ll get new leads into your inbox on a daily basis.

Currently, Google InMarket Leads is in beta. While the integration is still fairly new, it’s the next step towards making your analytics more meaningful, especially in terms of what you can do with the information. Plus, the real-time data is effective for immediately connecting with a hot lead as soon as possible.

Who should use this tool?

As already pointed out, you won’t get the names of individuals, only companies. This means that this tool might not be very effective for the average B2C company. B2B marketers, however, have already embraced this tool – and they use it often. Sales people can leverage the provided leads, email addresses and phone numbers to target the person most likely to purchase their products or services within the business. While it might take some extra legwork to find the right contact within the company, Google InMarket Leads has at least given you a solid step in the right direction.

Is it worth the cost?

Like any potential paid leads, you need to compare the value of the lead to the ROI. As most marketers know, in-market leads can be very valuable. We know that these people are actively looking for products or services just like yours. If you are able to connect with someone right when they’re ready to buy, then your chances of getting a sale are extremely high. And, with Google’s Machine Learning, then the odds of these leads being quality are also good.

But, then again, nothing is guaranteed. You might spend hundreds of dollars on these names without getting a single conversion. Perhaps, the company that you wound up targeting might have considered your product, yet decided that it didn’t fit his or her needs exactly. You might then be paying for someone who’s already ruled you out. Like any type of paid leads, there’s always a chance that they’re not worth the money.

As mentioned, Google InMarket Leads is being advertised as an alternative to Google Ads. For people who have had issues with getting leads from AdWords (now Google Ads) over the years, this could be a good option. As we all know, the cost per click for Google Ads has increased over the years, and ROI can be difficult with the platform, especially for smaller businesses who might not have the budget to compete with larger companies.

Like I would tell any of my clients if they are interested in paying for leads, I would recommend doing a test. Maybe limit your budget to a max of $200-$250, and then buy a few leads. See how it works out. If you get 1 or 2 converted leads out of a list of 50, then your ROI might be worth the expense. If you don’t, however, then you’ll know whether it was worth the cost. I would never recommend dropping thousands of dollars on potential leads right from the start. There’s just no guarantee with these types of paid leads. It will be interesting to see how effective this is in the future.

About Misty Faucheux

Misty Faucheux is an Integrated Online Marketing Specialist at Faucheux Enterprises and a guest writer for Supermetrics. She is a digital marketer, specializing in SEO, SEM, content marketing/writing and social ads. Misty helps companies develop a cohesive online marketing strategy that directly addresses their overall business goals and objectives. You can find her on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Flickr.