A 2024 In-Depth Review of Apollo.io from a B2B Sales Expert
April 17, 2024. Written by Keli Dantin.
Apollo.io, a multifaceted sales platform, elevates the B2B sales process with its cutting-edge tools for lead generation, email finder, and sales engagement. The platform is designed for a wide array of B2B professionals, such as sales leaders and entrepreneurs, and provides a GDPR-compliant and secure environment.
The evolution of Apollo.io signifies a leap in how sales teams approach pipeline building and cold outreach, supported by its integration with other CMR tools like HubSpot and Salesforce. With notable recognition in accuracy in the B2B data space and a growing user base, it stands as a testament to its effectiveness in the realm of sales automation.
Apollo.io: A Hidden Sales Treasure
Working as a sales and marketing consultant for five years, I’ve seen a pattern. Every new client meeting starts with the same problem – not enough leads. Yet when I mention Apollo.io, I’m often met with blank stares. When I first began my agency, the blank stares made sense as Apollo’s platform was still in its infancy. But today, it’s still quite the revelation to so many.
The ability to find leads to fit any Ideal Client Profile (ICP), obtain their email address, and create an email campaign all from within the same platform is a game changer!
After years of recommending Apollo.io and managing client accounts on the platform, I’ve decided to put my experience into words. Apollo.io offers the best sales support that you didn’t know you needed!
Read on to learn more about Apollo’s key features and functionalities, affordable price, and how it compares to other similar software. If after reading my article you decide to give Apollo.io a try, I would greatly appreciate you using my affiliate link to create your account. They even offer a free trial!
Key Features and Functionalities
Apollo.io stands out as a comprehensive sales engagement and lead generation platform, offering a suite of tools designed to enhance B2B sales processes. Key features and functionalities include:
Comprehensive Database and Prospecting Tools: With over 275 million contacts and 73 million companies, Apollo.io's Living Data Network ensures access to accurate and up-to-date B2B data. Users can leverage advanced search capabilities, including over 65 data attributes for precise filtering, to find ideal leads and engage with buyer intent data for targeted marketing efforts.
As an example, if my target audience is founders of consulting agencies in the state of Louisiana, an Apollo.io search returns 111 leads. And there I am, Keli Dantin Founder of Lavish Sales & Marketing. From here, you can select the leads that match your ICP (or select them all) and click the “access email” button.
Sales Engagement and Workflow Automation: Apollo.io provides an all-in-one solution encompassing contact and account search, lead scoring, sales engagement, and even acts as its own CRM. Its platform facilitates cold emailing, equipped with AI-assisted email content creation, meeting scheduling, and workflow automation to streamline sales processes. If you’re new to cold emailing, Apollo provides many helpful guidelines regarding daily send rate, optimal reply rate, and other tips for how to email like a human and not like a machine.
Integration and Data Enrichment: The platform seamlessly integrates with various CRMs, email platforms, and calendars, enhancing workflow efficiency. Apollo.io's API supports automatic CRM enrichment, ensuring that contact records are kept up-to-date in real-time. Additionally, its enrichment services leverage a data network of over 2 million contributors, offering best-in-class data coverage and quality. You can elect to receive notifications when anyone in your pipeline has changed jobs, ensuring your list is always up to date.
These features are designed to empower sales teams, enabling them to optimize their outreach strategies, manage deals more effectively, and ultimately drive revenue growth.
Pricing and Value for Money
Understanding the pricing structure of Apollo.io is crucial for businesses considering this powerful tool for their sales and lead generation efforts. Apollo.io's pricing is designed to cater to a range of business needs, from startups to large enterprises, ensuring flexibility and value for money across its various plans:
Freemium and Basic Plans:
Free Plan: Offers 10,000 email credits, 5 mobile credits, and 10 export credits per month. While this is a great place to get started, you won’t be able to do much in the means of automation and efficiency with the free plan. Your email campaign capabilities will be capped at just two steps/emails. And while you will gain access to 10,000 email credits per month, you’ll only be able to export a list of 10.
Basic Plan ($49/user/month): Includes 10,000 email credits, 25 mobile credits, and 250 export credits per month. There is no sequence limit with the basic plan, allowing you to create multi-step email campaigns for segmented audiences. For many of our clients at Lavish Sales & Marketing, this is all they need.
Advanced Plans for Scaling Businesses:
Professional Plan ($99/user/month): Also includes 10,000 email credits, but steps up with 100 mobile credits, and 1,500 export credits per month. With this package you’ll be able to utilize more of the CRM features, like creating tasks (reminders) and recording calls.
Organization Plan ($79/user/year, min 5 users): Offers unlimited email credits, 2,400 mobile credits, and 48,000 export credits per year, tailored for larger organizations with multi-member sales teams or those with extensive sales operations. This plan is only billed on an annual basis. And at a minimum of 5 users, would entail a $4,750 annual commitment.
Custom Solutions for Enterprise Needs:
Enterprise Plan: Provides custom pricing to meet the specific needs of large enterprises, including advanced security, custom integrations, and dedicated support, ensuring that businesses can leverage Apollo.io's full potential.
Apollo.io's pricing flexibility is further highlighted by its affordable costs per credit and the high-quality data provided, ensuring businesses receive good value for their investment. With an average score of 8.4 out of 10 based on 197 reviews, 91% of reviewers would buy the product again, and 100% believe it delivers good value for the price, indicating strong customer satisfaction and perceived value.
Comparative Analysis with Similar Tools
In our quest to navigate the bustling world of B2B sales tools, we've meticulously compared Apollo.io against its contemporaries, shedding light on its unique position in the market. Here's a breakdown:
ZoomInfo
Ahhh, ZoomInfo, the industry trailblazer. In my former corporate days, every Q4 I’d slip ZoomInfo into my proposed sales budget and watch it get redlined time and time again. The $10,000+ annual commitment just isn’t feasible for many SMB sales teams. Their pricing isn’t available on their website, which as we all know is the first sign that the software won’t be affordable. Furthermore, ZoomInfo’s lack of additional features doesn’t match up to Apollo.io’s “one stop shop” appeal.
Seamless.ai & Lusha: Apollo.io emerges as a more cost-effective solution with a richer database, boasting verified emails, phone numbers, and over 200 data attributes. Its superior data coverage and accuracy set it apart from Seamless.ai and Lusha, making it a preferred choice for sales intelligence and engagement.
Cognism: Known for its extensive coverage of mobile numbers, Cognism also complies with GDPR and CCPA, serving over 1800 companies. However, Apollo.io's broader data attributes and integration capabilities offer a more holistic approach to sales engagement.
Winmo: A standout for its 98% email deliverability rate and detailed decision-maker mapping, Winmo excels in advertising spend tracking. Yet, for businesses seeking expansive B2B data and integrated sales automation, Apollo.io's offerings remain unmatched.
Hunter.io is the one to watch out for though. With a similar portfolio of diverse product features and comparable pricing, it comes in as a close second to Apollo.io. Read my review of Hunter.io here.
This comparative analysis underscores Apollo.io's unique blend of affordability, accuracy, and comprehensive sales engagement solutions, distinguishing it as a formidable tool in the B2B sales landscape.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Apollo.io is a pivotal B2B sales and lead generation platform, highlighted by its robust features, including advanced prospecting tools, sales automation, and CRM integration. The clear comparative analysis with other tools in the market underscores Apollo.io’s standing as a cost-effective, comprehensive solution with superior data accuracy, integration capabilities, and user satisfaction ratings. These insights aim to guide professionals in making an informed decision, ensuring their sales teams can leverage the best tools to optimize their processes and drive revenue growth.
Considering the platform's significant impact on enhancing B2B sales efficiency and its high value for money, those interested in elevating their sales should explore what Apollo.io has to offer.
If my in-depth review has encouraged you to give Apollo a try, I humbly request that you consider using my Apollo Affiliate Partner link when you sign up. If you’re new to the world of cold email marketing, check out my website for some free resources. Such as, tips for getting started with email marketing and how to ensure compliance with the new 2024 gmail bulk sender guidelines.
FAQs
Is Apollo.io a legitimate business?
Yes, Apollo.io is a legitimate software company. Established in 2015, it has become a leading platform in data intelligence and sales engagement, serving over 10,000 customers ranging from fast-growing startups to large global enterprises, since its inception in 2015.
What industries does Apollo.io include?
Apollo has a very wide array of industries included on the platform’s filtering options, such as healthcare, technology, manufacturing, finance. For a complete list of industry categories, click here.
Where does Apollo.io get its data?
Apollo.io’s data is sourced from multiple sources, mainly through proprietary algorithms that regularly crawl public data on the web. Other sources include a network of data contributors and partnerships with third-party data providers.
How accurate is Apollo.io’s data?
According to Apollo.io’s knowledge hub, their platform offers a 91% email accuracy rate. However, through my own personal experience, I’ve recognized the accuracy rate to be closer to the 80% mark. This is likely due to how tricky it is to accurately determine why an email was returned as unsent.
How does Apollo.io handle data privacy and email regulations?
To ensure compliance, Apollo.io implements data encryption, transparent user controls, and consent management.
Need More Help?
Lavish is a premier sales and marketing agency, with top of the funnel sales being our specialty. Email marketing is the most efficient strategy a business can incorporate to ensure their top of the funnel is healthy. Coupled with an effective lead gen strategy and automation tools like Apollo.io, we’ve helped many clients achieve a consistent stream of new leads. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business achieve top of the funnel success with email marketing. Lavish is owned and operated by Keli Dantin.
