Market Leader Review 2023: Prices, Features, Reviews, and Alternatives
Market Leader is a competitive option for an all-in-one system. They have everything from PPC lead generation, to your more traditional mailers. Many people have loved working with them, but are they the right fit for you?
This review will help you decide if Market Leader’s tools, pricing, and overall product offerings are going to meet your needs. We also uncovered a few things that might surprise you, so stick with me for at least a few minutes.
Quick Summary of Market Leader
Market Leader is a one-stop solution for nearly every step of the lead generation process. You’ll get a website builder, CRM, marketing automation, and more. They’ll bring you leads through SEO, PPC, and social media.
They take a unique approach to generating and engaging leads. With Market Leader your leads are viewed as potential life-long clients, not just a one time transaction. Their CRM and marketing automation tools were designed with this in mind to keep the conversation and relationship going strong even after their first sale with you.
Their CRM will keep you organized with alerts and intuitive features that help you know when to engage leads. A nice bonus is the fact that it is very user friendly and has a good amount of automation to make your everyday life easier as well.
The enticing thing about Market Leader is that you’re guaranteed a certain monthly volume of leads. We’re going to go over how they can do this in this review, so stay with me for a little longer.
Market Leader Features
Like I mentioned before, I think you’ll be pleased with all the features Market Leader offers. The top ones that really stood out to us were their social media leads (Network Boost), exclusive seller leads (HouseValues), Leads Direct, user-friendly CRM, and an enhanced mobile app. Let’s dive into these features and the benefits to you.
1. Network Boost
Market Leader offers Network Boost as an add-on, but it is a very powerful tool in getting the most out of your social media leads. They can bring you 40+ additional leads each month. The great part is, the leads are exclusive and targeted to your local market.
Once they bring in the leads, Network Boost also offers automated nurturing with things like an 18-step drip campaign and listing alerts that meet your leads interests to keep them engaged. Their nurture solutions are done by the digital advertising experts so you don’t have to worry about managing and optimizing your campaigns either, because they handle that too.
I love how Network Boost works. It’s so simple. People looking through their social media in your local market see your ads in their feed. If they click the ad it will automatically populate info in the lead form which gets sent straight to your CRM. And bada-bing bada-boom auto nurture is kicked on, and you only have to step in once the lead is ready to engage.
Bonus – this feature is reasonably priced, so the add-on won’t break your budget!
2. HouseValues Exclusive Seller Leads
Market Leader’s HouseValues for exclusive leads feature is a unique way to increase your seller leads. I love this feature for a few reasons, with the biggest one being that the leads are very motivated.
They capture home sellers through free home valuation offers on HouseValues.com. When they go to get a home valuation they fill out required information which gets passed to you. Think things like, their listing time-frame and more property details. And, the personalized home valuation is generated with Market Leader’s built in CMA tool.
A huge benefit is that the leads in your desired zip codes are exclusive to you. Basically you can own an entire zip code of leads. Plus, you get a guaranteed number of leads a month, so you don’t have to wonder each month if you will be bringing in enough leads to justify this feature in your budget.
3. Leads Direct
Leads Direct will bring potential clients to your branded website by having their PPC ads direct house hunters from Google, Bing, and other search engines to you. A big benefit with this is that you only pay for actual leads. Meaning, you don’t waste your money on the looky-loos.
The leads have to enter their info after they have checked out 2 or 3 of the properties you have showing. All that info goes straight into your CRM so you can get started nurturing them. You’ll also get alerted when you have a new lead.
4. User-Friendly CRM
Something that sets CRM’s apart from one another on the most basic level is whether they are user-friendly or not. Market Leader’s CRM is definitely one that people have less trouble operating.
They have tons of automation and good tracking to help you know when people have been on your site, and what properties they are viewing. It integrates with your website, marketing center (making all that automation successful), MLS, and 40+ lead sources. All that integration takes a lot off of your plate.
5. Enhanced Mobile App
As you know, not all mobile apps are created equal. Some aren’t even helpful if we are being honest, but you won’t be disappointed with Market Leader’s app.
Their biggest focus is speed to lead, which is really important in real estate. Their app gives you real time notifications for new leads along with contact information and additional lead insights. Your reminders are organized so you can easily stay on top of the most important ones first.
They also offer a variety of ways to search through your leads. For example, looking for leads by name may not always be the most efficient, so in their app you can toggle between recent activity or campaigns/groups. Plus, you can reach out to the lead via text or email right from the apps contact section. Don’t worry the emails are synched with your desktop CRM to keep you organized.
Market Leader Pricing
Market Leader is not as transparent as some with pricing on their website, and you do need to speak to their team to really dive into the cost for you and your team specifically. But, let’s go over some of the basics.
For starters, it is one of the more affordable options out there. Market Leader Pro is for individual agents and starts at $139 a month plus roughly $25 per lead based on location. With it you’ll get support, websites, CRM, content library, marketing automation, email and text alert blasts, and their mobile app.
The Market Leader Teams option will give you support, websites, CRM, content library, marketing automation, email and text alert blasts, mobile app, and team performance details. To have all of this for your growing team it will cost a little more per month. In addition to a base package price you want to account for additional fees per team member each month.
- $79 per user for up to 4 team members
- $69 per user from between 5-10 team members
- $59 per user for more than 11 team members
You can get a %10 discount if you go with an annual plan over a month to month option.
Outside of their two main offerings, you can also add on Network Boost for around $350 a month.
Biggest Pros
Now to the good stuff, the benefits of going with Market Leader. The biggest benefits that stood out to me were their marketing automation tools, the lead generation guarantee, and that they’re a more affordable option.
Marketing Automation Tools
Their multi-channel automation tools will truly lessen your workload. In addition to your run of the mill automation most competitors offer, they have automated direct mail options, birthday and anniversary card options for past clients, and robust automation options for each of your listings.
Lead Generation Guarantee
This is one of my favorite benefits from Market Leader that you won’t get with many competitors. Not only are you guaranteed a certain monthly volume of leads based on how many leads you can support, they are exclusive to you. To offer a set amount of leads would lose some of its luster if they were not just for you, so Market Leader knocked it out of the park here.
Affordable Pricing
All of the features Market Leader offers come at a cheaper price than most of its competitors. This is especially beneficial for individual agents starting out, and teams that have a smaller budget to still get some bang for their buck.
Biggest Cons
Even though they have proven to be an overall good product, there are still some things that could use improvement. Namely, a lack of customization options, 6 month contract commitment, and less features than some competitors.
Limited customization
This may not be as much of a con for some agents that are just starting out, but for more seasoned agents the lack of customization to tailor everything to their liking can be frustrating.
6 month contract commitment
A time commitment for a product you’ve never used can be a little daunting for some. Especially when some of the competitors are offering a free trial period to let you decide if they’re a good fit.
Less features than some competitors
While Market Leader will get you everything you need, they don’t have quite as many bells and whistles as some of their competitors. This can be a deterrent for some agents that are looking to take their marketing to the next level with additional features.
No built-in dialer
This could fall under the less features con, but I am pulling it out because a number of their competitors offer this. Since phone calls are integral to real estate marketing, the lack of a built-in dialer means you might have to then partner with someone else that can integrate with Market Leader’s CRM.
Who’s Market Leader best for?
Like all products, Market Leader is better suited for some more than others. Let’s take a look at the people that would get “most likely to succeed” in the year book if they went with Market Leader.
It’s great for individual realtors who are balling on a budget
This is who Market Leader mainly targets their product to – solo agents. It’s more affordable and simple to use, which helps solo agents from a time management perspective.
It’s great for newer small teams looking for a more simple user-friendly product
The user-friendly aspect to Market Leader’s product is a win for newer agents but also teams if they are smaller. Before you can run you have to learn to walk, and Market Leader can help you get ingratiated with all the tools you need as a realtor.
It’s great for agents that want to streamline their marketing with automation to save them time managing campaigns.
With all of the automation they offer, your time can be freed up to focus on growing your business and closing deals, all while Market Leader is still bringing you in leads and nurturing them.
Who’s it not good for?
There are some groups of people that Market Leader will not be a good fit for. If you fall into one of the below categories you should probably take a look at the Market Leader alternatives.
It’s not that great for larger teams
While larger teams can use Market Leader, it’s not necessarily the best choice for them. There currently isn’t as many features to help streamline larger teams workflow, or keep them as organized on the backend.
It’s not that great for agents that don’t want to commit before giving them a try
If you’re a real estate product commitment phobe, and want to really know this is the product for you before signing up, this may not be a good fit. There’s no trial period and you have to sign at least a 6 month contract.
It’s not that great for teams that need more customization or tons of features.
While they’ve got just about everything you need, the lack of features like a built-in dialer, or limited front end customization for your website, are missing from their offerings. If you want these things all in one place they may not be your best bet.
What other users say
Many people have reviewed Market Leader, and it seems to be quite the mixed bag of happy and less satisfied clients. What stood out more was how hard the pendulum swings in terms of the love or hate that users have in regards to their experience with Market Leader.
The people that have had a good experience praise Market Leader’s CRM and how easy their products were to use. Those same users enjoyed the simplicity (others may call lack of customization) of the backend that enabled them to make quick changes.
On the flip side a number of users were unhappy with their lead quality after a while, stating that the set number of leads was nice until the quality deteriorated. They also had issues with the contractual amount of time they had to stay with Market Leader.
Market Leader Alternatives
If you’re in one of the categories of agents that Market Leader may not be the best for, it’s good to know some alternatives that could better fit your needs. There are a handful of other companies whose strengths may be Market Leaders weaknesses and vice versa.
- Top Producer – If you’re looking for a solution that’s better for teams, Top Producer could be a good fit. They offer more customization, but that does come with a steeper learning curve.
- LionDesk – You’ll get a free 30 day trial to test drive LionDesk. They’re also a user-friendly option that’s budget-friendly, but you won’t get a front-end website.
- Real Geeks – While they’re also more tailored to individual agents they do offer more customization, and additional features.
- BoomTown – If your budget is not tight, and you’re looking for a high-end website that integrates with your CRM this could be a good fit for you.
- Sierra Interactive – Here’s another good option for teams. They’ll require a larger budget, but if lots of features and customization are your focus, they could be the solution.
The Final Verdict
Market Leader isn’t one size fits all, but the users it does fit, it fits them well. They are user-friendly and have great automation tools to lighten their users workload. And, while you may not get the level of customization as you would with some other products, you’ll get an effective website and CRM to meet your marketing needs. Plus, their add-on features will bring you even more leads without breaking the bank.
If you are still wanting to learn more about how Market Leader stacks up, you can look at how they compare to other CRM’s or lead gen options. It may also help if you dove a little deeper into their pricing for your specific needs as well.
Sources
About the Author
Jim Gray got licensed in 2013 and sold 57 houses in his first year. Over the next 6 1/2 years he went on to sell 437 homes with a small team. He went on to manage the lead generation department of the 13th largest expansion team at Keller Williams and designed lead generation and conversion systems for 60 agents in 7 locations in 4 states that drove 600 home sales in a 2 year period. Jim currently does real estate team development and coaching for some of the largest real estate teams in the country.
Last Updated: 9/12/2023