For this Market Leader review, I’ll do a deep dive into pricing, features, and pros and cons to uncover whether or not Market Leader is the right fit for your real estate business.
There’s no shortage of lead generation companies offering paid leads. Many promise qualified leads and big opportunities but may not provide adequate tools to effectively deliver on that promise. Market Leader claims to be the answer to that problem. But is it?
Let’s dig in and find out.
What Is Market Leader?
Market Leader is an all-in-one platform that includes a customizable IDX-enabled website, paid lead generation service, and customer relationship manager (CRM) to manage your contacts and workflows. Market Leader is designed with agents in mind so you almost never have to leave the platform when working your database.
If you’re looking for a platform that includes paid lead generation with all the tools you need to manage, track, and nurture your prospects, Market Leader stands at the top of the industry. It may not have all the bells and whistles of some other all-in-one platforms, like Real Geeks or BoomTown, but those platforms are a lot more expensive and may be out of reach for newer agents. Market Leader offers a lot of the functionality of those more expensive platforms at a much lower cost, making it a great choice for agents as they grow their businesses.
Real Tactics Pro Scorecard
My Take on Market Leader
Market Leader delivers on its unique value proposition providing agents with a predictable monthly volume of leads or your money back. With its customer relationship manager (CRM) and beautifully designed websites, plus a marketing platform so advanced that it could be its own standalone product, Market Leader is making strides toward its goal of being the operating solution for real estate agents.
37 Underrated Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas
A Word of Caution
When I first got into real estate, I absolutely hated Market Leader. I signed up hoping to quickly build my pipeline and get my business off the ground. I came from a sales background, and I was decent at converting leads. But this was way out of my league. I couldn’t convert any of the leads I received, and I blamed Market Leader for my failure. If you check out some of the comments on this review or those on the Better Business Bureau website, you’ll see a lot of agents who probably had a similar experience.
But I now know converting internet leads is a long game and requires more than just a little know-how. Agents who know this and work these leads correctly can leverage Market Leader to build healthy, successful, sustainable real estate businesses with a robust mix of lead sources. But if you rely on a single internet lead source for all your real estate business, you are setting yourself up for failure.
How to Create a Custom Real Estate Lead Generation Plan (+ Template)
The bottom line is if you’re not highly skilled in converting internet leads, this may not be the best solution for you. Internet leads are far less intentioned than targeted leads. Converting these lookie-loos is challenging for any agent, and they typically take longer than a lead generated by any other means. In fact, the National Association of Realtors estimates that the conversion rate on internet leads is 0.4% to 1.2%. That equates to just two to six conversions out of every 500 leads.
If you don’t have the right tools, knowledge, or time to spend working these leads, sometimes for more than a year, Market Leader may not be for you. But if you do decide to invest in Market Leader, taking advantage of their lead conversion training can help improve your return on investment (ROI).
Market Leader’s Pricing
One caveat about Market Leader is its lack of transparency around their pricing. That can be frustrating for agents who are trying to build their businesses on a budget. But when it comes to investment, you actually get a lot for your money with Market Leader.
Here’s a breakdown of the monthly cost and what you can expect to get for your money.
| Plan | Price (Paid Monthly vs. Annually) | Users | What’s Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional for Agents | $189 + $7 to $30 per lead | 1 | IDX-enabled customizable website, CRM, integrated lead generation, marketing automation, marketing center with bulk and direct mail print options, mobile app, training |
| Market Leader Teams | $329 + $7 to $30 per lead | Up to 10 | Shared IDX-enabled customizable website, CRM, shared database, integrated lead generation, marketing automation, shared marketing assets, lead routing, automated lead nurturing, mobile app, training |
| Market Leader Broker Suite | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Key Features
Now that you know what Market Leader has to offer and how much it costs, let’s review some of its best features and how they work.
Real Estate Lead Generation
The Market Leader lead gen approach is simple: Run ads on platforms where your prospects are already spending their time (e.g., Facebook, Google). These ads direct potential sellers to HouseValues.com and buyers to your Market Leader IDX-enabled website.
Of course, this isn’t a new concept. But Market Leader does things a little differently. Before selling you a contract with leads, they calculate the number of leads they can consistently deliver each month based on search volume. Similar providers may use the same approach, but aren’t accountable for the number of leads they actually deliver.
Network Boost
The latest addition to the Market Leader lead generation suite, Network Boost is an integrated Facebook ad service that delivers a lot more leads at a lower cost per lead (CPL). Agents will need to pay an extra $350 per month for access to this program. The company representative I spoke to for this review told me most agents receive more than 40 leads per month, which means the average CPL is $9.
Market Leader experts test everything from images to copy in the Facebook ads they create to ensure you’re getting the best results from your ad spend each month.
Real Estate Website
As we noted in our last Market Leader review, the company’s IDX-enabled websites used to seem like a bit of an afterthought. But the company seems to now fully recognize that they’re an important part of the success agents can find on the platform.
Market Leader’s website designs have IDX-enabled search functionality that will give visitors to your site an experience similar to the one they’ll find on Zillow. They also offer excellent lead capture options that will convert more of your paid and organic leads than the average brokerage-provided website.
Real Estate CRM
The CRM is the sun around which all the other parts of the Market Leader solar system revolve. Your website leads (paid and organic) will populate in Market Leader’s CRM, and it connects directly with the built-in website to record user activity (including properties viewed and searches saved).
Real Estate Marketing
Directly integrated with the CRM, Market Leader’s Marketing Center focuses on three pillars: email marketing, print marketing, and automated follow-up that combine these two options.
Its email marketing includes a ton of templates for typical lead nurturing for buyers and sellers, plus tons of customizable templates for special holiday greetings, birthdays, home purchase anniversaries, and more.
Partnering with Shutterfly, its print marketing options allow direct mail postcard and flyer marketing that can make your real estate farming, door knocking, and circle prospecting efforts a lot easier.
Additional Resources From Market Leader
Market Leader offers a surprisingly robust set of tools for agents, teams, and brokers who want to level up their use of the platform, but also grow their businesses in general. These include collections of scripts, templates, long-form strategy guides, and more with titles like these:
- Email Marketing & Automation
- Guide to Maximizing Your ROI on Old Leads
- Paid Online Lead Follow-up Scripts
Market Leader Review Video Walk-through
Alternatives to Market Leader
Even with all that Market Leader offers agents and teams to grow their businesses, it may not be the best solution for everyone. Agents who are just starting out and don’t have the bandwidth or the budget to spend on internet leads may want to start with a few more proactive lead generation ideas.
Or, if your team has reached more than 10 members, it might be time to invest in a more robust system for your growing crew. Market Leader lacks some important features, like automated SMS texting and a built-in dialer, two components that could be deal-breakers for some teams and brokerages.
No worries, we’ve put together a list of a few other CRMs that might work in either of those situations, as well as a few other options to consider. Each company name below is linked to a review from Real Tactics Pro.
| CRM Platform | Best For |
|---|---|
| LionDesk | New agents or small teams looking for a budget CRM with basic database management features without buying leads |
| BoomTown | Large teams and brokers who need more comprehensive paid lead generation and nurturing systems with sharing tools |
| Top Producer | Agents and teams who want a paid lead generating and nurturing system and a team lead management system |
| Real Geeks | Agents and teams who want a scalable, all-in-one, integrated website and lead generation system with more done-for-you features |
| Follow Up Boss | Agents and teams who want more flexibility to customize their CRM but don’t need a website or lead-buying options |
The Bottom Line: Is Market Leader Worth the Money?
In my view, Market Leader is the front-runner when it comes to an all-in-one real estate lead generation system that doesn’t break the bank. To be clear, it’s not without faults, but the company is leading the way in an increasingly crowded field. Between lead gen, website, CRM, and marketing options, Market Leader offers agents nearly everything they need to operate and grow their business.
So, is Market Leader right for you? Well, it might be if:
- You’ve got a growing business that already has or is ready to integrate paid lead generation into your strategy
- You are dedicated to using a CRM every day to improve the consistency of your contact management and nurturing
- You’re well-versed in lead conversion and feel confident with your success rate
- You’ve got the budget to commit to at least six months of using the system
Market Leader isn’t right for you if:
- You’re just getting started in the real estate business and don’t have the budget or bandwidth to start paying for leads
- You’re not skilled in converting internet leads
- You plan to use something other than the Market Leader website as your primary marketing hub
- You’re a part-time agent and don’t have time to take advantage of all of Market Leader’s offerings
Market Leader probably isn’t the best solution if your business is built on prospecting, cold calling, and other outbound marketing efforts, or for agents who heavily rely on data and analytics. But, if you’re already paying for inbound leads or considering making that leap, you should seriously consider the Market Leader platform for powering up your real estate business.
Start Closing More Deals With Market Leader
Methodology: Why You Can Trust My Review
This deep-dive review of Market Leader isn’t like other reviews you’ll find online. For starters, I am a seasoned real estate professional with real experience finding, vetting, and using technology tools to successfully operate my business. I’ve got practical, hands-on experience and know what works.
I have personally used Market Leader extensively. I put this review together using firsthand experience with the actual tools they offer. Also, I used a weighted rubric to evaluate the CRM offerings of the platform against its competitors to keep things balanced and fair.
You can trust that I’m sharing my unbiased, firsthand account of Market Leader, its resources and usefulness, and my objective analysis, as well as subjective impressions.
Your Take
Have experience with Market Leader? Give us your personal review of the platform! What did I miss in my review? I would love to get your take in the comment section.
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