6sense vs. ZoomInfo: A Data-Driven Battle for GTM Dominance

Finding the right go-to-market (GTM) platform can be the deciding factor in whether you capture leads or lose them to a competitor. However, it’s not an easy decision to make in a market loaded with choices.

ZoomInfo and 6sense are two powerful tools designed to supercharge your GTM strategy, helping teams gather insights, identify high-intent prospects, and engage at the right time.

After working extensively with both platforms, I can say that ZoomInfo thrives on providing vast contact data and lead enrichment, while 6sense offers advanced predictive analytics that helps teams engage with prospects just as they’re nearing the point of purchase. 

In this comparison of 6sense vs. ZoomInfo, we’ll explore how these two solutions stack up in terms of key solutions, data accuracy, user experience, pricing, and reviews so you can choose the one that best aligns with your sales and marketing goals.

Key Solutions

Both 6sense and ZoomInfo offer solutions designed to enhance lead generation, sales, and marketing efforts. While they both promise better engagement and data-backed decisions, how they execute them differs significantly.

6sense Solutions

6sense offers powerful tools specifically designed to help sales and marketing teams collaborate effectively and reach revenue goals. The platform is divided into two main categories:

1. Revenue AI for Sales: This suite helps sales teams prioritize accounts with the most potential, using advanced intent signals and predictive analytics. I appreciated how the Prioritization Dashboards simplified decision-making, giving my team an easy way to see which accounts were in active buying stages. The Chrome Extension also added value by giving us insights directly from platforms like LinkedIn, but there were moments when navigating data on smaller accounts felt a bit sluggish. 
2. Revenue AI for Marketing: On the marketing side, 6sense excels in audience segmentation and campaign orchestration. Audience Building was especially useful for creating tailored segments based on behavior and intent, and the Advertising feature allowed us to deliver targeted ads that resonated with key accounts. The Intent Data provided solid insights into which prospects were actively searching for solutions, but I found the platform’s data refresh rate slow at times, limiting our access to real-time information.

Bonus read: Want to see how 6sense’s features compare to other platforms’ solutions? Read my detailed comparison of 6sense and Demandbase.

ZoomInfo Solutions

ZoomInfo is a well-established player in the B2B data space, offering a range of tools that help businesses locate key decision-makers and act on contact insights. Here’s where ZoomInfo delivers:

1. SalesOS: SalesOS is the cornerstone of ZoomInfo’s platform, helping sales teams identify, segment, and target contacts with real-time intent data. The vast contact database—spanning millions of professionals—makes prospecting straightforward, and ZoomInfo’s ability to provide organization charts helps you zero in on the right people to engage. While I was using the platform, this feature was a time-saver, though it took some effort to navigate smaller company records.
2. OperationsOS: For teams looking to improve data quality, OperationsOS handles deduplication, enrichment, and contact management automation. This feature reduced manual labor across our sales and marketing teams, ensuring cleaner records and smoother hand-offs between departments. The only downside was the initial setup, which required custom configuration for more complex workflows.
3. MarketingOS: When it came to targeting high-value accounts, MarketingOS provided tools for personalized ABM campaigns that drove measurable improvements in conversion rates. The ability to push personalized content based on firmographic data was particularly useful, though the complexity of the platform meant a slower learning curve.
4. TalentOS: ZoomInfo extends its capabilities into talent acquisition as well, with TalentOS helping recruiters connect with top candidates. While this feature wasn’t a major focus for me, it provides valuable insights for HR teams aiming to streamline their recruitment processes with accurate contact data.

Bonus read: Interested in learning more about this GTM platform? Read my comprehensive ZoomInfo review and check out its top alternatives. 

Data Accuracy and Quality

Data accuracy is often the make-or-break factor for GTM platforms, and both ZoomInfo and 6sense perform well in this regard, though with some key distinctions.

ZoomInfo offers an extensive contact database, giving sales teams access to millions of professionals across various industries. While the platform excelled in providing accurate data for large enterprises and widely targeted sectors, I occasionally found gaps in the data when focusing on smaller companies or niche industries. Even though ZoomInfo’s data enrichment attempts to fill in these gaps, there were instances where manual verification became necessary.

6sense, on the other hand, focuses heavily on intent data and predictive insights. Although its contact data may not be as extensive as ZoomInfo’s, the platform's predictive signals more than make up for this limitation. 

IMO, 6sense performed great when pinpointing a prospector’s readiness to buy, allowing my team to engage with high-intent leads at the right time. That said, for niche markets, 6sense’s contact information occasionally required cross-referencing with other tools to ensure accuracy.

User Experience and Support

The user experience can significantly impact how well a team adopts a new tool, and both 6sense and ZoomInfo offer distinct advantages in two crucial areas:

1. Interface usability
2. Onboarding support

Interface and Usability

ZoomInfo offers a functional, if somewhat complex, interface. The sheer volume of features can overwhelm new users at first, but once you get used to the platform, the advanced search filters and customizable dashboards become a breeze to use.

Meanwhile, 6sense features a data-heavy interface with dashboards designed to provide deep insights into buyer journeys. Initially, this felt overwhelming, but the navigation got easier once we got the hang of the layout. Still, I did notice that some parts of the interface could lag, particularly when managing large datasets or building audience segments.

Onboarding Support

Both platforms offer SOLID onboarding support, with minimal differences in their approaches. ZoomInfo provides extensive documentation and access to customer success managers (CSMs) to guide users through the platform. While the onboarding process was thorough, it required extra attention for more complex features like MarketingOS and OperationsOS.

6sense also offers in-depth onboarding with personalized sessions tailored to your team’s specific needs. I appreciated the hands-on approach from the CSMs, who regularly checked in with us during the first few months to ensure we were using the platform effectively. Although the platform’s complexity required a longer onboarding process, its predictive capabilities made the effort worthwhile.

Pricing

Both 6sense and ZoomInfo keep their pricing under wraps, requiring you to contact sales for a custom quote. This approach can be frustrating if you’re looking for quick cost comparisons or need to make a fast decision. Both platforms lean toward the pricier side, as far as I’ve observed, especially as you scale or require access to more advanced features, making them a significant investment for teams with comprehensive needs.

Customer Reviews

After reviewing customer feedback across various platforms, it's clear that both ZoomInfo and 6sense have strong user bases but with some key points of contention. Here’s how the platforms are rated across several review sites (as of September 2024):

ZoomInfo vs. 6sense: Which Platform Is Better for Your Business?

Choosing between 6sense and ZoomInfo ultimately depends on your team's goals and operational needs:

• ZoomInfo excels when you need access to a vast database of decision-makers and robust sales automation tools to help accelerate your sales pipeline. Its advanced search filters and intent data give you the insights needed to target prospects with precision. 
• If your primary focus is on predicting and engaging with prospects at the ideal buying stage, 6sense stands out with its predictive analytics and intent signals, which help you time your outreach for maximum impact.

That said, both platforms have their own challenges. ZoomInfo's learning curve and steep pricing can be a hurdle for smaller businesses (for me, it was a MAJOR downside), while 6sense’s data refresh lag and longer setup time can delay the realization of results.

Despite their strengths, one common challenge I noticed while using both tools was the time spent sifting through data and spreadsheets to find actionable insights. In such cases, having an additional tool can make a HUGE difference—this is where RB2B shines!

Maximize Your Lead Generation With RB2B

While both ZoomInfo and 6sense offer powerful insights, there's still the challenge of filtering through extensive data to find leads ready for engagement. This is where RB2B’s Person-Level Website Visitor ID tool provides a critical advantage. 

Instead of navigating spreadsheets or relying on generalized intent signals, RB2B gives you ACTIONABLE data the moment it’s available, allowing your team to target high-intent visitors with precision. It’s an ideal complement to your GTM platform, ensuring you act quickly on valuable prospects without the usual lag in data processing.

Here’s what RB2B offers:

• Full visitor profiles, including names, profile pictures, job titles, and contact information
• LinkedIn profiles and email addresses for easy outreach
• Instant visitor alerts that show which pages were visited, providing crucial context for follow-up
• Seamless Slack integration, streamlining collaboration across your sales and marketing teams

Best of all, RB2B is fully compliant with regulations like CCPA and CPRA. It focuses exclusively on U.S.-based traffic, so there are no GDPR concerns to worry about.

Getting started is simple:

1. Sign up on the RB2B website
2. Verify your email and provide basic details
3. Add the RB2B script to your website’s header
4. Connect to Slack and start receiving real-time notifications

Ready to amplify your GTM strategy? Add RB2B’s Person-Level Website Visitor ID tool to your toolkit for instant, actionable insights that enable your team to engage high-value leads faster and more effectively.

Keep reading: Still weighing whether to pick 6sense or ZoomInfo? Find out how they stack up against other GTM platforms:

• ZoomInfo vs. Salesgenie
• ZoomInfo vs. RocketReach
• Apollo.io vs. ZoomInfo
• Demandbase vs. 6sense
• Lusha vs. ZoomInfo

Featured image source: Firmbee