Frequently Asked Questions
Questions? We’ve got answers.
Data Integrity
What percentage of residential records contain a cell phone number or landline; email address and mailing address, and how accurate are they?
- Our nationwide residential and commercial record count is approximately 300M & 55M, respectively.
- We have contact information (phone, email, landline) for approximately 85% of these records (8 out of 10 homes).
- Our average, contact coverage across the country:
- Cell phone coverage averaging 40%
- Email coverage averaging 60%
- Landline coverage averaging 30%
- In aggregate, this results in 85% contact coverage within a home.
Does Cole Information offer access to other residential and commercial data in other countries?
No, Cole sources only in the United States.
What percentage of residential records contain a cell phone number or landline; email address and mailing address, and how accurate are they?
- Our nationwide residential and commercial record count is approximately 300M & 55M, respectively.
- We have contact information (phone, email, landline) for approximately 85% of these records (8 out of 10 homes).
- Our average, contact coverage across the country:
- Cell phone coverage averaging 40%
- Email coverage averaging 60%
- Landline coverage averaging 30%
- In aggregate, this results in 85% contact coverage within a home.
Does Cole Information offer access to other residential and commercial data in other countries?
No, Cole sources only in the United States.
Data Types & Sources
Where does Cole source its data?
Our data comes from multiple sources:
- Property data comes from deed offices across the country, including purchase information.
- Contact information and demographic information are self-reported (through various consumer form fills ex: auto warranty).
- Cole does not store or provide its customer’s sensitive data like social security numbers, any form of credit card, or the presence of children under the age of 18 years.
How is the data verified?
- We validate our data through a rigorous, nine-step proprietary process. This process ensures we are providing the highest value prospects to our clients.
- An example of this is how we validate home demographic information. We validate current occupants at the location and remove adult children or seniors associated with the address that are not primary decision-makers.
- In short, we focus on quality over quantity.
How often is data updated?
- On average, we update our database every 90 days.
- That said, data updates vary depending on the data type, so that you won’t see updates on all data fields every 90 days.
- For example, some of our data updates come from deed offices, and some of these updates get fed via API and are predictable, while others are more manual and less predictable.
Why will a past resident still appear attached to an address after they have moved?
- While uncommon, occasionally a former occupant cannot be identified and validated, or an auto VIN connected to the previous owner is still associated to the residence due to certain circumstances like a private sale.
- There are many different family units across the country. People may not always move into or out of a residence simultaneously.
Are Cole customers notified when data has been updated?
With nearly 8M homes being sold each year, we work diligently to track changes that will affect our data, however, we do not notify users when a database update has occurred.
Do we provide absentee-owner information?
We do not provide absentee-owner contact information, however, we do provide a field indicating the number of properties owned by any house’s occupant. This allows you to find people that own multiple properties.
For commercial data, do you provide business owner contact info?
Yes, at their place of business. In the case of leasing properties, we do not currently have the commercial property owner’s information.
Do we provide a Loan To Value (LTV) calculator? If not, is it planned?
- Loan to Value is not currently automatically calculated. However, we do provide the required data in our database to determine LTV.
- This is done through our advanced options, where the relevant fields can be downloaded to Excel, and a calculation can be performed to determine LTV.
Are the addresses verified through USPS?
Yes. Our data is run through USPS address standardization software.
Do you scrub data against the DNC?
- Yes, both at the Federal and State (where offered) registrations.
- Clients can access the DNC flag simply by registering at the FTC DNC and entering their ID, SAN, region, and expiration date within any Cole product.
Do you supply vacant status, distressed property, and foreclosure info?
Not currently.
Do you have expired listings and For Sale by Owner (FSBO) data? If not, is it planned?
Not currently.
Where does Cole source its data?
Our data comes from multiple sources:
- Property data comes from deed offices across the country, including purchase information.
- Contact information and demographic information are self-reported (through various consumer form fills ex: auto warranty).
- Cole does not store or provide its customer’s sensitive data like social security numbers, any form of credit card, or the presence of children under the age of 18 years.
How is the data verified?
- We validate our data through a rigorous, nine-step proprietary process. This process ensures we are providing the highest value prospects to our clients.
- An example of this is how we validate home demographic information. We validate current occupants at the location and remove adult children or seniors associated with the address that are not primary decision-makers.
- In short, we focus on quality over quantity.
How often is data updated?
- On average, we update our database every 90 days.
- That said, data updates vary depending on the data type, so that you won’t see updates on all data fields every 90 days.
- For example, some of our data updates come from deed offices, and some of these updates get fed via API and are predictable, while others are more manual and less predictable.
Why will a past resident still appear attached to an address after they have moved?
- While uncommon, occasionally a former occupant cannot be identified and validated, or an auto VIN connected to the previous owner is still associated to the residence due to certain circumstances like a private sale.
- There are many different family units across the country. People may not always move into or out of a residence simultaneously.
Are Cole customers notified when data has been updated?
With nearly 8M homes being sold each year, we work diligently to track changes that will affect our data, however, we do not notify users when a database update has occurred.
Do we provide absentee-owner information?
We do not provide absentee-owner contact information, however, we do provide a field indicating the number of properties owned by any house’s occupant. This allows you to find people that own multiple properties.
For commercial data, do you provide business owner contact info?
Yes, at their place of business. In the case of leasing properties, we do not currently have the commercial property owner’s information.
Do we provide a Loan To Value (LTV) calculator? If not, is it planned?
- Loan to Value is not currently automatically calculated. However, we do provide the required data in our database to determine LTV.
- This is done through our advanced options, where the relevant fields can be downloaded to Excel, and a calculation can be performed to determine LTV.
Are the addresses verified through USPS?
Yes. Our data is run through USPS address standardization software.
Do you scrub data against the DNC?
- Yes, both at the Federal and State (where offered) registrations.
- Clients can access the DNC flag simply by registering at the FTC DNC and entering their ID, SAN, region, and expiration date within any Cole product.
Do you supply vacant status, distressed property, and foreclosure info?
Not currently.
Do you have expired listings and For Sale by Owner (FSBO) data? If not, is it planned?
Not currently.
Product Use Cases
Is it possible to filter by age?
Yes, we have age and birthdate for adult occupants at the residential address.
What filters and data elements are available to enhance search results?
All filters and data tools are found on the PIQ Tab on all products. We also recommend getting familiar with the Advanced Options to access specific segmentation capabilities.
Why am I not getting anything on my X-Dates Tab?
Some states are non-disclosure states, meaning that the use of deed data for marketing purposes is prohibited and therefore will not appear on X-Dates.
What is the Retriever? What does Bulk Append mean?
Retriever is a tool used by Real Estate agents to obtain contact info of absentee owners or enhance their “sphere of influence”.
Absentee homeowner leads:
Leads for homes where the tax bill is sent to a different address than the property and where a phone number is not available, are obtained from the deed office. Loading these leads into Retriever will provide phone numbers where not otherwise available.
Enhancing your Sphere of Influence:
Retriever can be used to update, or “bulk append” a contact list of everyone you’ve ever transacted with.
What is the Return on investment for the product?
- While ROI varies by customer and industry, we have been successful in the market for over seven decades because we deliver timely information and event triggers that have been proven to increase revenue and improve conversion rates for sales, marketing, and operations teams.
- Most users, rightfully so, are reluctant to share their results. We have many video testimonials published in the Cole Community or on our Youtube channel that can help validate the ROI we’ve consistently delivered.
- Cole’s proven prospecting and data enhancement platforms have been rigorously validated and adopted by several leading brokerages and the largest insurance companies across the US.
Do you have predictive software that shows who will most likely want to buy or sell? If not, is it planned?
- We are currently developing a predictive indicator of the propensity to sell.
- Stay tuned!
Does Cole offer an autodialer?
- We partner with multiple companies offering best-in-class solutions for our customers rather than developing our own autodialer.
- Our integrations are very seamless. On the preview screen, click on your partner of choice, enter your user id, and Cole automatically populates your dialer account with your Cole leads.
Does Cole have brochures or postcards we can use?
- No, brochures and postcards are very specific to industries, companies, and products and should be curated to suit your audience.
How are others using the program?
There are many practical applications for using Cole products, but to ensure success, we recommend you start with the basics.
- Realty Resource:
- Identify the neighborhoods you want to work in.
- Identify the homes listed or sold by any agent. We recommend doing this daily.
- Enter each into Realty Resource and find the neighbors.
- Call and offer a comp showing what their home is worth
- Ask for a listing appointment
- List the home for Sale
- X-Dates
- Identify the neighborhoods where you have had success writing policies
- Every month enter those neighborhoods into Cole X-Dates
- Reach out via mail, email, and phone and offer a quote
- Write new policies
- Neighborhoods
- Identify every residential job site your crew is working on
- Enter those addresses in Cole Neighborhoods and download the 50 nearest neighbors
- Call and let them know your crew is on their street installing brand new (Windows, Siding, Roof, driveway, deck) on your neighbor’s house, and you just wanted them to know you won’t be there long and thank them for understanding.
- Call when the job is done and thank them for understanding AND offer to quote them on new (windows, siding, roof, driveway, deck)
- Write new contracts
Is there a way to connect with another user or other resources about the program?
As a customer you get exclusive content via Cole Community, we also offer a blog that is free for all to access.
Will other agents in my area have access to the same customer data?
- While our data is dynamic and quality, it isn’t exclusive, however, many opportunities exist to differentiate and create prospecting campaigns.
- The key to being more successful than your competitors is to stick to it. Much like going to the gym, every member has access to the same equipment or classes; the key is how much you hustle to see gains.
Do you offer a free trial?
No, but we do offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If, for any reason, you’re not satisfied with any of our products, we will give you a 100% refund.
What type of support is available for users? Is there training?
- For clients considering Cole, we offer bi-weekly demonstrations. Visit our website to register.
- For current clients we have a full-time customer Live Chat support team ready to help you anytime between 8:00 to 5:00 Central Monday through Thursday & 8:00 to 4:00 PM Central Fridays.
- In addition, we have monthly customer Boot Camp webinars, providing tips and best practices.
- And finally, we offer the Cole Community full of video tutorials for you to view on your schedule.
Is it possible to filter by age?
Yes, we have age and birthdate for adult occupants at the residential address.
What filters and data elements are available to enhance search results?
All filters and data tools are found on the PIQ Tab on all products. We also recommend getting familiar with the Advanced Options to access specific segmentation capabilities.
Why am I not getting anything on my X-Dates Tab?
Some states are non-disclosure states, meaning that the use of deed data for marketing purposes is prohibited and therefore will not appear on X-Dates.
What is the Retriever? What does Bulk Append mean?
Retriever is a tool used by Real Estate agents to obtain contact info of absentee owners or enhance their “sphere of influence”.
Absentee homeowner leads:
Leads for homes where the tax bill is sent to a different address than the property and where a phone number is not available, are obtained from the deed office. Loading these leads into Retriever will provide phone numbers where not otherwise available.
Enhancing your Sphere of Influence:
Retriever can be used to update, or “bulk append” a contact list of everyone you’ve ever transacted with.
What is the Return on investment for the product?
- While ROI varies by customer and industry, we have been successful in the market for over seven decades because we deliver timely information and event triggers that have been proven to increase revenue and improve conversion rates for sales, marketing, and operations teams.
- Most users, rightfully so, are reluctant to share their results. We have many video testimonials published in the Cole Community or on our Youtube channel that can help validate the ROI we’ve consistently delivered.
- Cole’s proven prospecting and data enhancement platforms have been rigorously validated and adopted by several leading brokerages and the largest insurance companies across the US.
Do you have predictive software that shows who will most likely want to buy or sell? If not, is it planned?
- We are currently developing a predictive indicator of the propensity to sell.
- Stay tuned!
Does Cole offer an autodialer?
- We partner with multiple companies offering best-in-class solutions for our customers rather than developing our own autodialer.
- Our integrations are very seamless. On the preview screen, click on your partner of choice, enter your user id, and Cole automatically populates your dialer account with your Cole leads.
Does Cole have brochures or postcards we can use?
- No, brochures and postcards are very specific to industries, companies, and products and should be curated to suit your audience.
How are others using the program?
There are many practical applications for using Cole products, but to ensure success, we recommend you start with the basics.
- Realty Resource:
- Identify the neighborhoods you want to work in.
- Identify the homes listed or sold by any agent. We recommend doing this daily.
- Enter each into Realty Resource and find the neighbors.
- Call and offer a comp showing what their home is worth
- Ask for a listing appointment
- List the home for Sale
- X-Dates
- Identify the neighborhoods where you have had success writing policies
- Every month enter those neighborhoods into Cole X-Dates
- Reach out via mail, email, and phone and offer a quote
- Write new policies
- Neighborhoods
- Identify every residential job site your crew is working on
- Enter those addresses in Cole Neighborhoods and download the 50 nearest neighbors
- Call and let them know your crew is on their street installing brand new (Windows, Siding, Roof, driveway, deck) on your neighbor’s house, and you just wanted them to know you won’t be there long and thank them for understanding.
- Call when the job is done and thank them for understanding AND offer to quote them on new (windows, siding, roof, driveway, deck)
- Write new contracts
Is there a way to connect with another user or other resources about the program?
As a customer you get exclusive content via Cole Community, we also offer a blog that is free for all to access.
Will other agents in my area have access to the same customer data?
- While our data is dynamic and quality, it isn’t exclusive, however, many opportunities exist to differentiate and create prospecting campaigns.
- The key to being more successful than your competitors is to stick to it. Much like going to the gym, every member has access to the same equipment or classes; the key is how much you hustle to see gains.
Do you offer a free trial?
No, but we do offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If, for any reason, you’re not satisfied with any of our products, we will give you a 100% refund.
What type of support is available for users? Is there training?
- For clients considering Cole, we offer bi-weekly demonstrations. Visit our website to register.
- For current clients we have a full-time customer Live Chat support team ready to help you anytime between 8:00 to 5:00 Central Monday through Thursday & 8:00 to 4:00 PM Central Fridays.
- In addition, we have monthly customer Boot Camp webinars, providing tips and best practices.
- And finally, we offer the Cole Community full of video tutorials for you to view on your schedule.
Competitive Assessment
How are you different from other Real Estate prospecting platforms like RedX, Mojo, and Vulcan 7?
- There are a few ways Cole differentiates itself from the competition: Cole Information provides 85% of contact information coverage nationwide (phone, cell, landline).
- Cole offers unlimited data download packages for single users, teams, and large enterprises.
- Cole provides a proprietary 9-step data validation process to help ensure high-quality data.
- A billion-dollar legal research company utilizes Cole to validate property ownership to determine property ownership and use. This points to the integrity of our data.
- We are one of two companies nationwide with our data housed in the Library of Congress.
- Large canvassing apps that track storms utilize our technology to accurately predict the storm’s impact, even by hail size.
- Furthermore, Cole leverages 75 years of knowledge and understanding of how our customers use marketing data. We share this knowledge with our customers through testimonials, boot camps, and tutorials within the Cole Community.
- Our Customer Support and Success organization is a true differentiator in our market; we’ve had numerous customers who’ve tried other vendors and have returned to Cole, in many cases due to the expertise of our Customer Support and Customer Success teams.
How are you different from other Real Estate prospecting platforms like RedX, Mojo, and Vulcan 7?
- There are a few ways Cole differentiates itself from the competition: Cole Information provides 85% of contact information coverage nationwide (phone, cell, landline).
- Cole offers unlimited data download packages for single users, teams, and large enterprises.
- Cole provides a proprietary 9-step data validation process to help ensure high-quality data.
- A billion-dollar legal research company utilizes Cole to validate property ownership to determine property ownership and use. This points to the integrity of our data.
- We are one of two companies nationwide with our data housed in the Library of Congress.
- Large canvassing apps that track storms utilize our technology to accurately predict the storm’s impact, even by hail size.
- Furthermore, Cole leverages 75 years of knowledge and understanding of how our customers use marketing data. We share this knowledge with our customers through testimonials, boot camps, and tutorials within the Cole Community.
- Our Customer Support and Success organization is a true differentiator in our market; we’ve had numerous customers who’ve tried other vendors and have returned to Cole, in many cases due to the expertise of our Customer Support and Customer Success teams.
