Question 1

Where does the data come from?

Accepted Answer

Public records: new business license and registration filings from city, county, and state open-data portals — including statewide Secretary of State and Comptroller registries — plus a free technographic check of whether a business already accepts cards. We refresh weekly so the list stays current. No credit-bureau data, ever. When a prospect asks how you found them, you can say you saw their new-business filing in the public record, usually the Secretary of State.

Question 2

How fresh are the leads?

Accepted Answer

Every lead is either about to open or opened within the last few months, inside the new-account window. The list is refreshed weekly from the latest public filings, so you are not working a stale list.

Question 3

How much does Merchant Signal cost?

Accepted Answer

Start free with one full ZIP, no card. After that you pay for the ZIPs you work: Local is $49/mo for a few ZIPs, Territory is $129/mo for up to ten, and Exclusive is $99/mo to lock a single ZIP to you alone. Every plan surfaces the best-scored new merchants first, with a phone number on the leads in our verified markets. The pricing page has the full ladder.

Question 4

Does Merchant Signal include phone numbers?

Accepted Answer

In our verified markets, yes. Every lead ships with the business phone number as it appears on the public filing. In records-only markets you get the fresh public-records lead (business name, address, vertical, SIC code, why-now) and append phone and email with your own enrichment account. The pricing page lists which markets are verified and which are records-only.

Question 5

Which enrichment tools work with this?

Accepted Answer

Bring whichever one you already use. Apollo, Clay, and Hunter are the usual picks for business contacts and email, and DataZapp is worth a look if you want phone and owner data appended off a name and address, including a line-type and Do-Not-Call check. We are not affiliated with any of them, we take no cut, and we do not resell their data. You keep your own account and your own credits, which is cheaper than paying us to mark up contact data you can source yourself. Whatever you use, the compliance side stays yours: scrub for Do-Not-Call and TCPA before you dial, and be aware that an appended personal cell is a different animal from a business number off a public filing.

Question 6

Do you scrub numbers against the Do-Not-Call registry?

Accepted Answer

No. We give you the business phone number from the public filing and nothing more, so treat every list as unscrubbed. Do-Not-Call and TCPA compliance is yours to run before you dial, using whatever scrubbing service you already use. We would rather say that plainly than let you assume a check happened that did not.

Question 7

How many leads do I get?

Accepted Answer

Start free and one full ZIP is yours. On the ZIP ladder you unlock the best-scored new businesses in the ZIPs you work — up to about 60 a month on Local and up to 200 on Territory, always the highest-scoring first. Go Exclusive to lock a ZIP to just you.

Question 8

Does each lead include an industry code?

Accepted Answer

Wherever the source provides it, every lead is tagged with an SIC industry code (and the underlying NAICS). That lets you filter to exactly the verticals you sell, and it speaks the same industry language insurers and financial partners already use. Some statewide registration feeds list only the business name and address, so those leads may not carry a code.

Question 9

Can I use a market that has no phone numbers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our verified markets ship with a phone number on every lead. The rest are enrich-yourself: we surface the fresh, scored new-business records from public filings (business name, address, vertical, SIC code, why-now), and you append phone and email with your own Apollo, Clay, Hunter, or DataZapp account. That gives you nationwide reach without paying us for contact data you can source on your own credits. The pricing page lists every current verified and enrich market.

Question 10

What does the free account include?

Accepted Answer

A free account unlocks one full ZIP with everything a paid plan shows for that ZIP: business names, scores, and a plain-English why-now, with a phone number on every lead if your ZIP is in one of our verified phone markets, or the fresh public records to enrich yourself if it is an enrich market. No card required. It is the complete experience on a smaller footprint, so you can judge the data quality before you ever pay.

Question 11

What is in a lead?

Accepted Answer

Business name and city, its vertical and SIC industry code, how new it is, a score band, a plain-English why-now, and, in verified markets, the business phone number from the filing. In enrich-yourself markets, a contactability flag tells you to append the phone and email. Paid plans add CSV export and unlock more of the ZIPs you work.

Question 12

Which areas are covered?

Accepted Answer

Coverage spans dozens of markets across many states, live now and growing every week, in two tiers. Verified markets ship a phone number on every lead. Enrich-yourself markets (public records, you add contact) give you the fresh, scored new-business records to append your own phone and email. Each market is named for the jurisdiction whose filings it actually carries, so a market called Mesa is Mesa's business licenses and not the wider metro. The pricing page lists every current market in each tier, so it always reflects exactly what's live. Don't see your market yet? Start with a live one or ask us about your area.

Question 13

What if a lead's phone or address is wrong?

Accepted Answer

We build every lead from public records and refresh weekly, so accuracy is high, but no list is perfect. Spot a wrong number or a bad address? Flag it and we credit it back. You are never charged for a lead we got wrong.

Question 14

Do I get the ZIP code exclusively?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with the Exclusive ZIP plan. For $99/mo per ZIP you lock a ZIP code to just you — while you hold it, no other rep can subscribe to that ZIP or see its leads. Our shared plans — Free, Local, and Territory — let more than one rep work the same area, the same as most lead sources. Want a ZIP to yourself? Choose Exclusive on the pricing page.

Question 15

Is it compliant to use?

Accepted Answer

Every lead is built from public records. You own your outreach, including Do-Not-Call and TCPA scrubbing, which we do not do for you. Check your list before you call or message.

Question 16

Can I export the list?

Accepted Answer

Yes. CSV export is included on every paid plan and contains the same leads you can see, up to your plan's monthly cap. API access is on the roadmap for the Agency tier.

Where Merchant Signal is live

Verified markets · phone on every lead

Records-only markets · you add the contact