If you’re in sales, you know that following up at the right moment can be the difference between landing a deal and being ignored. The problem? Leads visit your site, poke around, and leave—all before you even know they were interested. That’s where Visualvisitor comes in. It identifies anonymous website visitors, tells you who’s lurking, and (if you set it up right) notifies you so you can jump on follow-ups while the lead is still warm.
If you’re tired of sifting through useless alerts or missing key opportunities, this guide’s for you. I’ll show you how to wrangle Visualvisitor’s alerts so you get the info you need, when you need it—and stop wasting time on noise.
1. Understand What Visualvisitor Alerts Actually Do
Before you dive into settings, it’s worth getting honest about what Visualvisitor can—and can’t—do:
- What it does: Tries to match anonymous website visitors to their company and, sometimes, the person (using IP data and other methods). Then, it sends you an alert with the info.
- Where it falls short: It’s not magic. You’ll get some false positives (wrong company, generic ISPs) and incomplete data. Also, if the visitor is working from home, accuracy drops.
- Who it’s for: B2B sales teams, account managers, or anyone who wants to know when a potential customer is sniffing around.
You’re not going to get a list of hot leads handed to you. But used right, these alerts can help you follow up at just the right time—if you set them up to cut out the noise.
2. Getting Started: Setting Up Basic Alerts
Let’s keep it simple. Here’s how to get up and running:
- Log in to Visualvisitor.
- Head to the Alerts section: Usually found in the dashboard menu. Look for “Alerts,” “Notifications,” or “Lead Alerts.”
- Choose your alert method:
- Email: Easiest to start. Sends alerts to your inbox.
- SMS: Good if you’re always on the go, but don’t overdo it or you’ll start ignoring them.
- In-app: For teams who live in Visualvisitor all day.
Pro tip: If you’re just getting started, stick with email. You can always add SMS later if you find you’re missing hot leads.
3. Customizing Alerts So You Don’t Get Buried
Alerts are only useful if they’re relevant. Here’s how to avoid alert fatigue:
a. Filter by Company Size, Industry, or Location
- Set up filters: In the Alerts config, you can usually set rules like “only notify me if the visitor is from a company with 50+ employees,” or “only US-based companies.”
- Why it matters: No one cares if a random ISP from another country hits your site. Be ruthless—filter out anything that’s not your ideal customer profile.
b. Only Get Alerts for High-Intent Pages
- Instead of getting pinged every time someone lands on your homepage, set alerts for key pages (like your pricing page, product tour, or contact form).
- In Visualvisitor, this often means setting “Page Visit Triggers.” Look for a section that lets you specify URLs or keywords.
Real talk: If you get an alert every time someone visits your blog, you’ll tune out the important stuff fast.
c. Set Up Frequency Rules
- Bundle alerts: If one company visits 10 pages in 5 minutes, you probably don’t need 10 separate emails.
- Look for options like: “Send me a daily digest,” “one alert per company per day,” or similar.
- Balance: Too frequent and you’ll ignore them. Too infrequent and you might miss your window.
4. Assign Alerts to the Right People
If you’re on a team, don’t make everyone get every alert. That’s chaos.
- Assign by territory or account owner: Route alerts for East Coast companies to Jane, West Coast to Bob, etc.
- Use lead scoring: If Visualvisitor gives you lead scores, set a threshold so only serious prospects trigger team-wide alerts.
- Shared inbox or Slack channel: If your team prefers, pipe alerts into a shared space so anyone can pick them up.
Pro tip: Make sure someone is actually responsible for following up on every alert. Otherwise, it’s just digital clutter.
5. Integrating With Your Sales Workflow
You want alerts to fit into your day, not interrupt it. Here’s how to do that (and what to skip):
a. Connect to Your CRM
- Visualvisitor offers integrations with common CRMs (like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho). Set this up if you can—it saves you having to copy/paste lead info.
- Reality check: These integrations can be flaky. Test before you trust it fully. Make sure lead data lands where you need it.
b. Automate the Next Step (But Not Everything)
- Set up simple automations: e.g., when a hot lead visits, create a follow-up task in your CRM or send a Slack DM to the account owner.
- Don’t over-automate: Resist the urge to spam leads with automated emails the second they visit. It’s creepy and usually backfires.
c. Use Alerts as a Conversation Starter
- If a warm lead visits your pricing page, that’s a perfect time to reach out (“Hey, noticed you were checking out our pricing—can I answer any questions?”).
- Don’t reference the tracking directly. That’s just weird. Use it as a nudge, not a surveillance confession.
6. Review and Tune Your Alert Settings Regularly
What works on day one might not work a month in. Set a reminder to review:
- Are you getting too many/too few alerts? Adjust your filters and frequency.
- Are key leads falling through the cracks? Maybe you need to add alerts for another product page, or broaden your filters.
- Is your team actually acting on alerts? If not, figure out why. Too many? Not relevant? Tweak accordingly.
Pro tip: If you’re ignoring most alerts, that’s a sign your settings need work—not that Visualvisitor is useless.
7. What to Ignore (and What to Watch Out For)
A few honest warnings:
- Ignore “all website traffic” alerts: These are 99% noise. Focus on buying signals (pricing, demos, contact forms).
- Don’t obsess over single-page visits: If someone bounces after three seconds, don’t chase them.
- Watch for ISP and bot traffic: Visualvisitor tries to filter this, but it’s not perfect. If you keep seeing “Comcast” or “Amazon AWS” as visitors, tighten your filters.
8. Troubleshooting: When Alerts Aren’t Working
Stuff breaks. Here’s what to check:
- No alerts? Double-check your filters—you might’ve set them too strict. Also check your spam folder.
- Getting too many duplicates? Adjust your frequency/bundling settings.
- Wrong company info? This happens, especially with remote workers. There’s not much you can do but be skeptical and double-check before reaching out.
If all else fails, reach out to Visualvisitor’s support—but don’t expect miracles. Some issues (like remote worker identification) are just limitations of the tech.
9. Real-World Tips: Making Alerts Useful, Not Annoying
- Have a process: Don’t just get alerts—decide what you’ll do next. Quick research, LinkedIn lookup, then outreach.
- Time your follow-ups: The sooner after the visit, the better. But don’t pounce so fast you look desperate.
- Track outcomes: If you’re using alerts but not seeing more deals, revisit your workflow or messaging.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Overthink It
Visualvisitor can be a helpful nudge for sales teams—but only if you keep alerts laser-focused, relevant, and tied to a clear action. Start with basic filters, tune them as you go, and cut anything that doesn’t help you move deals forward.
Don’t let the tool run you. Use it to spot real opportunities, act fast, and then get back to work. The best alert is the one you actually use.