buying investigative research software

Tips on Buying Investigative Research Software

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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Whether you are running a team of highly skilled attorneys or collections agents, working as a private investigator, or overseeing the local branch of law enforcement, the more efficient you are, the more successful you are.

One of the biggest contributors to success is alleviating busy work and expediting research with the help of software. What’s the best solution? Investigative research software. 

Investigative research software can streamline how you find missing information or skip trace people you are trying to find. By providing access to public and private records, investigative research software gives you billions of points of data, creating a full 360 degree profile of a person. A good investigative research software can actually help increase revenue by saving you time and money. 

In this article, we will review what you should look for before purchasing or signing up for investigative research software.

Simple, transparent pricing


Nobody likes getting surprise invoices or charges at the end of the month that feel like they came out of nowhere. Many public and private records software providers have “hidden” search fees or are unclear with their pricing. The last thing you want is to run a search that has a “no-hit” and then get charged unexpectedly. 

 This is why you will want to work with an investigative research software that provides simple, transparent pricing plans with no hidden fees or surprise invoices that catch you and your accounting team off guard. When speaking with sales reps, talk through pricing plans and options and when using the software, make sure any potential search charges are clearly displayed so you know what you’re paying for before you search.

Vet the data


At the end of the day, when it comes to public and private records software, quality, up-to-date data is key. The last thing you want is to invest time and money into a software only to discover the quality of the data and search results just isn’t that great. 

When choosing a software, ask if they provide a free trial so you can see the quality of data yourself. If you are looking to run batch skip tracing to locate a large number of potential home sellers, ask to have a free test batch to see what they are able to match. A good (and trustworthy) public and private records company will stand behind their data and give you the opportunity to see the quality yourself before signing on the dotted line.

Support from dedicated account managers


Adopting and buying a new software isn’t always easy — and learning how to use it in the best way can be even harder. When purchasing investigative research software, find a company that won’t just treat you like a number and go away after you buy. Searching millions of public and private records can sometimes be a bit tricky and you should be able to get assistance from experts.

The Tracers team has over 20 years of experience in the investigative research software  and data business, supplying businesses large and small with a wealth of investigative resources. With dedicated account managers, our focus is on customer service and ongoing search assistance. We proactively review your searches if they get no hits and call you with tips and advice. And if you have a question or need search assistance, you’ll get an answer — from a real person.

Named a “Top 10 Products of 2020” by TechnoLawyer, Tracers emphasizes peerless data expertise and personal attention for each client under our wing. We also offer ongoing education on the Tracers’ blog or in our e-books like “The Ultimate Guide to Investigative Research Software for Law Firms.” 

Bottom line, you should have access to free support and training from experts before, during, and after you sign up. 

All-in-one search with high volume batch and API solutions


If you’re a large law firm or collections agency that runs a high volume number of searches, you should be able to work with a research solution that can take care of all your search needs. When it comes to choosing an investigative research software, find one that provides single search as well as offers batch processing and batch skip tracing to reduce busy work for high volume searches. 

Sometimes doing individual searches for every person on whom you need to gather information isn’t the most cost-effective solution. Batch processing gives you the same detailed search results as a single search but for thousands of records at once. If possible, find one software that can solve both your single search and high volume search needs. Whether it’s using one user interface or keeping track of expenses, working with one vendor always makes things easier. 

And if you are looking for a more integrated, custom search to connect to an existing software, you’ll need a cloud based API solution so you can access the millions of public and private records directly from your own software/platform. Conducting research typically means switching back and forth between your research software and company software. Tracers offers a proprietary API solution that allows you to integrate your searches into whatever workflow you use, alleviating the need for future switching.

Would you rather work with three different companies or one company that can provide single search, batch and high volume processing and a custom API all-in-one?

Trusted by other software and partners


When it comes to sensitive data like public and private records, you need to have the ultimate trust in any software you choose. If you are an attorney, ask yourself: is the software vetted and approved by any bar associations? Or as a private investigator, you’ll want to choose a public and private records software that has partnered with investigation associations across the country. How many other law enforcement agencies trust this company? 

Tracers has partnered and been approved by multiple bar associations, including the North Carolina Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Knoxville Bar Association, and National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Not to mention, over 2,000 public-safety professionals joined Tracers in the last year alone. We also integrate with multiple legal software partners such as: 

  • Clio, a leader in cloud-based legal technology.
  • Rocket Matter, an award winning cloud-based legal practice management software that helps firms provide better client service and increase revenue.
  • Casemaker, a legal research system that provides federal and state coverage.
  • Casetext, an innovative legal research tool for litigators with award-winning technology that modernizes research with judge written case summaries, intelligent filtering, and AI search functionalities.
  • CLE Companion, a platform for online learning and continuing education for legal technology.
  • Practice Panther, a legal practice management software.
  • Reynen Court, platform that allows corporate legal departments and law firms to speed up their adoption of new technologies and better adopt cloud-based software applications.
  • Many more!

What to look for when buying investigative research software


So, what should you look for when evaluating and buying investigative research software? A lot.

You need a reliable software that lets you choose what records you want to retrieve, investigate with public and private data and uncover missing information left behind by less reliable software.  As we’ve covered, there are a lot of factors you should consider when choosing a public and private records provider.

Tracers is the number one trusted cloud-based investigative and data research software that helps you uncover key pieces of information that can only be found in personal and public records. Tracers is an intuitive investigative research software that offers: 

Ready to start searching? Try Tracers today!