How to Test a B2B Lead Gen and Sales Intelligence Tool for Usability (With Real Queries)

A lead data tool is usable when a stranger can size a list, pull rows and trust the output without asking support. Five checks cover it. This guide runs them against LeadOcean, and each check works on any vendor with an API.

TL;DR

• Run five checks: size, filters, rows, enrichment, export. Score each pass or fail.
• It takes about 20 minutes and spends about 20 LeadOcean records on steps 1 to 4, inside the free 1,000. The export check needs a paid plan.
• A tool that cannot tell you a list size before charging you fails check one.

Prerequisites

• A free LeadOcean key in $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY (start free, no card: pricing).
• curl and jq.
• One target in mind, such as US sales VPs. Write it down before you test.

Step 1: Size the list before you spend anything

Counting must be free and exact. If a vendor charges to tell you how many rows match, you cannot budget.

curl -s "https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/search?count=true&limit=1" \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jobLevel": ["VP"],
    "jobFunction": ["Sales & Business Development"],
    "country": ["US"]
  }' | jq '.meta'

count=true is a query parameter, not a body field. The body rejects unknown fields. meta.total is capped at 100,000, so read the cap before you trust a big number.

Step 2: Read the filters instead of guessing them

Enum filters are exact strings. Director works. director returns nothing. List the allowed values first.

curl -s https://api.leadocean.io/v1/enums -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" | jq -r '.data.enums[] | "\(.name) \(.count)"'
curl -s https://api.leadocean.io/v1/enums/job_level -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" | jq '.data'

Both calls are free. If you work from an AI client instead, the hosted MCP server at https://api.leadocean.io/mcp exposes leadocean_list_filters and leadocean_list_enum_values for the same job. It signs in with OAuth, so you paste no key.

Step 3: Pull 15 rows and read them

One search page of 15 is 15 records. Ask only for addresses worth sending to, then judge the rows by eye.

curl -s https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/search \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jobLevel": ["VP"],
    "jobFunction": ["Sales & Business Development"],
    "country": ["US"],
    "emailStatus": ["verified"],
    "limit": 15
  }' > people.json

jq -r '.data[] | [.profile_data.profile_full_name, .contact_data.contact_current_experiences[0].job_title, .contact_data.contact_current_experiences[0].company_name, .contact_data.email_status] | @tsv' people.json

Search is a flat JSON body, filters are arrays, and limit runs 1 to 100. Page on with cursor. One search pages to 10,000 rows, then meta.depthCapped turns true. Narrow the filters instead of walking further.

Step 4: Enrich five people and count the empty fields

Enrich takes exactly one of linkedin_url, email, phone or person_id. There is no name plus domain lookup, so search first and enrich by person_id.

for id in $(jq -r '.data[0:5][].meta.source_ids.person_id' people.json); do
  curl -s -X POST https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich \
    -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
    -H "content-type: application/json" \
    -d "{\"person_id\": \"$id\"}" | jq '{title: .data.contact_data.contact_current_experiences[0].job_title, past_roles: (.data.resume_data.experiences | length)}'
done

A person we hold nothing for is a 404 and costs nothing. Enrich also returns career history in resume_data: past roles, education and certifications. Past employers carry no company_id yet. Score the tool on how many of the five came back with a current role.

Step 5: Export a small file and open it

Exports are where tools hide limits. Check the ceiling, the columns and the price before you press go.

curl -s -X POST https://api.leadocean.io/v1/exports \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "usability-test",
    "filters": {
      "jobLevel": ["VP"],
      "jobFunction": ["Sales & Business Development"],
      "country": ["US"]
    },
    "limit": 100,
    "preset": "full"
  }' | jq '.data | {id, status, requested, estimatedTotal}'

Poll GET /v1/exports/{id} until status is done, then fetch the file from downloadUrl.

An export takes up to 50,000 rows a request and 500,000 a day. Bulk CSV export is not on the Free plan, so this step needs Solo or above and spends up to 100 records. On a paid plan, the app at app.leadocean.io has an Exports page with a filter builder, a column picker and the record price before you start.

What you get

On 2026-10-21 the free MCP tool leadocean_count_leads returned this for VP, Sales & Business Development, US:

{
  "total": 129494,
  "totalIsExact": true,
  "totalAll": 350517,
  "distinctCompanies": 58121,
  "credits": 0
}

The 129,494 counts people with a verified, catch_all_valid or catch_all email. Without any email condition the same filters match 350,517. Quote the one you mean.

Row-level response shape from the API reference, with placeholder values (not a real person):

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "profile_data": { "profile_full_name": "Jane Doe" },
      "contact_data": {
        "email_status": "verified",
        "contact_current_experiences": [
          { "job_title": "VP of Sales", "company_name": "Acme", "company_domain": "acme.com" }
        ]
      },
      "meta": { "source_ids": { "person_id": "PERSON_ID" }, "fetched_at": "2026-10-01" }
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "count": 1, "nextCursor": "NEXT_CURSOR" }
}

Troubleshooting

FAQ