How waterfall enrichment finds verified work emails

Why a single data source is not enough

Every contact database has gaps. They are just different gaps.

Contact data decays constantly — people change jobs, companies rebrand, domains move, and email formats differ from one company to the next. Any single provider has strong coverage in some segments and thin coverage in others. Query one source and you will find a share of your list; the rest comes back empty, and those contacts are simply lost.

Waterfall enrichment treats that as a sequencing problem rather than a coverage problem. Instead of accepting one source's answer, it asks the next source, and the next, until something verifies.

How the waterfall runs

1. Start with the known contactThe process begins from a person and their company — the output of decision-maker research, or a list you already have.
2. Query the first sourceThe most likely source for that company profile is checked first.
3. Verify before acceptingA candidate address is only accepted once it passes verification. An unverified guess is treated as no result.
4. Fall through on failureIf nothing verifies, the next source is queried, and so on down the sequence.
5. Stop at the first verified resultThe waterfall ends as soon as an address verifies. Later sources are never queried, so you are not charged for work that was not needed.

What it costs in credits

Enrichment is priced in credits, and the rate is the same across plans:

Credits can be split between emails and phone numbers however you like, and plans are billed in steps of 90 credits. Contact quantities are approximate and depend on data availability. Build a credit plan on the pricing page to see the exact monthly figure for your volume.

Unused credits do not roll over on any plan — your balance resets at the end of each monthly billing cycle.

Where it fits in your workflow

Enriching a list you already have

If you have target accounts and named contacts but no reliable addresses, the waterfall runs against that list directly. This is the common starting point for teams moving off a stale CRM export.

As the last step of prospecting

On the agent plans, enrichment runs automatically after Iris identifies decision-makers, so a researched contact and a verified address arrive together rather than as two separate jobs.

Before a calling campaign

Phone-number searches use the same credit pool. Because they cost five credits against an email's 0.1, it is worth reserving numbers for accounts you have already qualified.

Honest limitations

• No guaranteed hit rate. Coverage depends on your market. Enterprise contacts in well-documented industries verify more often than small local businesses.
• Verified is not permanent. An address correct today can break when someone changes role. Verification reflects the moment of the search.
• It does not judge whether you should contact someone. Complying with the marketing and privacy rules in your market remains your responsibility — see our Privacy Policy.

Frequently asked questions