In 2023, about 347 billion emails are being sent and received everyday. It's expected that this number will reach 376,4 billion by 2025 😮💨
Over half the global population has an email address - enough to lose your mind, especially when emails are your main prospecting tool. What with obsolete email addresses, catch-alls and Google's new restrictions on mass emailing, a lot can come in between you and your daily prospecting.
Email finders have been developed to face these challenges and have now become an indispensable tool for every Sales and Marketing team.
What's an Email Finder ?
Email Finder, you say?
An Email finder is a tool (either exclusively available on line or as a software) which will search and find one or several email addresses. These solutions are often used in B2B to help professionals create a targeted prospect list.
To help you navigate all this, we've made a list of the top 20 Email finders on the market and we explain all you need to know about Email Finders right below👇
Why you should use an Email Finder
You can absolutely try and find an email address manually. But trust us, once you discover the power of Email finders, there's no going back!
Using an Email Finder to save time
You can search for email addresses manually. A Google search can help you find what you want for instance, or you can visit the website of each company you're targeting and use their contact form. But imagine doing this for each prospect… You do the maths 🧮
Searching on Google can be good when you're just starting prospecting, but you'll go slow and it doesn't mean you'll end up with a valid email address. Even if you manage to find the email pattern of your lead's company, you can't make sure that it's
- valid;
- updated;
- not a catch-all.
Instead, if you're using an Email Finder, it'll save you a considerable amount of time by offering you a faster and more efficient search.
For instance, with Dropcontact, you'll simply need to type the first and last name of the individual you want to contact, as well as the name or the website of their company: 🎉 you now have a new prospect whom you are certain to reach!
With a reliable Email finder, you're saving a precious amount of time for your prospecting that you'll be able to use for what you do best!
Using an Email Finder to become more efficient
The revolution brought by Email Finders doesn't stop at time-saving tasks: you'll also be more efficient when prospecting.
If the single search has its advantages, it's also crucial for you to have a whole list of prospects that you can contact to make sure you're maximizing your conversion rates.
The Email Finders on the market have certainly understood that having a contact database was a key element for Sales and Marketing teams. Several of these tools therefore let you import pre-established lists to their platform.
With your Dropcontact account, you can import an entire list of contacts through any .txt, .csv or .xls file, directly to the platform. Dropcontact will not only give you an updated email address but it will also be verified and validated: you'll then be able to contact your prospects serenely 🙏
And as good things usually come in threes… You'll also have access to your very own API key to create fire automations 🔥We particularly like the Zapier + Typeform + Dropcontact combo which will allow you to find and enrich email addresses without lifting a finger!
Using an Email Finder to gain credibility
Having a contact list will considerably increase your number of contacts and therefore your number of leads! You'll eventually be able to focus on converting them and on your own "je ne sais quoi" that will make you indispensable to your future clients.
So finding professional email addresses is great… but finding up-to-date professional email address is way better. Your bounce rate will decrease and your email deliverability will skyrocket 🚀
This is where the difference between a basic Email Finder and a terrific Email Finder comes into play: if the tool you're using is giving you obsolete or incorrect email addresses, you can say goodbye to your domain reputation! (and yes, incorrect email address can receive messages)
If you're unsure about this, don't worry: we got you 😉
👉 The sheer joy of having verified email addresses
How does an Email Finder work?
All Email Finders are not born equals when it comes to the way they work. Web crawlers and scrapers, databases, iteration sequences, algorithms… Here's a recap on all of these methods:
Email Finder with Web Crawling et Scraping
Web crawling means roaming across the web to collect data: Email Finders using this method will browse websites, social media and online directories to gather and analyze data. They will then be able to provide you with an email address. For instance, Findthatlead works that way.
Scraping is a common method and resembles web crawling. The expression stems from the fact that tools using this method will automatically extract specific data, such as the last and first name of a contact, their current position and their email address. Email Finders using scraping have generally developed an automation system that will either reproduce human behaviour (i.e. bots) or analyse the HTML code of a webpage. For instance, Snov.io works that way.
Web crawling and scraping don't discriminate between public and private data. For this reason, it's rather difficult for these methods to fully comply with the GPDR.
A reliable and efficient way to use scraping is to use LinkedIn boolean search or to create a great combo like Dropcontact + Waalaxy or Dropcontact + CaptainData, for example.
Email Finder with iteration sequences and databases
Tools like lemlist use iteration sequences to find email addresses: a series of stored databases or of other solutions will be searched until the solution finds an email address. A first solutions is consulted, then a second one, then a third, up until the "100% found email addresses" mark is reached.
If all tools do not use iteration sequences, a lot of Email Finders are using stored databases: some solutions will claim having access to hundreds or even thousands of leads, ready to be added to your contact list. There are three types of databases:
- public files and archives, like the information you can get on a government's or public institution's website;
- public repositories, like the International Trade Association's data logs.
- online platforms, like Internet forums, where the consent of users regarding the use of their data is not always explicit.
Using a stored database or storing data yourself is strictly forbidden by the GDPR.
Email Finder using algorithms
You may have heard people throw this awful word around, "algorithm", especially when it comes to what you're seeing on your social media feeds or what determines the number of impressions your LinkedIn posts have generated.
The idea behind an algorithm is simple: in the case of Email Finders, it's a series of instructions meant to search and find the contact information of one or several people.
For instance, Dropcontact's Email Finder only uses "proprietary" algorithms which are 100% GDPR compliant: created and developed by our own team of developers, our super powerful algorithms allow us to avoid using any stored database. Dropcontact also guarantees the privacy of your data: we do not store them or sell them.
What if your Email Finder became a real Swiss Army knife?
Now that you know everything there is to know about Email Finders, you can almost stop there… Yet you can have much more than a mere Email Finder!
A lot of the solutions on the market suggest you add an Email checker or an enriching tool on top of their Email Finder solution. If having verified and validated professional email addresses is essential, we're convinced that a single tool can become a real Swiss Army knife for your prospecting.
Email Finder and duplicate merging
Your contact list is a real goldmine for the wellbeing of your company. If you're working with a team on Excel or in a CRM, your list can quickly become a real hotchpotch, with an unmanageable number of duplicates.
A typing or spelling mistake when you're enter a contact manually, two coworkers working at the same time on the same contact list, a lead giving two different email addresses… There can be several reasons for duplicates in your contact list, and despite using an ordinary Email Finder, you usually come to realize it only when a lead has already been contacted twice.
You're not only losing time, but your credibility with potential clients can quickly plummet as well 😵💫
Dropcontact automatically detects and merges duplicates in your HubSpot, Pipedrive (and soon Salesforce CRM, so that you avoid this type of fatal error.
If you're working with Excel, no worries: we tell you all about automating everything right here 👉 Excel without duplicates
Email Finder with integrated verification and validation
When you're searching for a professional email address, you need to make sure it's valid and verified. That way, you'll avoid tarnishing your domain reputation and making your bounce rate skyrocket. It'll also prevent you from contacting Denis Cohen working at Macy's instead of Denis Cohen working at Dropcontact 😉
Our algorithms (that you now know as well as your childhood friends 💛) automatically verify and validate the email addresses in your contact list. Dropcontact guarantees a 98% email verification rate and a 85% rate for catch-alls.
The small + that makes all the difference? Dropcontact also detects when a contact changes companies!
If your contact has recently changed jobs or if they jumped ships to find a new sailing boat ⛵️, their new information will be directly added to your list (and the old ones will be replaced 🪄). This feature examples best how Dropcontact updates your contact list in real-time.
Email Finder and full data enrichment
Remember the Swiss Army knife? There's more to good prospecting than a simple email address.
An error in your prospect's last name, an unfortunate switch of their first and last name, or worse, a gender mistake 😱… Your email might end up being unread or might even offend your prospect. Exactly the opposite of what your Cold Email should do.
Since we believe that email hyper-personalisation is the key to successful prospecting, Dropcontact will standardize your contact data (capital letters, switching first and last names if needed), will add the title and the URL of your prospect's LinkedIn Profile.
To help you segment your contact list correctly, our algorithms will also add you prospect's occupation. In order to boost your conversion rates by focusing on the companies that would need your services, they will also take care of adding each company's information (industry, LinkedIn page, website…).
You can now prospect like a pro!
