Why single-provider enrichment fails
Single-provider enrichment commonly leaves significant coverage gaps. You either accept the gaps or pay for a second provider and build your own fallback logic.
Waterfall enrichment fixes this. It tries providers in sequence, cheapest first, and stops when it finds a verified email. You pay for one hit, not multiple misses.
How it works
Step 1: Prepare your list
Create a CSV with the contacts you need emails for:
first_name,last_name,company,domain
Jane,Smith,Acme Corp,acme.com
John,Doe,Widget Inc,widget.io
A Sales Navigator export or CRM segment also works. Deepline reads whatever columns you have.
Step 2: Run a pilot (2 rows)
Find verified work emails for leads.csv using waterfall enrichment. Start with 2 rows as a pilot.
Claude Code reads your Deepline skills and runs:
deepline enrich --input leads.csv --with-waterfall email --rows 0:2
Step 3: Review the output
Each row shows:
- The verified email (or "no result" if all providers missed)
- Which provider found it
- Credits used
Step 4: Run the full list
Claude Code continues with the full enrichment:
deepline enrich --input leads.csv --with-waterfall email
Step 5: Push to your sequencer
Claude Code runs:
deepline enrich --input output.csv \
--with '{"alias":"push","tool":"instantly_add_to_campaign","payload":{"campaign_id":"abc123","leads":[{"email":"{{email}}","first_name":"{{first_name}}","last_name":"{{last_name}}"}]}}'
Works with Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist, and HeyReach.
Adding phone numbers
Same waterfall approach. Deepline routes through Lusha, AI ARK, ContactOut, and Forager in cost order.
Also find direct-dial mobile numbers for each contact. Prioritize mobile over landline.
Providers in the waterfall
You only pay for the provider that finds each contact:
| Category | Providers |
|---|---|
| Apollo, Hunter, People Data Labs, Prospeo, RocketReach, ContactOut, LeadMagic, Dropleads, Lusha, Icypeas, BetterContact, FullEnrich, Forager | |
| Phone | Lusha, AI ARK, ContactOut, Forager, RocketReach, Apollo |
| Firmographics | Apollo, People Data Labs, Crustdata, AI ARK, BuiltWith, TheirStack, Exa |
| Validation | IPQualityScore, Hunter Verifier, LeadMagic |
Cost breakdown
| List size | Credits | Managed mode cost |
|---|---|---|
| 10 contacts | 3-4 | ~$0.30-0.40 |
| 100 contacts | 30-40 | ~$3-4 |
| 1,000 contacts | 300-400 | ~$30-40 |
BYOK mode: $0 platform fee. You pay providers directly at your contract rates.
Who uses this
- SDRs building prospect lists
- RevOps leads cleaning CRM imports
- Agencies running enrichment across client accounts
Deploy as a recurring workflow
Once the one-off works, schedule it:
Deepline wraps the prompt as a scheduled workflow. Run history and billing in the dashboard.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
1What if no provider finds an email?+
The row stays in the output with an empty email field and a note saying which providers were tried. You are not charged.
2Can I customize the provider order?+
Yes. Override with --waterfall-order to specify your preferred sequence (e.g., Apollo, Hunter, People Data Labs).
3What match rate should I expect?+
Waterfall enrichment improves coverage by trying multiple providers in sequence; the lift varies by ICP and region.
