When it comes to cold outreach, bad data is one of the biggest campaign killers. If you’re using Apollo and not verifying your emails, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Let’s break down exactly why, and how you can turn things around to save your campaigns and protect your domain reputation.

The Problem with Apollo’s Data

Apollo boasts a massive database of 210 million contacts across 35 million companies, and at first glance, it’s easy to believe they’re the ultimate solution for your outreach needs. But here’s the catch: the data quality doesn’t live up to the quantity.

We ran a test to evaluate Apollo’s data accuracy. From a sample of 200 SaaS-related contacts, here’s what we found:

• Apollo provided emails for 125 out of 200 contacts (62.5%).

• After validation, only 74 emails were deemed valid and usable (37%).

That means over 60% of the emails Apollo provided were either invalid, unverifiable, or marked as catch-all (risky emails that will most likely bounce).

Why Bad Data Hurts Your Campaigns

Campaigns need to maintain a bounce rate below 2% to protect sender reputation. Failing to do so risks your emails landing in spam or being blocked entirely.

Here’s why unverified emails hurt your campaigns:

1. Damaged Domain Reputation: Sending emails to invalid addresses increases bounce rates, destroying your sender reputation. With a poor reputation, your future emails are more likely to land in spam folders - or not be delivered at all.

2. Wasted Time and Resources: Crafting the perfect outreach campaign is meaningless if a large portion of your emails bounce back or disappear into the void. Plus building a new email infrastructure adds to your overhead costs.

3. Lost Opportunities: Invalid emails mean missed connections with potential customers and wasted effort.

If you’re relying solely on Apollo’s data without further enrichment, you’re essentially sabotaging your own success.

The Solution: Persana’s Smarter Data Enrichment

To solve this issue, we turned to Persana, a platform that goes beyond basic data scraping to offer 700M+ contacts, 200M+ companies, and insights across 245+ industries worldwide. 

Here’s how it works:

Waterfall Enrichment with Top Providers

Persana integrates with the industry’s leading data providers, including Findymail, Icypeas, Leadmagic, Prospeo, and Datagma. Using a waterfall enrichment process, Persana ensures no lead is left behind:

1. First, it queries the most reliable providers (e.g., Findymail).

2. Then, it moves down the chain to secondary providers to fill in any gaps.

3. Each email is cross-validated to guarantee accuracy.

This method dramatically improves both the coverage and quality of the data.

The Experiment: Apollo vs. Persana

To illustrate the difference, we applied Persana’s enrichment process to the same 200 SaaS contacts we pulled from Apollo. Here are the results:

• Persana identified 158 emails compared to Apollo’s 125.

• After validation, 121 emails were marked as valid—a significant improvement over Apollo’s 74 valid emails.

That’s a 37% increase in valid emails compared to Apollo. The difference is clear: with Persana, you’re getting more leads and better-quality data.

Why This Matters: ROI and Reputation

Investing in reliable data isn’t just about improving email deliverability. It’s about maximizing your ROI and protecting your domain reputation. Here’s why you should care:

• Better Deliverability: Validated emails mean fewer bounces, which improves your sender score and ensures more of your emails land in inboxes.

• Higher Response Rates: When your emails reach the right people, your chances of generating replies and leads skyrocket.

• Cost Efficiency: You’re no longer wasting resources on invalid contacts.

Take Control of Your Cold Outreach

If you’re using Apollo without verifying your emails, you’re killing your campaigns. The good news? You don’t have to settle for bad data.

With Persana, you can:

• Access better data with more coverage.

• Protect your domain reputation.

• Save time and money while increasing your outreach success.

Stop wasting your campaigns on invalid emails. Switch to Persana today and see the difference for yourself. Try our 14-day free trial and experience the power of smarter data enrichment.