For any sales team, finding the best B2B email list providers is crucial. Good data helps you reach out to potential customers and build a strong pipeline. Bad data, on the other hand, can hurt your email deliverability and your brand.

With so many providers out there, how do you know which ones have the most accurate and up-to-date contact information?

At Persana, we decided to find out. We tested 5 email contact providers using our own set of lead list we imported from Apollo

In this post, I’ll share:

• How we ranked the providers and the results

• Insights on how each provider gets their data

• The cost and special features of each provider

No single provider is perfect for everyone. Instead of picking just one, we recommend using several. Start with Provider A, then pass any remaining contacts to Provider B, and so on.

With Persana, you can easily do this with the waterfall enrichment feature, paying only for the new emails you get. Find out how it works here.

Let’s dive in and explore this important part of the sales process.

Understanding B2B Email List Providers and Their Users

B2B email list providers maintain large databases of business contact information.

This usually includes work emails, but can also include phone numbers, personal emails, and more. Some of the best-known providers are Apollo, Hunter, and others.

Sales teams use B2B email list providers to get contact information for potential leads. Without these providers, finding verified contact information manually would be nearly impossible for most teams.

Who are the best B2B email list providers?

Before we reveal our results, an important disclaimer: each of the providers below is a high quality vendor with unique assets. Do your own research about which provider best suits your target industry and company size.

In our test of B2B email list providers (drumroll, please…) Icypeas emerged as the winner with 72.5% accuracy rate closely followed by Findymail. Here’s the full ranking:

Prospeo:

Prospeo was able to get valid emails of 113 contacts out of 200 contacts.

This gives it a find accuracy rate of: 56.5%

Datagma:

Datagma was able to get valid emails of 104 contacts out of 200 contacts.

This gives it a find accuracy rate of: 52%

Icypeas:

Icypeas was able to get valid emails of 145 contacts out of 200 contacts.

This gives it a find accuracy rate of: 72.5%

Leadmagic:

Leadmagic was able to get valid emails of 133 contacts out of 200 contacts.

This gives it a find accuracy rate of: 66.5%

Findymail:

Findymail was able to get valid emails of 143 contacts out of 200 contacts.

This gives it a find accuracy rate of: 71.5%

How We Tested and Compared B2B Email List Providers

To find the best B2B email list providers, we started with a base list of prospects with valid email addresses.

We submitted each person’s contact info (name, company, and/or LinkedIn URL) to the providers and checked if they found the valid email we had on file. The providers with the highest match rates won our test.

For our tests, we used the same 200 contacts for each provider. We chose 5 B2B email list providers because they integrated with Persana.

Waterfall Lead Enrichment: Maximizing Coverage Across Providers

Waterfall lead enrichment is a strategy for improving lead data by using multiple email list providers instead of relying on just one.

Here’s how it works:

If Provider A can’t find emails for some leads, you move on to Provider B. If there are still gaps, you switch to Provider C, and so on.

This approach ensures you get the most accurate information and broadest coverage for your leads.

Manual alternatives to waterfall enrichment can be inefficient and costly:

• Using only one email list provider might leave gaps in your coverage.

• Running your entire list through multiple providers means you could end up paying multiple times for the same data.

• Trying to replicate the waterfall process manually involves a time-consuming task of uploading smaller CSV files to data providers one by one.

Persana’s waterfall enrichment features streamline this process, allowing you to get comprehensive data from multiple providers with just one click. Visit this link to learn more.

How Do Email List Providers Collect Data?

B2B email list providers use several main methods to gather information. Regardless of their approach, they must validate the data to ensure it belongs to real people.

Email Permutations (Most Common)

Many work emails follow predictable formats. Providers often create possible email addresses by generating variations of common naming patterns and company domains. For instance, they might try variations like rush@persana.com or rush@persana.ai. While this method is straightforward, it can be less accurate.

Web Scraping

Many data providers use web scraping to obtain valid email addresses of prospects and contacts. This technique involves extracting data from websites, LinkedIn, and other online platforms by searching for patterns that include an “@” symbol and a domain name, such as rush@persana.ai.

By scanning various online sources, these providers can compile extensive lists of email addresses. This method, while effective in gathering large amounts of data, requires sophisticated algorithms to ensure the accuracy and validity of the collected email addresses.

How to Choose the Right B2B Email List Provider

As a marketer, it's important to find the right balance between your email volume, accuracy requirements, and budget to select the best provider for your needs. Although one provider may deliver higher accuracy, the higher cost may or may not be justifiable depending on your particular circumstances.

However, no single email list provider can guarantee 100% accuracy, which is why we recommend using multiple providers in a waterfall approach.

That wraps up our first in-house test of data providers! Instead of subscribing to each one individually, you can access nearly all of the providers we tested directly through Persana.

Give it a try and see which works best for you. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact us at contact@persana.com.