Finding verified email addresses at scale remains one of the biggest challenges in B2B prospecting. With bounce rates averaging 4.31% across industries (Campaign Monitor, 2023), the quality of your email data directly impacts outreach success. In this guide, we’ll walk through two powerful tools that help build high-quality prospect lists: Apollo and Snov.io.
Why Email Verification Matters for B2B Prospecting
Email verification protects both deliverability and reputation. Poor list quality leads to:
- Bounce rates exceeding 10% (Mailchimp)
- Damaged sender reputation with ISPs
- Increased likelihood of emails landing in spam
Since B2B decision-makers already receive heavy outreach, verified data ensures your emails reach the inbox — where they stand a chance of being read.
Getting Started with Apollo for Email Prospecting
Apollo offers a database of 275M+ contacts and combines prospecting, verification, and outreach in one platform.
Setting Up Your Apollo Search
Success comes from precise filtering, not broad scraping. Use:
- Company size filters (e.g., 50–500 employees for mid-market).
- Geographic targeting (UK regions like London or Midlands).
- Specific job titles (e.g., “Head of Marketing” instead of “Manager”).
Extracting and Verifying Emails in Apollo
Apollo displays verification indicators:
- Green: verified (95%+ accuracy)
- Yellow: probable, needs further checks
- Red: avoid — high risk of bounce
On higher-tier plans, you can export up to 10,000 contacts per month. For best results, export only those with 90%+ verification scores.
Maximising Results with Snov.io
Snov.io takes a more granular approach to email discovery and verification, boasting up to 98% accuracy.
Using Domain Search
Enter a company’s domain to find all associated emails. Results include:
- The email address itself
- Verification status
- Source of discovery
This transparency helps prioritise contacts confidently.
LinkedIn Integration:
Snov.io’s Chrome extension connects LinkedIn prospecting to email discovery. It cross-references profiles against its database and provides verification scores. According to Snov.io, these emails achieve a 96% deliverability rate.
Comparing Verification Accuracy Between Platforms
- Apollo: relies on real-time verification checks
- Snov.io: combines syntax validation, domain checks, and mailbox pinging
Independent testing (G2) shows using both platforms can increase accuracy by up to 15% since each has different data sources.
Best Practices for Maintaining Email List Quality
- Quarterly cleaning: Databases decay at ~2.1% per month (HubSpot).
- Segment by confidence score: Use “high” for core campaigns, “medium” for secondary outreach.
- Monitor performance: Track bounce rates, opens, clicks by data source.
Integration with Your Sales Stack
Both Apollo and Snov.io integrate with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and more. Automate workflows to push verified leads into CRM systems with scoring based on verification status — reducing manual entry and improving sales focus.
Moving Beyond Basic Email Scraping
Email scraping alone won’t maximise conversions. The most successful campaigns use multichannel outreach. At SendIQ, we’ve seen conversion rates increase by up to 340% when email is combined with LinkedIn automation and cold calling.
Apollo and Snov.io give you the foundation of verified data, but quality > quantity. Smaller, highly verified lists consistently outperform massive unverified databases.
Use verified emails as one channel in a broader strategy that also includes LinkedIn, phone, and website visitor identification for maximum impact.
