01
Read this first — the honest Terms-of-Service & compliance note
This guide documents a workflow many resellers and solo operators use. It is not a recommendation to ignore anyone's rules, and it is not legal advice. Before you run any of it, understand the trade-offs and decide for yourself.
- Apollo's Terms of Service restrict bulk export and scraping. Pulling contacts out of an Apollo search with a third-party tool can fall outside those terms and, in some cases, risk your Apollo account.
- Data-protection and email law still applies to the contacts you collect and email. In the EU/UK that's GDPR (you need a lawful basis and an easy opt-out); in the US that's CAN-SPAM (accurate headers, a real physical address, honour unsubscribes). Other regions have their own rules.
- Volume and behaviour matter. Sending a small number of relevant, personalised, clearly-opt-out-able emails is a very different risk profile from blasting thousands of cold contacts at once.
- The safe default: keep lists small and well-targeted, always include a working unsubscribe, never email people who have opted out, and check what's allowed in the countries you're emailing. If in doubt, take proper legal advice for your situation.
02
Why people do this at all
Apollo is one of the largest B2B contact databases — it's genuinely good at finding the right people. The friction is the cost of getting those contacts out: native export credits add up quickly once you scale past a handful of lists. The workflow below keeps Apollo as the place you BUILD and target the list (where it's strongest), then exports the same contacts through a cheaper route, and — critically — adds a verification step so cheap data doesn't quietly damage your sending reputation.
03
Step 1 — Build the list inside Apollo (the filter recipe)
Open Apollo's People search and stack filters so the list is small and genuinely relevant before you export anything. A tight 300–500 list of real decision-makers beats 10,000 loose rows every time.
- Country / location: narrow to the exact regions you can actually serve and legally email.
- Industry / keywords: pick the industries that match your offer — don't leave this open.
- Job titles: filter to the decision-maker — Owner, Founder, CEO, Managing Director (whoever signs off on what you sell).
- Verified email: turn the 'verified email' filter ON so Apollo only shows contacts it already believes are deliverable.
- Company size / headcount: keep it small (e.g. 1–50). Smaller companies mean the owner reads their own inbox, so reply rates are higher.
- Sanity-check the result count. If it's huge, your targeting is too loose — add another filter until the list feels like 'people who'd actually want this'.
04
Step 2 — Export the same search the cheaper way
Instead of spending native export credits, you hand the exact same search to a cheaper third-party scrape service and let it pull the rows.
- Copy the web address (URL) of your Apollo search straight from the browser address bar — it encodes all the filters you just set.
- Paste that URL into a third-party Apollo scrape/export tool. These read the same results page and return the contacts as a CSV.
- On pricing: these tools are usually usage-based and far cheaper than native credits — often only a few dollars per batch (for example, some advertise around $3–$5 per export, and marketplace scrapers price per-thousand rows). These are EXAMPLES that change constantly — always check the current price and the tool's own terms before you run it.
- Export only what you filtered. Don't be tempted to widen the net just because export is cheap — a smaller, sharper list is the whole point.
05
Step 3 — Verify the emails (the step that protects your domain)
This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that saves your sending reputation. Cheap exported data always contains some dead or risky addresses; sending to them is how you end up in spam folders or get your sending account suspended.
- Run the whole export through an email-verification tool. It checks each address and labels it deliverable (good), risky/catch-all, or invalid.
- Keep the clean 'deliverable' addresses. Drop the invalid ones entirely.
- Treat 'risky / catch-all' as a judgement call — either exclude them, or send to them slowly and separately so they can't drag down your main list.
- Why it matters: every email to a dead address is a hard bounce. Too many bounces and mailbox providers throttle or block the address you send from. A few cents of verification protects months of domain reputation.
- Note on the good/risky/bad split: any specific percentage you see quoted (including in the course this is based on) is one person's sample, not a universal rule — your numbers will vary by source and niche.
06
Step 4 — Map the fields cleanly into your campaign tool
Now turn the verified CSV into a campaign you can actually send.
- Map the core fields cleanly: first name, last name, company, website, and the verified email — to the matching columns in your cold-email / sequencing tool.
- Keep first name and company as personalisation variables so each email reads like it was written for that person, not blasted to a list.
- Use the website field to add a one-line, specific reason you're reaching out — relevance is what keeps you out of spam and gets replies.
- Warm up and pace your sending. Start with a low daily volume from a healthy domain, include a genuine unsubscribe link, and ramp slowly. Domain-safe beats fast.
07
The one-screen recap
Build tight in Apollo → copy the search URL → export it cheaper via a third-party scraper → verify every email and keep only the good ones → map name/company/website into your campaign tool and send small, relevant, opt-out-able messages. The verification step is non-negotiable: it's the difference between a cheap list that converts and a cheap list that burns your domain. And the honest part stays honest — know the Terms-of-Service and compliance risk, keep volume sane, and decide for yourself.
Get the next drop
New AI build guides + the occasional bonus template. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
By submitting you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms. Unsubscribe anytime.
You're in — check your inbox to confirm.
Frequently asked questions
Is exporting leads from Apollo with a third-party tool against the rules?
It can be. Apollo's Terms of Service restrict bulk export and scraping, so using a third-party tool to pull contacts can fall outside those terms and, in some cases, put your Apollo account at risk. This guide documents the workflow people use — it is not a recommendation to ignore anyone's terms, and it is not legal advice. Read the rules and decide for yourself.
Is cold-emailing these contacts legal?
Email law still applies to anyone you contact. In the EU/UK that means GDPR (you need a lawful basis and an easy opt-out); in the US it means CAN-SPAM (accurate headers, a physical address, honour unsubscribes). Sending a small number of relevant, personalised, clearly-opt-out-able emails is a very different risk profile from blasting thousands. Check what's allowed where you are.
How much cheaper is a third-party Apollo export?
Third-party scrape/export tools are usually usage-based and far cheaper than native Apollo export credits — often only a few dollars per batch. Specific prices are examples that change constantly, so always check the current price and the tool's own terms before you run it.
Why do I need to verify the emails?
Cheap exported data always contains dead or risky addresses. Emailing them causes hard bounces, and too many bounces get the address you send from throttled or blocked. Running every export through an email-verification tool and keeping only the deliverable addresses is what protects your sending reputation.
What is the 'verified email' filter inside Apollo?
It's a filter in Apollo's People search that limits results to contacts Apollo already believes have a deliverable email. Turning it on before you export gives you a cleaner starting list — but you should still run a separate verification pass on the final export.