You know cold email outreach is a great way to connect with new prospects, build relationships, and close deals. There's just one problem: you don't know who to email.
Sure, you know who you'd like to get in touch with. But you don't have their contact information. We all know emailing generic company email addresses will get you nowhere.
What's a sales rep to do?
In this article, I'll share seven ways to source company email addresses so you can quickly contact the right folks and boost your sales numbers. But first…
What’s the Big Deal? Why Finding the Right Email Address Matters for Outreach
Maybe you're wondering, "Why can't I send messages to the generic emails listed on my prospects' websites? Or use the convenient contact forms they've so kindly provided?"
You can—I won't stop you. But there's a good chance your message will get lost in the shuffle or ignored. Why? Because generic company emails and website contact forms were created to field general inquiries, not super-specific sales messages.
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If you want to generate quality leads and actually make sales with cold email, you need to contact people who have the power to buy from you. And you need to contact them directly.
As a bonus, taking the time to find someone's personal email address shows initiative. Especially if said email address isn't readily provided online. Sales reps who show initiative close bigger, better deals than those who don't.
Double bonus: the personal emails you dig up can be added to a Google Sheets document or your CRM software. You can then use these tools to automate entire email sequences, complete with follow-up messages– which will almost certainly increase your reply rate.
If your sales reps are facing challenges in managing a high volume of leads, our best practices article on technical email setup can help you implement efficient processes.
7 Tips to Find Your Lead’s Personal Email Address
Enough chit-chat; it's time to get down to business. The seven tips below will help you uncover personal email addresses, which you can use to make sales and crush your quota.
(Note: Some of the tips I share can be used to contact non-prospects, too. Maybe you want to get in touch with high-profile bloggers, who can introduce your company to others. Or fellow entrepreneurs, who might be willing to partner with you on future marketing initiatives. The ability to source personal email addresses can help you in many areas of your career.)
1. Ask Your Network
You've spent years building and maintaining your personal network. Put it to work!
If there's a specific person you want to contact, ask your colleagues, LinkedIn connections, social media followers, email list subscribers, etc., if they know how to reach them directly.
You may get lucky. Someone in your network might be like, "Oh, yeah, I know him. Here's his email address and phone number. Tell him I said hi." Stranger things have happened.
Just don't expect this strategy to work every time—or even most of the time. It's a great first step, but in all likelihood, you'll need to deploy the other email lookup strategies below.
2. Google the Lead’s Name
In case you haven't heard, there's this thing called Google, which allows people to run free searches on…well, just about everything.
Want to know who won the World Series in 1969? Google it. Wondering how to bake a chocolate souffle? Google it. Looking to source a personal email address? Google it.
The process is pretty simple:
- Identify the person you want to contact
- Type the person's name into the Google search bar
- Sift through the results Google gives you to find who you're looking for
But what if the person you're trying to contact is named John Smith, or something equally common? A basic Google query like the one described above won't help you much. There will be too many results to wade through. You'll need to narrow your search with modifiers:
- [Full Name] + "Job Title"
- [Full Name] + "Company Name"
- [Full Name] + "Company Website"
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Searching for a prospect's full name in conjunction with their company domain name will usually yield the best results. But your success rate with this method will still be relatively low. Fortunately, I have a few more email search tips, tricks, and best practices to share with you.
3. Use a Site:Search in Google to Pinpoint the Right Email
If a basic Google search doesn't do the trick, try an advanced search using Google search operators. Type the following phrases into the search engine:
- Site:companywebsite.com + [Full Name] + Email
- Site:companywebsite.com + [Full Name] + Contact
It probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: make sure you replace "companywebsite.com" with the actual site you want to search through. If you want to contact someone at Close, for example, you'd type "site:close.com + Email" into Google.
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Now, all the Google results you see will be from the Close website. (Or whatever domain you've entered into your site:search query.) This makes site:search a handy tool.
4. Find Another Employee’s Email and Copy the Format
You're putting in the work but coming up empty. Google just doesn't want to work for you—no matter how many modifiers you add to your queries. Don't worry, you're not out of options yet.
There's a good chance you can find someone else's email address at the company you want to sell to. They might be in the wrong department. Or a low-level employee with zero purchasing power. That's okay. They can still help you in your free email search.
Here's the thing: most companies have a specific email address structure, which they follow to the letter whenever possible. Here are a few common structures I've seen:
- (FirstName)@CompanyName.Com
- (FirstInitial)(LastName)@CompanyName.Com
- (FirstName)(LastName)@CompanyName.Com
- (FirstName).(LastName)@CompanyName.Com
- (FirstName)_(LastName)@CompanyName.Com
Since most companies use the same email address structure for every employee in their organization, you can make an educated guess as to what your target prospect's email is.
Let's pretend that your target prospect is named Amanda Moore. Miss Moore happens to work at Awesome Company Inc., whose website URL is www.AwesomeCompanyInc.com.
While you haven't been able to find Miss Moore's personal email address, you have found the address for a different employee. His name is Greg Jones and his email is gjones@awesomecompanyinc.com. Using this information, you can be reasonably confident that Miss Moore's email address is amoore@awesomecompanyinc.com.
Now that you have this information, you can send an email to amoore@awesomecompanyinc.com and hope for a reply. As long as you write a top-level cold email, there's a good chance that you'll get a response. Pretty cool, right? By the way, our AI-based cold email generator tool is completely free and can help you streamline your outreach efforts.
5. Search For the Lead’s Personal Website
Here's another idea: search for your prospect's personal website, rather than their personal email address and/or phone number. This is a viable option for two reasons.
First, personal websites are easier to find than personal contact details. After all, the website wouldn't exist if its owner didn't want people to see it. Put simply, people often guard their own Gmail addresses like nuclear launch codes, but share their websites URLs like pesky viruses.
And second, personal websites usually feature multiple web pages, one of which will almost certainly be a contact page. I know, I know. I told you not to waste your time with website contact forms. I stand by that. But if all else fails, and the prospect is a perfect fit for the products and/or services you sell, go ahead and send them a message through their website.
You might actually get a response, given the fact that you sent it to your prospect's personal home on the web, and not to the company they work for. Go for it and see what happens.
6. Take a Gander at the Lead’s Social Media Profiles
Now, there's a good chance that you've already perused your lead's LinkedIn profile for contact information. In fact, that might have been one of the first things you did.
But what about their other social profiles? Have you scanned through their Facebook account? What about their Instagram? Maybe you should use Twitter and TikTok to source email addresses, too. Professionals occasionally post their contact info on these kinds of sites to build authority and reinforce their personal brands. It's definitely worth a try!
Wondering how to find a person's social media accounts? Use the process I described above and Google [Full Name] + "Instagram" (or whatever social site you're trying to find them on.)
7. Use an Email Finder Tool
I saved the best option for last: email finder tools.
An email finder tool, sometimes called an email lookup tool, does exactly what you think—finds emails for time-strapped sales reps like yourself who have a bit of cash to burn.
Why is this the best option? Because it's the easiest. You simply type a URL into your email finder of choice and it will spit out every email associated with that domain.
Or download your tool's Chrome extension / Safari plugin, navigate to your prospect's LinkedIn page, and click a button. The tool will then search the world wide net for your prospect's personal email address. Some may even export the addresses they find to a CRM.
Every email finder works a little bit differently, of course. But all of them are designed to help you find valid email addresses in less time. You just have to decide which tool to use…
The Best Email Finder Tools (2024)
There are a bunch of different email lookup services. The Close team reviewed 15 of the best in a recent blog post. I'll give you a quick summary of my five favorite tools here so you can find the right option faster.
Hunter.io
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Hunter is one of the most popular email finders around. Users can easily find email addresses by searching for specific domains and/or individual names. Once an email is found, it can be authenticated using Hunter's built-in email verification service. Hunter is equipped with a simple email marketing tool as well, so users can message leads as soon as they uncover their contact information. Hunter is available via web app, browser extension, and API.
Pricing: Create a free account and search for 25 emails a month. Or sign up for a paid Hunter account for $49 to $499 a month to conduct more searches. Note: Significant savings are available when opting for annual billing.
Lusha
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Lusha is another top-rated email lookup tool. With it, users can quickly find the contact information they need to close deals, including email addresses and phone numbers.
Lusha also allows users to export data to their CRMs via integrations with top tools like Salesforce and HubSpot. One of my favorite Lusha features helps users beef up contact data by automatically expanding CRM records based on data from LinkedIn and other trusted resources. Lush is available via web app and browser extension.
Pricing: Lusha costs between $0 and $79 per user / per month, billed annually. The more you pay, the more searches you can do. You can also access better prospecting features.
GetEmail
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Next up, GetEmail, a web app that helps users find anyone's email address in a matter of seconds. The platform uses big data and machine learning to accomplish this impressive feat. GetEmail also includes email validation, so users never send to bad addresses. Overall, it's an efficient tool that simplifies the often tedious process of searching for emails.
Pricing: GetEmail offers a free plan. If you'd like to search for more than 10 email addresses a month, though, you'll need to upgrade. Paid plans range from $49 to $399 a month.
Voila Norbert
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With Voila Norbert, users can find email addresses for top decision-makers and fill their sales pipelines with qualified leads. Once emails are found, Voila Norbert will verify them to make sure they're valid addresses. The tool also includes a Gmail add-on that "supercharges email productivity." Voila Norbert is available via web app, Chrome extension, and flexible API.
Pricing: To find email addresses, Voila Nobert will cost you between $49 and $499 a month, billed monthly, or from $39 to $399, if billed annually. To verify email addresses, you'll need to pay as you go. Verification packages start at $150 and allow users to verify up to 50,000 email addresses.
Snov.io
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Snov.io is a complete sales CRM and email marketing platform that also happens to have a built-in email finder. As such, it's a great tool for sales reps who want to identify contact information, store said information in a system of record, and then use said information to contact leads and close deals—all without having to switch between multiple apps.
As far as email search abilities go, Snov.io allows users to find emails via individual name, company name, and company domain. It also has an email verification feature to ensure deliverability.
Pricing: Snov.io runs on a credits system, where users spend credits to do specific tasks. The free plan comes with 150 monthly credits. For more, you'll need to subscribe to a paid account, which will run you somewhere between $30 and $3,999 a month, billed annually.
After finding your leads' email addresses, the next step is crafting compelling cold emails that encourage a response. This is where our AI Email Writer tool can be a game-changer. It helps you create personalized, engaging emails tailored to each prospect.
Ready to Improve Your Lead Generation Efforts?
You can't contact leads if you don't have their contact information.
That statement probably makes me sound like Captain Obvious. But salespeople often put so much effort into crafting world-busting email sequences that they forget to think about the addresses they'll actually send their emails to. Don't be one of those salespeople.
Use the tips above to secure valid emails. That way your messages reach their intended recipients. It's the first step towards success with your sales emails.
Ready to dominate your market? Learn how to generate leads with LinkedIn effectively.
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