Lead Data Enrichment Basics with Zapier

I remember my first week as a sales development rep, spending 15 minutes researching each lead before making a call—finding company size on LinkedIn, checking for funding on Crunchbase, hunting for direct dials on Hunter.io. By the time I finished research, I could make maybe 20 calls per day.

Then our RevOps manager set up automated enrichment in Zapier. Suddenly, every lead in my queue arrived with complete company data, verified email formats, social profiles, and technographic information. My calls per day jumped to 60+, and more importantly, my conversations improved because I actually knew who I was talking to.

That’s the power of lead enrichment—transforming bare email addresses into rich, actionable intelligence.

Why Manual Lead Research Doesn’t Scale

The Time Sink Researching each lead manually takes 10-15 minutes. At scale, that’s hundreds of hours per month that could be spent on actual selling.

The Inconsistency Problem Different reps research different things. One checks LinkedIn, another checks Crunchbase, another skips research entirely. This creates data quality chaos in your CRM.

The Staleness Issue Manual research is a snapshot in time. Company info changes—acquisitions, funding rounds, headcount growth—but manually-entered data never updates.

What Is Lead Enrichment?

Lead enrichment automatically appends additional data to incoming leads using third-party data providers. You start with minimal information (typically just an email address or company domain) and end with:

Firmographic Data:

• Company name and legal entity
• Industry and sub-industry
• Employee count and growth rate
• Revenue range
• Founded date
• Headquarters location

Contact Data:

• Full name (if only email provided)
• Job title and seniority level
• Department
• Phone number
• Social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter)

Technographic Data:

• Technologies used (CRM, marketing automation, etc.)
• Tech stack categories
• Recent technology changes

Intent Data:

• Recent funding rounds
• Job openings
• Website visitor behavior
• Social media activity

Building Your First Enrichment Zap

Zap Structure

Trigger: New Lead in CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.)
  ↓
Action: Clearbit Enrichment (Company + Person)
  ↓
Action: Update CRM Record with Enriched Data
  ↓
Action: Slack Notification (if high-value lead)

Step 1: Set Up the Trigger

Trigger: HubSpot - New Contact

App: HubSpot
Trigger: New Contact
Filters:
  - Lifecycle Stage = "Lead"
  - Data Enrichment Status ≠ "Complete"

This ensures you only enrich new leads that haven’t been enriched yet.

Test Data:

{
  "email": "john.smith@acme.com",
  "firstname": "John",
  "lastname": "Smith",
  "company": "",
  "jobtitle": ""
}

Step 2: Clearbit Enrichment

App: Clearbit by Zapier

Clearbit provides the most comprehensive enrichment data. While it’s premium-priced ($1-2 per lookup), it’s the gold standard for data quality.

Action: Find Person

Email: {{trigger.email}}

Output Fields to Map:
  - Full Name
  - Job Title
  - Seniority Level
  - Department (Role)
  - LinkedIn URL
  - Twitter Handle
  - Company Domain

Action: Find Company (using person’s domain)

Domain: {{clearbit_person.employment.domain}}

Output Fields to Map:
  - Company Name
  - Industry
  - Employee Count
  - Employee Count Category (SMB/Mid-Market/Enterprise)
  - Founded Year
  - Location (City, State, Country)
  - Website
  - Description
  - Logo URL
  - LinkedIn Company URL
  - Estimated Annual Revenue
  - Tech Stack (tags)

Step 3: Hunter.io Email Verification (Budget Alternative)

If Clearbit is too expensive, use Hunter.io for basic enrichment:

App: Hunter by Zapier

Action: Email Finder

Domain: {{emailDomain(trigger.email)}}
First Name: {{trigger.firstname}}
Last Name: {{trigger.lastname}}

Returns:
  - Email (verified)
  - Confidence Score
  - Sources

Action: Domain Search (Company Info)

Domain: {{emailDomain(trigger.email)}}

Returns:
  - Company Name
  - Pattern (email format)
  - Organization Type

Cost: $0.04 per lookup vs. Clearbit’s $1.50

Step 4: FullContact Enrichment (Social Data)

For enriching personal/social data cheaply:

App: FullContact by Zapier

Action: Enrich Person

Email: {{trigger.email}}

Returns:
  - Full Name
  - Location
  - Job Title
  - Company Name
  - Social Profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook)
  - Photos
  - Demographics (age range, gender)

Cost: $0.10 per lookup

Step 5: Update CRM with Enriched Data

App: HubSpot - Update Contact

Contact Email: {{trigger.email}}

Properties to Update:
  Company: {{clearbit_company.name}}
  Job Title: {{clearbit_person.employment.title}}
  Seniority: {{clearbit_person.employment.seniority}}
  Department: {{clearbit_person.employment.role}}
  Industry: {{clearbit_company.category.industry}}
  Employee Count: {{clearbit_company.metrics.employees}}
  Annual Revenue: {{clearbit_company.metrics.estimatedAnnualRevenue}}
  Company LinkedIn: {{clearbit_company.linkedin.handle}}
  Personal LinkedIn: {{clearbit_person.linkedin.handle}}
  Technologies: {{clearbit_company.tech}} (comma-separated list)
  Data Enrichment Status: "Complete"
  Data Enrichment Date: {{zap_meta_timestamp}}

Step 6: Conditional Notification for High-Value Leads

Path by Zapier:

Path A: High-Value Lead
  Conditions:
    - Employee Count > 100
    - Seniority = "Executive" OR "VP" OR "Director"

  Action: Slack - Send Channel Message
    Channel: #high-value-leads
    Message:
      🎯 High-Value Lead Alert!

      Name: {{clearbit_person.name.fullName}}
      Title: {{clearbit_person.employment.title}}
      Company: {{clearbit_company.name}} ({{clearbit_company.metrics.employees}} employees)
      Industry: {{clearbit_company.category.industry}}

      View in CRM: {{hubspot_contact_url}}

Path B: Standard Lead
  Action: (continue or end)

Enrichment Best Practices

1. Enrich Selectively, Not Universally

Don’t enrich every email that enters your system. Add filters:

Filter: Corporate Emails Only

Email does not contain: gmail.com
Email does not contain: yahoo.com
Email does not contain: hotmail.com
Email does not contain: outlook.com

Filter: Minimum Lead Score

Only continue if:
  Lead Source = "Demo Request"
  OR Lead Source = "Pricing Page"
  OR Lead Score > 50

This prevents wasting enrichment credits on low-quality leads.

2. Cache Enrichment Data

If multiple contacts from the same company exist, don’t enrich each one:

Filter: Check if Company Already Enriched

Search HubSpot Companies:
  Domain = {{emailDomain(trigger.email)}}
  Company Enrichment Status = "Complete"

If company found:
  → Associate contact with existing company (no enrichment needed)
Else:
  → Proceed with company enrichment

3. Handle Enrichment Failures Gracefully

Enrichment APIs can fail when data isn’t available:

Path after Clearbit:

Path A: Clearbit Success (company.name exists)
  → Update CRM with full data

Path B: Clearbit Failure (company.name is empty)
  → Try Budget Alternative (Hunter.io)
  → If still no data:
    - Set "Enrichment Status" = "Failed - Manual Research Required"
    - Add to "Manual Research Queue" in Airtable

4. Validate Data Quality

Not all enrichment data is accurate:

Code by Zapier: Data Validation

// Validate employee count is reasonable
let employeeCount = inputData.employee_count;

if (employeeCount === null || employeeCount === undefined) {
  employeeCount = "Unknown";
} else if (employeeCount < 1 || employeeCount > 1000000) {
  // Suspicious data
  employeeCount = "Unknown (validation failed)";
}

// Validate industry isn't generic
const genericIndustries = ["Other", "Unknown", "General"];
let industry = inputData.industry;

if (genericIndustries.includes(industry)) {
  industry = ""; // Clear generic industry
}

return {
  validated_employee_count: employeeCount,
  validated_industry: industry
};

Cost-Effective Enrichment Strategies

Strategy 1: Tiered Enrichment

High-Value Leads (Score > 70):
  → Clearbit (premium data)

Medium-Value Leads (Score 40-69):
  → Hunter.io (budget data)

Low-Value Leads (Score < 40):
  → Website scraping only (free)

Personal Emails:
  → Skip enrichment entirely

Strategy 2: Progressive Enrichment

Stage 1: Lead Capture
  → Basic validation only (free)

Stage 2: Email Opened
  → Company enrichment (Hunter.io - $0.04)

Stage 3: Demo Requested
  → Full enrichment (Clearbit - $1.50)

This delays expensive enrichment until leads show engagement.

Strategy 3: Waterfall Enrichment

Try cheap sources first, escalate only if needed:

Step 1: Try Hunter.io Domain Search (free tier)
  ↓
If incomplete:
  Step 2: Try FullContact ($0.10)
    ↓
  If still incomplete:
    Step 3: Use Clearbit ($1.50)

Monitoring Enrichment Performance

Track Key Metrics

Add these fields to your CRM:

- Data Enrichment Status: Picklist (Pending, Complete, Failed, Partial)
- Data Enrichment Date: Date
- Data Enrichment Provider: Text (Clearbit, Hunter, FullContact)
- Data Completeness Score: Number (0-100)
- Enrichment Cost: Currency

Calculate Completeness Score

Code by Zapier:

// Calculate how complete the enriched data is
const requiredFields = [
  'company',
  'jobtitle',
  'industry',
  'num_employees',
  'annual_revenue',
  'linkedin_url'
];

const completedFields = requiredFields.filter(field =>
  inputData[field] !== null &&
  inputData[field] !== undefined &&
  inputData[field] !== ""
);

const completenessScore = Math.round((completedFields.length / requiredFields.length) * 100);

return { completeness_score: completenessScore };

Create an Enrichment Dashboard

Use a daily scheduled Zap to calculate:

Total leads enriched this month: X
Total enrichment cost: $X
Average cost per lead: $X
Enrichment success rate: X%
Average completeness score: X%

Send this as a Slack digest or email report.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Issue: Clearbit returns no data

• Cause: Small company or consumer email
• Solution: Fall back to Hunter.io or FullContact

Issue: Wrong company data returned

• Cause: Email domain doesn’t match company (consultant using personal domain)
• Solution: Add validation checks, flag for manual review

Issue: Too many failed enrichments

• Cause: Low-quality lead sources (form spam)
• Solution: Add email validation step before enrichment

Issue: Enrichment costs too high

• Cause: Enriching every lead regardless of value
• Solution: Add lead scoring filters before enrichment

Issue: Data overwrites good manual data

• Cause: Enrichment running on already-complete records
• Solution: Add filter to skip leads with enrichment status = “Complete”

FAQ

Q: Which enrichment provider should I start with? A: For B2B SaaS, start with Clearbit if budget allows ($1.50/lookup). If budget-conscious, use Hunter.io ($0.04/lookup) for company data and FullContact ($0.10/lookup) for person data. Both are 70-80% as good as Clearbit at 5-10% of the cost.

Q: Should I enrich leads immediately upon capture or wait? A: For high-intent sources (demo requests, contact sales), enrich immediately. For low-intent (newsletter signups), wait until they show engagement. This saves 60-80% on enrichment costs.

Q: How do I prevent enriching the same lead multiple times? A: Add a “Data Enrichment Status” field to your CRM. Set it to “Complete” after enrichment. In your Zap trigger, filter out contacts where status = “Complete”.

Q: What’s a good enrichment success rate? A: 70-80% is typical for B2B corporate emails. Personal emails (gmail, yahoo) will have lower success rates (20-30%). If your success rate is <50%, you likely need better lead sources.

Q: How often should I re-enrich leads? A: Company data: every 6-12 months (companies don’t change that fast). Person data: every 3-6 months (people change jobs more frequently). Only re-enrich active leads, not your entire database.

Q: Can I enrich leads for free? A: Partially. Hunter.io has a free tier (50 requests/month). You can also scrape LinkedIn and company websites, but this requires more setup and is less reliable. Budget $50-200/month for quality enrichment.

Q: What if enrichment APIs are slow and delay lead routing? A: Use Zapier’s “Delay After Queue” action to run enrichment in the background. Route the lead immediately, then enrich and update the CRM within minutes. Sales reps get leads fast, with enrichment following shortly after.

Lead enrichment in Zapier transforms bare contact information into actionable sales intelligence. Start with one enrichment provider, prove the ROI (time saved + conversion rate improvement), then expand to multi-provider waterfall logic for maximum data quality at minimum cost.