If you’re using Findymail for sales prospecting, you already know: bad data kills your outreach. Wrong emails, weird formatting, missing info—these things waste time and make you look sloppy. This guide is for sales folks, SDRs, founders, or anyone who actually cares about sending emails that reach the right people. We’ll walk through exactly how to get the cleanest, most usable exports from Findymail, and call out what’s worth your time—and what isn’t.
1. Start With a Clean Search
Before you even think about exporting, your search filters in Findymail are your first line of defense against garbage data. Don’t just cast a wide net and hope to fix it in Excel later. Here’s how to keep your list tight from the start:
- Define your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): Who do you actually want to reach? Be specific—industry, company size, geography, job titles. Vague searches = messy lists.
- Use advanced filters: Findymail lets you filter by seniority, department, technologies used, and more. Use them. Don’t rely on post-export sorting to clean up random CEOs when you wanted Marketing Directors.
- Exclude junk domains: Get rid of generic emails (think @gmail or @info addresses). Most buyers won’t respond from these anyway.
- Preview sample results: Before you run a full search, check sample results. If you see weird titles or irrelevant companies, tweak your filters.
Pro tip: If you’re new to Findymail, don’t trust it blindly. Run a small test export and eyeball the data before you commit to a huge list.
2. Understand What Findymail Exports—And What It Doesn't
Findymail is good, but it’s not magic. Here’s what you’ll get (and not get) when you export:
- What you get: Usually, name, company, role, email, LinkedIn URL, company size, industry, and sometimes phone. The exact data depends on your search and Findymail’s sources.
- What you don’t get: Findymail doesn’t always fill every field. You’ll see blanks—especially with direct dials, secondary emails, or social links beyond LinkedIn.
- Quality isn’t perfect: No email finder is 100%. Expect some unverified or outdated emails, especially with tricky industries or smaller companies.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over fields you never use. If you only ever email, don’t worry if phone numbers are missing.
3. Scrub Your Exported Data
Once you’ve exported your list (usually as a CSV), it’s time to clean it up. Don’t skip this. Even the best tools need a human sanity check.
A. Remove obvious junk - Delete rows with empty emails or “info@” type addresses, unless you really want generic inboxes. - Nuke any rows where the LinkedIn or company doesn’t match your target.
B. Standardize formatting - Make sure names are capitalized (John Smith, not john smith). - Watch for weird symbols or extra spaces. - Check for duplicate entries—Findymail tries to prevent this, but duplicates happen, especially if you combine lists later.
C. Validate email quality - Findymail marks email confidence (valid, risky, invalid). If you’re sending cold outreach, stick to “valid” only. “Risky” means higher bounce rates, which can hammer your sender reputation. - For critical campaigns, consider running the emails through a dedicated email verifier (like NeverBounce, ZeroBounce, or your tool of choice).
D. Enrich if needed, but don’t overdo it - If you need missing fields (like company revenue or tech stack), enrich with another tool after initial cleaning. - Don’t get bogged down chasing every detail. Keep only what you’ll actually use.
4. Map Data to Your Outreach Platform
Your CRM or email platform probably wants data in a specific format. Here’s how to avoid headaches:
- Match field names: Rename columns in your CSV to match what your tool expects (e.g., “First Name” instead of “first_name”).
- Check for required fields: Some tools demand certain fields (like email and company). Make sure these aren’t blank.
- Test imports: Import a small batch first to spot issues—mismatched columns, weird characters, or broken links.
- Avoid “custom fields” bloat: Don’t import every column. Keep only what you’ll personalize in your outreach.
Pro tip: Save your cleaned, mapped template for future exports. That way, you’re not reinventing the wheel every time.
5. Double-Check and Spot-Check Before Sending
No one wants to send “Hi [FirstName]” to a thousand people. Before you hit “Send,” do these quick checks:
- Scan for personalization fails: Look for missing first names, companies, or weird formatting in your preview emails.
- Check a random sample: Open 10–20 contacts at random. Would you be happy if this was your only shot at their attention?
- Don’t trust automation blindly: The best platforms still make mistakes. A 1% error rate on 5000 contacts is 50 embarrassing emails.
6. Stay Compliant and Respectful
It’s easy to forget, but scraping and emailing people comes with risks:
- Check opt-in rules: Laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM mean you can’t just blast everyone. Make sure you’re targeting business emails and including required disclaimers.
- Respect unsubscribes: If someone asks to be removed, do it. Don’t just delete them from your CRM—remove them from your source list too.
- Don't buy into “data is public, so it’s fair game” nonsense: Just because a tool can find an email doesn’t mean you should use it carelessly.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works: - Tight, well-defined searches in Findymail save you hours later. - Scrubbing exports before importing saves embarrassment and protects your sender reputation. - Small-batch testing catches problems before they snowball.
What doesn’t: - Blindly trusting data quality from any tool. - Importing every possible field and hoping you’ll “use it someday.” - Skipping list cleanup to “move fast.” You’ll spend more time fixing messes later.
What to ignore: - Chasing perfect data. There’s always a little noise—just minimize it. - Over-enriching with dozens of extra columns you’ll never personalize. - Fancy “AI enrichment” features unless you’ve proven they add value for your workflow.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
Clean, accurate data is the foundation of good sales outreach. But don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Start with tight searches in Findymail, give your exports a quick but honest cleanup, and run a test before you go all-in. Save your process, tweak as you go, and don’t be afraid to ditch steps that don’t add value. The more you clean up front, the less you’ll cringe later.