If you’re reading this, you probably care more about getting real leads than messing around with half-baked spreadsheets or clunky CRM exports. This guide is for salespeople, founders, or anyone prospecting for new business who wants a practical, no-nonsense way to build and manage lead lists in Scrubby. I’ll walk you through how to set up lists that actually work—and flag the stuff that sounds good in theory but falls flat in practice.
Why Scrubby? (And When It’s Not Magic)
Scrubby promises to help you organize, clean, and action your prospecting lists. It does this better than most tools—but it’s not a magic wand. If your data is garbage, Scrubby can’t turn it into gold. What it can do is save you hours on manual cleanup, avoid embarrassing mistakes (like double-emailing the same person), and keep your lists actionable.
This guide covers:
- Getting your data in (without breaking things)
- Keeping lists clean and useful
- Segmenting for smarter outreach
- Avoiding traps and pointless busywork
Step 1: Get Your Data Ready (Don’t Just Dump Everything In)
Before you even open Scrubby, take a minute to find your best raw data. If you just shove in every contact you’ve ever met, you’ll spend more time deleting than selling.
What works: - Exporting from LinkedIn, your CRM, or other tools where leads are fairly up-to-date. - CSV or XLSX files with columns like Name, Company, Email, Role, LinkedIn URL.
What to skip: - Old conference attendee lists with half the emails bouncing. - Anything you scraped off the web that “might be useful someday.” - Duplicate exports from the same source.
Pro tip: If you can, weed out obvious junk (blank emails, weird formatting) before uploading. Scrubby helps, but it’s not psychic.
Step 2: Create a New Lead List in Scrubby
Once you’re logged into Scrubby, here’s how to get your list started:
- Go to the Lead Lists section.
- Click “Create New List.” Give it a clear name—“Q3 SaaS Prospects” beats “Untitled List 4.”
- Upload your file. Scrubby accepts CSV and XLSX. Drag and drop, or use the upload button.
- Map columns. Scrubby tries to auto-detect fields like “Email” or “Company,” but double-check. If you see “Name 1” instead of “First Name,” fix it now. The cleaner your mapping, the less cleanup later.
Heads-up: If you upload the same contact twice, Scrubby will flag duplicates. But if you have “John Doe” with two different emails, you’ll need to decide if that’s the same person or a legit duplicate.
Step 3: Clean Up and Enrich Your List (This Is Where Scrubby Shines)
Now comes the real value—Scrubby’s data cleaning and enrichment tools.
What’s actually useful: - Deduplication: Scrubby finds and merges duplicate entries. Saves you from double-pitching and looking like a spammer. - Email validation: It’ll flag invalid or risky emails. Ignore this at your peril; high bounce rates hurt your deliverability. - Field normalization: Things like “CEO” vs. “Chief Executive Officer” get standardized, making it easier to filter and segment later. - Data enrichment (when available): Scrubby can sometimes add missing LinkedIn profiles or company info. Don’t expect miracles, but it’s a nice bonus.
What’s mostly hype: - “AI-powered” anything: Yes, Scrubby uses some smart algorithms, but it’s not going to find you new leads out of thin air. - Overpromised enrichment: If your original data is missing, don’t expect full work history or personal details to appear. Enrichment is hit-or-miss.
Pro tip: Do a quick scan for obviously bad data—wrong emails, bizarre names, empty rows. Scrubby catches a lot, but not everything.
Step 4: Segment Your List for Smarter Outreach
Here’s where most people get lazy and blast everyone the same message. Don’t be that person.
Use Scrubby’s filters to break your list into practical segments: - By company size or industry - By job title or seniority - By region or timezone
Why bother? - Personalized outreach gets better replies. - You can A/B test messaging by segment. - It’s easier to spot which segments are actually working (or not).
What not to do: - Don’t make 20 micro-segments unless you have time to actually write different messages for each. Over-segmentation = wasted time.
Pro tip: Name your segments clearly—like “US Fintech CTOs” instead of “Segment 3.” Future you will thank you.
Step 5: Take Action—Export, Sync, or Start Campaigns
Once you’ve cleaned and segmented your list, it’s time to actually use it. Scrubby gives you a few options:
- Export: Download your cleaned list as a CSV/XLSX for use in other tools.
- CRM sync: If supported, push lists directly to your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.). This saves you a ton of manual importing.
- Integrate with outreach tools: If you use tools like Outreach or Mailshake, connect Scrubby so you can send campaigns directly.
What works: - Only exporting the segments you’re ready to contact. Don’t flood your CRM with leads you’ll ignore. - Using Scrubby’s “Do Not Contact” or suppression features to avoid re-emailing unsubscribed or bounced contacts.
What to ignore: - Bulk exports “just in case.” If you’re not going to use it now, leave it in Scrubby until you’re ready.
Step 6: Keep Your Lead Lists Fresh (and Sane)
Dirty data creeps in over time—people change jobs, emails go stale, duplicates sneak back. Scrubby helps, but you still need a process.
How to keep lists up-to-date: - Set a regular review schedule. Once a month, run Scrubby’s validation tools on your active lists. - Archive old lists. If you haven’t touched a list in 6 months, move it to an archive folder. Out of sight, out of mind. - Respect unsubscribes and bounces. Scrubby can track these, but you need to actually stop contacting them.
What’s not worth your time: - Obsessively updating every field for every contact. Focus on the basics—email, name, company, job title. - Chasing every “possible” enrichment. If Scrubby can’t find it, don’t waste an hour on LinkedIn searches.
Pro Tips, Honest Takes, and Common Pitfalls
Do: - Use clear, actionable list names and segment labels. - Deduplicate and validate every time you import new data. - Keep your list sizes manageable—quality beats quantity.
Don’t: - Assume Scrubby will fix everything for you. A little manual review goes a long way. - Over-segment or over-engineer your lists. The point is to sell, not to build the world’s fanciest spreadsheet. - Forget about compliance (GDPR, CAN-SPAM, etc.). Scrubby helps, but you’re still responsible.
If you run into trouble: - Scrubby’s support is usually quick to respond, but check their help docs first. Most issues are about formatting or mapping errors. - If something seems “off” with your data after cleaning (like missing names or weird characters), try re-uploading a small sample and see if it repeats. Sometimes it’s just a weird export from your CRM.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Overthink It
The best lead lists are the ones you actually use. Scrubby can save you real time and help you avoid embarrassing mistakes, but it’s still just a tool. Start with a small, clean list. Get your first campaign out. Learn what works. Then improve your process bit by bit.
Don’t wait for “perfect”—because in sales, perfect lists don’t exist. Clean it up, segment smartly, and keep moving. That’s how you turn lists into real opportunities.