Scrapestorm Tutorial for Gathering B2B Email Lists from Business Directories

If you’re trying to build a targeted B2B email list from business directories, you know the drill: it’s tedious, repetitive, and easy to screw up. You could pay for lists, but those are usually outdated or spammy. Or you can scrape the data yourself and control the quality. This guide is for people who want to use Scrapestorm—a point-and-click web scraper—to pull real email addresses from public business directories, without losing a weekend to trial and error.

Below, you’ll get a step-by-step walkthrough, some honest warnings, and a few shortcuts that actually work.

Before You Start: What Scrapestorm Can (and Can’t) Do

First, a reality check. Scrapestorm is a user-friendly tool that lets you scrape websites—even if you can’t code. It handles pagination, can recognize repeating patterns, and exports to CSV or Excel. But it won’t magically get you around captchas, login walls, or anti-bot protections. And it won’t guarantee data quality—garbage in, garbage out.

What Scrapestorm is good for: - Scraping open business directories (think Yellow Pages, local chambers of commerce, simple listing sites). - Gathering data fields like business name, email, phone, and website. - Exporting to CSV for easy importing into your CRM or email tool.

What it’s not good for: - Sites that hide emails behind forms, captchas, or require logins. - Complex, JavaScript-heavy sites (some work, but expect hiccups). - “Scraping the whole internet”—keep your expectations realistic.

Quick tip: Always check the site's terms of service before scraping. Don’t be the person who gets IP-banned or worse, sued.

Step 1: Pick Your Target Directory

Not all business directories are created equal. Some make it easy to scrape, others are a pain. Pick one that lists emails publicly—otherwise, you’re wasting your time.

Good examples: - Local chamber of commerce directories - Niche industry lists - Smaller “Yellow Pages”-style sites

Avoid: - LinkedIn (they’ll shut you down fast) - Sites that show emails as images or require logins

Pro tip: Open a sample business profile. If you can select and copy the email address with your mouse, Scrapestorm will probably work.

Step 2: Install and Set Up Scrapestorm

  1. Download Scrapestorm: Head to their site and grab the Windows, Mac, or Linux version. There’s a free version with some limits—fine for small projects.
  2. Install: Standard installer. No weird toolbars or bloat.
  3. Create an account: You’ll need this to save tasks. The free tier is enough for testing.

Step 3: Create a New Scraping Task

  1. Open Scrapestorm and click “Create Task.”
  2. Enter the URL of your business directory’s main listing or search results page.
  3. Choose “Smart Mode” (the point-and-click option).

Scrapestorm will load the page in its built-in browser. This is where the magic—or the frustration—starts.

Step 4: Train Scrapestorm to Recognize Listings

Here’s where most people get tripped up. Don’t rush.

  1. Click on the first business listing on the page.
  2. Scrapestorm will try to highlight all similar listings.
  3. If it misses or grabs too much, use “Add” or “Remove” to fine-tune. The goal is for it to recognize each business as a separate item.
  4. Once it’s accurate, click “Next.”

Pitfall: If listings have inconsistent layouts, Scrapestorm can get confused. Sometimes, you’ll need to re-train on a few different pages.

Step 5: Select the Data Fields You Want

Now, dig into each listing and tell Scrapestorm what to grab.

  1. Click into a business listing.
  2. Click on the email address. Scrapestorm should highlight it. Name the field “Email.”
  3. Repeat for name, phone, website, etc. Only pick what you actually need—more fields means more ways for things to break.

Heads up: If the email address isn’t visible on the main results page, you’ll need to “drill down” into each listing. Scrapestorm supports this, but it’s slower.

Step 6: Handle Pagination

Business directories almost always have multiple pages.

  1. Click the “Next” button at the bottom of the listings.
  2. Scrapestorm should detect the pagination link. Confirm it.
  3. Set the “Max pages” limit if you don’t want to scrape the entire site (good idea if you’re just testing).

Reality check: Some sites use infinite scroll or AJAX loading. Scrapestorm can handle basic cases, but will choke on weird or custom JavaScript.

Step 7: Preview and Clean Up

Before you hit “Go,” always preview the data.

  • Click “Preview” in Scrapestorm.
  • Check: Are all the emails real? Are some fields blank or weirdly formatted?
  • If things look off, go back and tweak your selectors.

Pro tip: If the preview is messy, don’t try to “fix it in Excel.” You’ll waste more time than just retraining Scrapestorm.

Step 8: Run the Scraper

Now you’re ready to let it rip.

  1. Click “Run.”
  2. Watch the progress bar. Scrapestorm will show you how many records it’s pulling.
  3. If you get error messages or captchas, pause and rethink your approach. You may be hitting rate limits. Slow down the crawl speed or try at off-peak hours.

Honest take: Free Scrapestorm can be slow and often hiccups on big jobs. For 100-500 records, it's fine. For thousands, consider paying or using another tool.

Step 9: Export Your Email List

When it’s done:

  1. Click “Export.”
  2. Choose CSV or Excel.
  3. Open the file and spot-check a handful of records.

Don’t skip this: A quick scan now saves you embarrassment later. Look for obvious junk (generic emails, missing fields, gibberish).

Step 10: Clean and Validate Your List

Just because you scraped an email doesn’t mean it’s usable.

  • Run the list through a free email validation tool (like NeverBounce or Hunter’s validator).
  • Ditch generic addresses like info@ or sales@ unless you’re desperate.
  • Don’t blast emails from a brand-new domain—you’ll get flagged as spam.

Pro tip: If quality matters more than quantity, spend extra time here. It’s not about how many emails you have; it’s about how many actually get read.

What to Avoid (From Hard-Earned Experience)

  • Ignoring site rules: Some directories explicitly ban scraping. Don’t get yourself (or your domain) blacklisted.
  • Assuming more data is better: 100 good leads beats 1,000 bad ones.
  • Skipping previews: You’ll end up with a useless file.
  • Trying to scrape LinkedIn or Yelp: Save yourself the headache—they’re locked down tight.

Shortcuts and Troubleshooting

  • If Scrapestorm gets stuck: Try using its “Manual Mode” to set selectors directly.
  • If you're seeing missing emails: Sometimes, emails are behind a “reveal” button. Scrapestorm can’t click these without extra setup.
  • For better results: Use the Chrome extension to copy XPaths directly—sometimes more reliable than point-and-click.
  • If you hit a paywall or captcha: Stop. You’ll need a more advanced tool or a different approach.

Keep It Simple, Iterate, Repeat

Building a solid B2B email list is about steady, boring work. Don’t try to scrape the world on your first go. Start small, preview your results, and improve your scraping task as you go. Scrapestorm isn’t magic, but it’s good enough for most public directories—if you put in a little effort upfront.

Keep it legal, keep it clean, and remember: the best lists are built, not bought. Good luck!