Effective Data Vendors for Personal Email Waterfall Strategy

Danny S. · 2025-10-16T19:17:34.393Z

Hi! I'm doing waterfall now, can you suggest effective data vendor for producing great results of personal email? sorry im trying to squeeze in my credits here. wanna hear your thoughts!

Effective Data Vendors for Personal Email Waterfall Strategy | Clay

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For personal email waterfalls, our testing showed these providers performed well: Nimbler, Mixrank, People Data Labs, ContactOut, and RocketReach. [1]
Credit-wise, personal email costs vary by provider. Most cost 2 credits (like Prospeo, DropContact, Datagma, Hunter), while People Data Labs costs 5 credits. [2]
Start with the 2-credit providers in your waterfall to maximize coverage while minimizing spend—you only pay when a result is found. [3]
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Kabeer A.
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Hey Danny, totally get that squeezing credits smartly is key 😄 For personal emails, I’ve seen the best results using a waterfall of Apollo → Dropcontact → SmartReach → Hunter. Apollo usually catches the bulk, Dropcontact fills the gaps (especially in Europe), and Hunter is a solid final pass. If you want, I can share a ready-to-use waterfall setup that maximizes hit rate and keeps costs low.
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You can build a custom waterfall with your preferred provider sequence in Clay: [1]
1.
Click Add Column > Waterfall
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Select your data type (for personal emails, choose "text")
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Click Add Action and select your providers in order: Apollo → Dropcontact → SmartReach → Hunter
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Reorder as needed by dragging providers [2]
The waterfall runs sequentially—if Apollo finds an email, it stops there. If not, credits are refunded and it moves to Dropcontact, then SmartReach, then Hunter. [3] You only pay for the provider that successfully returns data.
Tip: Test on 10 rows first before scaling to verify your setup works as expected. [4]
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If you still need help optimizing your waterfall setup or managing your credits, I’m here to assist. Would you like to share more about what you’re trying to achieve or any specific challenges you’re facing?
Danny S.
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Thanks Kabeer! I appreciate your inputs here. Yeah, I'm on a free account right now and couldn't export big reports. My client is very much interested in getting access with clay but we can't tell the efficacy of this platform if our export is only limited to 50. Is it possible if you could extend our trial?
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Trial and free accounts have a 50-row limit per table to help you explore Clay's features before committing credits to large actions. [1]
We offer a one-time self-serve trial extension. While logged into Clay, click this link for another 2 weeks: https://app.clay.com/extend-my-trial/ (you may need to refresh after extending).
If the self-serve option doesn't work, request human assistance by clicking "Talk to a person" to verify eligibility for a trial extension.
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Danny S.
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i also got locked out 😞
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Your account was locked due to security measures we've implemented to combat spam usage of free trial credits.
To unlock your account, request human assistance by clicking "Talk to a person" in this chat. Our team will review your situation and provide updates as soon as possible.
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Danny S.
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Hi, can someone help me unlock my acct pls
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Your account was locked due to security measures to combat spam usage of free trial credits.
To unlock it, click "Talk to a person" in this chat. Our team will review your situation and provide updates as soon as possible.
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