Apollo Data Enrichment: How It Works, Benefits & Best Alternative

Apollo Data Enrichment promises to clean, complete, and enrich your sales data. But does it actually work?

If your CRM is full of missing job titles, outdated emails, and weak firmographics—you’re not alone. Bad data kills deals. It wastes time. And it hurts your pipeline.

Apollo claims to solve this with real-time data enrichment. But is it the right fit for your team? Can it scale? Is there a better option?

In this guide, you’ll find out:

• How Apollo Data Enrichment works
• What it gets right (and wrong)
• The top reasons teams are switching to SMARTe
• And which platform is best for your GTM motion

Let’s break it down.

What is Apollo Data Enrichment?

Apollo Data Enrichment improves your B2B contact and account data. It finds missing details, fixes errors, and refreshes old fields using Apollo’s large and constantly updated database.

The tool pulls firmographic and technographic data. This includes job titles, direct dials, company size, revenue, industry, and tech stack. You get complete, verified, and sales-ready records.

Apollo integrates directly with your CRM. As records enter your system, Apollo enriches them in real time or on a schedule you control. This means your sales and marketing teams always work with up-to-date information.

With Apollo’s enrichment, you can:

• Reduce bounce rates and call failures
• Segment leads by detailed firmographics
• Personalize outreach at scale
• Sync enriched data across your GTM stack

It helps you stop chasing bad leads and start closing deals with confidence.

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How Apollo’s Data Enrichment Process Works

Apollo follows a step-by-step process to clean, enrich, and update your B2B data. It helps sales and marketing teams use complete and trusted contact records.

Step 1: Scanning and Matching

Apollo first scans your records. It checks for missing, old, or wrong information. Then, it matches your data with its live database of over 250 million contacts and 70 million companies.

Step 2: Filling Missing Fields

Once the scan is complete, Apollo fills in the gaps. It adds key fields like:

• Full name
• Job title
• Work email
• Mobile number
• LinkedIn profile
• Company name
• Industry
• Revenue
• Employee size
• Tech stack

This gives you a full and verified profile for every lead.

Step 3: Removing Duplicates

Apollo checks for duplicate records. It removes or merges them to keep your data clean. This reduces confusion and stops teams from contacting the same lead twice.

Step 4: Real-Time CRM Sync

Apollo connects with your CRM. It updates records in real time or on a set schedule. Your team always sees the most recent data without doing it manually.

Step 5: API-Based Enrichment

For custom needs, Apollo offers an API. You can enrich records in your own systems. This is great for large teams with advanced workflows.

With Apollo, your data is complete, fresh, and ready to use. It saves time, improves outreach, and helps close more deals.

Key Features of Apollo Data Enrichment

Apollo offers a powerful set of data enrichment features to help B2B teams clean, update, and scale their contact and account data. Each tool is designed to keep your CRM and sales systems accurate and actionable.

1) CRM Enrichment

Apollo integrates with CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot to enrich contact and company data in real time—enabling fast, automated Salesforce data enrichment.

With this feature, you can:

• Auto-update your CRM with fresh firmographic, demographic, and technographic data
• Set real-time rules to fill or overwrite fields during data sync
• Run scheduled enrichment jobs daily, weekly, or monthly
• Track data changes and monitor record quality through detailed logs

This helps you avoid manual updates and keeps every team working with the same reliable data.

2) Data Health Center and Deduplication

Apollo’s Data Health Center scans your records for errors, gaps, and duplicates.

You can:

• Find missing emails, job titles, phone numbers, or company data
• Flag outdated or incomplete profiles
• Detect and merge duplicates with a few clicks

This feature improves your overall data hygiene. It ensures cleaner records and a smoother outreach workflow.

3) CSV Enrichment

If you work outside a CRM or need to clean lists in bulk, Apollo’s CSV enrichment is ideal.

Here’s how it works:

• Upload your CSV file with contacts or companies
• Apollo enriches each row with its verified B2B data
• You review and approve the changes
• Export the cleaned list or import it back into your CRM

This is perfect for one-time list cleaning, event data, or lead imports from third-party sources.

4) API Enrichment

For more control and automation, Apollo provides a powerful API.

Using the API, developers can:

• Program enrichment into any custom workflow
• Auto-update internal systems with verified contact data
• Sync enriched data between apps in real time

This is best for fast-growing teams that want to scale enrichment without slowing down operations.

5) Waterfall Enrichment (Beta)

Waterfall enrichment boosts match rates by pulling data from multiple sources. If Apollo can’t find a field, it moves to the next provider in line.

This helps you:

• Get a verified phone number database and email list.
• Improve outreach success with stronger data coverage
• Reach hard-to-find leads across regions and industries

It’s ideal for GTM teams that rely on volume and precision to hit their targets.

Apollo’s enrichment features give B2B sales and marketing teams the tools they need to work faster, cleaner, and smarter. Whether you're syncing with a CRM, using files, or building custom workflows, Apollo keeps your data sharp and sales-ready.

Benefits of Using Apollo Data Enrichment

Apollo helps sales and marketing teams keep their data clean, current, and useful. It fills in missing details, removes bad data, and gives you full control of your contact and account records. With better data, your team works faster, targets smarter, and drives more revenue. Here’s how Apollo makes a difference.

A) Improved Data Accuracy and Completeness

Bad data slows everything down. Apollo fixes that by enriching your CRM with verified information pulled from its live B2B database.

It updates job titles, phone numbers, emails, LinkedIn URLs, company size, and more. It also finds and removes duplicates. This means your team works with complete and trusted records at every stage of the funnel.

Better data means better outreach and fewer missed opportunities.

B) Higher-Quality Leads and Smarter Targeting

Apollo gives you more than just names and emails. It adds firmographic and demographic details like industry, revenue, location, and seniority.

With this added context, you can segment leads by company type, buyer role, or region. This helps you target the right prospects and create messages that connect.

More accurate targeting leads to better engagement and higher conversion rates.

C) Faster Sales Workflows and Pipeline Growth

Manual data entry wastes time. Apollo takes care of that. It enriches records automatically and keeps your CRM updated without any effort from your team.

You also get alerts when contacts change jobs, giving your reps a chance to reach out at the right time.

This saves hours every week, keeps your pipeline fresh, and helps your team close deals faster.

D) Cleaner Operations and Better Decisions

When your CRM is full of complete and accurate data, your sales tools work better. Apollo gives your team reliable information to score leads, track progress, and plan campaigns.

With cleaner data, your reports are more accurate, your forecasts are stronger, and your strategy becomes easier to manage.

Teams stay aligned, and decisions are based on facts instead of guesswork.

E) Fewer Fake or Invalid Records

Apollo checks every email and phone number before adding it to your system. This keeps fake signups, spam traps, and invalid data out of your CRM.

Your email bounce rates drop, your deliverability improves, and your outreach stays on track.

Drawbacks and Challenges of Apollo Data Enrichment

Apollo offers strong data enrichment tools, but like any platform, it comes with some limitations. Understanding these helps you plan better and get the most out of the tool. Here are the key challenges users often face.

1. Issues with CRM Field Enrichment

Apollo works well with standard text fields, but it struggles with dropdown fields in some CRMs like HubSpot.

For example, if your "Industry" field is a dropdown menu, Apollo may not update it directly. It enriches open text fields, so you might need to create custom fields or use workflows to map data correctly.

This adds a layer of setup and can slow down automation if not managed early.

2. Limits on API and Enrichment Volume

Recent updates to Apollo’s plans have added tighter restrictions on API use.

Free and lower-tier accounts now face limits that reduce how many records they can enrich. What used to be 10,000 enrichments per account is now capped at just 100.

This makes it harder for high-volume users to run bulk enrichment without upgrading or creating multiple accounts.

3. Lead Scraping Restrictions

Apollo has placed stricter controls on mass data extraction.

Users who relied on bulk scraping or multiple account setups may find their access limited. These changes help prevent abuse but can affect workflows that depend on high-scale data pulling.

This is important for teams that use Apollo more as a data source than a sales platform.

4. Occasional Data Inaccuracies

Apollo pulls from a large and dynamic database, but it’s not perfect.

Some users report missing fields, outdated titles, or incorrect emails. While these issues are not common, they can disrupt campaigns and require manual cleanup or added verification tools.

No enrichment platform offers 100 percent accuracy, and Apollo is no exception.

5. Learning Curve for New Users

Apollo offers a wide range of tools, filters, and automation features.

For new users, it may take time to understand how everything works. Teams may need onboarding, training, or testing time to set up workflows and make full use of the platform.

Without proper setup, some features may go unused or be misconfigured, reducing the platform’s value.

Apollo remains a strong choice for B2B data enrichment, but it’s important to know where the gaps are.

Apollo Data Enrichment Pricing

Apollo offers four pricing plans to fit different business needs, from startups to large sales teams. All plans include access to Apollo’s B2B database, CRM enrichment, and essential prospecting tools.

Free Plan – $0 per User

A great way to try Apollo before upgrading.

Includes:

• 1,200 credits per user per year
• 2 email sequences
• Prospecting tools
• Gmail and Salesforce extension
• Basic filters

You can explore the platform, find leads, and test key features with no cost.

Basic Plan – $49 per User per Month

Billed annually

Ideal for small teams starting with outbound sales.

Includes everything in the Free Plan, plus:

• 30,000 credits per user per year
• Advanced filters
• CRM integrations
• Meeting scheduling
• 6 intent topics and filters
• Data and CRM enrichment

This plan gives you more control over lead targeting and contact management.

Professional Plan – $79 per User per Month

Billed annually

Apollo’s most popular plan, built for growing teams.

Includes everything in the Basic Plan, plus:

• 48,000 credits per user per year
• Unlimited email sequences
• Unlimited round-robin meetings
• 5 mailboxes per user
• Automated workflows
• AI research intelligence
• US dialer
• Call recordings and AI insights (4,000 mins)
• Pre-built dashboards and advanced reports

This plan is ideal for teams looking to scale outreach and automate sales.

Organization Plan – $119 per User per Month

Minimum 3 users, billed annually

Designed for advanced sales operations and enterprise needs.

Includes everything in the Professional Plan, plus:

• 72,000 credits per user per year
• 12 intent topics and filters
• International dialer
• 15 mailboxes per user
• Customizable dashboards and reports
• Advanced security options
• Single sign-on (SSO)

This plan supports large teams with advanced data, reporting, and security requirements.

Note: Also read our in-depth guides on Clay Data Enrichment, ZoomInfo Data Enrichment, and Clearbit Data Enrichment to compare top tools and find the best fit for your GTM strategy.

Apollo Enrichment Alternative: Why SMARTe Is the Better CRM Enrichment Solution

Apollo works for basic data enrichment, but modern GTM teams need more than email addresses and titles. If you're looking for richer data, cleaner workflows, and better global reach, SMARTe is the stronger Apollo alternative—built to help you scale with confidence.

Here’s why high-performing teams are switching from Apollo to SMARTe:

1. More Context for Better Lead Routing

Apollo offers limited control over routing and scoring logic. SMARTe changes the game with 55+ B2B data attributes that enhance your lead scoring, qualification, and assignment flows.

You get:

• Superior lead-to-account matching
• Detailed firmographics and technographics
• Smarter scoring rules for faster conversions

Your reps focus on best-fit leads—so you book more meetings.

2. Real-Time Job Change Alerts

With Apollo, you might miss key contact movement. SMARTe tracks job changes across your champions, prospects, and buyers in real time.

When a key contact joins a target account, SMARTe:

• Alerts your team instantly
• Adds updated job title and company data
• Helps you re-engage the prospect at the right time

You stay ahead of the curve and protect pipeline momentum.

3. Shorter Forms, Higher Conversions

SMARTe lets you shorten forms to just key fields like name and email. It enriches the rest automatically—company size, industry, revenue, and more.

This helps you:

• Improve user experience
• Fast-track lead routing
• Filter out low-quality or fake leads

Apollo lacks the deep, real-time enrichment power needed for this level of form optimization.

4. Clean, Complete CRM Records via API

SMARTe enriches both contact and company records with a single API call. It detects the input type and returns a fully enriched profile—whether it's a person, a company, or both.

This ensures:

• Cleaner CRM data
• No duplicate records
• Fewer manual fixes

Apollo's enrichment API is more limited and often requires workarounds.

5. Protect Pipeline from Buyer Churn

When a buyer leaves a company, Apollo doesn’t always flag it. SMARTe does.

SMARTe helps you:

• Monitor buyer committee changes
• Identify at-risk accounts
• Discover other decision-makers within the same opportunity

This reduces churn and keeps deals moving forward, even when your original champion exits.

6. Smarter Ad Targeting Across Channels

Apollo focuses on outreach; SMARTe powers precise ad segmentation.

With SMARTe, you can use enriched firmographic and technographic filters to:

• Build high-converting custom audiences
• Retarget across LinkedIn, Google, YouTube, and Facebook
• Lower ad spend and boost engagement

SMARTe helps you run better campaigns, not just send more emails.

Ready to Upgrade From Apollo?

Apollo works—but SMARTe works smarter. It gives you better data, cleaner CRM records, and deeper insights that help GTM teams move faster and win more deals.

Book your free SMARTe demo today and start enriching with accuracy, scale, and global reach.