List Building

Why it matters

• Every downstream step (signals, enrichment, personalization, sending) inherits the list's quality. A bad list means wasted spend, burned domains, and reps chasing the wrong buyers.

Best practices

• Define the ICP on paper first: firmographics + the buyer title + the buying trigger.
• Source from multiple providers and merge — no single source is complete.
• Match to the buying trigger, not just the job title (signal comes next).
• Dedup and validate emails before they touch your sending infra.
• Track source quality per provider so you invest where lists convert.

Common mistakes

• Buying a big list of "companies in our segment" without the right buyer title.
• Skipping validation — bounces kill your domain reputation.
• One list for every campaign. ICPs differ by motion and product line.
• Forgetting local markets (Google Maps, job boards) when they're your ICP.

Key questions

• Does this contact match the buyer who closes — or the one who signs up?
• Is the email verified before it enters the sequence?
• What signal will make me reach out to this person now?

Agents that drive this

Tools we use · alternates in [ ]