What is Waterfall Enrichment?
Waterfall enrichment is the practice of querying multiple data providers sequentially for each record, using the next provider only when the previous one doesn't return a result, maximizing coverage while minimizing cost.
No single data provider has complete coverage. ZoomInfo might have 70% of your target contacts, Apollo 65%, and Cognism 60%, but with different overlaps. Waterfall enrichment queries them in sequence: if Provider A has the data, stop. If not, try Provider B. Then C. This maximizes the percentage of records you can enrich without paying every provider for every lookup.
How Waterfall Enrichment Works
Define a priority order for your providers based on accuracy and coverage for your target market. For each record, query Provider 1 first. If you get a verified email and phone, stop. If the email is missing, query Provider 2 for email only. If the phone is missing, query Provider 3 for phone. The waterfall continues until all fields are filled or all providers are exhausted. This approach typically achieves 85-95% coverage vs 60-70% from any single provider.
Waterfall Enrichment Tools
Clay is the most popular waterfall enrichment platform, connecting to 50+ data providers through a single interface. It lets you define custom waterfall sequences and pay only for successful lookups. Other options include building custom waterfalls using APIs from ZoomInfo, Apollo, Cognism, and Clearbit, orchestrated through tools like Openprise or custom code. The build-vs-buy decision depends on your technical resources and volume.
Waterfall Enrichment Economics
A single ZoomInfo enterprise license costs $15K-$40K+ per year. Adding Apollo and Cognism adds another $10K-$20K. But waterfall enrichment through a platform like Clay can cost less per enriched record because you're only paying for incremental lookups. For a team enriching 10,000+ records monthly, waterfall enrichment reduces cost-per-enriched-contact by 30-50% compared to using a single premium provider for everything.
Get Weekly Sales Intelligence
Join 500+ sales executives getting compensation data, market trends, and career intelligence.
Subscribe Free