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How Waterfall Enrichment Works

Last updated on Apr 06, 2026

How Waterfall Enrichment Works

Waterfall enrichment helps you get better data, fewer blanks, and lower costs than using a single provider. It tries multiple data providers in order until one finds the information you need.

What Is Waterfall Enrichment?

Instead of asking one data provider for information and accepting "not found" as a final answer, waterfall enrichment keeps asking until it finds a result.

You set up a sequence of providers: Primary Provider, then Fallback Provider 1, then Fallback Provider 2, and so on. TexAu queries them in order. The first one that returns a result wins. If that fails, it tries the next, until all providers have been tried.

The result: Higher success rates, better data coverage, and smarter credit usage. Instead of enriching 70% of your contacts with one provider, you might enrich 85% or 90% with waterfall.

Real-World Example

You want to find work emails for 1,000 prospects. You set up a waterfall with three providers:

  1. BetterEnrich (searches first)
  2. Apollo (searches if BetterEnrich fails)
  3. FullEnrich (searches if Apollo fails)

Row 1: Sarah Chen, Acme Corp

  • BetterEnrich finds her email: [email protected]
  • Done. TexAu does not ask Apollo or FullEnrich.

Row 2: John Smith, TechCorp

  • BetterEnrich has no match
  • Apollo searches and finds [email protected]
  • Done. TexAu skips FullEnrich.

Row 3: Maya Patel, StartupXYZ

Row 4: Unknown Person, NoDataCorp

  • BetterEnrich has no match
  • Apollo has no match
  • FullEnrich has no match
  • The field stays blank. All providers were tried.

In this example, you got 3 out of 4 emails. Each provider was queried only when needed. Without waterfall, if you only used BetterEnrich, you would get 1 email and have to find Rows 2 and 3 manually.

How It Works

Step 1: Set Your Primary Source Choose the main provider. This is who gets asked first. Usually the most accurate or fastest for your use case.

Step 2: Add Fallback Providers Select secondary and tertiary providers. Order matters. They are queried in priority order.

Step 3: TexAu Queries Them in Sequence For each row, TexAu asks the primary provider. If that fails, it asks the first fallback. If that fails, it asks the second fallback. And so on.

Step 4: Return the First Match As soon as a provider returns a result, TexAu uses it and stops querying for that row.

Step 5: Track the Outcome TexAu logs which provider returned the result and the cost incurred. You can see all of this in your results.

Configuration Options

Stop on First Success

When you set up your waterfall, you can enable Stop on First Success. This tells TexAu to stop querying as soon as any provider returns a match.

Why enable it: Saves credits. If the first provider succeeds 70% of the time, you only pay for one provider query in 70% of cases.

Example: With Stop on First Success enabled, if BetterEnrich finds an email on Row 1, TexAu does not ask Apollo or FullEnrich for Row 1.

This is the recommended setting for most teams.

Max Providers to Try

When setting up your waterfall, you can limit how many providers TexAu queries per row. For example, you might have 5 providers in your waterfall but only want to try the first 3.

Why set this: Balance coverage and cost. If your first 3 providers cover 90% of your audience, the 4th and 5th may be niche and expensive. Set Max Providers to Try to 3 and save the extra cost.

Example: Your waterfall is Provider A, B, C, D, E. Set Max Providers to Try to 3. TexAu tries A, then B, then C. If C fails, it stops and does not try D or E.

When to use: When you have deep waterfalls (4+ providers) and want to limit querying depth.

The COALESCE Formula

COALESCE is a formula that picks the first non-empty value from your provider columns. Use it in a Formula column to combine results from multiple providers into a single "final result" column.

How it works: After waterfall runs, each provider populates its own column. COALESCE checks those columns in order and returns the first one that has data.

Example:

COALESCE(BetterEnrich_Email, Apollo_Email, FullEnrich_Email)

This returns the BetterEnrich result if it exists, otherwise the Apollo result, otherwise the FullEnrich result.

Important: COALESCE does not query providers in parallel. It is a formula that reads values already in your table. The waterfall queries providers sequentially, and COALESCE picks the best result afterward.

When to use: When you want a single clean column that shows the best available result from your waterfall providers.

Credit Cost and Waterfall Efficiency

Without Waterfall (Single Provider): You query Provider A for every row. Cost = 1 query per row, regardless of success.

  • 1,000 rows x 1 provider = 1,000 queries

With Waterfall (3 Providers, 70/20/10 Success Rate): Provider A succeeds 70% of the time. Provider B succeeds 20% of the time (when A fails). Provider C succeeds 10% of the time (when A and B fail).

  • 700 rows x 1 query (A succeeds) = 700 credits
  • 200 rows x 2 queries (A fails, B succeeds) = 400 credits
  • 100 rows x 3 queries (A and B fail, C succeeds) = 300 credits
  • Total: 1,400 credits

Waterfall uses more credits total, but you get 1,000 successful enrichments instead of 700. For 400 extra credits, you get 300 more data points. That is usually a good trade.

The real win: You get higher coverage (up to 90% success rate) at a reasonable cost instead of 70% with a single provider.

Best Practices for Configuring Your Waterfall

Order Providers by Your Priorities

By Accuracy (Recommended for Most Teams): Put your most accurate provider first. Secondary providers are fallbacks.

  • Example: BetterEnrich (highest accuracy), then Apollo, then FullEnrich

By Speed: Put the fastest provider first, even if slightly less accurate.

By Cost: Put the cheapest provider first to save credits.

By Coverage: Put the provider with the broadest coverage first.

Tip: Most TexAu users order by accuracy. Get the best data first. Use the Max Providers to Try setting to control costs.

Test Your Waterfall

Do not guess. Test.

  1. Set up a waterfall with your chosen providers and order
  2. Enrich a small batch (50 to 100 rows) of real data
  3. Check the results: How many matches did you get? What was the quality? Which providers did the heavy lifting?
  4. Adjust if needed: Reorder providers, remove underperformers, add new ones
  5. Run full enrichment once you are confident

A small test costs a few credits and saves you from a costly mistake.

Real-World Waterfall Examples

Example 1: Work Email Enrichment (Sales Team)

Goal: Find work emails for prospects Setup:

  • Primary: BetterEnrich (highest accuracy for this use case)
  • Fallback 1: Apollo (good coverage, reasonable cost)
  • Fallback 2: FullEnrich (broad coverage)
  • Stop on First Success: Enabled
  • Max Providers: All 3

Result: 85% success rate, lower cost per enriched record than any single provider

Example 2: Phone Number Enrichment (Customer Success)

Goal: Find direct phone numbers for account managers Setup:

  • Primary: Apollo
  • Fallback 1: BetterEnrich
  • Stop on First Success: Enabled
  • Max Providers: 2

Result: 72% success rate, cost controlled by only trying 2 providers

Example 3: Company Data (Marketing)

Goal: Enrich company records with firmographics Setup:

  • Primary: Apollo
  • Fallback 1: BetterEnrich
  • Fallback 2: FullEnrich
  • Stop on First Success: Enabled
  • COALESCE formula: Used to create a single "Final" column from all provider results

Result: Comprehensive company records with multiple data points per row

Waterfall vs. Single Provider: When to Choose

Use Waterfall If:

  • You want high coverage (90%+ success rate)
  • You can handle data coming from different providers across rows
  • You have budget for multiple provider queries
  • You want data quality (multiple sources = more reliable)
  • You are enriching bulk data (lists, campaigns)

Use a Single Provider If:

  • You need consistency (all data from one source)
  • You are highly budget-constrained
  • You are enriching a small batch and do not need high coverage
  • You already know one provider works well for your use case

Most teams benefit from waterfall. The coverage boost and credit efficiency are worth it.

Troubleshoot Your Waterfall

"I am getting too many blanks"

  • Add more providers to your waterfall
  • Check if your input data is good (bad input data leads to bad results)
  • Verify the providers you chose actually cover your audience (some providers specialize in US data, others in global data)

"My costs are higher than expected"

  • Enable Stop on First Success to stop after the first match
  • Lower Max Providers to Try to reduce querying depth
  • Reorder providers to put cheaper ones higher
  • Test a smaller batch before committing to full enrichment

"Some rows have multiple values. Which one should I use?"

  • Check which provider returned the result (some providers are more trustworthy for your use case)
  • Use the COALESCE formula to automatically pick the first non-empty value from your provider columns
  • Manually verify high-value rows

What's Next?

Now that you understand how waterfall works, explore Running Enrichments to see waterfall in action with your data.