Managing Providers

Data providers are the backbone of enrichment. They're the external services that actually supply the information you're enriching into your tables: emails, phone numbers, company data, social profiles, and more. This guide shows you how to find, evaluate, configure, and manage them.

What Are Data Providers?

A data provider is a third-party service that maintains a database of information. When you want to find someone's work email or verify a company's technology stack, you're querying a data provider. TexAu integrates with dozens of them, so you don't have to juggle multiple platforms.

Examples of popular data providers:

Email Finders: RocketReach, Apollo, Hunter, Clearbit
Phone Finders: TrueCaller, Apollo, RocketReach
Company Data: Clearbit, Apollo, ZoomInfo
Social Profiles: Apollo, Hunter, SimilarWeb
Job Data: Apollo, RocketReach, ZoomInfo
Technology Stack: Clearbit, BuiltWith, Apollo

Each provider has strengths, weaknesses, costs, and coverage. TexAu makes it easy to mix and match them.

Viewing Available Providers in Your Workspace

Provider Directory

Head to Settings → Data Providers (or Integrations → Providers, depending on your workspace layout) to see all providers available to you. You'll see:

Provider Name : The official name and logo (Apollo, RocketReach, Hunter, etc.)

Status : Whether it's connected, active, and ready to use. (Some providers require setup; some come pre-configured.)

Category : Email finders, phone finders, company data, etc.

Coverage : How much of the global population or company database does this provider cover? (Example: "85% of US tech companies")

Accuracy : Historical accuracy rate. How often does data from this provider actually match reality? (Example: "94% email match accuracy")

Cost : Credit cost per query. Different providers charge differently for each lookup.

Last Updated : When the provider's data was last refreshed. Fresher is usually better.

Filtering by Category

Providers are grouped by data type:

Contact Information (emails, phone numbers, names)
Company Data (firmographics, size, industry, revenue)
Technology & Tools (what software companies use)
Social Profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, personal websites)
Compliance & Verification (background checks, identity verification)
Custom Data (anything specialized or niche)

Click a category to see all providers in that category.

Understanding Provider Metrics

Before adding a provider to your enrichment workflow, understand its performance.

Accuracy & Confidence Scores

Accuracy : The percentage of data this provider returns that is correct. If Provider A has 92% accuracy, roughly 92% of their results will be valid and correct.

Confidence Score : When a provider returns a match, they often include a confidence score (0-100%) saying "we're X% sure this is right." Higher is better. Use confidence scores to filter or prioritize results.

Reality Check: No provider is 100% accurate. Data decays, people change jobs, emails bounce. Choose providers with accuracy you trust for your use case, and accept that 5-10% of results will be imperfect.

Coverage

Global Coverage : What percentage of the world's population or companies does this provider have data on? Example: "RocketReach covers 95% of US tech companies but only 20% in developing markets."

Coverage by Segment : Some providers specialize. Example: "Apollo has great coverage for US startups but weaker coverage for legacy enterprises."

Why it Matters : If you're enriching a list of UK companies and your primary provider only covers 30% of UK companies, you'll get lots of blanks. Check coverage before committing.

Freshness

Data Refresh Rate : How often does the provider update their database? Real-time vs. weekly vs. quarterly?

Last Updated : When was this provider's data last refreshed in TexAu's system?

Why it Matters : If you're enriching email addresses, freshness matters hugely. Stale email lists have high bounce rates. Providers with weekly or daily updates are better than quarterly. TexAu updates provider data regularly, but check the last-updated date.

Provider Categories Explained

Email Finders

What they do : Find work email addresses for people at specific companies.

Use cases : Cold outreach, lead enrichment, prospect research, sales enablement

Popular providers : RocketReach, Apollo, Hunter, Clearbit, ZoomInfo

What to look for : High accuracy (90%+), US coverage (if targeting US), freshness (daily or weekly updates)

Phone Finders

What they do : Find phone numbers (work, direct, mobile) for people and companies.

Use cases : Sales outreach, customer support, verification, skip tracing

Popular providers : Apollo, TrueCaller, RocketReach, ZoomInfo

What to look for : Coverage in your target region, accuracy, ability to distinguish work vs. personal numbers

Company Data & Firmographics

What they do : Enrich company records with industry, size, revenue, funding, technology stack, etc.

Use cases : Account-based marketing, sales targeting, research, competitor analysis

Popular providers : Clearbit, Apollo, ZoomInfo, Crunchbase, SimilarWeb

What to look for : Breadth of company database, freshness (companies pivot constantly), accuracy of firmographic data

Social Profile Data

What they do : Find and enrich social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, etc.).

Use cases : Prospect research, talent sourcing, background checks, person verification

Popular providers : Apollo, LinkedIn (via API), Hunter, RocketReach

What to look for : Profile completeness, verification badges, LinkedIn integration quality

Job & Title Data

What they do : Verify job titles, find job changes, track career moves.

Use cases : Sales targeting (find decision makers who just got promoted), recruiting, talent intel

Popular providers : Apollo, RocketReach, LinkedIn Recruiter, ZoomInfo

What to look for : Job change detection speed, title normalization, coverage in your target roles

How Provider Credits Work

TexAu charges credits for each provider query. Different providers cost different amounts.

Basic Model:

Each enrichment column is configured with providers
When TexAu queries a provider, it costs X credits
Waterfall means you might query multiple providers per row (more cost, but higher success rate)

Credit Examples:

Querying Apollo for an email: 1 credit
Querying RocketReach for phone: 2 credits
Querying Clearbit for company data: 3 credits
(These are examples; actual costs vary by plan)

Waterfall Impact:

If your waterfall has 3 providers and the first one succeeds 70% of the time, your average cost is lower than querying all 3 every time
Example: 100 rows with 3 providers, stop-on-first-success enabled
- 70 rows: 1 provider query each = 70 credits
- 20 rows: 2 provider queries each = 40 credits
- 10 rows: 3 provider queries each = 30 credits
- Total: 140 credits for 100 rows
- vs. 300 credits if you queried all 3 providers for every row

Check Your Plan: Your TexAu plan specifies how many credits you get per month. You can see:

Current credit balance
Credits used this month
Cost per provider (varies by plan tier)
Usage trends

Pro Tip: Use the cost estimator before running enrichment. TexAu shows estimated credits before you commit. Start small to see real costs, then scale.

Configuring Provider Priority in Waterfall Groups

When you set up a column with multiple providers (waterfall), order matters.

How to Reorder Providers

Click on any enrichment column
Find the Providers or Waterfall section
Click Edit Waterfall (or similar)
Drag providers up or down to reorder them
Save

Ordering Strategies

By Accuracy (Most Common) : Put your most reliable provider first.

Pro: Highest quality data
Con: Might cost more (premium providers usually have higher accuracy)
Best for: Teams that prioritize data quality

By Cost : Put cheaper providers first.

Pro: Lowest total cost
Con: Lower quality data
Best for: Budget-constrained teams enriching low-value lists

By Speed : Put fastest providers first.

Pro: Faster enrichment
Con: Might sacrifice accuracy
Best for: Time-sensitive enrichments (real-time lookups)

By Coverage : Put providers with broadest coverage first.

Pro: Highest success rate
Con: Might not be most accurate
Best for: Enriching diverse audiences (global, mixed industries)

Mixed Strategy (Recommended) : Order by accuracy, but adjust if you notice one provider outperforming others for your specific use case.

Example: RocketReach (accurate for tech) → Apollo (broad coverage) → Hunter (fallback)

Enable Stopping Rules

Stop on First Success: As soon as any provider finds a match, stop querying for that row
Max Providers to Try: Limit querying to the first N providers, even if more exist

These save credits while balancing quality.

Adding Providers to Columns

When you create or edit an enrichment column, you'll add providers.

How to Add a Provider

Click the enrichment column you want to configure
Find the Select Providers button or section
A list of available providers appears, filtered by data type
- (Looking for emails? You'll see email-finding providers)
- (Looking for company data? You'll see company-data providers)
Click Add next to the provider you want
It joins your waterfall in order

Removing a Provider

Click the X or Remove button next to the provider name. It's removed from your waterfall.

Safety Note: Removing a provider from a live enrichment table doesn't affect rows already enriched (they keep their data). It only affects future enrichments.

Setting Provider-Specific Options

Some providers have configurable settings:

Confidence Threshold: "Only return results 80% confidence or higher"
Coverage Filter: "Only try this provider if it has data for this country"
Matching Strictness: "Require exact match vs. fuzzy match"
Timeout: "Wait max 5 seconds for a response before moving on"

Click the provider name to see if configuration options are available.

Provider Status & Health Monitoring

Provider Status Indicators

Connected (Green) : The provider is active and responding normally. Good to use.

Degraded (Yellow) : The provider is active but slower than usual. May take longer to get results. Still usable.

Offline (Red) : The provider is down or unresponsive. Don't use until it recovers.

Pending Setup (Gray) : You haven't configured this provider yet. Check if you need API keys or approval.

Monitoring Provider Performance

TexAu tracks how each provider performs in your enrichments:

Success Rate: What % of queries return results?
Average Confidence: What's the average confidence score?
Average Response Time: How long does each query take?

Check these stats in Settings → Provider Performance to see which providers are working best for your use case.

What to Do If a Provider Is Down

Check status: Is it showing as offline? (If so, wait for recovery or contact support.)
Check your waterfall: If you have fallback providers, your enrichment should continue (just slower, fewer results).
Switch providers: Temporarily remove the offline provider from your waterfall.
Re-run enrichment: If you were in the middle of enrichment when it went down, resume or restart (TexAu tracks progress).

Pro Tip: This is why waterfall matters. One provider being down does not stop your enrichment. You have backups.

Choosing the Right Providers for Your Use Case

If You Work in Sales (Prospecting)

Best providers: RocketReach, Apollo, Hunter Why: High accuracy for B2B contact data, good coverage for tech/sales roles Setup: Email (waterfall: RocketReach → Apollo → Hunter), Phone (Apollo → TrueCaller)

If You Work in Recruiting

Best providers: Apollo, LinkedIn (via API), RocketReach Why: Good job title data, social profile integration, candidate sourcing Setup: Email, Phone, Job Title, LinkedIn Profile in waterfall

If You Work in Customer Success

Best providers: Clearbit, Apollo, ZoomInfo Why: Strong company data, existing customer context Setup: Company data (Clearbit → Apollo), Phone (Apollo), Account information

If You Work in Marketing (Account-Based Marketing)

Best providers: Clearbit, SimilarWeb, Crunchbase Why: Deep company data, firmographics, technology stack, funding Setup: Company (Clearbit → Apollo), Tech Stack (BuiltWith), Industry, Revenue

If You Focus on Data Quality and Verification

Best providers: ZoomInfo, Clearbit, Apollo Why: High accuracy, good for validation Setup: Verification column with strict confidence thresholds

Tips for Managing Multiple Providers

1. Start Simple, Build Complex

Don't add 10 providers right away. Start with 2-3 that cover your primary use case. Test them. Add more as needed.

2. Test Providers on Small Batches

Before committing to a full enrichment run, test a provider on 50-100 rows. See how it performs. Then decide if it's worth adding to your workflow.

3. Monitor Cost vs. Coverage

Track your enrichment results. If your most expensive provider only succeeds 10% of the time and costs 5 credits, but your cheaper provider succeeds 60% of the time and costs 1 credit, reorder your waterfall.

4. Use Confidence Scores

Enable confidence score filtering. You might accept 80% confidence for non-critical data but require 95% for high-value leads.

5. Keep Your Team in the Loop

If you change providers or reconfigure waterfall, let your team know. Different providers might return slightly different data. (Email format varies, company names have variations, etc.)

6. Archive Underperforming Providers

If you have a provider in your waterfall that hasn't had a successful query in months, remove it. Simplify your workflow, save costs.

Common Provider Scenarios

Scenario 1: Email Enrichment, Global Audience

Providers to use:

Primary: RocketReach (excellent global coverage)
Fallback 1: Apollo (great for Asia & Europe)
Fallback 2: Hunter (broad coverage, lower cost)

Why this order: RocketReach is most accurate, but Apollo fills gaps in regions it's weak. Hunter is the safety net.

Scenario 2: B2B Company Enrichment, US-Only

Providers to use:

Primary: Clearbit (best US company database)
Fallback: Apollo (fills gaps, provides alternate views)

Why: Clearbit dominates US company data. Apollo is fast and covers what Clearbit misses.

Scenario 3: Budget-Conscious Email Enrichment

Providers to use:

Primary: Hunter (cheapest, broad coverage)
Fallback: Apollo (higher accuracy, moderate cost)
Stop on First Success: Enabled

Why: Hunter gets 60% coverage at low cost. Apollo catches the rest without breaking the budget.

Scenario 4: High-Value Lead Enrichment (No Budget Limit)

Providers to use:

Primary: RocketReach (most accurate)
Fallback 1: Apollo (backup)
Fallback 2: Hunter (final fallback)
Confidence Threshold: 90%+

Why: You want the best data possible. Multiple attempts, high threshold, cost is secondary.

What's Next?

Now that you understand providers, put them to work. Head to Using a Template to see how templates use providers. Or explore How Waterfall Enrichment Works to master the sequencing and configuration.

Want to set up a custom enrichment workflow? Start by picking 2-3 providers from this guide, test them on a small batch, then build your waterfall.

Curious about a specific provider's coverage or accuracy for your use case? Reach out to our team. We can help you choose the best combination for your needs.