You upload a lead list.
Click “enrich.”
And then…
No email. No phone. No title.
Happens all the time.
That’s what you get when you rely on one data provider.
Here’s the truth:
One data source = incomplete leads.
And incomplete leads = wasted outreach.
That’s why I use waterfall enrichment.
It’s simple:
No manual patchwork. No endless CSV cleanups.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through:
If your leads are half-empty, this fixes it.
Let’s get into it.
Waterfall enrichment is a simple way to complete missing lead information using more than one data tool, one after another.
Let’s say you have a contact.
You know their name and company, but you don’t have their email or phone number.
You try one data tool to fill in the blanks. It finds their job title, but still no email.
So, instead of stopping there, you send that same contact to a second tool.
This time, it finds the email.
If anything’s still missing, you try a third tool.
👉 That’s waterfall enrichment.
You’re not just depending on one source.
You’re letting each tool try, in order, until the contact info is complete.
It’s called “waterfall” because the data flows from one step to the next, like water falling down levels.
This method is helpful when:
Fix missing CRM fields and enrich cold lists before handing them off to sales.
Run clean, segmented campaigns with accurate job titles, firmographics, and emails.
Automate enrichment workflows across multiple APIs—no more manual QA or list cleaning.
Get full contact and company profiles without hiring a data team.
Build powerful enrichment flows in tools like Sheets or Airtable without writing backend code.
Maximize fill rates for scraped or exported lists without manually checking duplicates.
Let me walk you through how waterfall enrichment works, step by step.
You have a lead. Maybe you know their name and the company they work for.
But you're missing key details like their email, phone number, or job title.
Instead of filling that in manually or relying on just one data source, you use a process called waterfall enrichment, where multiple data sources are used one after the other.
Here’s how it works:
Lead → Provider A → Fail? → Provider B → Still incomplete? → Provider C → CRM Sync
You add the lead to your CRM or a workflow. But the lead is incomplete, you only have part of the information.
Your system checks with the first provider to find the missing details.
If it finds everything, you’re done.
If some info is still missing,like a phone number or job title, it moves on.
The second provider now tries to fill in whatever’s still blank.
If needed, you can add a third or even fourth provider to increase your chances of getting complete data.
Once all the providers have tried, whatever data was found gets saved to your CRM, spreadsheet, or wherever you're storing your leads.
This way, each provider works like a safety net.
If the first one doesn’t have what you need, the next one steps in, until you get the most complete profile possible.
No manual fixes. No spreadsheet merges. Just clean, enriched data, automatically.
Because one data tool is never enough.
You upload a list, run enrichment, and still, half your leads are missing emails or phone numbers.
That’s normal.
No single provider has 100% of the data. That’s the problem waterfall enrichment solves.
Instead of stopping at one tool, you let multiple tools try, one after another. Each one fills in the gaps that the last one missed.
Here’s what you get:
If you care about getting more from your lead lists, waterfall enrichment isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s necessary.
If you're evaluating the effectiveness of waterfall enrichment, consider these recent benchmarks from industry leaders:
If you've run tests via Leadforge, you can add:
For example, in a recent enrichment test we ran:
Waterfall enrichment is helpful anytime you’re working with lead data that’s messy, incomplete, or pulled from different places.
Instead of depending on one tool to get it all right, you let a few work together and get much better results.
Here are some common use cases for waterfall enrichment:
Simple idea, but powerful results, especially when your team depends on clean, complete lead data.
Now, you already understand the value, but may still be weighing whether it’s right for you or not.
A pros & cons table will help clarify that decision.
Once you know why waterfall enrichment matters, the next step is choosing the right tool to do it.
Some tools are built specifically to run enrichment across multiple data providers.
Others let you build custom workflows or combine enrichment with outreach.
Here’s a breakdown of the top tools to help you get started: