If you’re using Apollo to build lead lists for outbound, it’s easy to waste money and time.
You either:

● burn through credits exporting the wrong people, or

● spend hours scraping lists manually, only to end up with unqualified leads.

In this guide, I’ll show you the exact way we use Apollo to build high-quality B2B lead lists fast — without overspending on credits.

For context: I’ve been using Apollo for about 3 years. We’ve scraped hundreds of thousands of contacts and companies, used that data to send over a million cold emails, and booked hundreds of meetings using Apollo data.

This post is basically the “things I wish I knew earlier.”

WHAT IS APOLLO (And What We Actually Use It For)

Apollo (Apollo.io) is a sales platform with:

● a massive lead database

● email sequencing and workflows

● meetings, tasks, and engagement features

But for most outbound teams, the real value is the lead database.

Apollo currently positions itself as having hundreds of millions of contacts and tens of millions of companies, and the big advantage is how fast you can build lists with their filters. We don’t use Apollo for everything. For sending cold email, we prefer dedicated outbound tools. But for building lead lists, Apollo is one of the best starting points.

WHY APOLLO IS GREAT FOR LIST BUILDING

If you’ve tried building lists using things like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, manual scraping, or enterprise tools like ZoomInfo, you already know the pain.

Apollo is strong because:

● Huge coverage (lots of industries, lots of job titles)

● Simple, fast filters (easier than Sales Navigator for list building)

● Net new vs. saved leads (so you don’t pay twice for the same data)

That last part matters more than people think.

THE RIGHT WAY TO BUILD LISTS IN APOLLO: START WITH COMPANIES FIRST

Most people do this backwards.

They go straight to “People,” search for “Founder” or “CEO,” and export a random list.

That’s how you get:

● low relevance

● low reply rates

● and wasted credits

Instead, start with Company filters, build a tight list of the right companies, and only then move to People.

Step 1: Build a Strong Company Search

If you’re B2B, this is where you start.

1) Filter by Location

Example: targeting US companies

● Account Location → United States

2) Filter by Industry (But Don’t Rely on It Alone)

Example: “Marketing & Advertising”

Just remember: industry is often self-selected (usually pulled from LinkedIn), so it’s not always precise.

3) Use Employee Count Instead of Revenue

Apollo has revenue filters, but for private companies it’s usually not reliable.

A better approach is:

Use headcount as a proxy for revenue.

Example: instead of “$1M–$5M revenue,” you can target:

● Employees 3–10 (custom range)

This also helps filter out fake / inactive companies with 1–2 employees.

4) Use Keywords to Find the “Right Type” of Companies

This is where your list quality jumps.

Example: you want marketing agencies, not just companies in marketing.

Use keywords like:

● “agency”

● “marketing agency”

● “PPC agency”

● “Google Ads”

This narrows your results to companies that actually match your ICP.

Step 2: Validate Your Company Search Manually

Apollo isn’t perfect. Before you export thousands of contacts, spot-check companies.

A fast workflow:

1) open a few company profiles

2) visit their websites

3) confirm they match your target

Then look at their keywords and refine your search further.

This step saves you a lot of credits later.

Step 3: Use Include + Exclude Keywords to Clean Your List

This is one of the most underrated Apollo tactics.

Example: you’re targeting advertising agencies but Apollo includes SaaS tools in the same bucket. You can exclude keywords like:

● “SaaS”

● “API”

● “CRM”

● “software”

● “platform”

This helps remove companies that don’t match your market.

Step 4: Move to People and Target the Right Roles

Once your company search looks good, go to People. Apollo will carry your company filters over automatically (location, employee count, industry, keywords, etc.). Now you add people filters like:

1) Job Titles

Examples:

● Founder

● Co-founder

● CEO

● Head of Marketing

● CMO

● VP Marketing

● Director of Marketing

Tip: turn off “similar titles” if you want strict control. That feature can pull in roles you don’t actually want.

2) People Location (Optional)

If your companies are US-based but you only want US-based employees too:

● People Location → United States

3) Email Status

Start with:

● Verified emails only

But don’t blindly trust it. Even “verified” Apollo emails can still bounce.

HOW TO SAVE CREDITS IN APOLLO (This Matters)

Apollo charges credits mainly when you export people with emails.

Two credit-saving rules we follow:

1) Save Companies Freely

Saving companies to a list doesn’t cost credits.

So you can:

● save a big company list

● review it

● refine it

● then pull contacts only from that clean list

2) Avoid Paying Twice: Use “Net New”

Apollo lets you filter contacts by:

● saved (already exported)

● net new (not saved yet)

Always export net new unless you have a reason not to.

This is how you avoid paying for the same data twice.

THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE: EXPORTING AND SENDING IMMEDIATELY

Even if Apollo says “verified,” don’t enroll contacts in campaigns right away.

You should always re-verify with a dedicated email verification tool.

Why? Because bounce rates hurt deliverability fast—and that can burn your sending domains and inboxes.

Tools people use:

● MillionVerifier

● NeverBounce

● (and other validators)

Best practice:

● only send to “valid” emails first

● test catch-all emails later if you want to expand volume

EXAMPLE: BUILDING A SIMPLE LIST VS. AN ADVANCED LIST

Simple List Example (Broad Market)

● Location: United States

● Employees: 3–10

● Industry: Marketing & Advertising

● Keywords: “agency”, “PPC”, “Google Ads”

Then in People:

● Titles: Founder / CEO

● Verified emails only

This gives you a solid, relevant starter list.

Advanced List Example (Harder Targets)

Some markets are harder to filter cleanly, like B2B SaaS.

There’s no “SaaS industry” filter, and many SaaS companies list themselves under their customer industry (real estate, manufacturing, etc.).

So for SaaS, you usually need:

● include keywords (SaaS, platform, software, etc.)

● exclude keywords (agency, consulting, VC, coaching, etc.)

● more manual review and iteration

Same for D2C e-commerce:

● industry alone isn’t enough

● you’ll need keywords and exclusions

● plus role filtering and cleanup

BEST PRACTICE WORKFLOW

Here’s the simple system:

1. Build your company search first

2. Add location + employee range + industry

3. Add include keywords

4. Add exclude keywords

5. Spot-check company websites

6. Save the search

7. Move to People and add job titles

8. Filter for verified emails

9. Export net new to a list

10. Re-verify emails

11. Upload to your outbound tools (email + LinkedIn)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Apollo is one of the fastest ways to build outbound lead lists, if you use it correctly.

The key is not just “getting leads.” It’s:

● filtering better

● avoiding wasted exports

● and building lists that let you write more relevant outreach

Because outbound only “stops working” when the list is bad and the message is generic.

Build a tight company search, refine with keywords and exclusions, then pull the right people, and you’ll get much better results without burning credits.

If you want help building lists or setting up outbound systems properly, this is the kind of thing our team does every day.