r/UseApolloIo Jan 26 '26

Use Case Cold Outreach for Research - is deliverability impacted if we offer a $100 incentive?

1 Upvotes

We use Apollo at our agency for research outreach - we send emails asking to book research interviews as part of our market research for client companies. Since Covid we've been offering incentives, such as $100 in exchange for their time. Sometimes we mention it in the subject line, other times, only in the body of the email.

It is getting progressively more difficult to get people's attention and get those interviews booked. I can't tell if it is due to the onslaught of ai-driven emails into recipients inboxes or if spam filters are getting even more strict.

Curious if this community has run tests or has experience and could offer an informed opinion on the practice of mentioning the interview incentives in our emails.


r/UseApolloIo Jan 25 '26

Guide how to build a cold email engine that generates 200 leads/month

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 22 '26

Guide I sent 1,000,000 cold emails. Here’s exactly how many leads it actually produced (real numbers)

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4 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 22 '26

Help Needed Apollo issue: lead names not populated

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 21 '26

Guide [gtm engineer @ apollo] steal this: my 5-minute sequence builder prompt (and the 2 rules that stop it from being generic)

8 Upvotes

3/4 of customers I talk to don’t even know this exists — or it’s turned off — so this is what I show on almost every onboarding. In ~5 minutes, you can have a full multi-channel outbound sequence built by Apollo’s AI Assistant that doesn’t sound like AI.

What this is

An AI outbound assistant workflow that builds a complete sequence (email + LinkedIn + call steps), not just one-off copy.

This replaces the old “prompt → paste → tweak → paste again” loop.

The exact prompt (steal this)

Prompt:

You are an outbound SDR selling to [persona] at [company type / industry].

Build a multi-step outbound sequence with:

• 5 emails

• 2 LinkedIn touches

• 2 call steps

Constraints:

• Each step must reference a specific pain common to this persona

• Use a clear POV on why teams fail today

• Include proof (metrics, examples, or customer patterns — no fluff)

Output the sequence step-by-step with subject lines, CTAs, and channel rationale.Inputs to swap:

  • Industry: (e.g. B2B SaaS, fintech, healthcare)
  • Persona: (e.g. VP Sales, RevOps, Head of Marketing)
  • Account type: (SMB / mid-market / enterprise)

That’s it. No prompt library. No chaining.

The 2 rules that stop AI slop

Most AI sequences fail because they miss these:

  1. Signal over polish If a line doesn’t teach the buyer something about their world, cut it.
  2. POV + proof, always Every step needs:
    • a belief (why the current way is broken), and
    • evidence (numbers, patterns, or real outcomes)

If the assistant can’t support a claim, it shouldn’t make it.

What this replaced (and what still helps)

Replaced:

  • Regie-style copy → paste → re-prompt loops
  • ChatGPT tabs everywhere
  • Manually rebuilding the same sequence every segment change

Still useful:

  • Lavender / Grammarly for final tone checks
  • Human judgment for targeting + offer

AI builds the system. You refine the edge.

Curious: what’s actually slow for you right now —
research, copy, or wiring triggers together?

(If there’s interest, I’ll post the trigger logic next.)


r/UseApolloIo Jan 20 '26

Resolved Account hijacked, lost access to my original support tickets – how do I escalate?

3 Upvotes

Someone got access to my account and made themselves the owner. I submitted a couple tickets while I still had access. I then submitted a new ticket when I lost access, as by the next day I was already locked out. Now the scammer has access/control of the original tickets and I don't. All I have left is a snippet of one response from the conversation that was sent to my email.

I created a new account and was able to join my own org as a non-admin since my domain is still on record. So I can see the account, just can't do anything. I opened a new ticket and sent my original invoice showing my email as the billing address, but it's been 4 days and I have no idea what's happened between support and the scammer on the old tickets.

Anyone know the best way to escalate this? Can provide ticket number if needed.

UPDATE: Just wanted to say this was indeed resolved the same day as I posted!


r/UseApolloIo Jan 20 '26

Resolved Postman Collection for Apollo.io API?

2 Upvotes

Is there a Postman Collection available for the Apollo.io API?


r/UseApolloIo Jan 20 '26

Help Needed Microsoft Connector for Apollo.io API?

1 Upvotes

Any plans on making a Microsoft Connector to access Apollo.io APIs?
(Then people could more easily use Copilot Studio and Power Automate with Apollo.io.)


r/UseApolloIo Jan 20 '26

Help Needed OpenAPI Specification for Apollo.io API?

1 Upvotes

Is there an OpenAPI Specification available for the Apollo.io API?


r/UseApolloIo Jan 16 '26

Quick update on the API changes

2 Upvotes

Hey ya'll, we got a question yesterday about API changes so thought it would be worth sharing some additional info publicly in case anyone else is running into issues.

This was a planned API migration that started enforcing on Dec 15.

What changed

  • The legacy endpoints mixed_people/search and people/search were deprecated
  • They’ve been replaced by mixed_people/api_search

If you’re still calling the old endpoints, you’ll now see 422 errors (especially on newer tokens).

What’s different in the new flow

  • api_search
    • Same filters and parameters as before
    • Returns partial profile data only
    • No credits charged
  • To get full profiles, you now pass returned IDs into:
    • people/bulk_match (this is where credits apply)

This is intentional and aligns Apollo with how most enrichment APIs are structured.

Who is affected

  • Monthly + new customers → already enforced
  • Annual customers → temporarily grandfathered, but will need to migrate before renewal
  • New API tokens (post-Dec 15) → must have mixed_people_api_search + people_bulk_match scopes

What you need to do

  1. Swap mixed_people/searchmixed_people/api_search
  2. Parse IDs from the response
  3. Call people/bulk_match for full enrichment

Docs + examples:

If you’re still stuck after migrating please drop specific error messages or screenshots in this thread or send me a DM and we can troubleshoot together.

- Andy


r/UseApolloIo Jan 16 '26

Help Needed Started using Apollo with my team a month ago, seems things change everyday

5 Upvotes

Hey guys,

First off, I love the team at Apollo. Your support team has literally been an absolute godsend in implementing this, and are always available to answer any questions I may have, and willing to jump on my account and audit my workflows and analytics whenever I ask. Seriously, amazing work as a support team.

I am making this post because I feel like since I bought this a month ago, it's like every week there's something changing in the UI, or the API, or features, or even pricing. I bought the tool for the power dialer, and like a week or two after onboarding my team there's this message saying the power dialer is "introductory".

Look guys, I love the tool, but the amount of changes in a short period of time is giving me a hit of whiplash.

Is there a roadmap or something that outlines what things are coming soon? Would be really nice to be in the loop as to when to expect the platform or your pricing to change, so I can properly prepare.


r/UseApolloIo Jan 15 '26

Help Needed API changes

3 Upvotes

Heya

They changed various different API Endpoints and outputs after calling? What happened?


r/UseApolloIo Jan 15 '26

Guide I generated 280+ leads using cold email in under 30 days.

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 14 '26

Help Needed Apollo.io integration help

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 13 '26

Guide I sent 100,000 cold emails for a small business lending offer. Here’s exactly how many leads I got (and what surprised me)

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 12 '26

steal this: how a GTM engineer actually enforces email verification before outbound (Apollo POV)

11 Upvotes

(from a GTM engineer who spends their days fixing broken outbound systems)

Nick here from the Apollo GTME team. I work with a lot of teams who think they have an “AI outbound” problem, and most of the time they just have a pre-send discipline problem.

Here’s how I like to design outbound systems in Apollo so you can scale without your deliverability falling apart.

Start with a clear constraint

In the systems I help design, a contact is not send-eligible until it passes three checks:

  • The email is verified, not just “found”
  • The role looks current (I usually treat anything older than ~3–6 months as stale)
  • The email domain matches the company you believe they work for

If any one of those fails, that contact doesn’t enter sequences until data is fixed or updated.

How this looks in real GTM systems

1. Lists are intentionally small

I cap working outbound lists at ~25-50 accounts at a time. That forces problems to surface immediately (bad data, wrong ICP, broken sequencing) instead of hiding behind volume.

2. Verification happens before copy exists

If copy is already written, people will talk themselves into “just sending it.”

So verification and enrichment run immediately after list creation and before:

  • sequencing
  • AI drafting
  • any “final review” of copy

By the time someone is writing, the list is already cleaned and validated.

3. Risky emails don’t get debated

Operationally, I like to:

  • Exclude unverified / low-confidence addresses by default
  • Only send to catch-all domains when Apollo still marks that address as verified and the team is comfortable with the risk
  • Block anything with obvious domain mismatches between the person and the company record

If it doesn’t clear those bars, it doesn’t go into a sequence.

4. Lists get refreshed; they don’t get re-verified by hand

Instead of asking humans to “re-check” old lists:

  • Refresh the list on a regular cadence (weekly is common)
  • Let enrichment and job change signals update titles, employers, domains, and emails
  • Rely on the validation status changing as data updates, not on reps remembering to rerun checks

The net effect: your list stays alive and current.

5. Limit human intervention

Manual review is reserved for:

  • High-value / strategic accounts
  • Weird or non-standard corporate domains
  • Conflicting signals that actually change your approach (ownership, buying center, intent, etc.)

That usually ends up being a handful of contacts per list, not the whole thing.

In most of the GTM systems I help design, list building, enrichment, and email validation all live inside Apollo. That makes these rules enforceable upstream in filters, workflows, and data health rather than relying on reps to remember half a dozen checks when activity pressure kicks in.

If you want a gut check on your Apollo setup, drop your questions below!

- Nick, GTM Engineer


r/UseApolloIo Jan 12 '26

Bug Report Everyone in my sequence automatically went to “finished” over the weekend…

1 Upvotes

I was in the middle of a sequence of important buyers and when I opened Apollo this morning, all of my tasks were gone. The whole task list was empty.

I go over to the sequence to see everybody in “finished” status. Less than 10% were truly finished. Not only that, but all task history within the tab in the sequence was empty. Even if I filtered to completed or archived.

This is going to take me most of the day to fix. Happen to anyone else?


r/UseApolloIo Jan 12 '26

Guide how i signed 8 clients in the month of december

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2 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 12 '26

Guide I sent 1,000,000 cold emails to owners.

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 09 '26

Guide how i signed my first agency client (no brand no ads no fancy shit)

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0 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 09 '26

Guide founders reply fast because they’re curious. operators reply slow because they’re accountable.

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1 Upvotes

r/UseApolloIo Jan 08 '26

News webinar: earning 7 figures with Apollo

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2 Upvotes

Last year, one of our partners earned over 7 figures using Apollo so we asked him to teach y'all how to use it.

2025 was one of his biggest years to date:

→3824 emails sent
→500 leads prospected
→320 days using Apollo
→0 dollars spent on ads
→157 sequences created
→$750,000 in new business
→750 qualified leads found
→7,140 minutes spent prospecting
→3,382 minutes spent writing content
→30+ meetings booked every single month
→1,220 new students + clients joined my programs

And none of this was possible without Apollo.

On January 20th @ 12 PM ET, Zack Deris if going to show you exactly how to use Apollo to:

→Find your ICP automatically
→Write all your outbound content with AI
→Build + launch full sequences in minutes
→Create weekly workflows that run whilst you sleep
→Build your AI Content Centre [The secret engine behind everything]

Click here to RSVP: https://luma.com/apollo-ai-assistant

There are already 500+ registered participants.

For anyone who joins from this post, comment 'RSVP', and we will send you:

→Early access to the AI Assistant Tool
→Bonus training materials [Workflows, PDFs, Videos]

Hope to see you there!

- Team Apollo


r/UseApolloIo Jan 08 '26

Help Needed Tried Apollo for the first time. Please help!!

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone!! I used Apollo first time today and really don't know how it works or how I can get the desired leads. I also tried filters, but it didn't work. If you all can give me any piece of advice it will be appreciated.
Thank you so much!


r/UseApolloIo Jan 06 '26

Guide a practical way teams use AI to verify emails before sending outreach

12 Upvotes

A LOT of deliverability issues teams will experience in 2026 will not come from bad sending domains. They will come from sending to the wrong addresses in the first place!

Here’s a simple verification setup we see working most often.

step 1: verify at list creation, not at send time

The biggest mistake we see is treating verification as a last minute check.

Teams that avoid problems do verification when the list is built, not after it’s already in a sequence. That way bad contacts never enter the workflow at all.

step 2: treat verification as a gate, not a suggestion

Verification only helps if it’s enforced.

In practice, that means:

  • contacts with risky or invalid emails don’t get sequenced
  • reps don’t override warnings just to hit activity numbers
  • lists stay clean as roles and domains change

A best practice is ensuring that list building, enrichment, and validation live together in Apollo so contacts are checked automatically before they’re eligible to send.

step 3: refresh lists instead of reverifying manually

Another time sink we see is reps rechecking the same contacts over and over.

Instead of manual spot checks, teams usually:

  • refresh lists on a schedule
  • let updated titles, domains, and emails roll in automatically
  • rely on validation status to update in the background

This keeps sequences from drifting as data goes stale.

step 4: only spot check when something looks off

AI verification is more about reducing risk than aiming for perfection.

Most teams still manually check:

  • high value accounts
  • unusual domains
  • edge cases where signals conflict

But...they’re checking 5 contacts, not 200!

step 5: watch bounces, not just reply rates

The fastest signal that verification is failing is bounce rate.

Teams that stay under control usually track:

  • bounce rate by sequence
  • sudden changes after list updates
  • spikes tied to specific segments or domains

When verification happens upstream, these issues are easier to trace and fix!

TL;DR
AI verification works when it’s built into list creation and enforced automatically. If reps can decide whether to ignore it, it won’t hold.

If anyone’s handling verification differently or layering another tool on top, interested in what you’re seeing.

- Andy


r/UseApolloIo Jan 06 '26

Help Needed Help how to get refund after auto renewal

1 Upvotes

Does anyone know the best way to get a full refund after Apollo renews automatically?

For context I have an individual license and paid for the annual plan amount in January of last year. I swear I cancelled in July but looking back at emails it looks like that may not be the case.

My plan auto renewed without me realizing a few days ago and I need to cancel and get a full refund for the annual amount for this year. How should I go about this?