How to build your first lead list

This guide walks you through building your first lead list on Clapleads Atlas, start to finish. It takes about 15 minutes.

Step 1: Create a free account

The Free plan costs $0 and includes 50 export credits per month. Searching is free and unlimited, so you can explore as much as you like before you spend a single credit. Sign in here.

Step 2: Run a search

Open Search and type what you are looking for. Two ways work:

• Keywords — for example, "dental clinics" or "logistics software".
• Plain English — for example, "marketing agencies in Canada with 10 to 50 employees". The platform reads your sentence and turns it into filters for you.

Step 3: Narrow with filters

A good list is a narrow list. Use filters to cut the results down:

• Country and city — where your customers are
• Industry keywords — what they do
• Company size — employee range bands
• Website and firmographic filters — keep the list focused on companies that fit your market

Start narrow. A list of 100 companies that truly fit beats a list of 10,000 that almost fit.

Step 4: Review before you export

Click into a few results and check them. Do these companies look like your customer? If not, adjust your filters and search again — reviewing costs nothing.

Step 5: Export your list

When the list looks right, export it. One credit buys one exported record. You can download CSV or JSON, or push records to your own systems with a webhook. The file imports cleanly into common CRMs and spreadsheet tools.

A note on opt-outs: anyone can ask to be excluded through our data request portal. Suppressed contacts are removed from every export automatically, so your file is already cleaned.

Step 6: Reach out responsibly

You are the sender of your outreach, and anti-spam laws apply to you. Before your first campaign, skim our plain-language guide to cold outreach and the law.

Quick recap

• Search free, as much as you want
• Filter until the list is small and sharp
• Spot-check before exporting
• 1 credit = 1 exported record
• Follow the law when you reach out

Next up: define your ideal customer profile so every search starts from a clear target.