How Popl's list enrichment engine achieves 95%+ match rates

So your team does what it's always done: manually digs through ZoomInfo, cross-references Salesforce, and tracks down contact info one lead at a time. By the time the list is cleaned up and ready for outreach, it's been three weeks. Your best prospects have moved on.

This is the reality for most event marketing teams. And it's not a workflow problem. It's a data problem. The good news? Popl solves it, delivering a 95% list enrichment match rate in seconds. Keep reading to find out how. 

Why industry-standard match rates aren't enough

Traditional enrichment tools typically achieve around a 65% match rate. You upload your list, they check their databases and return whatever they have. The rest of your leads come back incomplete.

That means you can’t follow up with about one in three contacts on your list right away. At a 1,000-person conference, that's 350 leads your team simply cannot reach with a personalized email or a direct dial. They're not lost forever, but without enrichment, they might as well be.

Field marketers report spending hours cross-referencing Salesforce and manually searching company websites before they can even begin outreach. Many describe their post-event process as a "convoluted mess" of downloading raw spreadsheets, manually reformatting fields, and copying data row by row.

The best event marketing teams solve this before the show even starts. They upload their attendee list, enrich it in bulk, and walk in the door with meetings already on the calendar. But that strategy only works with the best list enrichment platforms. 

How the Popl enrichment engine achieves 95%+ match rates 

Popl's approach to list enrichment technology is fundamentally different from legacy providers. Here's how: 

20+ data partners working in sequence

Rather than checking one database and stopping there, the Popl enrichment engine runs every lead through more than 20 hand-picked premium data partners. The process relies on waterfall enrichment: if one provider doesn't have the email, the next one is queried. If the phone number isn't available from that source, another specialist fills it in.

Each partner in the waterfall specializes in specific data types, including work emails, mobile numbers, LinkedIn profiles, and company firmographics. This means the right source is queried for the right field, rather than relying on a generalist database to cover everything. The result is significantly higher data enrichment accuracy across all output fields.

All you need to provide is a first name and a company name. From there, the engine takes over.

AI agents that close the gap

Even the best data providers have blind spots. When the waterfall doesn't return a match, Popl's AI agents step in. These agents are each purpose-built for a specific task, searching for particular data points in real time and applying intelligent email prediction to fill gaps that traditional databases miss.

This is what lifts Popl's lead enrichment match rate from the industry standard of 65% to 95%+. The AI layer searches, cross-references, and validates in real time before returning a result. Every badge scan and list enrichment upload to Popl's platform improves the engine, building on more than 1 million event badge scans processed across every major industry.

Built-in data validation

A high match rate only matters if the data is accurate. That's why validation is built directly into the Popl enrichment engine. 

Before any email is returned, it passes through a proprietary letter-matching algorithm and email verification system. If an email can't be verified as deliverable, it isn't returned. The same rigorous process applies to phone numbers and company data. If Popl enriches it, you can email it.

This commitment to event data quality means your team isn't wasting time sending emails into a void or calling disconnected numbers. Every contact returned is ready to act on.

What 95%+ match rates actually mean for your team

The numbers are straightforward. Upload a 1,000-person attendee list, and a 65% match rate gives you 650 enriched contacts. Popl's 95%+ match rate gives you 950+. That's 300 additional leads your team can reach with a personalized email before the show even starts.

But the real impact plays out across the full event lifecycle.

Before the event

A fully enriched attendee list lets you identify your target accounts, understand who from those companies is attending, and reach out early. The most effective event marketing teams schedule meetings in advance, make their presence known, and walk in with a pipeline already warmed up. That only works if your enrichment works.

During the event

When a badge is scanned through Popl, the enriched profile returns in seconds, complete with verified contact info and company firmographics. Your team doesn’t have to wait hours or days for a CSV. Your reps instantly have the context they need to follow up with precision. 

After the event

You can even upload a CSV of leads after the event. Popl automatically cleans the spreadsheet, converts rows into fully enriched contacts, and syncs everything directly to your CRM. 

Beyond match rates: the data quality your team needs

What separates a truly useful enriched lead from a basic one is the depth of context it provides. Popl enriches leads across multiple layers: work emails, phone numbers, personal emails, job titles, LinkedIn profiles, and lead location. The Popl enrichment engine also delivers complete firmographics: company size, industry, annual revenue, funding history, tech stack, NAICS codes, and headquarters location at the company level.

For teams with more specific research needs, Popl's AI research agent, PopAgent, goes further. Need to know whether a company is SOC 2 compliant? How many roles they’re actively hiring for? Whether they're a B2B or B2C business? PopAgent surfaces those answers at scale, eliminating the hours a team member would otherwise spend digging through websites before a high-value meeting.

This kind of enrichment gives your reps the intelligence to walk into every conversation with genuine context, speak to a prospect's specific situation, and make a connection that feels human rather than transactional.

The competitive cost of incomplete data

Many marketing leaders say the cost of incomplete data is steep. After waiting weeks for an event CSV and spending additional time cleaning and formatting it, follow-up emails go out a full month after the show. By then, prospects have moved on. 

Speed to lead is everything. Data enrichment accuracy determines whether your team reaches prospects while they're still engaged, or chases them weeks later when the moment has passed.

A 95% list enrichment match rate means your team can follow up with 9 out of every 10 people they meet. It means fewer leads slipping through the cracks, a lower cost per lead from every event you attend, and a sales team that spends its time on conversations rather than spreadsheets.

See Popl's list enrichment in action

Popl's enrichment engine is trained on more event data than any other platform, with over 1 million badge scans across every industry. And it gets smarter with every upload. Over 90% of the trust Popl’s list enrichment technology for its unparalleled speed and accuracy. 

If your team is still leaving 30% to 40% of your event leads on the table, it's time to see what a 95% match rate looks like in practice. Request a demo today.