Overview
AI research on Apollo offers AI-powered insights into people and companies that reduce manual research time and help you craft personalized messages. Use AI research to narrow your targeting, personalize your emails, and get to know your prospects more deeply. Then reach out to engage — all on Apollo.
AI research combines Apollo data, like information you set in the content center, with external data sources and Apollo AI to uncover the most important details about your prospects.
When you create a custom research prompt or use AI research prompts built by Apollo, Apollo generates insights with one of the following AI models:
- Perplexity Sonar: Best for prospecting and simplifying research at scale for quick insights into accounts or contacts. When you create or use AI research with this model, Apollo scours the web to research contacts or details based on your request.
- OpenAI GPT-4o mini: Best for targeting, categorizing, or summarizing existing Apollo data, and data discovered from other AI research. This model doesn't access the web for additional details.
- Anthropic Claude Haiku 3.5: Best for generating messaging using data you've gathered inside Apollo. Create text for personalized emails, ad-hoc LinkedIn messages, or scripts and pitches for calls and meetings.
Apollo also creates a custom field for your research that you can use to filter your search results or use as a dynamic variable to personalize an email.
Wanna learn more about AI research? Watch the free Apollo Academy course How to Use AI Research to Accelerate Prospecting.
Check out the following sections to get started with AI research.
Get Started
To get started:
| Run AI research | Start with an AI research template built by Apollo to find your ideal contacts and uncover insights that help you move prospects forward. Check out the template library for inspiration. |
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| AI prompt best practices | Check out Apollo's guide to writing great AI prompts, then create your own custom prompt to tailor AI research to your specific use cases. |
| Filter prospects with AI research | Apply AI filters to your search and narrow your prospect lists based on research you've uncovered. You can filter by AI research templates like likely-to-engage contacts, SaaS vs. non-SaaS companies, or by your own custom AI research. |
| Use AI research in messaging | Generate hyper-personalized messaging with AI research that you can use in sequences and emails to build rapport and start meaningful conversations with prospects. |
| Use AI research in workflows | Double-down on sales automation with AI research in workflows to reduce manual tasks. |
Check out how Smartling used AI research to 10x rep productivity.
FAQs
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Frequently asked questions |
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| How do I use AI research on a list? | How do I reorder an AI research field? | What happens if a dynamic variable fails in an AI research prompt? |
| Who can see AI research I create? | How much AI research can I run? | How much does it cost to use AI research? |
| How long does it take to run AI research? | Why am I not getting the output I want? | How do I delete AI research? |
How do I use AI research on a list?
To use AI research on a saved list:
- Launch Apollo and click Lists.
- Select your list.
- Click Research with AI and follow the steps to run an AI research.
You have now used AI research on a list.
How do I reorder an AI research field?
To reorder an AI research field:
- Click and drag the AI field.
You have now reordered an AI research field.
What happens if a dynamic variable fails in an AI research prompt?
AI research prompts use dynamic variables, such as {{contact.name}} and {{account.name}}, to understand requests. If you enter a dynamic variable incorrectly, such as {{contcat.name}}, the research may not generate.
Additionally, if there's no value for the dynamic variable, for example, if your contact lacks an {{account.name}} or an {{account.website_URL}}, the research may not generate.
If you import via CSV or CRM, manually create a contact or account, or manually delete individual fields on a contact or account, some AI research won't generate.
Who can see AI research I create?
When you create new AI research, you can set the AI field's visibility:
- Global custom field: This field will be visible to everyone.
- Private field: This field will only be visible to you.
To make an AI research field global and visible to everyone at your organization, you need permission to add or edit definitions of custom fields. If you don't have permission, reach out to an Apollo admin at your organization for help.
How much AI research can I run?
The number of AI research runs you can complete depends on your Apollo plan. If you need access to more AI research, upgrade your plan. If you have questions about upgrading, reach out to the Apollo sales team.
How much does it cost to use AI research?
You can only run AI research on saved contacts, and you use 1 AI research run per enrichment field, per contact. AI research costs depend on your plan. Check out AI research usage to review your team's usage.
Where do I find AI research results?
After you run AI research, Apollo adds a custom field to your prospecting view and to each contact or account you researched. To see your insights, open the contact or account, and click See all fields under Record Details, then click AI custom fields. You can also filter your lists by AI research to quickly surface the results.
How long does it take to run AI research?
Most AI research runs finish in under thirty seconds per record, so you’ll usually have your insights in the time it takes to grab a coffee. If you’re running AI research on a small list, say ten or twenty contacts, you’ll see results almost instantly, often in under a minute. When you scale up to a larger list of a few hundred, plan on a couple of minutes for everything to process.
The exact speed depends on the model you pick and the complexity of your prompt. Perplexity Sonar, which actually scours the web for fresh data, tends to take a bit longer because it's fetching live web data. OpenAI GPT-4o mini and Anthropic Claude Haiku 3.5 work off existing data in Apollo, so they’re faster and most runs on a record with those models complete in under fifteen seconds.
If you ever notice research taking significantly longer, it can help to simplify your prompt or split a very large list into smaller batches. And if something still seems off, reach out to Apollo support, and we'll help troubleshoot.
Why am I not getting the output I want?
If AI research isn’t giving you the insights you expect, start by checking your prompt. Vague or overly broad instructions can lead AI off track, so compare your wording against Apollo's AI prompt best practices to make sure you’re asking for exactly what you need.
Next, confirm that any dynamic variables in your prompt are spelled correctly and that those fields actually exist on your contact or account. If you have a typo in something like {{contact.name}} or if there’s no value for {{account.website_URL}}, the research may fail to generate.
Finally, choose the right model for your use case. Perplexity Sonar searches the web for fresh data but can take longer and might miss paywalled content. GPT-4o mini and Claude Haiku 3.5 work only with data already in Apollo and so may run faster, but they can't add new external details.
How do I delete AI research?
To delete AI research, you need permission to add or edit definitions of custom fields.
You can delete an AI research field and all its saved results across contacts and accounts, or you can delete individual research results on a single contact or account.
Delete an individual AI research result
To delete an individual AI research result:
- Launch Apollo and select People or Companies.
- Use search filters to find the record you want to action.
- Select the contact or account, and click See all fields. Then select AI custom fields.
- Select the AI research result you want to delete, and click Edit.
You can regenerate the field, manually edit the results, or backspace to delete the results.
Delete an AI research field and all results
To delete an AI research field and all results across contacts and accounts:
- Launch Apollo, and click Settings > Objects, field, stages then select Contact fields or Account fields.
- Click Fields, then select from the AI custom fields.
- Click . . . beside your AI custom field, and select Delete.
- Review the confirmation and click Delete.
Apollo deletes the AI research field and all custom fields on associated contacts or accounts.
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