If you uploaded or searched for 4,000 contacts but only see 3,000 with verified emails, you might wonder what went wrong. The short answer: nothing. This is expected behavior, and it is actually a sign that Prospi is protecting your deliverability.
What happens when you build a list?
When you add contacts to a lead list in Prospi, we do not simply store names and hope the emails exist. We enrich and double-verify every email address before adding it to your usable list. That means we confirm the email is real, active, and deliverable - not just that it looks like it might be valid.
Not every contact will pass this process. Here is why:
Reason 1: Duplicates
When you pull leads from multiple sources - LinkedIn, databases, company sites, etc. - the same person often appears more than once under slightly different names or job titles. Prospi automatically removes these duplicates so you are not paying for or emailing the same contact twice.
For example, if "John Smith, VP of Sales at Acme" appears in three different data sources, he counts as one contact - not three.
Reason 2: Email not found or not verifiable
Some people simply do not have a publicly discoverable business email. Others have an email that exists on paper but cannot be confirmed as deliverable through double-verification.
Prospi only uses emails it can confirm will land in an inbox - not bounce. Sending to unverified emails is one of the fastest ways to damage your sender reputation and get flagged as spam. We skip those contacts to protect you.
What is a normal hit rate?
70-85% is completely normal. If you started with 4,000 contacts and have 2,900 verified emails, that is a good result. It means your list is clean and the emails Prospi found are genuinely deliverable.
A lower hit rate in a specific niche (like very small businesses or certain industries) is also normal - those contacts simply have less public data available.
What happens to contacts without a found email?
They are not deleted. Contacts without a verified email stay in your list but are excluded from email sends. They will not count against your send limits, and you can always re-enrich the list later if new data becomes available.
This is a feature, not a bug
We know it can feel frustrating to see a gap between your contact count and your email count. But consider the alternative: if Prospi sent to every contact regardless of email quality, you would see high bounce rates, damaged deliverability, and potentially get your sending domains blacklisted.
The contacts Prospi found emails for are the ones worth reaching out to. That is what moves the needle.
If you believe your hit rate is unusually low (below 60%), feel free to reach out to our support team - we are happy to take a look at your specific list and data sources.