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A campaign from your own company list: from Excel or CSV

If you already have a file with company names, you do not need to search company by company. looks up the company's website for every row of the file among the companies it has already processed, where available, and keeps the file as a company list. It opens the companies it finds the same way as search results, and one request turns the list into a campaign. In the example, an industrial service company starts a campaign from the member list of a trade association: the file has the company name, the postcode and the town, but no website and no email address.

This is for you if…
  • you have an Excel or CSV file with company names: the members of an association, the exhibitors of a trade fair, the winners of a grant scheme, or former prospects;
  • the file has no website or contact details, only the name and, at best, the address;
  • you want to start a campaign from the list without searching company by company.
What will be ready at the end

The list under , in Company lists, with the website found for every company and how sure each match is. The best matches opened, and the first batch in a campaign.

Six steps

Each step comes with the sentence you can copy into Apex, and what Apex does with it.

  1. The file

    The first step is the file. One row is one company; the company name is required, and every further column makes the matching more precise: the postcode, the town, the address, the tax number, the and the email address. The file can be .xlsx or CSV, with up to 5,000 rows and 10 MB. If the column headers say what is in the columns, recognises them more reliably.

    Where: the conversation with Apex; you provide the file on an upload card
    Ask ApexApex guides you through

    I have an Excel file of the association's members, company name, postcode, town. Find their websites.

    The upload card appears in the conversation.

  2. Columns and matching

    After reading the file, Apex starts matching right away and tells you in one sentence which columns it works from, for example the Company name, Postcode and Town columns. If one is wrong, write which column holds what, and Apex matches again. If it is unsure about a column, for example when two columns both look like company names, it shows the file's columns with their first values on a card and asks which one to use. Matching runs in the background, does not use the and does not open a single company yet: at this point it only works out which website fits which row.

    Where: the conversation with Apex; if Apex asks, the card appears in the conversation
    Ask ApexApex does it

    The town is in column C.

    If it is unsure about a column, it asks on a card.

  3. The bands

    When the matching is done, Apex lets you know, and every row gets a band. Sure: an identifier or the domain matches, the company is already yours, or the postcode matches as well as the name. Likely: the town matches as well as the name, or the row has no address. Needs checking: the name matches but the address differs, or several unrelated websites fit it. Step 5 shows the way forward for the No match rows. Before the companies are opened, the band and the count show; the website shows once they are opened.

    Where: Dizzlets › Company lists, the list's box; you can filter by band
    Ask ApexApex tells you

    How many companies on the association list came out as Sure?

    In the answer: the count for each band.

  4. Opening in batches

    After the bands comes the opening, the same as with search results: each company counts once towards the allowance, the Sure companies first, followed by Likely and Needs checking. As many come now as fit into the allowance while leaving enough for the conversation and for handling the letters; the rest stay on the list, marked Waiting to be opened, and come with the next batch when you ask. If the offer appears above the , you can also ask for all of them in one go, with . Websites linked by a shared tax number or company registration number count as one company and one opening.

    Where: the conversation with Apex; the approval button in the conversation, the opened and waiting companies in the list's box
    Ask ApexApex does it, with your approval

    Open as many as fit.

    Above the approval button: how many companies fit in now, how many are waiting, and what percentage of the weekly allowance it takes.

  5. Several websites and No match

    Before the companies go into a campaign, it is worth looking at the To do view: each of its rows says in one sentence what is missing. If a company has several websites, one is selected by default: the one on the company's own domain that has contact details. Once the company is opened, expanding the row shows every website by name, and you can choose which one the email goes to. Another website of the same company can be chosen at no cost; a website that only matches by name is another company, and switching to it is a new opening, which you confirm before the choice is made. You can exclude a whole company from the list in the row menu. For the No match rows, you can enter the website (if it has not been opened yet, you see before saving that opening it takes one company from the allowance), or upload a second file with a domain, email or tax number column: then only the rows not matched yet run again. When Apex processes more companies, the unmatched rows also run again on their own, and Apex lets you know about new matches.

    Where: Dizzlets › Company lists, the list's box, the row menu. You will find the excluded companies in the Excluded filter
    Ask ApexApex does it

    In row 12, sampleltd.co.uk is the right website, and in row 40, example.com.

    Changes to five or more rows need your approval.

  6. A campaign, starting with a smaller group

    One request turns the opened companies into a campaign; adding them to the campaign does not use the allowance again. The Ready for a campaign view shows the companies that will actually be loaded into the campaign: they have a selected website and a usable address, and they are not in a campaign yet. You can ask for only a given number of companies to go in now: these are the first companies in the Ready for a campaign view, in list order, up to that number, and the next request continues where the campaign stopped. Companies missing an address wait in the To do view with their reason; if you leave them out of a campaign, the list remembers this for that campaign, so the next round does not ask about them again in any conversation. If you need them later after all, Apex brings them back on request. You do not need to split the list; the sending pace comes from the schedule of the mailbox. A first batch is useful if you want to try the emails on a smaller group first. This is what you have at the end: the list in Company lists, and the best matches in a campaign.

    Where: Customer acquisition › Campaigns; on the list's box, the number of companies in a campaign
    Ask ApexApex does it, with your approval

    Put the sure ones into the “Association members” campaign, only 300 for a start.

    Above the approval button: the first 300 companies, or all of them.

What it costs

An example of the monthly fee. Plans are personal, per month, plus VAT.

Uploading and matching do not use the . Opening each company found counts once towards the allowance, the same as a company opened in a search; companies already opened and your own companies do not count again, and neither does adding them to a campaign. The allowance has a 5-hour part and a weekly part, and both refill on their own, so opens a large list in batches or, if the offer appears above the , in one go, with .

On Apex Free you get 25 companies in total, and opening the list's companies counts towards them as well. To send the campaign, you need the Start (€99) or Pro (€249) plan, per month, plus VAT.

Frequently asked questions

What most people ask in this situation.

Can I download the list with the contact details found?

works on the list's companies inside Trendizz: it puts them into a campaign and follows the replies. You can take contact details out under Export in the account menu, for the companies that responded positively (a reply showing interest, a positive call or Won), as CSV or Excel, on the paid plans. The companies that respond positively to a campaign started from a list go into the export the same way.

What if I only have a few companies?

For a few company names, tax numbers or email addresses you do not need a file: type them into the conversation, see Known companies.

What else can I ask for?

You will find ready-made sentences in Prompts: Company lists.

I want to write to my existing customers. Do I need a company list for that?

If you have your customers' and email addresses, the file goes straight into a campaign without matching; the A campaign for existing customers guide describes this. A company list helps when you only have their company names.

Pitfalls

What most people run into, and how to avoid it.

An old .xls file

reads the .xlsx and CSV formats. Save the file in one of these and upload it again.

Company name not recognised

Matching starts from the company name. If the header says so, for example Company name, Apex recognises it without asking; if it is not clear, it shows the columns with their first values on a card, and you choose which one holds the company names.

Only a name, no address

If the row only has the company name, the match is Likely at best. If you have a postcode, tax number or , put it in the file: with these, a row becomes Sure.

Basics for this situation

If you want to look behind a step.

What to use the results for

Email, post, phone and social profiles.

Open

How Apex searches

Sample, check, batches: this is how Apex works.

Open

Set it up with Apex.

Tell Apex how many of you there are and how you work. Apex tells you which guide fits and, wherever it can, sets things up with your approval.

Free account, no card details · monthly fee, no minimum term