Search by technical signals

Where the companies' technical data is already available, sees on their website, in the DNS settings of their and on their legal pages which technology and providers they use: webshop engine, plugins, email marketing tool, mail, and delivery, payment and invoicing providers. You can search for these signals on their own, or together with a line of business or a product range. In the example, a Hungary-based web agency builds and maintains WooCommerce webshops, and looks for webshops whose website shows that they may need its work.

This is for you if…

your service is tied to a tool, a platform or a provider;
you are looking for the users of a competitor's tool or service;
you are looking for companies that show no trace of something you solve;
you want to build your first letter on a specific technical fact that can be checked.

What will be ready at the end

A checked target group of the webshops that use the technology you are looking for and where found no trace of what you offer, with an email address suited to the task, in a campaign of its own.

Five steps

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

What Apex can search for
First, see which signals you can search for. goes through them by category: webshop engines, plugins, email marketing, analytics and advertising, mail, delivery and payment. If you ask about one category, it also names the most widespread tools.
Where: the conversation with Apex
Ask ApexApex tells you
What technical signals can you search for in webshops?
In the reply: the categories with examples, and in which countries it can search this way.
One signal on its own
From the overview, you pick one signal. The web agency is looking for companies whose webshop runs on the webshop engine it knows. For this you do not need to give a line of business or a product range: Apex brings real companies where it found the signal, and leaves out business directories and demo sites.
Where: in the results panel; on each company's card, a line shows what Apex found, where (website, DNS, legal page) and when
Ask ApexApex does it
Find Hungarian webshops that run on WooCommerce.
In the reply: 5 webshops by name, each with what it sells and the fact that it runs on WooCommerce.
The signal together with a product range
The signal stays; now the product range narrows the field. Within one product range, webshops use similar plugins and providers, so you can build your letter on the same problem.
Where: in the results panel, among the search conditions
Ask ApexApex does it
Out of these, I'm only interested in the webshops that sell pet food.
In the reply: a new sample of pet food webshops, all on WooCommerce.
What is there, and what is missing
The webshop engine and the product range stay; now an absence narrows the field. The web agency also sets up cookie consent tools, so it looks for the webshops where Apex went through the website and found no cookie consent tool on it. If you do not ask for it this way, Apex leaves out only the webshops where it found a cookie consent tool, and those whose technical data it does not know yet stay in too.
Where: in the results panel; on the card, the missing signal says “no trace found”
Ask ApexApex does it
Only the ones where you've checked the site and there's no cookie consent tool on it.
In the reply: a new sample, and one sentence saying that it found no trace of a cookie consent tool at these webshops.
Batches, email addresses and campaign
The target group is ready. If the sample is right, Apex brings the rest of the webshops in batches, then collects the best-fitting email address for each company and puts the webshops into a campaign of their own. In the letter you can build on what Apex saw: the webshop runs on WooCommerce, and Apex found no cookie consent tool on it. Write the second point as a question, not as a statement.
Where: in the results panel; the campaign under Customer acquisition › Campaigns
Ask ApexApex does it; you approve the launch
Good, bring 50 more like these, collect the email addresses, and put them into a new “Pet food webshops without cookie consent” campaign.

What it costs

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

The search is 's work and comes out of the : mainly checking and opening the companies and collecting the email addresses. The allowance has a 5-hour part and a weekly part, and both refill on their own.

On Apex Free you get 25 companies in total. For regular work you need the Start (€99) or Pro (€249) plan, per month, plus VAT; you can send campaign letters from the Start plan up.

Frequently asked questions

What most people ask in this situation.

In which countries can I search this way?

Where has already processed the companies' technical data. In the conversation, Apex tells you in which countries it can search this way.

How does Apex know what a company uses?

From the website's code and the external services it loads, from the settings of the (the mail, for example), and from the delivery, payment and invoicing providers named on the legal pages.

Can I search for a plugin or a version too?

Yes: a WordPress plugin, a Joomla or PrestaShop extension, a JavaScript library, or the major version of a webshop engine or content management system, for example WordPress 5. If one word fits several tools, Apex asks which one you meant.

What else can I ask for?

You will find ready-made sentences in Prompts: Searches and target groups.

Pitfalls

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

Absence is not proof

If found no trace of a tool, the company may still use it somewhere else, for example only on one subpage. Ask about it in the letter, do not state it.

Your own service instead of the signal

If you only say what you offer (“WooCommerce development”), Apex may look for development companies. Say that you need webshops running on WooCommerce.

Basics for this situation

If you want to look behind a step.

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

Search by technical signals

Five steps

What Apex can search for

One signal on its own

The signal together with a product range

What is there, and what is missing

Batches, email addresses and campaign