Target groups and search
When you're looking for companies, Apex narrows your segment down to a target group: it checks every result, tells you why it fits, and on request loads it into a campaign too. This page shows you what you can ask it, and who can ask.
One question, one sample, one unlock. Apex sets the conditions, checks the results, and adds them to a campaign once you approve.
Who can ask what?
Apex only does what the person asking is authorised to do. Which companies you see is decided by your group.
Click your own role, and only the example prompts you can ask Apex for stay on the page. The filter only rearranges this page; it changes nothing in your account or your permissions.
Several requests at once
You can put as many search steps as you like into one sentence. Apex works through them in order and reports back at the end. Where approval is needed, it shows that on a card.
- What happens
- Apex sets up the segment and the email condition, then runs the first sample search. Afterwards it tells you what it found in one message.
- Where it shows
- In the search results panel, next to the chat.
- What happens
- Apex excludes the companies already in a campaign, then runs a new sample search with the same conditions.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, at the top of the fresh results.
- What happens
- Apex asks on an approval card to unlock the 10 best-fitting locked results. It then loads the ones that already have an email address into the named campaign, and offers to collect the addresses for the rest.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, and on the approval card in the chat.
- What happens
- Apex starts a new search on the given segment and excludes the tagged companies from it; the earlier search and its results stay unchanged.
- Where it shows
- In a new results panel, among your searches.
Where to start
Tell Apex who you're looking for. It helps you phrase the segment precisely before it starts searching.
- What happens
- If the segment is too broad, like "clothing" or "healthcare", Apex suggests 3 to 5 more specific sub-segments and waits to see which one you pick before it starts searching.
- Where it shows
- In the chat, before the search results panel opens.
- What happens
- Apex adds the named country to the search conditions, and from then on the search covers that too.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, among the new results.
- What happens
- Apex sets up the language condition: the presence or absence of the given language filters the results.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel.
This refers to the website's language versions; there's no data on the company staff's language skills.
What it can't search for
Some criteria can't be filtered on. When that happens, Apex tells you what's missing and offers the closest thing it can actually do.
- What happens
- Apex explains that it doesn't store company size or headcount, so it can't filter on that directly. Instead it offers the closest option: narrowing by activity and segment.
- Where it shows
- In the chat.
Company size, headcount and revenue are never filterable conditions in any search.
- What happens
- Apex explains that it can't search for literal text or phrases on websites, and instead offers a meaning-based search: it looks at what the company actually does.
- Where it shows
- In the chat.
The results reflect what the system understood of the company's activity.
- What happens
- Apex explains that it doesn't store revenue, founding year or other company-register data, so it can't filter on these.
- Where it shows
- In the chat.
It only sees what the company's own website shows.
Location and exclusions
Beyond the segment, you can also narrow the field by location, and exclude the types of site you're not looking for.
- What happens
- Apex narrows the results to a radius drawn around the given city, or to the named towns.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, next to each company's city.
- What happens
- Apex adds the exclusion to its validation criteria, so a booking portal or a comparison site won't end up among the results, even if it would otherwise fit the segment.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel.
The first results
Apex shows you where the search is heading on a small sample, before it runs on the full field.
- What happens
- Apex checks a smaller batch and shows you the best-fitting results: for each one, a short reason, the company's industry, function and city, without the company name or contact details.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, as a locked card.
Reviewing the sample is free and doesn't use your monthly allowance. Only unlocking the company name and contact details uses it up.
- What happens
- Apex shows you the most common rejection reasons, and explains what made it judge that a site doesn't fit the segment.
- Where it shows
- In the chat.
- What happens
- Apex tries again once, with different wording or a narrower condition, tells you what it changed, and then reports the result.
- Where it shows
- In the chat, then in the results panel.
It only retries once per round. Deeper refinement continues automatically once the system moves to the larger field.
Narrowing and undoing
The results stay in place until you ask otherwise. You can narrow or widen the field at any time.
- What happens
- Apex excludes the named group from further results: companies already in a campaign or tagged won't come up again.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, after the new search.
- What happens
- Apex removes the most recently added results; the earlier ones stay unchanged.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel.
- What happens
- Apex opens a new search for a different segment; the current search and its results stay untouched.
- Where it shows
- In a new results panel.
A smaller refinement, like "piercing studios too", stays within the current search. Only a genuinely different segment opens a new one.
Unlocking and allowance
Apex shows the first results locked, so you can review and refine the field for free before you unlock the company name and contact details. Unlocking draws on your plan's monthly allowance, which renews every month.
- What happens
- Apex unlocks the requested results; from then on, their company name and contact details are visible too.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, on the unlocked cards.
- What happens
- Since this affects a lot of results at once, Apex shows on an approval card how many would unlock and how much of your allowance it would use, and only unlocks them once you approve.
- Where it shows
- On the approval card in the chat, then in the results panel.
- What happens
- Apex tells you how many more companies you can unlock in this monthly cycle. If the allowance is used up, it tells you it renews on your subscription's monthly renewal date.
- Where it shows
- In the chat, and on the allowance meter in the results panel too.
The allowance applies to unlocked companies. Browsing and narrowing the results doesn't use it up.
Collecting contact details
For unlocked results, Apex picks the best-fitting email address.
- What happens
- Apex looks up the best-fitting email address for every unlocked result that doesn't have one yet, and works on it in the background.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel: as the addresses come in, the email badge appears on the results.
- What happens
- Apex picks the email address for the unlocked results by the role you asked for.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, on the email badge.
- What happens
- Apex explains that it doesn't collect for results that are still locked, because even the company name isn't known for those, and it offers to unlock them.
- Where it shows
- In the chat.
It only collects email addresses for unlocked results.
Adding to a campaign
You can add unlocked results with an email address to a campaign with a single sentence.
- What happens
- Apex checks who has an email address and who's already in a campaign, then loads the rest into the named campaign, and reports how many it loaded and why the rest were left out.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, on the badge showing the campaign's name.
- What happens
- Since adding to a campaign that's already running can trigger an immediate send, Apex tells you exactly how many companies it would add, and waits for your yes before loading them.
- Where it shows
- In the chat, before the results panel.
It only asks back for a campaign that's already running. Not for one that hasn't started yet.
- What happens
- Apex sorts the results to load by the named tags, and tells you how many it loaded under those conditions.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel.
- What happens
- Apex asks what type of campaign it should be, then creates the campaign under the given name, switched off. It loads the results once the campaign has a letter in it, and tells you so.
- Where it shows
- In the chat.
Past searches
You can reopen, rename or delete a search at any time.
- What happens
- Apex opens the named past search; from then on every step applies to that.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel, on the reopened search.
- What happens
- Apex renames the current search; its results don't change.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel's header.
- What happens
- Since deleting removes the search and all its results, Apex asks for confirmation on an approval card before it deletes.
- Where it shows
- On the approval card in the chat.
- What happens
- Apex deletes the results checked so far; the search conditions stay in place, and it asks whether to start the check again.
- Where it shows
- In the results panel.
This step can't be undone, so Apex always waits for your yes before carrying it out.
Good to know
The decision is always yours
Wherever approval is needed, Apex shows the card, and only carries it out after you click.
It only works from what it has
Apex tells you what's on the record and in the correspondence. If there's no data on something, it says so.
Another team's company
If another team within your company is working with a company, Apex flags it as taken, and doesn't say who's handling it.
In your own words
You can write to Apex in your own words. The example prompts work verbatim too, but it understands your own phrasing just as well.
A closed system.
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