Build a verified contact list for a cold email campaign
Images on this page are for illustrative purposes only. Example outputs in this play are illustrative — the structure, fields, and format reflect real Lusha and Gmail connector output, but were not pulled from a live session. Run the prompt with your own campaign parameters to see live results. Personal details in any live examples are masked or abbreviated for privacy.
A verified contact list for a cold email campaign contains only contacts with confirmed deliverable emails, current titles at the right companies, and no prior outreach history that would make a cold open land wrong. This Claude prompt finds contacts matching the target persona via Lusha, grades every email A or B — excluding grades C and D that risk bounces — checks Gmail for prior contact history per company, and segments the full list into three send waves: signal-positive accounts first, clean cold contacts second, prior-contact re-engagements third with a separate first line.
The prompt
This prompt may contain placeholders — look for [BRACKETS] and fill them in.
<context>
I need to build a verified contact list for an outbound cold email campaign. I want the right people at the right companies — verified emails, current titles, no bounces, no contacts who have left. I also want to know before sending whether anyone on the list has been contacted before.
My campaign:
- Campaign goal: [e.g. "cold email to VP RevOps at mid-market SaaS for Q3 pipeline"]
- Target persona: [e.g. "VP of Revenue Operations, Head of Sales Operations"]
- Target company criteria: [INDUSTRY / SIZE / GEOGRAPHY / FUNDING STAGE]
- Number of contacts needed: [e.g. "100" / "as many as possible"]
- Email sending domain: [YOUR DOMAIN — for prior contact check]
- Any accounts to exclude: [e.g. "existing customers, current pipeline, competitor accounts"]
- Sequence tool: [e.g. "Outreach / Salesloft / Gmail" — or "return as CSV"]
</context>
<task>
1. Use Lusha to find and verify contacts matching the target persona and company criteria:
- Current verified title — must match the target persona
- Verified work email with confidence grade (A or B only — exclude C and D grades)
- Still at the company — no departed contacts
- Company: headcount, industry, funding stage, HQ — must match stated criteria
- Exclude any account on the exclusion list
2. Check Lusha's signals layer per account:
- Any buying signal in the last 30 days: funding, exec hire, headcount surge
- Flag signal-positive contacts for priority send — Wave 1
3. Check Gmail for any prior outreach to each contact or their company domain:
- Has anyone from the team emailed this contact or company before?
- If yes: when, what was discussed, did the contact reply?
- Flag warm contacts (prior reply) separately from cold contacts (no prior contact)
4. Build the verified contact list with three send waves:
- Wave 1 — signal positive: contacts at accounts with a live buying signal in the last 30 days
- Wave 2 — cold, no prior contact: verified contacts, ICP match, no signal
- Wave 3 — warm re-engagement: prior contact exists — needs a different first line
5. Return:
- Full verified contact list: name, verified title, company, email grade, signal, prior contact flag, wave
- Wave breakdown: X Wave 1, X Wave 2, X Wave 3
- Any contact excluded due to C/D email grade — flag for manual review
- Summary: X verified contacts ready to send, X excluded, X warm re-engagement
</task>
<constraints>
- Only A or B email confidence grades. C and D grades risk bounces.
- Wave 3 contacts must not receive the same first line as Wave 1 or 2 — flag for separate copy.
- Exclusion list applied before any output.
- Prior contact history mandatory on every Wave 3 contact.
</constraints>What you'll get back
The situation: A growth marketer needs 8 verified contacts for a Q3 cold email campaign — VP RevOps and Head of Sales Operations at mid-market B2B SaaS companies in the US, 200–600 employees. Existing customers and pipeline excluded.
Verified contact list — Q3 RevOps cold email campaign
| Contact | Verified title | Company | Size | Email grade | Signal | Prior contact | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T.K. | VP of Sales | Dunmore Analytics | 580 | A | 💰 Series B · 18d | ⚠ Yes — pricing thread 54d ago | 3 |
| R.V. | VP Revenue Operations | Crestline Software | 340 | A | 📈 Hiring +22% | None | 1 |
| P.N. | VP Revenue Operations | Falcrest Tech | 380 | A | 💰 Series A · 9d | None | 1 |
| M.L. | Head of Sales Operations | Ashford Platforms | 420 | B | None | None | 2 |
| P.O. | VP of Sales | Briarway SaaS | 290 | A | None | None | 2 |
| J.A. | SVP of Sales | Greenway Cloud | 510 | A | None | None | 2 |
| S.P. | VP Revenue Operations | Halcyon Data | 470 | B | None | None | 2 |
| C.N. | Director of RevOps | Elmont Systems | 610 | C | None | None | ⚠ Excluded |
Wave breakdown
Wave 1 — send first (signal positive) · 2 contacts R.V. at Crestline Software — hiring surge, open window now P.N. at Falcrest Tech — Series A closed 9 days ago, peak intent window
Wave 2 — cold send · 5 contacts M.L., P.O., J.A., S.P. — verified, ICP match, no signal, no prior contact
Wave 3 — warm re-engagement · 1 contact — separate copy required T.K. at Dunmore Analytics — pricing thread 54 days ago, no reply received. First line must reference the prior conversation, not open cold.
Excluded · 1 contact C.N. at Elmont Systems — email grade C, bounce risk. Flag for manual verification before including.
Summary: 7 verified contacts ready · 3 waves · 1 excluded for manual review
Illustrative example — fictional company names used. Run with your own campaign parameters to see live results.
Why use Lusha in Claude
Lusha in Claude connects the email grade, the signal layer, and the prior contact history in one pass — three inputs that most cold email list-building tools handle separately or not at all. The email grade filter removes C.N. before the send, not after the bounce degrades the sending domain’s reputation. The Wave 3 flag on T.K. stops the campaign tool from sending a cold opener to someone who already asked about pricing 54 days ago — that email needs a different first line referencing the prior thread, and getting it wrong burns a warm account. The wave segmentation means the copywriter writes three versions of the opening line, each grounded in a specific context, rather than one generic opener that lands wrong for two thirds of the list.
Data drawn from 300M+ verified contacts under GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, ISO 27701, ISO 31700, and TRUSTe.
FAQ
What is Lusha's email confidence grade and why does it matter for cold email?
Lusha grades every email address from A+ (recently verified through multiple signals) to D (older, lower confidence). For cold email campaigns, only A and B grades should be sent — C and D grades carry a meaningful bounce risk, and bounces above 2% start degrading the sending domain’s reputation. The grade filter removes risky addresses before the campaign launches, not after the damage is done.
Why do Wave 3 contacts need a different email copy?
A contact who previously replied asking about pricing and received no follow-up is not a cold contact — opening with a cold first line signals the sender didn’t check. The Wave 3 flag tells the copywriter to write a re-engagement opener that references the prior conversation rather than pretending it didn’t happen.
How many contacts should be in each wave?
Wave 1 is naturally the smallest — buying signals are specific and time-bound. Wave 2 is typically the largest. Wave 3 size depends on how much prior outreach history exists. The wave structure isn’t about equal distribution — it’s about sending the right message to the right group.
Can I export this list directly to Outreach or Salesloft?
The prompt returns a structured list with all fields. Specify the sequence tool in the prompt and the output is formatted for direct import. For CSV export, set the sequence tool field to “return as CSV.”
How is this different from the build-a-prospect-list plays in the Prospecting category?
The prospecting plays are built for individual reps building a personal call list. This play is built for marketing or growth teams running a campaign at scale — the wave segmentation, email grade filtering, and prior contact check are all designed for batch sends, not one-to-one outreach.
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