Best API to Enrich Leads in Salesforce Without Manual Input

Trying to enrich leads manually is a huge drain on sales productivity. Reps spend hours each week sourcing contact details, re-keying them into the CRM, and checking records for accuracy — time that should be spent talking to prospects.

In fact, 43% of sales professionals now devote 10–20 hours a week to administrative tasks like data entry. That’s half a workweek gone before a single selling activity takes place.

This slow, manual approach delays follow-up, increases the likelihood of duplicate or incomplete records, and leaves valuable opportunities idle. As teams grow, the inefficiency compounds, reducing responsiveness and slowing pipeline velocity.

A better option is programmatic enrichment. Using an API, verified contact and company data flows directly into the CRM without manual typing. Records stay consistent, complete, and ready for routing or scoring within minutes.

In this post, we’ll show Salesforce users how to enrich leads at speed and scale, when to use Surfe’s App versus the Surfe API, and why API-driven enrichment is essential for scaling operational workflows.

Let’s get started.

Why Manual Lead Enrichment Fails Growing Teams

The typical manual enrichment process is deceptively simple: find a lead’s contact details, copy them into Salesforce, and repeat. At a small scale, this might feel manageable. At scale, it slows down growth. 

Every hour spent searching for verified email addresses and phone numbers is an hour taken from selling activity. The longer the delay between identifying a lead and making first contact, the less likely reps are to receive engagement – and the probability of conversion declines. 

Manual data entry also has a structural risk: inconsistency. Incomplete Salesforce records undermine lead scoring accuracy, slow routing, and make it harder to segment effectively. Duplicates creep in, creating confusion for both sales and marketing teams.

For teams expanding into multiple regions or market segments, manual data entry is even more problematic. A process that depends on individual reps to source and input data will struggle to keep pace with higher lead volumes and diverse data requirements. What works in one territory becomes operationally unmanageable for a global sales organisation.

The result is a CRM that fails to reflect the most current information – reducing decision‑making speed, obscuring pipeline visibility, and limiting the effectiveness of every downstream activity.

How Surfe’s App Powers Prospecting and Lead Enrichment

Surfe is a lead enrichment tool with seamless Salesforce integration that keeps your CRM data accurate, complete, and sales-ready. With the Surfe app, sales teams can enrich leads end-to-end — from finding the right contacts to syncing enriched data directly into Salesforce. By combining these capabilities in one platform, Surfe saves time, reduces tool spend, and streamlines workflows so reps aren’t bouncing between systems.

The Surfe app is designed for daily use, allowing teams to move from prospect discovery to CRM‑ready records without adding extra steps to their workflow. 

With the Surfe App, your team can:

• Search for new prospects using People Search, Company Search, or Company Lookalike functions to match your ideal customer profile
• Enrich contacts with verified emails, phone numbers, job titles, and company details
• Sync leads and companies directly into Salesforce without manual entry
• Use waterfall enrichment to improve match rates. Surfe automatically aggregates the data from multiple providers until required fields are found, increasing chances of a successful delivery
  

This all‑in‑one approach speeds up prospecting, keeps Salesforce data clean from the outset, and frees reps to focus on conversations rather than admin. It’s the ideal solution for daily, rep‑driven enrichment.

The Surfe API is the next step for teams that want to run this process at scale or connect it to automated RevOps workflows.

Why RevOps Teams Choose the Surfe API

The Surfe Data Enrichment API takes lead enrichment beyond individual rep activity, replacing slow, manual, rep‑by‑rep updates with a fully automated process. It’s built for teams that need to operate at scale or embed enrichment directly into automated workflows.

With the Surfe API, you can:

• Enrich hundreds or thousands of leads in bulk, eliminating the delays and inconsistencies of rep‑by‑rep enrichment
• Trigger enrichment so leads are ready for routing or scoring within minutes
• Make sure every record is enriched programmatically with the same verified fields – such as email, phone, job title, seniority, company size, revenue, industry, and location
• Connect enrichment to scoring, routing, or ABM targeting
• Link enrichment to data warehouse updates via automation tools like n8n, Zapier, or custom scripts

Inputs and outputs

The API works with minimal input data – such as a LinkedIn URL, company domain, or partial lead information – and returns a structured JSON file with complete, verified details. 

Because enrichment happens programmatically, data quality remains consistent no matter how many leads you process.

Key differences from the Surfe App:

• The Surfe App is rep‑driven and click‑to‑enrich
• The API is workflow‑driven and scalable, designed for global or high‑volume operations

Best Practices for Enriching Leads in Salesforce

Getting the most from lead enrichment isn’t only about the tool – it’s about how you use it. These practices will help you improve match rates, keep Salesforce data clean, and make sure enrichment supports your entire revenue process.

• Start with clean input data: accurate enrichment begins with accurate inputs. Make sure LinkedIn URLs, company domains, or any starting data points are correct before triggering enrichment.
• Use waterfall enrichment for higher coverage: waterfall enrichment technology sources data from multiple providers until the required fields are found. This improves match rates, especially when working across regions where data availability varies.
• Map outputs to the right Salesforce fields: make sure enriched fields are mapped correctly to avoid duplicates or overwriting valuable information. Field mapping keeps records structured and consistent.
• Combine enrichment with downstream workflows: link enrichment to lead routing, scoring, and ABM triggers so enriched data is acted on immediately. This turns enrichment into a driver for faster follow‑up and better prioritisation.

Why Surfe Is the Best API to Enrich Leads in Salesforce

Not all enrichment tools deliver the same level of coverage, accuracy, or integration. Surfe’s API is built to keep Salesforce data both complete and trustworthy – while fitting seamlessly into existing processes.

• High verified email accuracy: more than 90% verified email accuracy, achieved through multi‑source waterfall enrichment technology.
• Global reach: an average 93% find rate for global contacts ensures coverage across markets.
• Flexible adoption: sales reps can work from the Surfe App, while RevOps teams run enrichment programmatically through the API.
• Direct Salesforce integration: enriched data flows straight into Salesforce without middleware or manual uploads.

The result is faster pipeline creation, a consistently clean Salesforce environment, and an outbound process that scales without sacrificing quality.

Enriching Leads in Salesforce: Final Thoughts 

Manual lead enrichment slows growth and clogs Salesforce with inconsistent data. While the Surfe App solves this for daily, rep‑driven prospecting – giving teams everything they need to find, enrich, and sync leads without leaving their workflow – some teams need more.

For those operating at scale, the Surfe API removes manual bottlenecks entirely. It delivers clean, verified data directly into Salesforce and integrates with automated RevOps workflows, ensuring every record is ready for action within minutes.

FAQs

What Does It Mean To Enrich Leads?

To enrich leads is to add verified, accurate, and relevant information to an existing lead record, making it more valuable for sales and marketing teams. This often includes details like email addresses, phone numbers, job titles, company size, revenue, industry, and location. Enrichment makes sure that records in Salesforce or another CRM are complete and actionable. Instead of working with partial or outdated data, enriched leads give sales teams the context they need to prioritise outreach, personalise communication, and route opportunities more effectively. Lead enrichment can be done manually, but programmatic enrichment using a tool like Surfe’s API automates the process, ensures consistency, and keeps CRM data clean at scale.

Why Should You Enrich Leads In Salesforce?

Enriching leads in Salesforce ensures your CRM contains the most accurate and complete data possible, which directly impacts sales productivity and conversion rates. Without enrichment, reps often waste hours chasing missing contact details or working with incomplete records, slowing follow‑up and reducing the chances of engagement. Enrichment fills in those gaps – adding verified emails, phone numbers, job titles, and firmographic data – so leads can be scored, routed, and actioned faster. This also helps prevent duplicates and maintain data quality across teams. When enrichment is integrated into Salesforce via an API like Surfe’s, the process becomes automatic, allowing your team to focus on selling rather than manual data entry.

How Can You Enrich Leads Automatically?

Automatic lead enrichment uses software to source and update lead information without manual input. Tools like Surfe’s API connect directly to Salesforce, taking minimal input data – such as a LinkedIn URL or company domain – and returning a complete, verified record in minutes. Programmatic enrichment works in bulk, meaning hundreds or thousands of leads can be updated at once, all with the same verified fields. This removes the delays and inconsistencies of rep‑by‑rep data entry, keeps CRM records clean, and ensures new leads are ready for scoring, routing, or outreach immediately. Automation also means enrichment can be tied into broader RevOps workflows, keeping data fresh across your entire revenue engine.

What Is Waterfall Enrichment And How Does It Improve Match Rates?

Waterfall enrichment is a method of sourcing lead data from multiple providers in sequence until the required fields are found. If one provider doesn’t return a complete result, the next is queried automatically, and the process continues until the necessary information – such as an email or phone number – is located. This approach significantly improves match rates, especially when working across multiple regions or industries where data availability can vary. Surfe’s waterfall enrichment technology integrates this process directly into Salesforce, ensuring enriched records are as complete as possible from the outset. The result is higher data coverage, fewer gaps, and more leads ready for immediate sales follow‑up.

When Should You Use An API Instead Of A Lead Enrichment App?

A lead enrichment App, like Surfe’s, is ideal for daily rep‑driven prospecting – finding, enriching, and syncing leads without switching tools. It’s designed for one‑off or small‑batch enrichment during active outreach. An API is better suited for scale. Surfe’s API works in bulk, enriching hundreds or thousands of leads automatically and integrating with automated RevOps workflows. It’s workflow‑driven, not click‑to‑enrich, meaning it can update Salesforce records continuously as new leads enter your system. If you’re managing high volumes, global teams, or want enrichment built into scoring, routing, and targeting processes, the API delivers the speed, consistency, and automation needed.

What Are The Best Practices For Enriching Leads In Salesforce?

To enrich leads in Salesforce effectively:

• Start with clean input data: make sure initial lead data, like LinkedIn URLs or company domains, is accurate.
• Use waterfall enrichment: source data from multiple providers until required fields are found, improving match rates.
• Map outputs to the right fields: avoid duplicates or overwriting by ensuring data flows to the correct Salesforce fields.
• Integrate enrichment into workflows: connect it to lead routing, scoring, and ABM triggers so new data is actioned immediately.

Following these practices maximises match rates, maintains data integrity, and turns enrichment into a driver for faster, better‑targeted sales activity.