Lead Formatter

🚀 Clean, format, and enrich lead data using AI for cold email campaigns. Transform messy lead lists into professionally formatted, personalized data that gets replies.

Target Audience: Sales teams, marketers, business developers, CRM administrators
Primary Use Cases: Lead data cleaning, CRM preparation, cold email campaigns, data standardization, personalized content generation

What Does Lead Formatter Do?

This AI-powered tool formats, enriches, and enhances your lead data, ensuring your contact information is clean and professional. It delivers:

• ✅ Formatted Names & Company Names - Proper capitalization optimized for cold emails (removes "Inc.", "LLC" suffixes)
• ✅ Job Title Formatting - Professional title formatting (e.g., "ceo" → "CEO")
• ✅ Phone Number Standardization - Consistent phone formatting
• ✅ Data Enrichment - Automatically extract missing info from email addresses
• ✅ Industry Identification - Identify company industries for better segmentation
• ✅ AI-Generated Content - Company descriptions, personalized lines, case studies
• ✅ Segmentation & Sorting - Organize leads by country, job title, industry, etc.
• ✅ Data Cleaning - Remove blanks and duplicates automatically

Business Value: Save 4-6 hours per week on manual data cleaning. Process 100 leads in under 5 minutes vs. 2-3 hours manually. Improve email reply rates with properly formatted, personalized data.

Example: Input vs Output

Here's a comprehensive example showing how each feature transforms a lead:

Input Lead (Before Processing)

{
  "firstName": "john",
  "lastName": " smith",
  "companyName": "apple inc",
  "email": "john.smith@apple.com",
  "jobTitle": "ceo",
  "country": "usa",
  "personalPhone": "123-456-7890"
}

Output Lead (After Processing)

With Basic Formatting Only

{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "companyName": "Apple",
  "email": "john.smith@apple.com",
  "jobTitle": "CEO",
  "country": "United States",
  "personalPhone": "+11234567890"
}

What Changed:

• ✅ firstName: "john" → "John" (capitalized)
• ✅ lastName: " smith" → "Smith" (capitalized)
• ✅ companyName: "apple inc" → "Apple" (removed "Inc." suffix for cold emails)
• ✅ jobTitle: "ceo" → "CEO" (proper capitalization)
• ✅ country: "usa" → "United States" (standardized)
• ✅ personalPhone: "123-456-7890" → "+11234567890" (E.164 format)

With All Features Enabled

{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "companyName": "Apple",
  "email": "john.smith@apple.com",
  "jobTitle": "CEO",
  "country": "United States",
  "website": "https://www.apple.com",
  "personalPhone": "+11234567890",
  "companyDescription": "Technology company specializing in consumer electronics, software, and online services",
  "industry": "Technology",
  "personalizedLine": "Hi John, I noticed you're the CEO at Apple - I'd love to discuss how we can help scale your operations.",
  "caseStudy": "Apple has successfully transformed the technology industry with innovative products like the iPhone and Mac, achieving market leadership through design excellence and user experience.",
  "verifiedEmail": "valid"
}

Additional Changes:

• ✅ website: Extracted from email domain → "https://www.apple.com"
• ✅ companyDescription: AI-generated based on company information
• ✅ industry: Identified as "Technology"
• ✅ personalizedLine: AI-generated cold email opening line
• ✅ caseStudy: AI-generated relevant case study
• ✅ verifiedEmail: Email verification status → "valid" (deliverable email)

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Feature	Input	Output	What It Does
Name Formatting	"john"	"John"	Capitalizes first letter, handles prefixes (Mc, O', Van)
Company Name Cleaning	"apple inc"	"Apple"	Removes business suffixes (Inc., LLC, Corp.) for cold emails
Job Title Formatting	"ceo"	"CEO"	Proper capitalization, keeps abbreviations uppercase
Phone Formatting	"123-456-7890"	"+11234567890"	Standardizes to E.164 international format
Data Enrichment	Missing website	"https://www.apple.com"	Extracts website from email domain
Industry Identification	N/A	"Technology"	Identifies company industry (1-3 words)
Company Description	N/A	"Technology company..."	Generates brief company description
Personalized Line	N/A	"Hi John, I noticed..."	Creates personalized cold email opening
Case Study	N/A	"Apple has successfully..."	Generates relevant industry case study
Email Verification	N/A	"valid"	Verifies email deliverability (requires Million Verifier API key)

Complete Input Configuration Guide

Required Inputs

leadsFile (Required)
Upload your leads file containing contact information. Supported formats:

• JSON: Array of lead objects [{firstName: "John", email: "..."}, ...]
• XLSX/Excel: First sheet is used, automatically detects column names
• CSV: Automatically detects column names (case-insensitive)

The tool recognizes column name variations like 'First Name', 'first_name', 'firstName', etc. Required field: email. Optional fields: firstName, lastName, companyName, jobTitle, country, website, personalPhone, homePhone, domain.

Data Cleaning Options

removeBlanks (Default: false)
Remove leads that have no data in any field. Useful for cleaning datasets with incomplete records. When enabled, completely empty leads are filtered out before processing.

removeDuplicates (Default: false)
Remove duplicate leads based on email address. If multiple leads share the same email, only the first occurrence is kept. Ensures each contact appears once in your final dataset.

Formatting Options

formatJobTitle (Default: true)
Format job titles with proper capitalization and professional standards. Examples:

• "ceo" → "CEO"
• "vice president of sales" → "Vice President of Sales"
• "cto" → "CTO"

Keeps abbreviations uppercase and applies title case formatting. Recommended for professional appearance.

formatCompanyName (Default: true)
Format company names with proper capitalization and remove business suffixes (Inc., LLC, Corp., Ltd.) for cold email personalization. Examples:

• "apple inc" → "Apple"
• "microsoft corporation" → "Microsoft"

This makes company names more personal and natural for email outreach. Optimized for cold email campaigns.

formatPersonalPhone (Default: true)
Standardize personal phone numbers to E.164 international format or local format. Converts various formats:

• "123-456-7890" → "+11234567890"
• "(123) 456-7890" → "+11234567890"

Ensures phone numbers are properly formatted for CRM systems and international dialing.

formatHomePhone (Default: true)
Standardize home phone numbers to consistent format. Same formatting rules as personal phone numbers.

AI-Generated Content Options

generateCompanyDescription (Default: false)
AI-generated brief company description based on available company information (name, website, domain). Useful for enriching your lead database with company context. Helps you understand what each company does before reaching out. Note: Enabling this increases processing cost slightly.

generateIndustry (Default: false)
Automatically identify and generate the primary industry for each company. Returns 1-3 words:

• "Technology"
• "Healthcare"
• "Financial Services"

Useful for segmentation, targeting, and personalization. Helps organize leads by industry for targeted campaigns. Note: Enabling this increases processing cost slightly.

generatePersonalizedLine (Default: false)
AI-generated personalized opening line for cold emails based on lead information. These opening lines are tailored to each lead and can significantly improve email reply rates. Example:

• "Hi John, I noticed you're the CEO at Apple - I'd love to discuss how we can help scale your operations."

Note: Enabling this increases processing cost slightly.

pullCaseStudy (Default: false)
AI-generated brief case study or success story relevant to the company's industry. Useful for personalizing outreach with industry-specific examples and social proof. Helps establish credibility in your cold emails. Note: Enabling this increases processing cost slightly.

Data Organization Options

segmentBy (Default: empty array)
Group leads into segments based on specified fields. Each segment is saved to a separate dataset for easy download and targeted campaigns.

How it works:

• Enter field names as an array: ['country', 'jobTitle', 'industry']
• Creates segments like: country:USA | jobTitle:CEO | industry:Technology
• Each segment gets its own dataset: segment_country_USA_jobTitle_CEO_industry_Technology
• Download each segment separately for targeted campaigns

Example: ['country', 'industry'] creates separate datasets for each country-industry combination.

sortBy (Default: none)
Sort all leads by a specific field before output. Enter the field name:

• 'companyName' - Sort alphabetically by company
• 'country' - Sort by country
• 'jobTitle' - Sort by job title
• 'industry' - Sort by industry
• 'email' - Sort by email address

Use with sortOrder to control ascending/descending order.

sortOrder (Default: 'asc')
Control the sort direction when using sortBy:

• 'asc' - Ascending order (A-Z, 0-9)
• 'desc' - Descending order (Z-A, 9-0)

Advanced Options

enableWebSearch (Default: false)
Enable web search to enrich lead data with real-time information from the internet. When enabled, the AI will automatically search the web for:

• Company information and descriptions
• Industry details and classifications
• Case studies and recent news
• Other relevant data to enhance leads

This enables web search to enrich lead data with real-time information from the internet. When enabled, the AI will automatically search the web for company information, industry details, case studies, and other relevant data to enhance your leads. Useful for getting up-to-date company descriptions, industry classifications, and personalized insights. Note: Increases processing time and cost when enabled.

fieldConfigurations (Default: empty object)
Advanced customization for specific fields. Customize how fields are processed and named in output.

Structure:

{
  "companyDescription": {
    "enabled": true,
    "customPrompt": "Based on company information identify industry make it less than 3 word, do not include dashes, do not include parenthesis",
    "outputColumn": "Company Description"
  },
  "industry": {
    "customPrompt": "Identify primary industry in 2 words maximum",
    "outputColumn": "Industry Type"
  }
}

Options per field:

• enabled (boolean) - Enable/disable this field
• customPrompt (string, max 100 chars) - Custom AI instruction for this field
• outputColumn (string) - Custom column name in output (useful for CRM mapping)

Use cases:

• Map fields to your CRM column names
• Customize AI behavior for specific fields
• Disable fields you don't need

temperature (Default: 0.3)
Control AI creativity and consistency (range: 0-2):

• Lower values (0.1-0.3) - More consistent, deterministic results. Recommended for formatting.
• Higher values (0.7-1.0) - More creative, varied results. Use only for creative content generation.

Recommended: 0.3 for consistent formatting. Enter as decimal (e.g., 0.3).

millionVerifierApiKey (Default: empty)
Optional: Your Million Verifier API key for email verification. If provided, each email address is verified before output.

Verification status values:

• 'valid' - Email is deliverable
• 'invalid' - Email is undeliverable
• 'unknown' - Cannot verify
• 'disposable' - Disposable email address
• 'catch_all' - Catch-all domain

The verification status is added as verifiedEmail field in output. Helps improve email deliverability by identifying invalid emails. Get your API key from Million Verifier. Leave empty to skip email verification.

Example Input Configuration

Basic Configuration (Formatting Only):

{
  "leadsFile": "leads.json",
  "formatCompanyName": true,
  "formatJobTitle": true,
  "formatPersonalPhone": true
}

Full Configuration (All Features + Email Verification):

{
  "leadsFile": "leads.json",
  "formatCompanyName": true,
  "formatJobTitle": true,
  "formatPersonalPhone": true,
  "formatHomePhone": true,
  "generateIndustry": true,
  "generatePersonalizedLine": true,
  "generateCompanyDescription": true,
  "pullCaseStudy": true,
  "segmentBy": ["country", "industry"],
  "sortBy": "companyName",
  "sortOrder": "asc",
  "removeDuplicates": true,
  "removeBlanks": false,
  "millionVerifierApiKey": "8JRERNWPsb7ODQKev8DI6ue5A",
  "enableWebSearch": false,
  "temperature": "0.3"
}

Email Verification Output: When millionVerifierApiKey is provided, the output includes a verifiedEmail field with these possible values:

• "valid" - Email is deliverable ✅
• "invalid" - Email is undeliverable ❌
• "unknown" - Cannot verify ⚠️
• "disposable" - Disposable email address 📧
• "catch_all" - Catch-all domain 🔄

Output

After processing, you'll get a dataset with:

• Formatted Fields - Names, company names, job titles, phones (all properly formatted)
• Enriched Data - Missing information extracted from emails/domains
• Industry - Company industry identification (if enabled)
• AI Content - Company descriptions, personalized lines, case studies (if enabled)
• Email Verification - Email deliverability status (if Million Verifier API key provided)
• Organized Data - Segmented and sorted according to your preferences

Output Fields:

• firstName, lastName, companyName, email, jobTitle, country
• website, personalPhone, homePhone
• companyDescription, industry, personalizedLine, caseStudy (if enabled)
• verifiedEmail - Email verification status: "valid", "invalid", "unknown", "disposable", or "catch_all" (if Million Verifier API key provided)

Download Options: CSV, Excel, or JSON formats

Segmentation: If segmentBy is configured, each segment is saved to a separate dataset for easy download and targeted campaigns.

Why Choose Lead Formatter?

• 🎯 AI-Powered Accuracy - Uses advanced AI models for intelligent formatting
• ⚡ Cost-Effective - Exactly 1 API call per lead (maximum efficiency)
• ⏰ Time Savings - Process hundreds of leads in minutes
• 📊 Segmentation & Sorting - Organize leads by country, job title, industry
• 🔍 Industry Identification - Automatically identify company industries
• 💡 Personalization - Generate personalized content for better reply rates
• 🛡️ Data Quality - Built-in cleaning and duplicate removal
• 🔧 Flexible - Custom prompts and output column mapping

Cost Efficiency: Approximately $0.01-0.05 per lead

How to Use

1. Sign Up: Create a free account w/ $5 credit (takes 2 minutes)
2. Upload Leads: Upload your leads file (JSON, XLSX, Excel, or CSV)
3. Configure: Set your formatting and enrichment options
4. Run: Click "Start" and let AI format your leads
5. Download: Get your formatted results as CSV, Excel, or JSON

Total Time: 5 minutes setup, 1-5 minutes processing
No Technical Skills Required: Everything is point-and-click

Business Use Cases

Sales Teams:

• Clean and format lead lists before CRM import
• Generate personalized opening lines for cold emails
• Segment leads by country, industry, or job title
• Improve email deliverability with properly formatted names

Marketing Professionals:

• Standardize company names for marketing databases
• Generate company descriptions for segmentation
• Prepare lead lists for targeted email campaigns
• Identify industries for better targeting

CRM Administrators:

• Bulk format existing CRM data
• Standardize contact information across databases
• Map fields to custom column names for CRM import
• Improve data quality and consistency

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How accurate is the formatting?
A: 99%+ accuracy for standard formatting. Uses advanced AI models with intelligent capitalization rules.

Q: What's the cost?
A: You pay for AI processing plus Apify platform fees. Processing 100 leads typically costs under $0.50 total.

Q: Can I customize the formatting?
A: Yes! Use fieldConfigurations to set custom prompts per field (max 100 characters), map output column names to match your CRM, and enable/disable specific fields. Example: {"companyDescription": {"customPrompt": "Identify industry in 2 words", "outputColumn": "Industry Type"}}.

Q: How does segmentation work?
A: Use segmentBy to group leads by fields like ['country', 'jobTitle', 'industry']. The tool creates separate datasets for each segment. For example, segmenting by ['country', 'industry'] creates datasets like segment_country_USA_industry_Technology and segment_country_UK_industry_Healthcare. Each segment can be downloaded separately for targeted campaigns.

Q: What file formats are supported?
A: JSON (array of objects), XLSX/Excel (first sheet used), and CSV files. The tool automatically detects column names (case-insensitive) and supports variations like 'First Name', 'first_name', 'firstName', etc.

Q: How many API calls are made per lead?
A: Exactly 1 API call per lead, ensuring maximum cost efficiency while maintaining high quality. All formatting, enrichment, and AI-generated content happens in a single API call.

Q: How does email verification work?
A: If you provide a Million Verifier API key, each email is verified before output. The verifiedEmail field shows the verification status: 'valid' (deliverable), 'invalid' (undeliverable), 'unknown' (cannot verify), 'disposable' (disposable email), or 'catch_all' (catch-all domain). This helps identify invalid emails and improve deliverability.

Q: Why am I getting a cached response?
A: Free users can only use the prefill values provided in the input form. If you use the exact prefill values, you'll receive a cached response to demonstrate functionality. To use custom input parameters and get real AI processing, upgrade to a paid plan. Paying users have unlimited access to custom parameters and real-time AI processing.

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Integrate Lead Formatter with any app and automate your workflow

Lead Formatter can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to integrations on the Apify platform.

These includes:

• Make
• Zapier
• Slack
• Airbyte
• GitHub
• Google Drive
• and much more.

Alternatively, you can use webhooks to carry out an action whenever an event occurs, e.g. get a notification whenever Lead Formatter successfully finishes a run.

Need Help? Our support team is here to help you get the most out of this tool.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any third-party services mentioned (including OpenAI, OpenRouter, Million Verifier, or any other service providers). All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.