The Problem: You're Sending Emails to the Wrong People
You've got a solid cold email template. Your offer is genuine. But your reply rate is terrible - like, under 2%. You're wondering if cold email even works.
Here's what's actually happening - you're probably emailing the wrong person. You're sending to generic info@ addresses, or you're guessing at email formats, or you're hitting mid-level employees who can't make buying decisions. No template in the world fixes that problem.
This is where Voila Norbert comes in. Most people know it as an email finder tool, but it's actually way more useful than that if you know how to use it properly.
What Voila Norbert Actually Does
Voila Norbert is a simple tool that does one thing well - it finds email addresses. You give it a name and a company domain, and it tells you what their email address probably is.
That's it. It's not magic. It's not even perfect. But it's fast, it's cheap, and it works often enough that it's worth using if you're doing cold email at scale.
The tool has a few ways to work:
- You can upload a spreadsheet with names and company domains, and it'll try to match them with emails
- You can use their browser extension while you're on LinkedIn, and it'll pull the email for whoever you're looking at
- You can integrate it with other tools like Apollo or HubSpot
The accuracy varies depending on the company size and how common their name is, but generally you'll get matches on maybe 60-80% of your list. That's enough to make a real difference in your campaign performance.
How to Actually Use Voila Norbert for Cold Email
Step 1: Build a list of your ideal targets
Before you touch Voila Norbert, you need to know who you're looking for. Don't just pull random LinkedIn profiles. Think about the exact role and company size that actually buys from you.
If you run an agency, you probably want agency owners, marketing directors, or operations managers - not junior marketers. If you sell accounting software, you want finance directors or controllers - not bookkeepers.
Get specific. This matters more than the email finder tool you use.
Step 2: Pull their names and company domains
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator or a tool like Clay to pull together a list. You need two columns: first name, last name, and the company domain (just the domain part - like "acmecorp.com", not the full email).
Most companies have their domain listed on their LinkedIn page or website. If they don't, you can usually find it with a quick Google search.
Step 3: Run it through Voila Norbert
Upload your spreadsheet to Voila Norbert's bulk finder. This costs around $0.50-$1 per email depending on your plan. It'll take a few minutes to run through your list.
You'll get back a column that says "found" or "not found" for each person. The ones marked "found" are your golden list.
Step 4: Verify a sample before you send
Don't just trust the tool blindly. Take 10-15 emails from the results and manually verify them. Check LinkedIn, Google the person's name with their company, or look at their company directory.
If you're getting 80%+ accuracy on your sample, you're good to send. If it's lower, something's wrong with your list - maybe you have the wrong domain, or the names are formatted weird.
Step 5: Warm up your sender account first
This is critical and people always skip it. Before you send a blast of 100+ emails, warm up your email account by sending smaller batches (10-20 emails) over a few days. This helps with deliverability.
Most good email sending platforms handle this for you, but if you're using Gmail directly, you need to do this manually or use a tool that does it automatically.
Common Mistakes People Make
Mistake 1: Using it without a real targeting strategy. Finding emails is easy. Finding the right emails is hard. Don't just blast every email Voila Norbert finds. Make sure you actually want to talk to that person.
Mistake 2: Expecting 100% accuracy. The tool is good, but it's not perfect. Account for maybe 15-20% bounce rate. This is normal. What matters is whether your overall reply rate is good.
Mistake 3: Not cleaning your data before uploading. If your list has typos, weird formatting, or duplicate names, Voila Norbert won't work as well. Spend 10 minutes cleaning your spreadsheet first.
Mistake 4: Using the same email to everyone. Finding the right person is half the battle. The other half is actually writing something they care about. Personalize your emails based on their role, company size, and what you know about their business.
When Voila Norbert Is Worth Using
This tool makes sense if you're:
- Sending cold emails consistently and need a fast way to find contacts
- Have a list of specific people you want to reach but don't have their emails
- Want to test cold email but need to build a qualified list first
If you're only sending 20 emails a month, just find the emails manually. It'll take 30 minutes and cost you nothing. If you're sending 200+, Voila Norbert pays for itself.
The Real Bottleneck Isn't Finding Emails
Here's what I've seen from doing this hundreds of times - most people think their problem is finding emails. It's not.
The real bottleneck is usually one of three things: finding the right people to email in the first place, writing emails that actually get replies, or following up with leads when they do reply.
Voila Norbert helps with finding emails, sure. But if your targeting is off or your copy is weak, it won't matter. You'll just have more accurate bounces.
If you're serious about cold email, you need all three pieces working together - the right list, the right message, and the right follow-up system. That's where most agencies actually struggle, because it requires ongoing optimization and testing.
If you'd rather focus on running your actual business and have someone else handle the research, list building, email writing, and campaign management, that's what BEC Growth does. We handle the whole operation - from finding the right decision makers to closing the meetings that turn into clients. You just show up and sell.