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Parsing email addresses, how to parse emails

How to parse email addresses on web pages. Why do you need to update your email base. How to choose the right e-mail parsing tool for your tasks.

Apifornia team

• 9 min read

For normal mailing, we need a large mailing list, which still needs to be filled up. A good database of potential customers has several tens of thousands of contacts. Of course, such things are not made up manually. The collection of email addresses is done with the help of a special program – parser.

What are the website parsers?

To collect e-mails from individuals, the data is parsed from social networks (VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook, Odnoklassniki) or forums. To find e-mails of legal entities, they process information from corporate websites of these very firms.

Parsers allow you to automate the process, but their main advantage – they do it incredibly quickly. A hundred addresses can be found in a couple of minutes. In addition, the program can save information, process it, and provides it in a visual format.

The program selects letters and sites by various parameters: topic (keywords), text publication date, location, other criteria (the list can be adjusted manually). After that, the application searches for any lines on the detected site that have “@”, “email” characters and a certain design. Suitable objects will be added to the e-mail addresses database.

Who needs an email address database?

A database with mail addresses is usually needed for the mass transmission of advertisements and commercial offers. And as every trade offer should reach exactly its target audience, the database needs to have a certain feature, be narrowly directed. So, the parser should not collect any addresses, but only the necessary ones.

Who can benefit from a website’s email collection? Almost any commercial organizations and individual entrepreneurs who do at least their business online. However, even in this audience are not limited, because the email database can be useful to public organizations or firms that operate solely offline.

Most sellers point out that the client search takes a significant part of the time, this very stage is the most inefficient. The mail distribution through cold messaging, further surveys and analytics takes a huge amount of time, and from hundreds of processed people, you can get only a few real customers.

Therefore, e-mail parsing will help:

  • collect a large database of e-mail addresses;
  • reduce the time it takes to find clients;
  • to automate the mailing process;
  • track the history of taken actions.

How to choose an email parser?

What should be considered when choosing a parser:

  1. Paid or free parser. The first applications are usually of higher quality and have technical support. The latter is worse but free, so they will be interesting for simple tasks.
  2. What sites does the parser work with? If you need to collect contacts of legal entities, you need a program that will parser, fill out forms (it is sometimes necessary to get an email address). If you need contacts of individuals, then first of all you need to work with social networks.
  3. Specialized and more common parsers. Of course, it is better to choose applications that specialize in finding email addresses. They will have more features. For example, they can save sent out emails, their history.
  4. Availability of certain functions. To find suitable potential customers (rather than collect all contacts in a row), you need to specify keywords (which should be on the web site), geographic location, and other data. It will be useful if the application has functions for creating, saving letters, people segmentation.
  5. Online and desktop parsers. The first ones work with the creators’ portals, and the person only buys a subscription, while other customers install it on their computer. Online programs can use large capacity, have good technical support, do not load the client’s computer. Desktop applications are more controlled but consume computer resources.

How does the parsing work?

At first, you should download and install desktop programs. All you need is to register and login to use online applications. Then you need to configure your search settings in the pop-up window. Collecting email addresses may take several hours if the listings are large. Usually, after work, contacts are saved in a database.

Email parser JavaScript

Regular expressions or RegEx are used to create email parser JavaScript. Any other programming language can deal with this task – Python or ruby parse email is easy.

Selection of common parsers

Below you will find overviews of the popular parsers that will help you to collect e-mails.

Zoominfo

The application has an easy-to-use interface that allows clients quickly to set up the program and activate mail search. Zoominfo has 3 options: for sales, marketing and for businesses. This makes it easy to gather a customer base, make transactions and monitor sales.

Basic functions:

  • Sales. Allows you to control your accounts;
  • Marketing. You can quickly find an audience and convert people to customers;
  • Enterprise. Option, suitable for large companies.

Features:

  • The parser is account oriented;
  • You can easily manage your database;
  • All functions are well optimized.

Advantages: 

  • a variety of opportunities;
  • high convenience.

Downsides:

  • quite expensive;
  • sometimes servers crash due to high load.

The cost. There are three price rates:

  • professional type – there are all the necessary tools and nothing extra;
  • advanced version – there are add-ons that not everyone needs;
  • the elite version – the maximum level.

Skyrapp

The parser is designed to receive emails in the B2B sphere. Skyrapp can interact with any source. The program not only retrieves addresses, but also checks them, so that the owner gets real contacts with potential customers.

Parser finds:

  • various organizations e-mais;
  • a confirmed email on Linkedin;
  • lids on the organizations portals;
  • electronic messages in the database.

Features:

  • Chrome functionality enhancement;
  • can find messages in email;
  • works with multiple emails at once;
  • searches for emails for a specified domain.

Advantages:

  • The parser can get multiple possible mail addresses from a single link;
  • Easy to use interface, Skyrapp is user-friendly.

The drawback is that you can get the wrong mail.

The costs. The application has 5 rates:

  • “free” – no need to pay;
  • “for beginners” – 49$/month;
  • “searchers for” – $99/month;
  • to “enterprises” – 199$/month;
  • “global” – $299/month.

All tariffs are different only by the number of email addresses and users.

Octoparse

An effective parser that uses multiple companies. User-friendly interface, fast data processing. In addition, the program safely parses information by changing IP addresses as well as using cloud platforms.

Basic functions:

  • fast data parsing;
  • cloud services for storing results;
  • Parsing and scheduled database updates;
  • IP-address change while working;
  • results output in various formats, export to any files.

Features:

  • offers business solutions;
  • organization of information in any format.

Advantages:

  • To use Octoparse, a person does not need to know programming;
  • Parser can be used to collect information from large and complex resources.

Downsides:

  • the free tariff does not have an API;
  • no possibility to install Octoparse on Mac or Android.

Costs. Octoparse website offers 4 rates:

  • free (as mentioned above without API);
  • standard – 75$/month;
  • professional – $209/month;
  • corporate – $4,899/year.

The standard and professional rates have a test period.

Hunter

Hunter saves all data, so you can be sure that your activity will not be lost. In addition, the application is easy to use and allows you to easily collect mail by simply entering the domain name.

Basic functions:

  • finding email addresses;
  • search by domain name;
  • mail check;
  • simultaneous work with several tasks
  • API availability.

Features of the Hunter parser:

  • you can collect any type of mail from different types of sites;
  • they can be tested in the reality of existence;
  • it is possible to get an email from any professional.

Advantages:

  • convenience, intuitive interface;
  • fast data processing.

Downsides:

  • few functions compared to other parsers;
  • Hunter does not interact with LinkedIn. So the user will not be able to collect contacts with this social network, which will be unpleasant for many organizations working in the B2B business.

Costs. The site has 5 rates:

  • free – does not require money;
  • for beginners – 49$/month;
  • growing – 99$/month;
  • for professionals – 199$/month;
  • enterprises – 399$/month.

Rocket Reach

Gives you the opportunity to contact the specialists you need for your business. With Reach, you can get the most accurate email addresses. Rocket is perfect for receiving emails in marketing, trade, recruiting, and other niches. Parser always checks the data for accuracy. In addition, it allows you to connect to other applications and various CRM.

Basic functions:

  • extend the capabilities of the Chrome Browser;
  • parallel browsing on multiple sites;
  • advanced search;
  • API usage;
  • integration with different programs and CRM.

Features:

  • allows getting exact addresses;
  • the parser recommends performing various actions, which can increase the efficiency of work;
  • Rocket generates reports on how you can improve your work;
  • informs about recent news on parsing issues.

Advantages: 

  • the application is ideal for lids;
  • the parser provides reliable data as it identifies and checks your mail;
  • 24-hour technical support;
  • CM and ATS available;
  • data can be exported to CSV;
  • access to API.

The disadvantage is that the interface is not very user-friendly.

Costs. There are 3 tariffs on the site:

  • Essentials – 59$/month;
  • Pro – 119$/month;
  • Ultimate – 299$/month.

Prospect

Application for automated customer search. Prospect checks emails for reliability so that the owner receives only verified real emails. In addition, information about the application’s activities is stored so that the person can later analyze the work.

Basic functions:

  • finding addresses;
  • emails creation and distribution;
  • work analysis;
  • synchronization.

Features:

  • email addresses checks ;
  • conducts campaigns to communicate with cold potential clients;
  • saves the information on the carried out actions.

Advantages:

  • well automated;
  • you can monitor and analyze your actions;
  • Prospect is easy to use.

Downsides:

  • sometimes the parser produces incorrect data;
  • high price.

The cost. The site provides only 2 tariffs – for beginners and professionals.

Sales Navigator

The Parser is designed to help sales agents look for potential clients and close deals. With Sales, you can increase conversion rates in the sales department.

The main function is to search for potential customers and work with individuals.

The feature is the possibility to close trades online.

Advantages:

  • Navigator saves action history for further analysis;
  • informs the owner about all changes;
  • suitable for business of any size with any product or service.

Downsides:

  • many tasks have to be done manually, not enough automation;
  • inconvenient interface, it takes time to get acquainted with Sales.

Costs. Navigator has confidential pricing information. You need to visit the company’s website and fill out a form to find it out.

Scrapebox Email Scraper

The application has a lot of features and settings, so it’s not just a parser, but a multilateral tool. In addition, it is enough to make a single payment to use it, after which you can use all additions and updates for free. Scrapebox Scraper has proxy support.

Basic functions:

  • email search;
  • a generator of logins and email addresses to fill in forms;
  • work with proxies to bypass parsing protection.

Features:

  • is a multithreaded parser that can operate simultaneously on multiple pages;
  • wide range of options for settings;
  • many add-ons and extensions.

Advantages:

  • the parser supports proxy operation, so the program bypasses protection and locks;
  • supports https to interact with any platform.

There is one drawback, but essential. Since it is almost free, the server costs are minimal, so the parser is very slow.

Costs. To use it, you need to make a one-time payment on the site, and then you can access all the add-ons and extensions.

Email Extractor

This is an extension program that is installed on Google. With Extractor, you can extract emails from websites, various documents, and emails. The whole process is automated and requires no intervention. Technical support is available.

Basic functions:

  • collection of email addresses on HTML pages;
  • collection of contacts on Ajax pages.

Features:

  • it is possible to receive mail addresses from any sources, even from text documents;
  • has a command to find and delete duplicate contacts;
  • all information is automatically saved.

The only advantage is the removal of duplicate e-mails.

There is one drawback – the application is difficult to work with, requires technical literacy and user experience.

The Extractor is free, it’s an official product of Google Chrome, any time can be installed in your browser in a couple of clicks.

Aeroleads

Aeroleads is an extension program for Chrome and Firefox. The application collects email, cell phone numbers, and other data. Developers provide technical support through email, website chat, and phone.

Basic features:

  • finding different types of contacts: email, phone numbers and other information;
  • collecting data about professionals and B2B business through Linkedin;
  • information export into any document format.

Features:

  • excellent technical support;
  • installed in Chrome or Firefox.

Advantages:

  • application can be integrated with CRM systems;
  • user-friendly interface.

Downsides:

  • Aeroleads is limited to collecting business contacts;
  • no normal functionality for mass mailing.

Costs. There are 4 tariffs described on the company’s website:

  • “Take off” – 49$/month;
  • “Rise” – 149$/month;
  • “Cruise” – 499$/month;
  • “Corporate” – the price is not disclosed, you should contact the developer.

Voila Norbet

The application will be able to find potential customers, check the reliability of contacts, and collect additional data. Voila works with any sources, has technical support. Ideal for organizations engaged in sales, marketing, or PR activities.

Basic features:

  • collection of lids;
  • contact check;
  • collection of extra information about the addressees.

Norbet is great for those people who do their job in recruitment, online sales, PR, and content marketing.

Advantages:

  • accurate email addresses;
  • great opportunities to find contacts.

Downsides:

  • when storing a large amount of information, some data may be lost;
  • does not install on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, works only on Linux.

Costs. The site offers 4 rates: 49, 99, 249, and 499 dollars per month.

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