sales-hunter

What this skill does

# Hunter.io Platform Help

Help the user with Hunter.io platform questions — from finding and verifying emails through campaign setup, Discover, Signals, TechLookup, API, and integrations.

## Step 1 — Gather context


If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. **What area of Hunter.io do you need help with?**
   - A) Domain Search — find all emails at a company
   - B) Email Finder — find a specific person's email
   - C) Email Verifier — verify email deliverability
   - D) Campaigns — cold email sequences and follow-ups
   - E) Discover — find companies by industry, size, location, technology
   - F) Signals — buying intent and company change alerts
   - G) TechLookup — find companies using specific technologies
   - H) Leads — managing lead lists
   - I) Browser Extension — finding emails while browsing
   - J) API — automation, integrations, programmatic access
   - K) Integrations — HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zapier, Google Sheets
   - L) Admin — billing, credits, plan features
   - M) Something else — describe it

2. **What's your role?**
   - A) Sales rep / AE / BDR
   - B) Sales manager / team lead
   - C) RevOps / Sales Ops
   - D) Marketer
   - E) Admin / IT
   - F) Founder / solo seller
   - G) Other

3. **What are you trying to accomplish?** (describe your specific goal or question)

**If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step.** Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end — don't gate your response behind gathering complete context.

Note: If the user needs a specialized skill, route them there with a brief explanation of why that skill is a better fit.

## Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to a specialized skill, route:
- List building / prospecting → `/sales-prospect-list`
- Contact enrichment / data hygiene → `/sales-enrich`
- Cadence strategy / sequence design → `/sales-cadence`
- Cross-platform deliverability → `/sales-deliverability`
- Tool integration architecture → `/sales-integration`
- Buying signals strategy → `/sales-intent`

Otherwise, answer directly from platform knowledge using the reference below.

## Step 3 — Hunter.io platform reference

Provide module-by-module guidance based on the user's area:

### Domain Search
- **What it is**: Find all email addresses associated with a domain — returns names, titles, departments, email type (personal vs generic), confidence score, and verification status
- **Key features**: Filter by department (executive, IT, finance, HR, etc.) and seniority. Returns the email pattern used by the company (e.g., `{first}.{last}@domain.com`).
- **Credit cost**: 1 credit per 10 results. Free searches return up to 10 results.
- **Best practices**: Use department filters to narrow to decision-makers. Check the email pattern to predict addresses for people not in the database. Always verify results before sending.

### Email Finder
- **What it is**: Find a specific person's email from their first name, last name, and company domain
- **Key features**: Returns the most likely email with a confidence score and verification status. Also returns sources where the email was found.
- **Credit cost**: 1 credit per successful find (no charge if no email found)
- **Best practices**: Provide the company domain, not the company name, for more accurate results. Use verification status to decide whether to send — "verified" emails are safe, "unverified" need additional validation.

### Email Verifier
- **What it is**: Verify whether an email address is deliverable — checks format, domain, MX records, and SMTP response
- **Verification statuses**: valid (safe to send), invalid (don't send), accept_all (use with caution — the server accepts everything), webmail (personal address), disposable (temporary address), unknown (couldn't determine)
- **Credit cost**: 1 credit per verification
- **Bulk verification**: Upload a CSV list for batch verification. Async processing — results available when complete.
- **Best practices**: Verify all emails before cold campaigns. Remove invalid and disposable addresses. Monitor accept_all addresses for bounces after sending.

### Campaigns
- **What it is**: Cold email sequences with automated follow-ups, scheduling, and tracking — built into Hunter
- **Key features**: Multi-step sequences, A/B testing, link tracking, open tracking, custom tracking domain, scheduling, review queue, unified inbox
- **Campaign flow**: Create campaign → add recipients (from leads, CSV, or Domain Search results) → write email steps with follow-ups → set schedule → launch
- **Sending**: Sends from your connected Gmail or Outlook account (not a third-party server)
- **Follow-ups**: Time-based follow-ups that stop when the recipient replies
- **Tracking**: Open and click tracking with optional custom tracking domain
- **Review queue**: Preview and edit individual emails before they send (available on Growth+ plans)
- **Sender limits**: Starter = 3 senders, Growth = 15, Scale = 40, Enterprise = unlimited
- **Best practices**: Connect your actual inbox for better deliverability. Use the review queue to personalize at scale. Set up a custom tracking domain. Keep initial emails under 125 words.

### Discover
- **What it is**: Company search engine — find companies by industry, size, location, and technology
- **Key features**: Filter by employee count, industry, location, technology used, and more. Returns company domain, description, and social profiles.
- **Use case**: Build targeted account lists for outbound — find companies matching your ICP, then use Domain Search to find contacts at each.
- **Credit cost**: Free to search. Credits consumed when you use Domain Search or Email Finder on results.

### Signals
- **What it is**: Buying intent and company change alerts — notifies you when target companies show signs of readiness to buy
- **Signal types**: Company news, funding events, leadership changes, hiring activity, technology changes
- **Setup**: Configure signal criteria (industries, company size, technologies) and Hunter monitors for matching events
- **Use case**: Trigger timely outreach when a signal fires — e.g., a target company just raised funding or hired a new VP Sales
- **Best practices**: Combine Signals with Discover to build dynamic prospecting lists that update as new signals appear. Act on signals within 7 days for maximum relevance.

### TechLookup
- **What it is**: Find companies using specific technologies — search by technology name and get a list of domains using it
- **Use case**: Technographic prospecting — find companies using a competitor's product, a complementary tool, or a technology that signals fit for your product
- **Credit cost**: Free to search. Credits consumed when you use Domain Search or Email Finder on results.
- **Best practices**: Use for competitive displacement campaigns — find companies using your competitor, then outreach with a switching offer. Combine with company size/industry filters in Discover.

### Leads
- **What it is**: Built-in lead management — save, organize, and manage contacts found through Hunter
- **Key features**: Lead lists for organization, notes and tags, export to CSV, push to CRM via integrations
- **Workflow**: Find emails (Domain Search / Email Finder) → save to lead list → verify → push to CRM or add to Campaign
- **Best practices**: Create separate lead lists per campaign or ICP segment. Verify all leads before adding to campaigns.

### Browser Extension
- **What it is**: Chrome and Firefox extension that finds email addresses on any website you visit
- **Key features**: Shows all known emails for the domain you're browsing. One-click save to lead lists. Works on LinkedIn, company websites, and any page.
- **Credit cost**: Uses your account credits (same as web app)
- **Best practices**: Use whil