> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.alvahq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Enrichment

> How Alva automatically finds contacts, emails, and key information for your discovered companies.

When a company is imported into your CRM from discovery, Alva automatically enriches it — finding contacts, email addresses, and preparing the company for outreach. This happens in the background so you don't have to do anything.

## What enrichment does

For each imported company, the enrichment process:

1. **Cleans up the company name** — formats the company name properly based on available information, so your outreach looks professional
2. **Searches for contacts** — finds people who work at the company, along with their job titles and email addresses
3. **Removes bad data** — AI reviews the contacts found and removes placeholder names, duplicates, and records that aren't real people
4. **Ranks contacts by seniority** — each contact is ranked by decision-making authority and relevance, so the most valuable contacts appear first
5. **Flags economic buyers** — if your discovery profile specifies an economic buyer role (e.g. "CEO", "Managing Director"), matching contacts are highlighted

## When enrichment runs

Enrichment runs automatically when:

* A company is imported from the Discovery Results page
* A company is bulk-imported from Discovery Companies
* Auto-import is enabled and a high-confidence match is found

You don't need to trigger it manually — it starts within seconds of import.

## Controlling who enrichment targets

Enrichment runs automatically, but you decide **who** it looks for. Every [Search Agent](/discovery/creating-a-discovery-profile) has a **People** section where you set:

| Setting                     | What it controls                                                                               |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Primary job functions**   | The roles to prioritise when finding contacts (e.g. Head of Marketing, VP Sales)               |
| **Secondary job functions** | Fallback roles to use if the primary ones aren't found                                         |
| **Economic buyer**          | The ideal decision-maker title (e.g. CEO, CFO) — matching contacts are flagged and prioritised |

Set these when you create a company [Search Agent](/discovery/creating-a-discovery-profile) so every company it finds is enriched with the right people in mind. For companies you import **yourself** (CSV or manual), apply the same targeting with a reusable [Enrichment Profile](/discovery/enrichment-profiles).

<Note>
  Leave the job functions blank and enrichment still finds contacts — it just won't prioritise any particular role. Setting them gives you far more relevant contacts.
</Note>

### Tier 2 Contact Search

Base enrichment (finding contacts and emails) is **included**. For companies where you want to go deeper, **Tier 2 Contact Search** is an optional layer that finds **more** contacts and reveals **more verified emails** — and, if you choose, **mobile numbers** — at an additional per-contact cost.

It's **off by default** and only runs when you switch it on. See [Enrichment Profiles → Tier 2 Contact Search](/discovery/enrichment-profiles#tier-2-contact-search) for the full detail, including how to limit it to your best-fit companies.

## Enrichment status

Each company shows an enrichment status so you know where it stands:

| Status         | What it means                                         |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pending**    | Queued for enrichment — will start shortly            |
| **Enriching**  | Enrichment is currently running                       |
| **Enriched**   | Complete — contacts and emails have been found        |
| **No results** | Complete — no contacts could be found at this company |
| **Failed**     | Something went wrong — the company can be re-enriched |

<Note>
  AI BDR agents only work on companies that have completed enrichment (status: **Enriched** or **No results**). Companies that are still pending or enriching are automatically skipped and checked again later.
</Note>

## What you'll see after enrichment

Once enrichment completes, the company's detail page will show:

* **Contacts** — the people found at the company, ranked by seniority with economic buyers highlighted
* **Email addresses** — personal emails on contact records, plus any generic company inboxes (e.g. info@, hello@) added to the company record
* **Email pattern** — if one was detected (e.g. [firstname.lastname@company.com](mailto:firstname.lastname@company.com)), it's stored on the company record
* **Activity log** — a timeline entry summarising what enrichment found

All of this data is immediately available to [BDR agents](/bdr-agents/setting-up-your-first-agent) for outreach.

## Economic buyer

If your discovery profile includes an **economic buyer** role (configured in the profile's enrichment settings), contacts whose title matches that role are flagged as economic buyers. This means:

* They appear with a special highlight on the company's contact list
* BDR agents prioritise them when choosing who to email first
* They're easy to spot when reviewing contacts manually

Common economic buyer roles include CEO, Managing Director, Head of Operations, or CFO — whatever role typically makes purchasing decisions for your product.

## Costs

Enrichment uses credits from your balance. The cost covers the data lookups used to find contacts and email addresses, plus the AI processing for data cleansing and ranking. See **Settings → Usage** for a breakdown of enrichment costs.

<Tip>
  Enrichment only runs once per company. If you want to re-enrich a company (e.g. to find new contacts), you can trigger it again from the company's detail page.
</Tip>