AI Search Optimization Case Study: Findymail 16→24%
Findymail was already in the mix when buyers asked AI for the best email finder but it wasn't a lock. Over 60 days it climbed to being recommended in nearly half (~45%) of answers to its core questions, and on Google Gemini it now appears in ~37% of them with 91% of mentions positive.
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Introduction
Findymail is a B2B tool that finds and verifies accurate business email addresses for cold outreach and lead generation.
Unlike a brand starting from zero, Findymail was already a recognised name but in a crowded category it was just one option among many when buyers asked AI assistants for a recommendation.
Two months ago it was being named maybe 1 in 6 times, often behind louder names like Apollo, Hunter and ZoomInfo. The goal wasn't to get on the map but to turn an occasional mention into a consistent, top-of-list recommendation.
What we did
CrowdReply helped Findymail show up in the conversations its buyers were already having on Reddit such as sales teams, founders and growth operators asking “what's actually the best email finder?” and “which tool gives the most accurate emails for cold outreach?”
The approach is to be genuinely useful and on-topic in each thread (never spammy), so that both buyers and the AI assistants that read these communities increasingly treat Findymail as a credible, top-tier answer.
The questions Findymail is winning on
These are the high-intent buyer questions where AI assistants increasingly recommend Findymail including breaking into a brand-new one (“Apollo alternatives”):
More wins
Now recommended alongside the category leaders
In those same answers, Findymail is consistently listed next to the biggest names in the category and increasingly above them:
Dominating on Google Gemini
The gains are especially strong on Gemini, which recommends Findymail more than three times as often as ChatGPT, a clear channel to build on:
AI describes Findymail positively
91% of mentions are positive and when AI names multiple tools Findymail now lands around 4th–5th on average. It is firmly in the top tier of a very crowded category, with a clear path to the #1–2 spots.
The #1 cited source is Reddit — exactly where we engage
When AI assistants back up these recommendations with sources, Reddit is the single most-cited source of all ahead of every vendor and review site.
In this category buyers lean heavily on Reddit comparisons before they buy and AI reads those same threads. A genuine, helpful presence there feeds directly into the answers buyers see.
The biggest opportunity: own more of your citations
Findymail's own website is currently under-represented in these answers and it sits outside the top cited sources, while competitors and aggregator sites get cited far more often. The few Findymail pages AI does cite show exactly what's possible:
Biggest low-hanging fruit: Owning your citations is the part you fully control. Findymail is winning the “Apollo alternatives” and “email verification” questions, yet its own guides on those exact topics are barely cited (1–2 times).
Expanding and refreshing these “best tool” and comparison guides is the fastest, most reliable way to climb with no outreach or third party required.
Where it happened: the communities
Findymail's traction came from being genuinely helpful in the communities where its buyers spend time such as sales, outreach and revenue teams. CrowdReply helped it join these conversations naturally and on-topic, contributing useful answers rather than promotions. The most active communities included:
Cold email & outreach communities
Sales operations & GTM communities
CRM & data-enrichment communities
B2B SaaS & marketing communities
Recruiting & agency communities
Recommendations: how to win even more
Actionable next steps we'd prioritise to push Findymail's AI visibility further:
Own more of your citations (highest ROI). Reddit and competitor/aggregator sites dominate the cited sources while Findymail's own site is under-represented. Expanding and refreshing “best email finder”, “Apollo alternatives” and “email verification” guides is fully in Findymail's control and the fastest path to more mentions.
Press the verification advantage. The email-verification question tripled (9% → 27%). A dedicated comparison hub vs ZeroBounce, NeverBounce and MillionVerifier can push this from a rising win to a category lead.
Break into CRM-enrichment questions. “Which tools should I use to enrich my HubSpot / Salesforce CRM?” haven't moved yet. Targeted guides plus on-topic answers in CRM and sales-ops communities should start moving them, like the email-finder questions did.
Close the gap on ChatGPT. Gemini is at ~37% but ChatGPT is only ~11%. Targeting the sources ChatGPT favours and engaging in the threads it tends to cite would unlock a large second audience.
Climb from top-5 to top-2. Findymail already lands ~4th–5th. Head-to-head “Findymail vs Apollo / Hunter / ZoomInfo” content and community answers capture the highest-intent buyers and lift position, not just frequency.
