Contact scraping, also known as list building, is the process of gathering contact information from various online sources. This can include websites, social media platforms, and business directories. By using contact scraping tools, businesses are able to build targeted lists for their marketing and sales efforts. These lists can then be used for email marketing campaigns or cold calling initiatives.

Some benefits of contact scraping include the ability to quickly gather large quantities of contact information, the ability to target specific demographics or industries, and the ability to keep your contact list constantly updated and accurate. Additionally, using a tool for contact scraping can save time and resources compared to manually searching for and compiling contacts.

There are two main types of contact scraping: passive and active. Passive contact scraping involves gathering publicly available information that is already present on the web. This might include things like collecting email addresses from a website's "Contact Us" page or using a search engine to find contact information that has been posted online. Active contact scraping, on the other hand, involves actually reaching out to people and asking them for their contact information. This might include sending emails or messages through social media platforms in order to get someone's email address or phone number.