SimilarContact

Frequently Asked Questions

US international freight contacts. Your questions, answered.

Everything from finding similar importer and exporter contacts to Free accounts, premium intent, daily Agent results and responsible outreach.

US contacts and international freight

What is SimilarContact?

SimilarContact helps you find verified business contacts similar to a prospect you already want to reach. For international freight prospecting, the focus is US-based contacts at importers, exporters and international shippers, rather than a large, generic contact list.

Are the contacts based in the United States?

Yes. The international freight dataset focuses on US-based contacts. These contacts work at businesses connected to international freight; US-based does not mean their freight only moves domestically.

Who is SimilarContact for?

International freight forwarders, NVOCCs, air freight providers, customs brokerage firms and other B2B providers selling relevant services to US importers and exporters. Trade technology, cargo insurance, trade finance and specialist international supply chain providers may also find it useful.

Can a sales team outside the US use the international freight product?

A team serving US importers and exporters may find the product relevant even if the team operates elsewhere. The contact geography remains US-based; assess your own ability to serve that market and comply with applicable outreach laws.

Can I find both importers and exporters?

The international freight product is designed around US importers, exporters and international shippers. The matches available for a particular prospect depend on the eligible contacts in the dataset.

Is SimilarContact a shipment-record or bill-of-lading search tool?

No. The international freight product returns similar decision-maker contacts from its existing dataset. It does not present a live shipment-record search. A match is not proof of a specific shipment or that the company controls freight booking for every transaction.

Which industries are relevant to international freight prospecting?

Examples include consumer goods, apparel, food and beverage, pharma and medical devices, electronics, automotive components, industrial machinery, chemicals and agricultural exports. These are audience examples, not a guarantee that every industry has available matches.

Which decision-maker roles should I approach?

Depending on your service, research import managers, export managers, international logistics directors, air freight managers, global supply chain leaders, international procurement managers and trade compliance managers. At smaller companies, owners or finance leaders may be more appropriate. Confirm responsibilities before reaching out.

Finding similar prospects

How do I find similar US importer or exporter contacts?

Enter a real prospect's work email and use the international freight product. SimilarContact evaluates company industry, size and location to return eligible verified contacts that resemble that prospect. Start with a prospect that genuinely fits your service.

What should I enter as my starting prospect?

Use the work email of a real person at a US importer, exporter or international shipper you would like to win. A well-chosen prospect gives the matching process a clearer starting point than an unrelated company or fabricated email. The better data you put in, the better contact you'll receive.

How does the AI choose similar contacts?

Our AI-powered prospect matching is proprietary technology. It evaluates industry, company size and location to assess similarity within the existing contact dataset and delivers relevant verified contacts. A similar contact is a prospecting starting point, not a guarantee that the company has the same needs or will buy.

How quickly will I get matches?

The matching experience is designed to return results in seconds, with a target of under 15 seconds. Actual timing can vary with validation, service availability and the complexity of the request.

How many contacts does a lookup return?

A lookup is designed to return three verified contacts when sufficient eligible matches are available. Validation and exclusions can reduce availability; a specific result count is not guaranteed for every prospect.

Can I filter by port, trade lane, shipment volume or current provider?

The core matching factors are industry, company size and location. Do not treat a match as confirmation of a port, trade lane, freight volume, commodity, current provider or technology stack. Research those details independently before outreach.

Will I receive the contact I entered?

No. The contact you entered is excluded from your matches. Your starting prospect is used to find other relevant contacts, not to return that same email to you.

Why might no additional matches be available?

There may be too few eligible contacts, or a prospect may fail validation. Try a new, real work-email prospect at another suitable company.

Free accounts and Pro

Is SimilarContact free to use?

Yes. Free is free forever, with ten daily lookup credits and three verified contacts per eligible lookup. You do not need to buy Pro to use the live international freight product.

Do I need a credit card to start?

No. You can create a Free account and start using the live product without a credit card or paid subscription.

What is a lookup credit?

A lookup credit is an allowance to run a prospect matching request. Both Free and Pro include ten daily lookup credits per user. Pro adds premium high-intent contacts and the autonomous AI Agent, rather than a higher base daily allowance.

What makes Pro different from Free?

Pro is the only way to access premium high-intent contacts with proprietary captured intent. It also includes the autonomous AI Agent for CSV-based prospecting and team credit allocation. Both plans have ten daily lookups per user and three contacts per eligible lookup.

Where can I see Pro pricing?

Select Pro or Upgrade to Pro to see the current price for your chosen product and number of users before proceeding. You can keep using Free without purchasing a subscription.

Can I start with one Pro user?

Yes. You can choose one user or add users when selecting Pro. Teams can allocate their purchased daily allowance among users and an AI Agent recipient.

Does a Pro plan apply to every product?

Products have separate accounts, plans and allowances. Access to the international freight product does not automatically activate a paid plan for another product.

What happens when I run out of daily credits?

Wait for the next daily allowance. On a Pro team, your team administrator can manage credit allocations within the purchased allowance, and adding users increases the team's purchased daily allowance.

Can I cancel a paid subscription?

The Terms state that cancellation stops future recurring charges and access continues through the end of the current billing period. Review the billing and cancellation terms before purchasing.

Does SimilarContact offer refunds?

All sales are final and payments are generally nonrefundable, including unused lookups and partial subscription periods. Exceptions expressly required by applicable law and the limited exceptions described in the Terms of Service remain applicable.

Autonomous AI Agent and teams

What does the autonomous AI Agent do?

The Pro Agent works through prospects you upload by CSV, prepares eligible matches using your available daily credits and releases delivered contacts daily to My Contacts. It can continue prospecting without entering every email manually.

Is the Agent included with Free?

No. The autonomous AI Agent is a Pro feature. Free users can run manual lookups without buying a subscription.

Does the Agent use separate credits?

No. Automated and manual matching share the same daily paid lookup allowance. Team administrators can allocate available credits to users or the Agent.

Can I upload a CSV of prospect emails?

Yes, on Pro. Uploaded prospects enter your private queue for automated matching, and prospect validation still applies.

Is there a cumulative limit on the Agent queue?

There is no cumulative queue cap. Uploads are handled in bounded batches, and processing still depends on the daily allowance, valid inputs and eligible matches. A larger queue does not mean all results arrive immediately.

When do Agent results appear?

Prepared results are released daily to My Contacts. The number available depends on allocated daily credits, processing progress and match eligibility; uploads are not an instant delivery guarantee.

Can I pause the Agent?

Yes. Pro includes pause and resume controls for the Agent queue.

What happens if an uploaded prospect is invalid?

The Agent skips blocked prospects and proceeds to the next eligible prospect. An AI processing failure may pause processing for retry instead of producing a result.

Can I allocate a team's credits to one power user?

Yes. Team administrators can assign the purchased daily allowance among users or concentrate it on a power user, within the team's aggregate allowance.

Can I allocate a team's credits to the Agent?

Yes. A team administrator can allocate credits to the prebuilt AI Agent, including concentrating the team's available allowance on that recipient. The allocated Agent belongs to the team administrator and uses that administrator's private queue and results.

Data quality, intent and contact history

How often are contacts verified?

Contacts are verified monthly, as described in About The Data and the Terms. Business details and roles can change between reviews, so verify relevance and contact details before acting on them.

Is this just a scraped web contact list?

No. SimilarContact positions its dataset as proprietary and owned by SimilarContact, with real decision-maker contacts and distinctive captured intent rather than a generic inventory of scraped web records.

What does high-intent contact data mean?

Pro's premium contacts include proprietary captured intent context intended to help prioritize relevant opportunities. Intent is a signal, not a guarantee of buying readiness, current purchasing authority or consent to outreach.

Does verification guarantee a reply or a sale?

No. Verification, similarity and intent do not guarantee email delivery, engagement, buying interest or revenue. Your service fit, research, timing and message still matter.

Where are my returned contacts saved?

Delivered contacts appear in My Contacts, where you can sort your results, copy an email quickly and export a CSV.

Does My Contacts show the prospect email I entered?

No. Customer My Contacts and its exports show delivered matched contacts, not submitted prospect inputs. Team administrators do not receive access to those stored inputs through customer history.

Can I export contacts to a CSV?

Yes. My Contacts supports CSV export of your delivered contacts. Submitted prospect emails are not included in customer exports.

What do the thumbs-up and thumbs-down controls do?

They let you rate contacts you received. Feedback helps improve prospect matching and supports dataset quality review. The controls explain this when you hover over them.

Can someone opt out of the contact dataset?

Yes. Use the Opt out page linked in the footer. An opted-out email is blocked immediately from being returned by the tool.

Account access, privacy and responsible outreach

How do I sign in?

Use the sign-in page with your work email and enter the code sent to that address. The current sign-in page explains that the code signs you in for the day.

Does SimilarContact send outreach emails for me?

The Agent finds contacts; it is not presented as an automated email outreach service. Research your returned prospects and write thoughtful, relevant B2B messages yourself.

Does a contact record give me permission to email someone?

No. Access to a record is not consent. You are responsible for complying with applicable marketing, privacy and anti-spam laws, respecting objections and using the data only for lawful B2B purposes permitted by the Terms.

How should I use a returned contact effectively?

Confirm the company imports or exports goods relevant to your service, research the recipient's responsibilities and identify a specific reason to speak. Send a well-written human email from your own domain rather than generic mass outreach.

Can access to SimilarContact be suspended or terminated?

Yes. The Terms reserve the ability to suspend, restrict or terminate access at any time, with or without notice, for any reason or no reason to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Are the other products available now?

The international freight product is live. The separate freight technology and legal contact products are coming soon. You can create a free account for either and request a launch email alert; their lookup access starts when their data is live.

Find the right contacts. Start free.

Ten daily lookups. Three verified contacts per eligible lookup. No credit card required.

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These answers summarize the product and are not legal advice. The Terms of Service govern access, subscriptions and data use.