Enrich new Salesforce contacts with Apollo using n8n

Prerequisites

Why n8n?

n8n's Salesforce Trigger node polls for new Leads on a 1-minute cadence, giving you near-real-time enrichment without building webhooks. The visual canvas makes it easy to see the trigger → filter → enrich → update flow, and self-hosted n8n means unlimited executions at zero platform cost.

The trade-off is OAuth setup. You need a Salesforce Connected App with the right scopes, which involves admin-level Salesforce configuration. For one-time backfill or ad-hoc enrichment without OAuth, the Claude Code approach is simpler.

How it works

• Salesforce Trigger node polls for new Lead or Contact records every 1 minute via OAuth
• IF node filters out records that already have enrichment data (Title, Phone populated) to avoid wasting Apollo credits
• HTTP Request node calls Apollo's People Enrich API with the record's email address to retrieve title, phone, department, LinkedIn URL, and company data
• Code node maps Apollo's response fields to Salesforce field names (e.g., person.title → Title, person.linkedin_url → LinkedIn_URL__c)
• Salesforce node updates the Lead/Contact record with enriched fields, and optionally updates the parent Account with organization data

Step 1: Create a Salesforce Connected App

In Salesforce, go to Setup → App Manager → New Connected App:

1. App Name: n8n Enrichment
2. Enable OAuth Settings: checked
3. Callback URL: your n8n OAuth callback URL
4. OAuth Scopes: Access and manage your data (api), Perform requests at any time (refresh_token, offline_access)
5. Save and note the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret

In n8n, add a Salesforce credential using these values.

Step 2: Add a Salesforce Trigger

Create a new workflow and add a Salesforce Trigger node:

• Authentication: Select your Salesforce credential
• Event: Record Created
• Object: Lead (or Contact, depending on your data model)
• Polling interval: 1 minute

Step 3: Filter already-enriched records

Add an IF node to skip records that already have enrichment data:

• Condition: {{ $json.Title }} is empty OR {{ $json.Phone }} is empty

This prevents wasting Apollo credits on records that are already enriched from another source.

Step 4: Call Apollo People Enrich

Add an HTTP Request node:

• Method: POST
• URL: https://api.apollo.io/v1/people/enrich
• Headers:
  • x-api-key: your Apollo API key
  • Content-Type: application/json
• Body (JSON):

{
  "email": "{{ $json.Email }}",
  "reveal_personal_emails": false
}

Step 5: Check if Apollo returned data

Add an IF node:

• Condition: {{ $json.person }} exists (is not null)

If Apollo didn't find a match, the workflow skips the update step.

Step 6: Map Apollo fields to Salesforce

Add a Set node to map the response:

Configure the Set node to extract these fields:

// In a Code node for more control:
const person = $json.person;
if (!person) return [];
 
return [{
  json: {
    Title: person.title || '',
    Phone: person.phone_numbers?.[0]?.sanitized_number || '',
    LinkedIn_URL__c: person.linkedin_url || '',
    Department: person.departments?.[0] || '',
    // For Leads:
    Company: person.organization?.name || '',
    // Store these to update the Account separately:
    org_industry: person.organization?.industry || '',
    org_employees: person.organization?.estimated_num_employees || 0,
  }
}];

Step 7: Update the Salesforce record

Add a Salesforce node:

• Operation: Update
• Object: Lead (or Contact)
• Record ID: {{ $('Salesforce Trigger').item.json.Id }}
• Fields to update: Map from the Set node output (Title, Phone, LinkedIn_URL__c, Department, Company)

Step 8: Update the Account (optional)

If you want to enrich the parent Account with organization data, add a second Salesforce node:

• Operation: Update
• Object: Account
• Record ID: The Account ID from the Lead/Contact
• Fields: Industry, NumberOfEmployees

Step 9: Activate

1. Click Execute Workflow to test with a real Lead
2. Verify the Salesforce record is updated with Apollo data
3. Toggle the workflow to Active

Rate limits and credits

• Apollo rate limit: ~100 enrichment requests per minute on Professional plan
• Credit cost: 1 credit per successful enrichment (waterfall enrichment costs additional credits)
• Bulk alternative: For enriching many existing records, use /v1/people/bulk_enrich (up to 10 per call) with a Schedule Trigger + batch loop

Common questions

How quickly does enrichment happen after a Lead is created?

n8n's Salesforce Trigger polls every 1 minute on the Starter plan (every 5 minutes on the Community plan). A new Lead created at 2:00 PM will typically be enriched by 2:01-2:02 PM. For true real-time (under 10 seconds), you'd need a Salesforce webhook pushing to n8n, which requires additional Salesforce configuration.

Should I use Apollo's native Salesforce integration instead?

Apollo's native integration syncs bi-directionally every 30 minutes with automatic deduplication. Use it for broad, always-on sync. Use this n8n approach when you need filtering (only enrich ICP-matching contacts), custom field mapping, or chaining with other tools like Slack notifications.

Can I enrich existing records, not just new ones?

Yes. Replace the Salesforce Trigger with a Schedule Trigger and add an HTTP Request node to run a SOQL query for records missing enrichment fields. Process the results through the same Apollo enrichment and update steps.

Cost

• n8n Cloud Starter: $24/mo for 2,500 executions. Each new Lead = 1 execution.
• Self-hosted: Free. Unlimited executions.
• Apollo: Credits vary by plan. Professional plan starts at $79/mo with increased API access.