Complete guide to base material screening: How to control costs and do active testing after testing is enabled? Steps and Pitfall Guidelines

In the field of overseas customer acquisition, base material screening is a basic but critical link - the phone number list you get may be crawled from public channels, left by user registration, or generated in batches. Which of these numbers are actually registered? Which ones are currently active? If you send a large number of emails without screening, it will not only waste your budget, but may also result in your account being blocked due to frequent contact with invalid numbers. This article will focus on the core logic of base material screening, explain in detail the two-step method of “activate first, then activate”, and share specific strategies and pitfalls for controlling costs and doing active detection on platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp.

What is base material screening? Why is it necessary to do active testing after enabling testing?

“Basic material” is a commonly used word in the overseas operation circle, which refers to the initial address book (mobile phone number list) used to acquire customers. Basic screening is to perform quality cleaning on this list: eliminate invalid numbers, identify high-value users, and pave the way for subsequent private message reaching, community operations, advertising targeting and other actions.

Many operators tend to overlook one fact: Activation ≠ Active. Although a number is registered on Telegram, it may not have been logged in for several months, and messages sent there may not be read or replied to. Only doing activation detection, the subsequent contact efficiency may only be 10% to 30%. Activity detection can identify users who have been online recently, significantly improving the true hit rate. Therefore, the ideal process for base material screening is a two-step process: first use activation detection to filter out unregistered numbers at the lowest cost, and then conduct activity detection on the remaining activated numbers to accurately target highly active users.

Two-step method for base material screening: the core difference between open detection and active detection

The following table compares the types, costs, and applicable scenarios of the two types of testing:

Comparison Dimensions	Activation Detection	Activity Detection
Detection target	Verify whether the number is registered on a certain platform	Verify whether the number is online recently/frequency of use
Return results	Activated/not activated (sometimes including gender, etc.)	Activity level or activity window (such as 7 days/30 days)
Unit price cost	Lower	Higher (usually 2~5 times of the activation test, for details, please see Console Real-time Price)
Recommended scenarios	Large-scale primary screening to quickly remove invalid accounts	Secondary filtering of activated accounts for high-value reach

Activation detection: the lowest cost initial filtering

Activating the test is the first step in screening base materials and is suitable for the full preliminary screening of million-level numbers. It only determines whether the number has been registered on the platform, and usually only consumes a small amount of balance per entry. Taking Telegram as an example, one activation of detection can screen out about 40% to 60% of unregistered numbers, significantly reducing the scale of subsequent active detection.

Activity detection: accurately screen high-value users

Active detection is performed on the basis of activation detection and only targets activated numbers. You can specify an active window (for example, online within 7 days, 30 days, 60 days). The shorter the window, the closer the data is to the current online status, but the higher the unit price. For mass notifications, a 30-day window is recommended; for instant customer service or private message scenarios, a 7-day or even 24-hour window is recommended.

How to control costs? Budget allocation strategy for bottom material screening

The core of base material screening is to use the least amount of money to screen out the most accurate users. In the per-item billing mode, the two-step method of “activate first, then activate” can avoid wasting activity detection fees on invalid numbers.

Submit in batches to avoid large amounts of waste

It is not recommended to submit millions of numbers at once for activity detection directly. The correct approach is:

1. First take 5000~10000 for activation testing and observe the activation rate (for example, Telegram’s common 40%~60%).
2. Estimate the active detection budget for the remaining numbers based on the activation rate.
3. If the activation rate is too low (for example, less than 20%), you should consider changing the number source; if the activation rate is normal, gradually expand the scale.

Most bottom material screening platforms (such as KK-DATA) support submitting tasks in batches. Only the balance of the current batch is spent each time, and the fund retention is flexible.

Use deduplication warehouse to avoid repeated detection

When executing the base material screening task multiple times, the same number may be submitted repeatedly. If the platform has a deduplication mechanism, it can automatically skip the detected numbers and avoid repeated deductions. For example, the deduplication warehouse provided by KK-DATA will record the detection status of each number in different tasks. When the same number is submitted again, the historical results will be directly returned, consuming only one free quota (some platforms may be completely free). This function is especially practical for long-term batch operations and can save 10% to 30% of repeated testing costs.

Complete practical steps for base material screening (taking KK-DATA as an example)

The following is a practical process using the KK-DATA platform as an example, and is applicable to mainstream platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Line.

1. Prepare number list You can generate global numbers (randomly generated for 240+ countries) or import your own CSV/TXT file (one complete international format number per line). If you already have a number pool, you can upload it directly; if not, KK-DATA’s [Number Generation Module] (https://docs.kkdata.cc/) is free to use.

2. Create activation detection task Select “Screen Task” → “New Task” on the console, select the target platform (such as Telegram), and check “Enable Detection” for the detection type. Upload the number file or paste the numbers, and the system will automatically display the estimated cost (based on the unit price and number of numbers).

3. Submit the task and wait for the result After the task is completed, the CSV/TXT results can be downloaded, including “status” (activated/not activated), “tgid” and other fields. Export numbers in the “open” state as input for activity detection.

4. Check the activity of the activated number Create a new task again and use the activation number exported in the previous step as input. Select “Active Detection” as the detection type and specify the window (such as 7 days). Submit again and the system will display the estimated cost.

5. Export active numbers After the detection is completed, export the results and filter out the numbers marked “active” or “recently online”. These numbers can be directly used for contact operations such as adding followers to TG and sending group messages on WhatsApp.

Common judgment criteria and precautions for base material screening

• Opening rate reference: Telegram is about 40%~60%, WhatsApp is about 50%~70%, and Line can reach more than 70% in some Southeast Asian countries. Specifically affected by the quality of the number source, if it comes from a random number segment that is publicly crawled, the activation rate may only be 20% to 30%.
• Activity rate reference: Taking Telegram’s 30-day window as an example, the activity rate is usually between 10% and 20%; WhatsApp is similar. The window is shortened to 7 days, and the activity rate may drop to 5% to 10%.
• Number source quality: The activation rate and activity rate of numbers collected by yourself through event registration are usually higher than those of randomly generated or crawled numbers. If the base material screening results are not satisfactory, check the source quality first.
• Duplicate Detection: Repeated detection of the same number in different tasks will cause waste. Use deduplication or maintain an internal blacklist to avoid duplicate submissions.

How to use the data after filtering the base material? ——A quick overview of activation plans

The filtered high-activity numbers can be directly used for:

• Telegram Follower/Private Message: Active users are more likely to accept invitation links or private messages.
• WhatsApp group messaging: Avoid sending messages to numbers that have not logged in recently to reduce the risk of complaints and account bans.
• Line or Zalo community operation: Targeting active users of males and specific age groups for refined outreach.
• iOS/iMessage Blue Number Reach: Only send to numbers that have subscribed to iMessage to increase the arrival rate.

The conversion rate of highly active numbers is usually 3 to 5 times higher than that of unscreened base materials. When the budget is limited, it is a wise choice to prioritize spending on activity detection.

FAQ

**Q: Does base material screening have to be enabled first and then activated? ** Answer: Not necessarily, but highly recommended. The cost of enabling detection is much lower than that of active detection. Filtering out invalid numbers first can significantly reduce the cost of subsequent active detection. If the source of the number is very accurate (for example, it is known to be an active user list), activity detection can be performed directly.

**Q: Is the shorter the active window for active detection better? ** Answer: The shorter the window (such as 24 hours, 7 days), the closer the data is to the current online status, but the higher the unit price is. If it is a mass notification type of contact, a 30-day window is more cost-effective; if it is an instant customer service/private message scenario, it is recommended to choose a 7-day or shorter window.

**Q: What is the use of the deduplication warehouse in base material screening? ** Answer: The deduplication warehouse automatically records the number that has been detected. When the same number is submitted again, the free quota will be skipped and the free quota will be deducted to avoid repeated deductions. The same number in different tasks will only be deducted once, which is suitable for long-term batch operations.

**Q: How to export the base material screening results? ** Answer: Supports exporting in CSV, TXT and other formats. Each line contains number, platform, detection status (activated/active/gender, etc.). After exporting, it can be directly imported into the mass sending tool or CRM system.

**Q: How to calculate the cost of base material screening? ** Answer: Billing is based on the number of tests, and there is no subscription package. The unit price of active detection is usually higher than that of activated detection. For details, please see [Console Real-time Price] (https://app.kkdata.cc/) (different platforms and different active windows have different prices).

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Screening of base materials is the cornerstone of overseas customer acquisition. Making good use of the two-step method of “activation + activation” can maximize reach efficiency within budget. The KK-DATA platform supports two-step detection with one click, and provides number generation, deduplication warehouse, multi-format export and other functions to help you efficiently manage the entire base material screening process.
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