How does list monitoring work?
Last updated: October 16, 2026
Context
You want a list that keeps filling itself with new leads over time, rather than importing everyone in one go. This article explains where that happens.
Answer
A list built from a lead search is static. You run the search, you import the results, and that is what the list holds. Nothing is added to it afterwards.
If you want a list that grows on its own, feeding itself with people who match a real-time event, create a Signal instead.
A signal watches the market continuously — a company hiring for a role, someone changing job, a competitor's post being engaged with, a technology being adopted — and tops up a live list with the people who match, for as long as the signal is running.
Monitoring a list you already have. A signal doesn't have to watch the whole market. Point a hiring, technology or new job signal at one of your existing lists and Topo checks those companies or people for you, up to 1,000 entries per list. Use Champion changed job on your customer list to catch champions moving to a new company.
When you create a signal you set a maximum number of leads per day. That cap is mandatory, so you always stay in control of volume and credit usage. If more people qualify on a given day than your cap allows, you get up to your cap. If fewer qualify, you get fewer.
When do leads appear?
While creating the signal, you will see a preview of existing leads matching the selected criteria. When you finalize the steps to create a signal, Topo will import as many leads from the preview as selected in the daily cap.
E.g. If you select to get up to 25 leads/day in the signal settings, as soon as you create it, Topo tries to import up to 25 people from the previewed leads, so that you don't start from a blank page.
After that initial import, Topo will scrape events in real time and drop successful leads in the live list.
Why you may receive fewer leads than your daily cap
For hiring-based signals specifically, Topo uses a multi-step company-first process that can reduce results before enrichment even begins. The system first finds companies that are hiring for the specified job title and mention the keyword in the job posting, then searches for a contact within each company that matches your criteria, and only then attempts enrichment. Each step acts as a filter — a company must meet the hiring criteria, have a matching contact, and that contact must be successfully enriched.
When an import is triggered, Topo attempts to enrich each lead with data points such as their email address. Leads are excluded if:
Their company is on your exclusion list
They are personally on your exclusion list
They cannot be enriched (e.g. no email address found)
Only successfully enriched leads that pass these checks are added to your list. The gap between your daily cap and the number imported is a normal result of this process.
How to pause a signal
To stop new leads from being added to a Signal list, find the list in the Lists page (you can click on the ready-made "Signals" filter button to find it faster) and click the three action dots on the right. You can then select "Pause Signal".
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