By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to build a Custom signals watchlist in lemlist, add the right signal questions with the mandatory {{account}}
Why this matters
Custom signals help you monitor your target accounts for very specific business events that matter to your outbound strategy. Instead of tracking only standard signal types, you can define your own questions and let lemlist scan daily web content, including LinkedIn posts, news, and articles, to surface relevant buying signals.
Before you start
You should already know:
What a company list is in lemlist
That an account usually refers to a company domain, such as
amazon.comThat Custom signals only work with lists of companies, not other segment types
Key concept: A signal is written as a question, such as “Does {{account}}{{account}}
Core lesson
Phase 1: Start a new watchlist and choose Custom signals
Go to Signals, then click New watchlist to begin creating a new monitoring workflow. This is where you define what to track, which companies to track, and how identified signals should be processed.
In the Select a signal to monitor step, choose Custom signals, then click Next. This option is designed to uncover untapped insights across your TAM by tracking your own custom questions on daily web content.
Phase 2: Configure your custom signal questions
Enter a Watchlist name so your team can easily identify the monitoring setup later. Pick a name that describes either the segment, the use case, or the signal theme.
Add your first signal by filling in the Signal name and Question to monitor. The signal name should be short and easy to scan, while the question defines what lemlist will look for online. You can choose the start of the question from a dropdown like Does
{{account}}{{account}}{{account}}{{account}}
Signal formatting rules to follow:
Signal name: up to 30 characters
Question title/start: use one of the available dropdown openings
Question body: add the rest of the question in free text
Required variable: every signal must include
{{account}}
Important: When you click Next after this step, lemlist validates your signal format. If one or more questions do not include {{account}}{{account}}
Use templates to speed up setup
If you do not want to write every signal from scratch, you can use prebuilt templates. lemlist shows the first five templates returned by BirdDog, and each one can be added in one click.
Click Use template next to any suggestion you want to add. If you want more options, click More templates to open the full template modal, where you can select multiple templates and add them to the watchlist at once.
Phase 3: Choose the companies to monitor
In the Segment to monitor step, choose how you want to define your target accounts. For Custom signals, this applies to company-based monitoring.
Select Company list if you want to monitor companies from an existing list in lemlist, then check the list you want to use and click Next. This is the most common setup because it lets you connect one set of signal questions to a curated list of accounts.
Available segment options:
Company list: monitor companies from an existing company list in lemlist
CSV import / specific segment: upload a CSV if you want to monitor companies from an external file
Phase 4: Decide how identified signals should be processed
Next, choose what should happen when lemlist finds a relevant signal. This step works the same way as other watchlist types, so you can keep your existing operational process.
Choose your preferred signal processing method, such as Manually process the identified signals or Create a task for the identified signals. If you create tasks, configure the task type, ownership, fallback owner, priority, title, and instructions so your team knows exactly how to act on each detected signal.
Phase 5: Review the summary and confirm billing
Before launching the watchlist, review the summary carefully. You’ll see the selected signal type, the questions being monitored, the processing method, and the billing information.
Custom signals are billed at 200 credits per account per month. The total monthly cost is calculated based on the number of accounts in the selected company list, and the Create watchlist action displays the cost directly on the button so the billing is clear before you confirm.
Practical example
Here’s a simple real-world setup for an account-based sales team targeting expansion-ready companies:
Watchlist name: Expansion signals - EU SaaS accounts
Signal 1 name: Expanding
Question:
Does{{account}}consider expanding to new markets?Signal 2 name: New Product
Question:
Did{{account}}launch a new product?Segment: Existing company list of ideal-fit SaaS accounts
Processing: Create a task for the account owner to review the detected signal and reach out
This setup works well when you want to prioritize accounts showing signs of growth, change, or strategic movement.
Best practices
Write questions in natural English so lemlist can interpret them accurately
Keep signal names short and recognizable for faster review in summaries and results
Use one watchlist for a clear business theme, such as expansion, hiring, partnerships, or product launches
Start with a focused company list so your credit usage stays aligned with your priorities
Use templates when you want to launch quickly, then customize questions for your niche
Troubleshooting and common pitfalls
Issue: The Next button is disabled in the signal configuration step
Root cause: One or more questions do not include the required {{account}}
Fix:
Review every signal question in the watchlist
Make sure each one contains
{{account}}Use one of the supported question openings like Does
{{account}}{{account}}Hover over the disabled Next button to confirm the validation message
Issue: The watchlist is not finding relevant results
Root cause: Your question may be too vague, too narrow, or written in a way that does not match public web content.
Fix:
Rewrite the question to sound closer to how the event would appear in articles or LinkedIn posts
Test broader versions first, then refine over time
Avoid overly technical or internal phrasing that would not appear publicly
Issue: Billing is higher than expected
Root cause: The selected company list contains more accounts than planned.
Fix:
Check how many companies are included in the selected list
Use the summary step to verify the monthly credit total
Reduce the list size or split monitoring into separate watchlists if needed
Issue: Custom signals are unavailable for the segment you want
Root cause: Custom signals only apply to lists of companies.
Fix:
Create or select a company list first
If needed, import your target accounts via CSV
Restart the watchlist setup and choose a company-based segment
What happens next?
Once your watchlist is live, lemlist scans daily web content for relevant matches across your selected accounts. As signals are detected, they are processed according to the workflow you chose, helping your team act on timely account intelligence instead of searching for it manually.