clay-core-workflow-a

Clay Core Workflow A: Lead Enrichment Pipeline

Overview

Primary workflow for Clay: take a list of companies or contacts, push them into a Clay table via webhook, let Clay's enrichment columns fill in missing data (emails, titles, company info, tech stack), and export the enriched results to your CRM or outreach tool. This is the core use case for 90%+ of Clay users.

Prerequisites

• Completed clay-install-auth setup
• Clay table with webhook source configured
• At least one enrichment provider connected (Apollo, Clearbit, Hunter, etc.)
• Destination CRM or outreach tool (HubSpot, Salesforce, Instantly, etc.)

Instructions

Step 1: Design Your Clay Table Schema

In the Clay web UI, create a table with these column types:

Column	Type	Purpose
domain	Input (webhook)	Company domain to enrich
first_name	Input (webhook)	Contact first name
last_name	Input (webhook)	Contact last name
Company Name	Enrichment (Clearbit/Apollo)	Auto-filled from domain
Employee Count	Enrichment (Clearbit)	Company headcount
Industry	Enrichment (Clearbit)	Industry classification
Work Email	Enrichment (Waterfall)	Verified work email
Job Title	Enrichment (Apollo/PDL)	Current title
LinkedIn URL	Enrichment (Apollo)	Profile link
ICP Score	Formula	Computed fit score

Step 2: Set Up Waterfall Email Enrichment

In Clay UI, add a waterfall enrichment column:

1. Click + Add Column > Find Work Email (Waterfall)
2. Configure provider order (cheapest first):
   • Apollo (2 credits) -- highest coverage
   • Hunter.io (2 credits) -- strong for smaller companies
   • Prospeo (2 credits) -- European coverage
3. Map input: first_name, last_name, domain
4. Enable Stop on first result to save credits
5. Enable Auto-run on new rows

Step 3: Push Leads into Clay via Webhook

// src/workflows/enrich-leads.ts
import { getClayClient } from '../clay/instance';

interface LeadInput {
  domain: string;
  first_name: string;
  last_name: string;
  source?: string;
}

async function enrichLeadList(leads: LeadInput[]): Promise<void> {
  const clay = getClayClient();

  // Validate and deduplicate before sending
  const cleaned = leads
    .filter(l => l.domain?.includes('.') && l.first_name && l.last_name)
    .filter((l, i, arr) =>
      arr.findIndex(x => x.domain === l.domain && x.first_name === l.first_name) === i
    );

  console.log(`Sending ${cleaned.length} leads to Clay (filtered ${leads.length - cleaned.length} invalid/dupes)`);

  const result = await clay.sendBatch(cleaned, 200);
  console.log(`Sent: ${result.sent}, Failed: ${result.failed}`);

  if (result.errors.length > 0) {
    console.error('Failed rows:', result.errors);
  }
}

Step 4: Add ICP Scoring Formula

In Clay, add a Formula column named ICP Score:

// Clay formula syntax (similar to spreadsheet formulas)
// Score 0-100 based on company fit

LET(
  size_score, IF(Employee Count > 500, 30, IF(Employee Count > 100, 20, IF(Employee Count > 20, 10, 0))),
  industry_score, IF(OR(Industry = "Software", Industry = "Technology", Industry = "SaaS"), 30, IF(Industry = "Financial Services", 20, 10)),
  title_score, IF(OR(CONTAINS(Job Title, "VP"), CONTAINS(Job Title, "Director"), CONTAINS(Job Title, "Head")), 25, IF(CONTAINS(Job Title, "Manager"), 15, 5)),
  email_score, IF(ISNOTEMPTY(Work Email), 15, 0),
  size_score + industry_score + title_score + email_score
)

Step 5: Configure CRM Export

Add an HTTP API column to push high-scoring leads to your CRM:

1. Click + Add Column > HTTP API
2. Set conditional run: ICP Score >= 70 AND ISNOTEMPTY(Work Email)
3. Configure the API call to your CRM:

{
  "method": "POST",
  "url": "https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/contacts",
  "headers": {
    "Authorization": "Bearer {{HubSpot API Key}}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  "body": {
    "properties": {
      "email": "{{Work Email}}",
      "firstname": "{{first_name}}",
      "lastname": "{{last_name}}",
      "company": "{{Company Name}}",
      "jobtitle": "{{Job Title}}"
    }
  }
}

Step 6: Monitor Enrichment Results

# Check your table's enrichment progress in the Clay UI
# Key metrics to watch:
# - Email find rate: target >60%
# - Company enrichment rate: target >85%
# - Average credits per row: target <10
# - ICP score distribution: should have clear A/B/C tiers

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Low email find rate (<40%)	Bad input data	Clean domains, remove personal email domains
Credits burning fast	Waterfall hitting all providers	Enable "stop on first result"
Duplicate rows in table	Same lead sent twice	Deduplicate before webhook submission
CRM push failing	Invalid field mapping	Test HTTP API column on single row first
Enrichment not running	Auto-run disabled	Enable auto-run in column settings

Output

• Enriched lead table with emails, titles, company data
• ICP scores for lead prioritization
• Qualified leads auto-pushed to CRM
• Credit usage report for cost tracking

Resources

• Clay University -- Enrichment Overview
• Clay University -- CSV Import
• Clay University -- Sources

Next Steps

For AI-powered personalization and CRM sync, see clay-core-workflow-b.