Using Clay with Your CRM: Enrichment Workflows
Clay is a data enrichment and prospecting platform that lets you build contact lists from multiple sources, enrich them with dozens of data providers, and push the results to your CRM. Here's how the workflow works.
- Clay is a spreadsheet with built-in data providers — it builds and enriches lists before CRM import.
- The workflow: build list in Clay → enrich with providers → push to CRM via HTTP API.
- Clay pushes to your CRM via API — so dedup and merge logic should be handled by the CRM, not Clay.
- Best for: ABM lists, event follow-up, ICP-based prospecting, and periodic database refresh.
The Clay → CRM Workflow
Start with a company list, LinkedIn search results, event attendees, or any source. Clay imports and structures the data.
Clay connects to 50+ data providers. Add columns for email, phone, title, company size, and any other data point. Each column is a provider call.
Use Clay's HTTP request action to call your CRM's API. Send each enriched row as a contact upsert — the CRM handles dedup and merge.
Common Clay Use Cases
| Use Case | What Clay Does |
|---|---|
| ABM target list | Find key contacts at named accounts, enrich with email + phone, push to CRM with account tag |
| Event follow-up | Import attendee list, enrich with title/company/LinkedIn, push to CRM tagged with event name |
| ICP prospecting | Filter by company size, industry, tech stack — enrich and push qualified contacts |
| Database refresh | Export stale CRM contacts, re-enrich in Clay, push back with updated data |
crmzero’s upsert endpoint is designed for Clay workflows — send enriched contacts via HTTP request and the CRM handles dedup (email + LinkedIn matching) and merge (per-field strategy). Tags are passed through so you can filter by source (e.g., “clay-abm-q1”).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Clay?
Clay is a data enrichment and prospecting platform. Think of it as a spreadsheet with built-in data providers — you build lists of companies and contacts, enrich them with email/phone/firmographic data from 50+ sources, then export or push to your CRM.
Does Clay have a native CRM integration?
Clay supports native integrations with some CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot). For other CRMs, use Clay's HTTP request action to call the CRM's API directly. This works with any CRM that has a REST API.
How do I avoid duplicates when pushing from Clay?
Use your CRM's upsert/dedup endpoint — it checks for existing contacts by email (and LinkedIn if supported) before creating new records. Send Clay data to the upsert endpoint, not the create endpoint.
How much does Clay cost?
Clay has a free tier with limited enrichments. Paid plans start at $149/month for higher volume. Since Clay uses multiple data providers, some enrichment credits are usage-based on top of the platform fee.