clay-reference-architecture

Clay Reference Architecture

Overview

Production architecture for Clay-based lead enrichment and go-to-market data operations. Covers the three integration patterns (webhook-only, webhook + HTTP API, and full Enterprise API), table schema design, and CRM synchronization flows.

Prerequisites

• Clay account with appropriate plan tier
• Clear understanding of data volume and enrichment needs
• CRM integration target (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.)
• Defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Instructions

Step 1: Choose Your Integration Pattern

Pattern A: Webhook-Only (All Plans)
──────────────────────────────────────
Your App ──POST──> Clay Webhook ──> Clay Table ──> Enrichment
                                                      │
                                         Manual export via CSV
                                         or native CRM action

Pattern B: Webhook + HTTP API Callback (Growth+ Plans)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Your App ──POST──> Clay Webhook ──> Clay Table ──> Enrichment
                                                      │
                                                HTTP API Column
                                                      │
                                               POST to your app
                                                      │
                                                  CRM / DB

Pattern C: Full Automation with Enterprise API (Enterprise)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Your App ──POST──> Clay Webhook ──> Clay Table ──> Enrichment
    │                                                  │
    │                                           HTTP API Column
    │                                                  │
    └──Enterprise API──> Person/Company lookup    POST to your app
                         (lightweight, fast)           │
                                                   CRM / DB

Step 2: Design Table Schema

Standard Lead Enrichment Table:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLAY TABLE: Outbound Leads                                  │
├─────────────┬───────────────┬──────────────────────────────┤
│ Input Cols  │ Enrichment    │ AI + Formula + Output        │
├─────────────┼───────────────┼──────────────────────────────┤
│ domain      │ Company Name  │ ICP Score (formula)          │
│ first_name  │ Employee Count│ Lead Tier (formula: A/B/C)   │
│ last_name   │ Industry      │ Personalized Opener (AI)     │
│ source      │ Tech Stack    │ Recent News (Claygent)       │
│ linkedin_url│ Work Email    │ CRM Push (HTTP API)          │
│             │ Job Title     │ Outreach Push (HTTP API)     │
│             │ Phone Number  │                              │
│             │ LinkedIn URL  │                              │
└─────────────┴───────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘

Column execution order (left to right):
1. Company enrichment (Clearbit) ─ fast, provides context for later columns
2. Person enrichment (Apollo/PDL) ─ medium speed
3. Email waterfall (Apollo > Hunter) ─ conditional: requires domain + name
4. Phone lookup (if needed) ─ conditional: ICP Score >= 80
5. ICP Score formula ─ instant, computes from enriched data
6. Claygent research ─ slow, conditional: ICP Score >= 60
7. AI personalization ─ conditional: ICP Score >= 70
8. CRM push (HTTP API) ─ conditional: ICP Score >= 70 + has email

Step 3: Configure Waterfall Pattern

# Recommended waterfall configuration
email_waterfall:
  strategy: "cheapest-first, stop-on-match"
  providers:
    - name: apollo
      credits: 2
      coverage: ~70%
      speed: fast
    - name: hunter
      credits: 2
      coverage: ~60%
      speed: fast
  combined_coverage: ~83%
  max_credits: 4

company_enrichment:
  strategy: "single provider"
  provider: clearbit
  credits: 2
  coverage: ~90%
  fallback: apollo (if Clearbit returns empty)

person_enrichment:
  strategy: "primary + fallback"
  providers:
    - name: apollo
      credits: 2
    - name: people_data_labs
      credits: 3

Step 4: Implement ICP Scoring

# Clay Formula Column: ICP Score (0-100)
LET(
  # Company size scoring (0-30)
  size, IF(Employee Count > 1000, 30,
       IF(Employee Count > 200, 25,
       IF(Employee Count > 50, 15,
       IF(Employee Count > 10, 5, 0)))),

  # Industry match (0-30)
  industry, IF(OR(
    Industry = "Software",
    Industry = "Technology",
    Industry = "SaaS",
    Industry = "Information Technology"
  ), 30, IF(OR(
    Industry = "Financial Services",
    Industry = "Healthcare"
  ), 20, 10)),

  # Title seniority (0-25)
  title, IF(OR(
    CONTAINS(Job Title, "CEO"), CONTAINS(Job Title, "CTO"),
    CONTAINS(Job Title, "VP"), CONTAINS(Job Title, "C-Suite")
  ), 25, IF(OR(
    CONTAINS(Job Title, "Director"), CONTAINS(Job Title, "Head of")
  ), 20, IF(
    CONTAINS(Job Title, "Manager"), 10, 5
  ))),

  # Data completeness (0-15)
  data, IF(ISNOTEMPTY(Work Email), 10, 0) +
        IF(ISNOTEMPTY(Phone Number), 5, 0),

  size + industry + title + data
)

# Lead Tier Column
IF(ICP Score >= 80, "A",
IF(ICP Score >= 60, "B",
IF(ICP Score >= 40, "C", "D")))

Step 5: CRM Sync Architecture

# HubSpot integration via HTTP API column
crm_sync:
  trigger: "ICP Score >= 70 AND ISNOTEMPTY(Work Email)"
  method: POST
  url: "https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/contacts"
  dedup_key: email  # Prevent duplicate contacts
  field_mapping:
    email: "{{Work Email}}"
    firstname: "{{first_name}}"
    lastname: "{{last_name}}"
    company: "{{Company Name}}"
    jobtitle: "{{Job Title}}"
    hs_lead_status: "NEW"
    clay_icp_score: "{{ICP Score}}"
    clay_enrichment_date: "{{_clay_enriched_at}}"

# Alternative: Use Clay's native HubSpot/Salesforce action columns
# (simpler setup, fewer credits, built-in dedup)
native_crm_action:
  type: "HubSpot: Create/Update Contact"
  dedup: "Match on email"
  auto_run: true
  condition: "ICP Score >= 70"

Error Handling

Resources

• Clay University -- Sources
• Clay University -- Actions & Data Credits
• Clay University -- HubSpot Integration

Next Steps

For multi-environment configuration, see clay-multi-env-setup.