clay-core-workflow-b

Clay Core Workflow B: Claygent AI Research & Personalization

Overview

Complements the enrichment pipeline (clay-core-workflow-a) with AI-powered research and personalization. Uses Claygent (Clay's built-in AI research agent powered by GPT-4) to scrape websites, extract insights, and generate personalized outreach copy for each prospect. 30% of Clay customers use Claygent daily, generating 500K+ research tasks per day.

Prerequisites

• Completed clay-core-workflow-a with enriched table
• Clay Pro plan or higher (Claygent requires Pro+)
• Understanding of prompt engineering basics

Instructions

Step 1: Add a Claygent Research Column

In your Clay table with enriched leads:

1. Click + Add Column > Use AI (Claygent)
2. Choose model: Claygent Neon (best for data extraction and formatting)
3. Write your research prompt referencing table columns:

Research {{Company Name}} ({{domain}}) and find:
1. Their most recent funding round (amount, date, investors)
2. Any recent product launches or major announcements from the last 6 months
3. Their primary competitors

Return results as structured data. If information is not found, return "Not found" for that field.

4. Enable Auto-run on new rows

Step 2: Configure Multi-Output Claygent (Neon Model)

Claygent Neon can extract multiple data points into separate columns from a single run:

Research the company at {{domain}} and extract:

Output 1 (Recent News): The most notable company news from the last 90 days. One sentence.
Output 2 (Tech Stack): List the main technologies they use (check job postings, BuiltWith, Wappalyzer data).
Output 3 (Pain Points): Based on their Glassdoor reviews and recent job postings, identify likely operational pain points.
Output 4 (Competitor): Name their primary competitor.

Map each output to a separate column for downstream use in personalization.

Step 3: Build a Personalized Email Opener Column

Add an AI column (not Claygent -- use the faster AI model for text generation):

You are a sales copywriter. Write a personalized 2-sentence email opener for {{first_name}} at {{Company Name}}.

Context about the prospect:
- Title: {{Job Title}}
- Company size: {{Employee Count}} employees
- Industry: {{Industry}}
- Recent news: {{Recent News}}
- Tech stack: {{Tech Stack}}

Rules:
- Reference one specific fact about their company (not generic)
- Do NOT use "I noticed" or "I came across" (overused)
- Keep it under 40 words
- Sound human, not AI-generated
- End with a natural transition to your value prop

Step 4: Quality-Check AI Output Before Campaign Launch

Before using AI-generated copy in outreach:

// src/workflows/qa-clay-output.ts
interface ClayRow {
  email: string;
  company_name: string;
  personalized_opener: string;
  icp_score: number;
  recent_news: string;
}

function qaCheck(row: ClayRow): { pass: boolean; issues: string[] } {
  const issues: string[] = [];

  // Check opener quality
  if (!row.personalized_opener || row.personalized_opener.length < 20) {
    issues.push('Opener too short or empty');
  }
  if (row.personalized_opener?.includes('{{')) {
    issues.push('Unresolved template variable in opener');
  }
  if (/I noticed|I came across|I saw that/i.test(row.personalized_opener || '')) {
    issues.push('Opener uses banned phrases');
  }

  // Check data completeness
  if (!row.email) issues.push('Missing email');
  if (row.recent_news === 'Not found') issues.push('No research data found');
  if (row.icp_score < 50) issues.push('Low ICP score');

  return { pass: issues.length === 0, issues };
}

Step 5: Export Campaign-Ready Data

Configure an HTTP API column to push qualified, personalized leads to your outreach tool:

{
  "method": "POST",
  "url": "https://api.instantly.ai/api/v1/lead/add",
  "headers": {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "Authorization": "Bearer {{Instantly API Key}}"
  },
  "body": {
    "campaign_id": "your-campaign-id",
    "email": "{{Work Email}}",
    "first_name": "{{first_name}}",
    "last_name": "{{last_name}}",
    "company_name": "{{Company Name}}",
    "personalization": "{{personalized_opener}}",
    "custom_variables": {
      "recent_news": "{{Recent News}}",
      "tech_stack": "{{Tech Stack}}"
    }
  }
}

Set conditional run: ICP Score >= 70 AND ISNOTEMPTY(Work Email) AND ISNOTEMPTY(personalized_opener)

Step 6: Claygent Navigator for Dynamic Websites

For sites that require interaction (filtering, clicking, scrolling):

1. Add a Claygent column with Navigator mode enabled
2. Navigator can click buttons, fill search forms, and extract data from dynamic pages

Navigate to {{domain}}/pricing and extract:
1. Number of pricing tiers
2. Starting price
3. Whether they offer a free tier
4. Enterprise pricing model (contact sales vs. listed)

If the pricing page requires interaction (e.g., toggle annual/monthly), switch to annual pricing first.

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Claygent returns "Not found"	Company too small or private	Skip personalization, use generic opener
AI opener references wrong company	Column mapping error	Verify {{column}} references match table headers
Claygent timeout	Complex research prompt	Simplify prompt, break into multiple columns
High credit cost per row	Claygent + AI + enrichment stacking	Run Claygent only on ICP-qualified rows (score >= 60)
Template variables in output	AI hallucinating Clay syntax	Add "Do not include curly braces" to prompt

Output

• Claygent research data (news, tech stack, competitors) per prospect
• Personalized email openers at scale
• Campaign-ready export to outreach tools
• QA report flagging low-quality rows

Resources

• Clay University -- Claygent AI Web Scraper
• Clay -- 11 AI Prompts for Prospect Research
• Claygent Product Page

Next Steps

For common errors, see clay-common-errors.