Clay + CRM Integration Patterns: Salesforce and HubSpot Workflows

Clay becomes much more powerful when integrated with your CRM. Instead of manual list building, you can automate enrichment workflows that keep your Salesforce or HubSpot data continuously fresh.

This guide covers the most effective integration patterns.

Integration Options

Native Integrations

Clay offers direct integrations with:

Salesforce — Bi-directional sync
HubSpot — Bi-directional sync

Webhook-Based

For custom workflows:

Trigger Clay from CRM events
Push Clay results to any system
Chain multiple tools together

Zapier/Make

For no-code integration:

Connect Clay tables to 5000+ apps
Schedule automated runs
Handle complex branching logic

Pattern 1: CRM-Triggered Enrichment

Concept

When a record is created or updated in your CRM, automatically enrich it through Clay.

CRM Record Created
       ↓
   Webhook fires
       ↓
   Clay enriches
       ↓
   Results push back to CRM

Salesforce Implementation

Step 1: Create Clay Table

Set up a Clay table with:

Input columns: Email, Company Domain, Salesforce ID
Enrichment columns: Your waterfall setup
Output columns: Mapped to Salesforce fields

Step 2: Salesforce Flow

Flow: Trigger Clay Enrichment

Trigger: Lead is created
         OR Contact is created
         AND Email is not blank

Actions:
1. HTTP Callout (Clay Webhook)
   Endpoint: https://api.clay.com/v1/webhooks/[your-webhook]
   Method: POST
   Body:
   {
     "email": "{!$Record.Email}",
     "company_domain": "{!$Record.Company}",
     "salesforce_id": "{!$Record.Id}",
     "object_type": "Lead"
   }

2. Update Record
   Enrichment_Status__c = "Pending"

Step 3: Clay Webhook Setup

In Clay, go to Integrations → Incoming Webhooks
Create new webhook
Copy the webhook URL
Configure which columns receive webhook data

Step 4: Push Back to Salesforce

In Clay, add Salesforce integration:

Add Push to Salesforce action
Map enriched fields to Salesforce fields
Configure update vs create behavior

HubSpot Implementation

Step 1: Create Clay Table

Same structure as Salesforce, but with HubSpot ID instead.

Step 2: HubSpot Workflow

Workflow: Trigger Clay Enrichment

Trigger: Contact is created
         AND Email is known

Actions:
1. Webhook
   URL: https://api.clay.com/v1/webhooks/[your-webhook]
   Method: POST
   Body:
   {
     "email": "{{contact.email}}",
     "company_domain": "{{company.domain}}",
     "hubspot_id": "{{contact.vid}}"
   }

2. Set property
   Enrichment Status = "Pending"

Step 3: Push Back to HubSpot

In Clay:

Add Push to HubSpot action
Map fields
Set update behavior

Pattern 2: Scheduled Bulk Enrichment

Concept

Periodically pull records from CRM, enrich them, and push back updates.

Schedule triggers (daily/weekly)
          ↓
   Pull from CRM (stale records)
          ↓
   Clay enriches batch
          ↓
   Push updates back to CRM

Implementation

Step 1: Pull Records from Salesforce

In Clay, create a table with Salesforce source:

Source: Salesforce
Object: Contact
Query: SELECT Id, Email, Name, Title, Phone,
              Account.Name, Account.Website,
              Last_Enriched__c
       FROM Contact
       WHERE Last_Enriched__c < LAST_N_DAYS:90
       OR Last_Enriched__c = null
       LIMIT 1000

Step 2: Add Enrichment Columns

Build your waterfall enrichment:

Apollo for initial pass
Clearbit/Breeze for company data
Cognism for phone numbers
Email verification

Step 3: Push Updates

Configure Salesforce push:

Field Mapping:
  Clay Column           → Salesforce Field
  enriched_title        → Title
  enriched_phone        → Phone
  enriched_linkedin     → LinkedIn_URL__c
  confidence_score      → Data_Confidence__c
  TODAY()               → Last_Enriched__c

Step 4: Schedule

In Clay, go to table settings
Enable Scheduled runs
Set frequency (daily at 2 AM recommended)

HubSpot Version

Source: HubSpot
Filter: Last Enrichment Date is more than 90 days ago
        OR Last Enrichment Date is unknown
Limit: 1000 contacts

Push:
  Update existing contacts by email
  Map enriched fields to HubSpot properties

Pattern 3: Lead Scoring Enrichment

Concept

Use Clay to gather data for lead scoring, not just contact info.

New Lead enters CRM
        ↓
  Clay enriches with:
  - Firmographics
  - Technographics
  - Intent signals
  - Social presence
        ↓
  Calculate fit score
        ↓
  Push score to CRM
        ↓
  CRM routes based on score

Implementation

Clay Table Setup:

Input Columns:
- email
- company_domain
- salesforce_id

Enrichment Columns:
- Company Size (from Apollo)
- Industry (from Clearbit)
- Funding (from Crunchbase)
- Technologies Used (from BuiltWith)
- LinkedIn Followers (from LinkedIn)
- Job Postings Count (from job boards)

Scoring Formula Column:
IF(company_size > 100, 20, IF(company_size > 50, 10, 0)) +
IF(industry IN ("Technology", "SaaS"), 15, 0) +
IF(funding > 10000000, 15, 0) +
IF(technologies CONTAINS "Salesforce", 10, 0) +
IF(linkedin_followers > 1000, 10, 0) +
IF(job_postings > 5, 10, 0)

Max Score: 80 points

Output:
- lead_score
- score_breakdown
- fit_tier (A/B/C/D)

CRM Integration:

Push to Salesforce:

Lead_Score__c = lead_score
Score_Breakdown__c = score_breakdown
Fit_Tier__c = fit_tier

Then in Salesforce, create routing rules based on Fit_Tier__c.

Pattern 4: Account Research Automation

Concept

Automatically research target accounts before sales outreach.

Account added to target list
           ↓
    Clay researches:
    - Company overview
    - Key contacts
    - Recent news
    - Tech stack
    - Competitors
           ↓
    Research brief generated
           ↓
    Pushed to CRM Account record

Implementation

Trigger: Account added to Salesforce Campaign or specific list

Clay Research Workflow:

Input: Account Domain

Enrichments:
1. Company Profile (Clearbit)
   → Size, industry, funding, description

2. Key Contacts (Apollo)
   → Find 5-10 relevant titles
   → VP Sales, CRO, Director Sales Ops

3. Recent News (Clay AI Web Search)
   → Search: "{company name} news"
   → Summarize top 3 stories

4. Tech Stack (BuiltWith)
   → Current tools in our category
   → Competitor products used

5. AI Summary (Claude/GPT)
   Prompt: "Create a one-paragraph research brief
           for a sales rep calling on {company}.
           Include: company overview, recent news,
           potential pain points based on their tech stack."

Output:
- research_brief (text)
- key_contacts (JSON)
- tech_stack (list)
- news_summary (text)

Push to Salesforce:

Account.Research_Brief__c = research_brief
Account.Key_Contacts__c = key_contacts
Account.Tech_Stack__c = tech_stack
Account.Last_Researched__c = TODAY()

Pattern 5: Continuous Data Hygiene

Concept

Automatically detect and flag records needing attention.

Weekly scan of CRM
        ↓
  Clay checks:
  - Email validity
  - Job changes
  - Company changes
        ↓
  Flag records with issues
        ↓
  Create tasks in CRM for review

Implementation

Clay Table:

Source: Salesforce Contacts (all or segment)

Validation Columns:

1. Email Verification (NeverBounce/ZeroBounce)
   → Returns: valid, invalid, catch-all, unknown

2. Job Title Check (Apollo/LinkedIn)
   → Compare current vs CRM title
   → Flag if different

3. Company Check (Clearbit)
   → Is person still at this company?
   → Flag if company changed

4. Phone Verification (if available)
   → Is number still connected?

Output Columns:
- needs_review (boolean)
- review_reason (text)
- suggested_updates (JSON)

Push Back to Salesforce:

If needs_review = true:
  1. Set Contact.Data_Status__c = "Needs Review"
  2. Create Task:
     Subject: "Data review needed: {review_reason}"
     Due Date: +7 days
     Assigned: Contact Owner

If email = invalid:
  1. Set Contact.Email_Status__c = "Invalid"
  2. Add to "Invalid Emails" list

Pattern 6: Intent-Based Enrichment

Concept

When intent signals are detected, immediately enrich the account.

Intent signal detected (Bombora, G2, etc.)
              ↓
    Account identified
              ↓
    Clay enriches contacts at account
              ↓
    Contacts pushed to CRM
              ↓
    Sales alerted

Implementation

Step 1: Intent Source

Connect intent provider to Clay:

Bombora intent feed
G2 buyer intent
LinkedIn engagement
Website visitor identification

Step 2: Clay Workflow

Trigger: New intent signal received

Input:
- company_domain
- intent_topics
- intent_score

Enrichments:
1. Find buying committee (Apollo)
   Titles: VP Sales, CRO, Sales Ops Director, CFO

2. Enrich each contact
   → Email, phone, LinkedIn

3. Score relevance
   → Based on title match to your ICP

Output:
- Contacts with full profiles
- Account summary
- Intent context

Step 3: Push to CRM

For each contact:
1. Create or update in Salesforce
2. Associate to Account
3. Set Intent_Source__c = "Bombora"
4. Set Intent_Topics__c = topics
5. Set Intent_Score__c = score

For Account:
1. Update Intent_Status__c = "Active"
2. Create Task: "High intent detected"

Error Handling

Webhook Failures

Clay Webhook Error Handling:

1. Implement retry logic
   - 3 retries with exponential backoff
   - Log all failures

2. Dead letter queue
   - Store failed records
   - Manual review process

3. Alerts
   - Notify ops team on X failures
   - Daily failure summary

Sync Conflicts

When CRM and Clay have different data:

Option 1: CRM wins (conservative)
- Never overwrite manually-entered data
- Only fill empty fields

Option 2: Clay wins (aggressive)
- Assume enriched data is more current
- Overwrite stale fields

Option 3: Timestamp-based
- Compare last modified dates
- Keep most recent value

Recommendation: Use a "confidence" field
- High confidence Clay data overwrites
- Low confidence only fills blanks

Rate Limits

Salesforce: 100,000 API calls/24 hours (varies by edition)
HubSpot: 100 requests/10 seconds (varies by tier)

Mitigation:
- Batch updates (up to 200 records per call)
- Schedule during off-hours
- Monitor usage dashboards
- Implement request throttling

Monitoring and Optimization

Key Metrics

Integration Health Dashboard:

Sync Success Rate:
  - Records sent to CRM: X
  - Successfully updated: Y
  - Failed: Z
  - Success rate: Y/X %

Enrichment Coverage:
  - Records processed: A
  - Records enriched: B
  - Coverage rate: B/A %

Data Quality Impact:
  - Completeness before: C%
  - Completeness after: D%
  - Improvement: D-C %

Cost Efficiency:
  - Clay credits used: E
  - Records enriched: F
  - Cost per enrichment: $/F

Optimization Tips

Filter aggressively — Don’t enrich records you don’t need
Use conditional enrichment — Skip if data already exists
Batch appropriately — Balance latency vs efficiency
Monitor coverage — Track which providers return data
A/B test workflows — Compare different enrichment orders

Clay 101 — Getting started with Clay
Waterfall Enrichment — Multi-source enrichment setup
Salesforce Duplicate Rules — Prevent enrichment duplicates
HubSpot Duplicate Management — HubSpot deduplication
Modern Outbound Data Stack — Architecture overview

Integration Options

Native Integrations

Webhook-Based

Zapier/Make

Pattern 1: CRM-Triggered Enrichment

Concept

Salesforce Implementation

HubSpot Implementation

Pattern 2: Scheduled Bulk Enrichment

Concept

Implementation

HubSpot Version

Pattern 3: Lead Scoring Enrichment

Concept

Implementation

Pattern 4: Account Research Automation

Concept

Implementation

Pattern 5: Continuous Data Hygiene

Concept

Implementation

Pattern 6: Intent-Based Enrichment

Concept

Implementation

Error Handling

Webhook Failures

Sync Conflicts

Rate Limits

Monitoring and Optimization

Key Metrics

Optimization Tips

Related Guides