Smartlead integration overview

Integration Overview

With SmartLead within Clay, you can export your data to run personalized email campaigns, send cold emails, and automate follow ups. In this guide we’ll go over:

• Setting up SmartLead and Clay
• Pushing SmartLead data to campaigns
• Updating contacts with SmartLead

Requirements for Setting up SmartLead <> Clay

You will need two prepare two steps in advance to set up SmartLead and Clay integration

Requirement #1: Add your SmartLead API key to Clay

You will first need to obtain the SmartLead API key, which you can copy from your SmartLead settings: app.smartlead.ai/app/settings/profile.

Then, upload your key to create a SmartLead.ai account within your SmartLead enrichment panel.

Requirement #2: Have an existing campaign you are adding leads to

To use Clay, ensure you already have a campaign set up in SmartLead.

Every SmartLead integration action must have an existing campaign. If you want to create a new campaign within Clay, check out the following guide on Creating a SmartLead Campaign within Clay.

Pushing data to SmartLead

Within Clay, you can push your data to SmartLead in two ways

• Send a new enriched lead to campaign
• Update and enrich an existing lead in campaign

Add new enriched lead to campaign

To add a new lead to your existing campaign, you just need to run the Add Lead to Campaign integration. Here’s a step by step guide on how to use this integration.

Step 1: Select your SmartLead account

Select the SmartLead account to send emails from. If you have not already integrated Smartlead with Clay, please enter your API key when creating an account.

Step 2: Specify campaign to push leads to

Make sure you have an existing campaign you are pushing leads to. If you do not have a campaign set up, see Setting up SmartLead <> Clay

Step 3: Input Lead Email and update default fields

Input the email of your lead.

Optionally, input any fields you want to update for your contact.

Step 4 (Important): Input custom fields

You can push custom fields into SmartLead. This will be created as a new Custom Field Name and Custom Field Value Pair.

This can include personalized lines or custom snippets that don’t fit the standard fields.

Step 5: Configure run settings

Specify Auto-update and Conditional run statements.

If you are running trigger campaigns please make sure to turn Auto-update on.

Update existing leads with SmartLead Campaigns

You can also update existing leads within a SmartLead campaign. To do so, you will need to:

• Lookup lead in campaign
• Update lead in campaign

Step 1: Select the Lookup Lead in Campaign integration

You will need this integration to obtain the Lead ID of your contacts.

This will help you select the right lead when you are updating leads within SmartLead.

Step 2: Enter the email address of lookup contact

Within the Lookup Lead in Campaign enrichment, specify the contact’s email you want to lookup within SmartLead.

Step 3: Run the Lookup Lead in Campaign enrichment

Once you run the lookup, you are able to extract the Contact ID, which you will be using to lookup the contact you are updating.

Step 4: Select the Update Lead in Campaign action

Now, you’ll need to find the Campaign to update the lead

Step 5: Specify the Campaign ID and Lead ID of your updated lead

The Campaign ID will be the campaign which you will be updating leads in.

The Lead ID is the unique identifier for any lead. This is where you will reference the ID of the lead you looked up in Step 3.

Step 6: Input Lead Email and update default fields

Input the email of your lead.

Optionally, input any fields you want to update for your contact.

Step 7 (Important): Input custom fields

You can push custom fields into SmartLead. This will be created as a new Custom Field Name and Custom Field Value Pair.

This can include personalized lines or custom snippets that don’t fit the standard fields.

Step 8: Configure run settings

Specify Auto-update and Conditional run statements.

If you are running trigger campaigns please make sure to turn Auto-update on.

FAQ

How do I make sure I’m not contacting a person more than once?

To ensure you’re not contacting a person duplicate:

• Use SmartLead’s Duplicate Check
  • In your SmartLead account, enable the Allow Duplicate Leads Across Campaigns setting if you want to manage duplicates manually.
  • If duplicates are disabled, SmartLead will automatically prevent adding the same lead to multiple campaigns.
• Use the Lookup Action in Clay
  • Add a Lookup action in your table to check if a lead already exists in your SmartLead campaign.
  • Create a column that flags duplicates by matching key fields (e.g., email, domain, or contact ID).
• Set Up Conditional Runs
  • Use conditional formulas in Clay to prevent the “Add Lead to Campaign” integration from running if the person already exists in a campaign.
• Exclude DNC contacts
  • Use the Lookup action in Clay to identify contacts in the DNC list. Leads that fall into this category will show a block count of 1 in the table.

Why Aren’t My SmartLead Leads Being Added?

Here are a few common reasons why your SmartLead leads might not be added:

1. Duplicate Leads Not Allowed: If “Allow Duplicates” is turned off, duplicate leads won’t be updated or added.
2. Blocked Leads: Leads that are already blocked in your account won’t be processed.
3. Lead Limit Reached: If you’ve hit your account’s lead limit, no new leads can be added until limits are increased or adjusted.