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How Audiences Works: Import, Enrich, Action, Export
This lesson covers how Audiences works: the four-step framework that powers every use case. Every Audiences use case follows these four steps: Import, Enrich, Action, Export.
📥 Step One: Import
Import brings your records into Audiences. You choose which records to work with and what data to pull.
You can import from Salesforce, Snowflake, CSV, Clay Table, or CPJ (Clay's people and company database). Most revenue teams start with Salesforce.
You'll map your fields (which CRM fields Clay can access). In our example, we map contact score, account type, and other fields we'll need.
Rule of thumb: if you might want to filter by it or add to it, map it now. You can't grab it later without reconfiguring.
🔍 Step Two: Enrich
Enrichment adds data to your records in two ways:
Bulk enrichment runs across a segment and writes results as new fields. For example, enriching contacts with verified work email, direct phone number, and LinkedIn profile. This runs on demand or schedule.
Signals monitor segments for real-time events like job changes, funding rounds, or hiring activity. When a signal fires, Clay writes that data as a field on the record. Signals run continuously.
⚡ Step Three: Action
Action connects to your go-to-market motion through native Clay actions (like Clay's sequencer or ad platforms) or third-party actions (pushing records to Outreach, Salesloft, or other tools).
Configure once, and any new record entering the segment has the action applied automatically.
📤 Step Four: Export
Export writes enriched data back to your source system, for example, back to Salesforce. All enrichment work gets written to corresponding Salesforce Contact fields.
Overwrite rules let you decide how Clay handles writes per field: always write, never write, or fill blank fields only. You'll configure these settings during import when you map fields in Step 1.
🔄 This Is a Continuous Loop, NOT a One-Time Workflow
New records flow through all four steps: imported based on inclusion criteria, enriched with configured data, actioned if they qualify for segments, and exported back to your CRM.
The result is a self-maintaining data layer. Your CRM stays current, segments stay fresh, outbound keeps running, and your team doesn't manage the plumbing.
In upcoming lessons, we'll dive into each step so you can configure them for your use cases
