Learn and master Clay with Clay university

By following a handful of guidelines, you can avoid most common setup issues and get your Clay Ads integration running smoothly.

Before you start syncing:

1. ✅ Verify admin permissions on all platforms
2. ✅ Accept custom audience terms (Meta)
3. ✅ Check minimum audience sizes
4. ✅ Run email validation in Clay
5. ✅ Test with a small audience first
6. ✅ Document your account structure
7. ✅ Coordinate with your paid media team

🔧 General Setup Issues

"Can't connect ad account"

Problem: Integration won't connect to your ad platform.

Solutions:

• Verify you have admin permissions in the ad platform
• Check that your ad account is active and not suspended
• Try disconnecting and reconnecting the integration
• Clear your browser cache and try again
• Make sure you're using the correct account (not a personal account when you need a business account)

"Audience won't sync"

Problem: Your audience is created in Clay but won't sync to the ad platform.

Solutions:

• Meta: Make sure you've accepted custom audience terms in Meta Business Manager
• LinkedIn: Verify your audience meets the 300 contact minimum
• Google: Check that you have at least 1,000 contacts
• Verify you have required fields (email for all platforms)
• Check that the integration is still connected (re-authenticate if needed)

"Match rate is 0%"

Problem: Your audience synced but shows no matches.

Solutions:

• Wait for full match time:
  • LinkedIn: 6 hours
  • Meta: 2-3 hours
  • Google: 24-48 hours
• Verify email addresses are valid and formatted correctly
• Check that emails are personal or work emails, not generic emails (like info@, support@)
• Make sure data is properly formatted (no special characters, correct domains)

💼 LinkedIn-Specific Issues

"LinkedIn account not appearing"

Solutions:

• Verify you have Campaign Manager access (not just LinkedIn access)
• Check that you have admin or account manager role
• Try logging out of LinkedIn and reconnecting

"Match rate is lower than expected"

Solutions:

• LinkedIn works best with work emails (personal emails have lower match rates)
• Add job titles and company names to improve matching
• Check that your audience is within LinkedIn's professional user base
• Remember: LinkedIn recommends 30K+ contacts for best performance

"Can't create matched audience"

Solutions:

• Verify you have permissions to create audiences in Campaign Manager
• Check that you're using the correct ad account
• Make sure your LinkedIn account is not restricted

📘 Meta-Specific Issues

"Can't find custom audiences"

Problem: The custom audiences option doesn't appear in Meta Business Manager.

Solutions:

• Accept custom audience terms in Meta Business Manager first
• Make sure you have admin access to the business account
• Check that you're in the correct business account

"Audience is processing for too long"

Problem: Meta shows your audience as "processing" for hours.

Solutions:

• Meta typically processes in 2-3 hours, but can take up to 24 hours
• Check Meta Business Manager for any error messages
• Verify the audience size is reasonable (very large audiences take longer)

"Low match rates on Meta"

Solutions:

• Add location data (city, state, country) to significantly improve matching
• Include phone numbers if available
• Use both work and personal emails when possible
• Check that data formatting is correct (proper capitalization, no typos)

🎯 Google Ads-Specific Issues

"Customer list won't upload"

Problem: Google rejects your CSV upload.

Solutions:

• Make sure you downloaded the CSV from Clay (it's pre-formatted)
• Check that you have Customer Match permissions in Google Ads
• Verify your ad account is eligible for Customer Match (accounts need a good history and spend)
• Check that the file size is under Google's limit

"Audience is too small"

Problem: Google shows "audience too small to use."

Solutions:

• Google requires 1,000 contacts minimum
• Expand your targeting criteria
• Combine multiple segments
• Wait to launch until you have enough contacts

"Match rate is very low"

Solutions:

• Add phone numbers, names, and location data
• Check email formatting (lowercase, valid domains)
• Make sure emails are real user emails, not role-based emails
• Consider using multiple match keys (email + phone + name)

📊 Data Quality Issues

"Invalid email addresses"

Problem: Platform shows many invalid emails in your list.

Solutions:

• Use Clay's email validation enrichments before syncing
• Remove catch-all and role-based emails (info@, admin@, support@)
• Check for typos in domains
• Verify emails are properly formatted

"Low data completeness"

Problem: Many contacts are missing required or recommended fields.

Solutions:

• Run additional enrichments in Clay before syncing
• Use waterfall enrichments to maximize data completeness
• Filter out contacts with missing critical data
• Prioritize quality over quantity

🔐 Permission and Access Issues

"Don't have required permissions"

Solutions:

• LinkedIn: Need Campaign Manager admin or account manager role
• Meta: Need admin access to Business Manager
• Google: Need admin access and Customer Match eligibility
• Contact your ad platform administrator to grant proper permissions

"Integration disconnected"

Problem: Previously working integration stops syncing.

Solutions:

• Re-authenticate the integration in Clay
• Check if your ad platform password changed
• Verify your ad account is still active
• Check for any platform-specific security changes

💳 Credit and Billing Issues

"Not enough credits to sync"

Problem: Clay shows insufficient credits to create audience.

Solutions:

• Check your Clay credit balance
• Reduce audience size if needed
• Upgrade your Clay plan
• Contact Clay support about credit packages

🆘 Getting Additional Help

When to Contact Support

Contact Clay support if:

• You've tried all troubleshooting steps
• The issue persists after 24 hours
• You're seeing error messages you don't understand
• You need help with platform-specific permissions

What to Include

When reaching out for help, provide:

• Screenshot of the error
• Which platform you're trying to connect (LinkedIn, Meta, Google)
• Size of your audience
• What troubleshooting steps you've already tried

Platform-Specific Support

For platform-specific account issues, you may need to contact:

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn Marketing Support
• Meta: Meta Business Support
• Google: Google Ads Support