Stage-by-stage guide

The full operational workflow for running an AI Outreach campaign — from lead selection in Salesforce through enrichment and sending in Clay and Smartlead, all the way to reply handling and data writeback. This page replaces tribal knowledge and is the single source of truth for teams, auditors, and security reviews.

High Level Flow

The campaign lifecycle runs in two directions — outbound (steps 1–4) and inbound/writeback (steps 5–7). Every step is connected through the native Clay ↔ Salesforce connector, eliminating manual CSV transfers.

Stage 1 — Campaign brief and audience setup

MARCOM Ops creates or updates a Campaign with AI_Outreach__c = TRUE. Campaign Members are added using a list view or report filtered by Cold_Lead_Eligible__c = TRUE. All eligibility criteria must be validated before proceeding.

1. Navigate to Campaigns in Salesforce and click New or open an existing Campaign.
2. Set the field AI_Outreach__c to TRUE on the Campaign record.
3. Open the Campaign Members related list and click Add Members — Search.
4. Select the list view or report filtered by Cold_Lead_Eligible__c = TRUE. Or add members by other means. 
5. Save the Campaign record. It is now ready for export.

Marking as an AI Outreach Campaign

Adding Campaign Members

Cold Lead Report.mp4

Using the Cold Lead Report

Stage 2 — Export Campaign Members to Clay

Once the audience is selected, records move into Clay. Clay is used to import the campaign data, check record quality, enrich missing fields, standardise company and contact information, classify the record into the correct segment or vertical, and prepare each row for messaging and downstream write-back.

Use only the approved 'SFDC Campaign Member Export for Clay Import' report. This report always includes CampaignMemberId and LeadId as stable mapping keys — critical to avoid writeback mismatches.

1. Go to Reports in Salesforce and search for SFDC Campaign Member Export for Clay Import.
2. Open the report and apply the Campaign Name filter to scope it to your current campaign.
3. Confirm the report includes CampaignMemberId and LeadId columns — do not export if either is missing.
4. Save the report.
5. Go to Clay, open the table, click Import from SalesForce Report.
6. Choose the correct credentials for the instance you are using (iCare or Core).
7. Select the report and hit Submit. 
8. Verify row count in Clay matches Campaign Member count in Salesforce before proceeding.

Importing Records to Clay

Import Records in Clay.mp4
Video Recording - Importing Records to Clay

Stage 3 — Data QA, enrichment, and segmentation in Clay - DEMAND7 MARCOM TO HELP DETAIL

Clay runs enrichment against the imported lead list — adding Company Description, Industry signals, and other approved fields. Enrichment outputs are staged for writeback. MARCOM must confirm enrichment quality before proceeding.

• Typical pre-checks: missing names, missing company, generic inboxes, duplicates, invalid formats, and records that should be excluded rather than enriched.
• Typical enrichment outputs: company description, industry, role or title information, geography, segmentation flags, and campaign logic fields.
• Typical business outcome: records become more usable for personalisation, routing, and reporting.

After Clay enrichment is complete, the following Salesforce fields are eligible for writeback. Only these approved fields should be updated, no other Lead or Campaign Member fields should be modified during this stag

Stage 4 — Messaging preparation and launch readiness DEMAND7 MARCOM TO HELP DETAIL

After the data is ready, the campaign message can be prepared. The AI layer uses approved prompts and business inputs to create personalised messages. Human review is essential before launch. This check should confirm the tone, relevance, factual accuracy, and whether the message feels appropriate for the target audience. Checks

• Tone of voice, clarity, brand fit, product references, and whether the CTA is suitable.
• Field population, prompt behaviour, message completeness, sender routing, and launch settings.
• What should be ready before sending: warmed sending infrastructure, throttle rules, time-zone settings, stop rules for replies and bounces, and final business sign-off.

Stage 5 — Launch outreach via Smartlead (DEMAND7 MARCOM TO DETAIL)

Campaigns should run in controlled waves, not as a single uncontrolled push. During launch, the team monitors send progress, opens, bounces, unsubscribes, early replies, and any signs of deliverability issues. A record that replies, unsubscribes, or hard-bounces should not continue through the sequence.

1. In Clay, open the Smartlead sync action column and confirm the target Smartlead campaign is mapped correctly.
2. Click Push to Smartlead — Clay will transfer the enriched audience to the Smartlead campaign.
3. In Smartlead, open the campaign and navigate to Leads — verify the imported count matches Clay's export count.
4. Open Sequences and confirm the correct approved template is attached. Do not use unapproved or experimental templates.
5. Check sender identity: confirm the sending profile uses either a virtual agent disclosure or an approved real-person sender name per the AI identity guidelines.
6. Review sending schedule and daily volume limits — refer to the infrastructure blueprint for limits per GBU.
7. Click Launch to activate the campaign. Monitor the first 30 minutes for bounce or error spikes.

Stage 6 — Reply handling, triage, and Salesforce write-back DEMAND7 MARCOM TO DETAIL HOW THE WRITE BACK AUTOMATION WILL WORK, ADHOC, SCHEDULED?)

Purpose:

This is the stage where outbound campaign activity becomes actionable. Once emails are live, replies and delivery signals need to be reviewed, classified, and written back into Salesforce so that the right follow-up can happen quickly and reporting stays accurate.

At a minimum, the process should distinguish:

How the process works

• Inbound replies are captured in Smartlead Master Inbox
• Replies are classified in Clay
• Core reply outcomes are written back to Salesforce Campaign Member
• Bounce and unsubscribe outcomes are written back to Salesforce Lead

Write-back logic

1. Reply write-back

Reply outcomes should update the Campaign Member record:

• Status = Responded
  Reply Classification: the  captured value (Positive, Neutral, etc. 

And Lead record:

• SLV36_Pardot_Question_Asked__c = Email reply content

Business rule:
The Campaign Member field Has Replied is set to TRUE automatically on first response and is set-once.

2. Bounce and unsubscribe write-back

Bounce and unsubscribe outcomes should update the Lead record through a dedicated Clay tab.

That tab should contain:

• Lead ID
• Campaign Member ID
• other identifier fields as needed
• update type = Hardbounce or Unsbuscribed. 
• clay_external_hard_bounce__c = TRUE or FALSE
• HasOptedOutOfEmail = TRUE or FALSE

This allows Clay to update the correct Lead with the correct status.

Proposed operating model

To be confirmed with Demand7 and Marcom: The team still needs to define whether this write-back will run:

• ad hoc
• scheduled
• or fully automated

Monitoring and control

Even if the core flow is automated, the team should still monitor it during active campaigns:

• Review Smartlead Master Inbox daily
  Spot-check reply classification in Clay
  Correct any misclassified reply before the next sync
  Monitor hard bounce and unsubscribe updates

Salesforce fields in scope

Open point

Demand7 and Marcom to define the final write-back automation approach and sync cadence.

Stage 7 — Sales follow-up, reporting, and continuous improvement

The value of the campaign depends on what happens next. Positive replies should move into a follow-up process with a clear owner and an agreed response time. Reporting should then show both performance and trust signals, not just volume.

• Sales follow-up expectation: interested replies should be contacted quickly, ideally within 1 to 2 business days.
• Reporting view: campaign volume, reply rate, positive replies, unsubscribes, bounce rate, opportunity pipeline. 
• Improvement loop: after each wave, review what worked, what needs tightening, and what should change before the next launch.

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