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.

3.1 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.

📋 Note: The diagram below shows the full flow. Import this page into Confluence, then insert the Campaign Lifecycle Diagram (separate HTML snippet) into an HTML macro directly below this paragraph.

Stage A — 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


Using the Cold Lead Report

Stage B — 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


Video Recording - Importing Records to Clay


Stage C — 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.


Stage D — 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


  • Audience approved and suppressed correctly
  • Message approved 
  • Sending setup validated
  • Reply routing and follow-up owner agreed
  • CRM write-back fields understood

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

This is where campaign activity becomes actionable. Replies must be classified and routed quickly. At a minimum, the process should distinguish positive replies, neutral replies, negative replies, unsubscribes, out-of-office responses, and hard bounces. The classification then drives the next action.


Signal

Typical meaning

Main action

Write-back target

POSITIVE

Interested, asks for a call, asks for material

Route quickly to Sales or the agreed owner

Campaign Member 

NEUTRAL

Acknowledgement, low intent, needs review

Review and decide next action

Campaign Member

NEGATIVE

Does not want contact

Stop outreach and mark appropriately

Campaign Member

OOO

No immediate reply, but may contain useful info

Review for new contact or follow-up timing

Campaign Member

Unsubscribe

Not interested in email communications

Update Lead to Unsubscribed

Lead Note

3.2.5 💬 Capture replies in Clay / Smartlead  (DEMAND7 MARCOM TO DETAIL HOW THE WRITE BACK AUTOMATION WILL WORK, ADHOC, SCHEDULED?)

Inbound replies are captured in Smartlead's Master Inbox. Clay classifies each reply as Positive, Neutral, or Negative. Has_Replied__c is set to TRUE on first response (set-once — cannot be reset). Hard bounces are flagged and queued for sync.

  1. This step is automated — no manual action is required for the core flow.
  2. Monitor Smartlead Master Inbox daily during an active campaign to spot misclassified replies.
  3. To review classification: in Clay, filter ReplyClassification__c by value (Positive / Neutral / Negative) and spot-check 10–15 records per day.
  4. If a reply is misclassified, update ReplyClassification__c manually in Clay — the corrected value will sync to Salesforce on the next connector run.
  5. Do not attempt to reset Has_Replied__c to FALSE — this field uses set-once logic and changes will be rejected by the connector validation.
  6. Hard bounces are automatically flagged as external_hard_bounced__c and queued for Salesforce writeback — no manual action needed.

3.2.6  🔄 Write back to Salesforce via connector

 The native Clay → Salesforce connector automatically pushes reply data (Has_Replied__c, ReplyClassification__c) and enrichment fields to Campaign Members and Leads. Hard bounce status is also written back. No manual CSV involved. CRM Admin monitors the connector for errors — see the Integration page for the full runbook. KLN-5 · Owner: CRM Admin · Automated · near real-time

3.2.7  🤝 Sales follow-up on positive replies and overall monitoring. 

Positive replies surface in the SFDC Sales Visibility dashboard. Sales reps are notified and must follow up within the agreed SLA. MARCOM monitors the Funnel dashboard (Replies, Positive Replies, Converted Leads).