LeadOcean + Clay: personalize outbound around a prospect's main challenge

You get a Clay table where each prospect row carries a one-line opener built around the challenge their role and company size usually bring. Clay's template (Clay templates, October 2026) uses Claygent prompts to research each prospect. This recipe feeds the AI column structured facts from LeadOcean instead. The HTTP API column needs Clay Growth or higher (Clay pricing, September 2026).

LeadOcean does not browse the web. It returns what it holds: current title, seniority, job function, company industry and headcount. The challenge is the AI column's inference from those facts, so review a sample before you send.

How it works

The trigger is a new row. The LeadOcean call is one enrich request. The result lands in an AI column, then in your sender of choice.

1. Get a free key. Sign up at app.leadocean.io/register. No card, 1,000 records.
2. Load prospects. Import a table with one LinkedIn URL column.
3. Add the HTTP API column. POST to /v1/people/enrich with the URL.
4. Add a Use AI column. Pass title, seniority, function, industry and headcount into the prompt. Ask for one sentence on the challenge, no flattery.
5. Run five rows. Read the openers, tighten the prompt, then run the table.
6. Send the openers. Push the column to your sequencer or CRM. Both sit outside LeadOcean.

Configuration

/LinkedIn URL is Clay's column reference.

Method:   POST
URL:      https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich
Headers:  x-api-key: <your LeadOcean key>
          content-type: application/json
Body:     { "linkedin_url": "/LinkedIn URL" }
Field paths to return:
          data.profile_data.profile_full_name
          data.contact_data.contact_current_experiences
          data.contact_data.has_email
          data.resume_data.experiences

Test the same request in a terminal first.

curl -X POST "https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich" \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe"}'

Leave reveal_email off. You only need the profile facts here, and an email can come from a second column later.

Field mapping

Cost at 10,000 rows

LeadOcean is $0 for the first 1,000 records, then $97 a month on Solo or $497 on Agency for all 10,000. Clay adds its own plan and AI costs.

A hit counts one record and a miss is a 404 that costs nothing (LeadOcean docs, October 2026). Solo covers 10k enrichments every 5 hours, so one run fits. There is no per-record price.

Clay Growth is $495 a month billed monthly, or $446 billed yearly, with 40,000 Actions a month. An HTTP API call uses one Action (Clay pricing, September 2026). The AI column adds one Action per row plus Data Credits set by the model (Clay docs, October 2026). On GPT-5 Mini that is 0.4 credit a row, 4,000 for the run (Clay docs, October 2026). 20,000 Actions and 4,000 credits fit the entry Growth tier and its 6,000 credits (Clay pricing, September 2026).

Troubleshooting

FAQ