LeadOcean + Clay: personalize outreach messages using AI snippets

You get a Clay table where each row has a short, true opening line built from real role and career history. Clay's template stacks several of its own enrichments, then asks AI to write the snippet (Clay template, September 2026). This recipe feeds the AI from one LeadOcean call. The HTTP API column needs Clay Growth or higher (Clay pricing, September 2026).

An AI snippet is only as good as its input. Give it a past employer and a start date and it writes something specific. Give it a job title alone and it writes filler.

How it works

1. Get a free key. Sign up at app.leadocean.io/register. No card.
2. Add a LinkedIn URL column. Paste or import the profile URLs you want to reach.
3. Add the HTTP API column. POST to https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich with the URL as the identifier.
4. Return the fields the AI needs. Current role, past roles and education. Clay uses dot notation for field paths (Clay docs, September 2026).
5. Add an AI column. Click Add column, then Use AI. Describe the task in the Generate tab or write the prompt in the Configure tab, and pick a GPT, Claude or Gemini model (Clay docs, October 2026). Ask for one sentence under 25 words.
6. Merge the snippet into your email. Reference the AI column in the first line of your sequence.
7. Run five rows first. Read every snippet before you run the table.

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",
            "reveal_email": true
          }
Field paths to return:
          data.profile_data.profile_full_name
          data.contact_data.contact_current_experiences
          data.contact_data.email_status
          data.resume_data.experiences
          data.resume_data.educations

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","reveal_email":true}'

Send exactly one identifier. reveal_email costs no extra record. Career history has come back from person enrich since October 2026. Past employers have no company_id yet.

Use a prompt that keeps the AI honest. The /... names are your Clay columns.

Write one sentence, under 25 words, that opens a cold email to /First Name.
Use only these facts: current role /Current Role, past roles /Past Roles,
education /Education. If the facts are thin, write nothing.

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. A hit counts one record. A miss is a 404 and costs nothing (LeadOcean docs, October 2026). Solo covers 10k enrichments every 5 hours, so one run fits.

Clay Growth is $495 a month billed monthly, or $446 billed yearly. The HTTP API column uses one Action per call, and Growth includes 40,000 Actions and 6,000 Data Credits a month (Clay pricing, September 2026). The AI column adds one Action per row plus Data Credits set by the model (Clay docs, October 2026). GPT-5 Mini costs 0.4 credit a row for content and GPT-4.1 costs 1 (Clay docs, October 2026). On GPT-5 Mini the run uses 20,000 Actions and 4,000 credits, inside entry Growth's 6,000 credits. Your own model key removes the credit cost but still uses the Action.

Troubleshooting

FAQ