LeadOcean + Clay: score prospects on work history and tailor the message

You get a Clay table where each LinkedIn URL returns past roles, schools, certifications and awards from one LeadOcean call. You then score each person on that history and pick the opening line to match. Career history has been part of person enrich since October 2026 (LeadOcean docs, October 2026).

Clay's own template scores people with its research agent and a Gemini model (Clay template, October 2026). This recipe replaces the research step with structured data. The scoring rules are yours, and they are plain columns you can read.

How it works

1. Add your LinkedIn URLs. Create a text column named LinkedIn URL, one profile URL per row.
2. Add an HTTP API column. Method POST, URL https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich.
3. Send the URL. The body is { "linkedin_url": "/LinkedIn URL" }, where the slash reference points at your column (Clay docs, September 2026). Put your key in the x-api-key header.
4. Return the history. Set the field paths to data.resume_data and data.contact_data.contact_current_experiences.
5. Score it. Add formula columns for the signals you care about: years in the last role, a past employer on your target list, a certification, a recent job change. Sum them into one score.
6. Pick the angle. Add a column that picks the opening line by the top signal. A past employer in your customer's industry gets an industry line. A certification gets a skills line.
7. Skip finished rows with an "Only run if" formula, then test on five rows before the full run (Clay docs, September 2026).

Configuration

The column setup in Clay:

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.resume_data
          data.contact_data.contact_current_experiences

Test the same call from a terminal with a placeholder profile.

curl -s -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. It defaults to false, and scoring does not need an address. Turn it on later for the people who pass the score.

Field mapping

Cost at 10,000 rows

10,000 LinkedIn URLs cost LeadOcean up to 10,000 records. There is no per-record price on a paid plan.

LeadOcean. A person found is one record. A person LeadOcean holds nothing for is a 404 and costs nothing (LeadOcean docs, October 2026). Free holds 1,000 records for life, enough to test a tenth of the list. Solo is $97 a month with a fair-use pace of 10k enrichments every 5 hours. Agency is $497 a month (LeadOcean pricing).

Clay. Each HTTP API call uses one Action, so 10,000 rows use 10,000 Actions. Growth includes 40,000 Actions a month and costs $495 a month billed monthly, or $446 billed yearly (Clay pricing, September 2026). The HTTP API column needs Growth or higher. Formula columns used for scoring cost no Actions and no Data Credits (Clay docs, October 2026). An AI column instead would add one Action per row plus model credits.

Troubleshooting

FAQ