6 Best Clay Agencies to Fuel Your Lead Generation

April 25, 2025

Let’s get one thing straight: Clay might be the best thing to happen to lead generation since sliced bread. But let’s not kid ourselves—it still:

Has a brutal learning curve
Lags behind in CRM features and pipeline organization
Costs a fortune if you don’t know how to use it right

So yeah, I don’t blame you if you’d rather save the headache and bring in a pro. The problem? The space is flooded with self-proclaimed “Clay experts” who’ll burn your time, budget, and patience.

That’s why we put together this list of the best Clay agencies in the game—who to trust, why they’re worth your attention, and how to avoid getting burned.

Note: If you’re looking for a partner that fills your calendar with sales-qualified meetings backed with a guarantee, SocialBloom is here to help. We’ll handle everything from end to end and you’ll only be notified when there’s a meeting. Book a consultation now.

SocialBloom: The Best Clay Agency If You’re Looking For End-to-End Guarantee-Based Lead Generation

First off, we’re not just another “Clay agency.” We don’t just build lists and bounce.

We’re an end-to-end revenue-generating machine.

If you’re just looking for someone to press buttons in Clay, we’re probably not your people.

But if you want a team that:

Knows how to use Clay to build hyper-targeted lists
Writes messaging that actually resonates with your audience
Sends emails that land in the inbox and get real replies
Turns replies into booked meetings on your calendar

…then you’re in the right place.

We don’t start with Clay. We make sure the basics are laid out before anything else.

Ask 10 agencies what their “superpower” is, and 9 of them will say “Clay and AI.” That’s exactly why most of them don’t deliver.

Here’s the issue: if every agency is running the same Clay + AI playbook, your prospects are reading the same tired messaging—and tuning out.

At SocialBloom, we don’t fall for the hype. We start with fundamentals. Sales 101: “You can’t sell if you don’t know who you’re selling to, what you’re selling, and why they should buy.”

Yeah, I just made that up. But it’s true—and it’s how we win.

We always start by answering:

What exactly are you selling?
No, “IT solutions” isn’t good enough. We dig until we understand the real value—whether that’s helping your customer launch faster, grow revenue, or hit KPIs.
Why should anyone buy your offer and not your competitor’s?
What’s different about your process, your method, your results?
Who is your ICP, really?
Who are they, what’s keeping them up at night, and how do we make your product the cure for that 3 a.m. anxiety?
What’s the irresistible offer?
If your offer sucks, your campaign flops. We help you build something people can’t ignore.

We never launch a campaign without clearing those things out the way. To us, when you fail to narrow on these basics, you have 95% chances of screwing your campaigns.

Only then do we move to the second most fundamental part of a lead generation campaign. Warming up the inboxes and setting them up for success.

A warm up isn’t just about “hitting warm up” on Instantly or Smartlead and calling it quits. Usually, that’s half of the deal.

At SocialBloom, we keep our eyes on daily sending limits and inbox configuration.

Here are questions we try to answer in that sense:

Is the sending limit per email address within the threshold that keeps the deliverability high and healthy?
Is the email address configuration done in a way that makes our client come across as professional and legit?
Is the configuration sending email as HTML or plain text?
Are we observing a 100% inbox health across the board?

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How do we use Clay for hyper targeting and to ensure results?

Clay is a very great tool for those who know how to use it. And unfortunately far too many people use Clay the wrong way, either because they do not know how to use it or use it for the wrong reasons.

Here is one big mistake we’re seeing other agencies make: Using Clay for end to end list building. Yes, Clay says they can do that, they even have a waterfall that helps with this. But that’s not really a Clay use case at all. At least, that’s not where Clay thrives.

The way we use Clay at SocialBloom is slightly different. We have a team of expert list builders that build our list separately.

The reason we go that route is that by nature Clay isn’t a data aggregator. It uses other sources and acts like a ‘middleman’ that allows you to fetch data. If that’s the case, why not simply go to the source and build that list there.

That makes sure that we get the ICP 95% of the way there. It gives us control over the output we get in the initial list.

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Once that’s out of the way, we then move the list to Clay to enrich. Enrichment is where we found that Clay excels.

The enrichment type differs from project to project, but some examples include using AI to assess whether the prospect has projects going on that our client’s solution can assist with, or whether there's information we can use to make the email compelling.

The result?

Copy that’s always on point and punchy. So much so that clients can’t resist it.

Maybe it’s best if you read it for yourself.

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This email for instance is one we send for a client that sells to franchisors. As you can see, it reads so well that the prospect says “I like your attitude” and “You’re right.”

If that’s not a declaration of love, I don’t know what that is.

Here’s another one.

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This email is from a campaign targeting companies that would use help streamlining their day-to-day with AI.

This prospect is ‘intrigued’ by our copy and lays out their expectation while expressing their willingness to hop on a call.

In a world where the only response most cold emails receive is “No, thank you.,” this type of response is to celebrate.

Now, I know you’re saying, “But Caleb, you just screengrabbed your best responses. That’s too easy.”

Well, no. Because we have set the bar high, we also know exactly what needle to move to make a campaign perform well. As you can see from the following campaign dashboard, we have a healthy response rate in the 3% to 4%.

We also have a healthy ~30% response to booked meetings rate.

This is for a client offering marketing services to SMBs.

And the below is another campaign where the client is an IT provider targeting businesses in a specific industry.

That’s literally our daily and weekly routine. We consistently put meetings in our clients calendar on a week by week basis. For new clients, there’s of course a ramping period where we test different campaigns to get to what works, but once that is done, we book meetings weekly.

Some clients even get up to 5 meetings in one week. At a 20% meeting to close rate, for a service that sells at $50k minimum, you can do the math.

Still not decided to book that discovery session with us? Here are some more reasons you should consider SocialBloom

One thing all of our customers love about us is that we have high standards, so much so that we always guarantee what we’re going to deliver.

If we don’t, we’ll keep running your campaigns until you do. But obviously, we’ll make sure that we deliver on time because we’d literally be losing money for every extra campaign we’re running out of the scope of.

So, yes, we’re willing to lose money to show you how confident we are about our work.

Another reason you might want to work with us is our “service apres vente,” which is one of the best out there. We are very transparent in our communications with clients, and more importantly, we’re proactive.

We’re not the type that disappears when we collect client money.

And the last reason is one that many agencies would not have the courage to say. We probably have one of the best teams an agency can have, from our Clay team to the Campaign team.

Unlike many agencies that started off with “You can make money sending mass emails” Twitter advice from a guru, our team is full of folks who really know what they do and can easily reverse engineer good outbound strategies.

5 Other Clay Agencies You Can Consider For Your Clay Tasks

If you're exploring options beyond SocialBloom for your Clay needs, here are five agencies that bring unique strengths to the table. Each has its specialties, but it's essential to ensure their focus aligns with your specific goals.

1. ColdIQ

ColdIQ specializes in building and enriching lead lists using Clay, focusing on data-driven outbound strategies.

If you're seeking a comprehensive service that includes not just list building but also crafting personalized messaging and managing outreach campaigns, you might need to supplement ColdIQ's services with additional resources.

2. The Kiln

The Kiln offers services centered around CRM enrichment, lead scoring, and automated outbound processes using Clay.

Their emphasis on automation and CRM processes is excellent for scaling, but if you're looking for highly customized outreach strategies or niche market targeting, you might find their approach less tailored than desired.

3. Growth Engine X

Growth Engine X focuses on building targeted lead lists and enriching data using Clay, aiming to streamline the lead generation process.

While efficient in data handling, if your priority is developing unique messaging strategies or engaging content for outreach, you might need to look elsewhere for those creative services.

4. Enablement.ch

Enablement.ch provides services related to CRM enrichment and hygiene, ensuring your data remains clean and actionable.

Their strength lies in maintaining data integrity, which is crucial. However, if you're aiming for aggressive lead generation campaigns or rapid market penetration, their services might not cover the full spectrum of your needs.

5. Niklas Huetzen

Niklas offers personalized services focusing on data enrichment and lead sourcing through Clay.

As an individual expert, Niklas brings a personal touch to projects. However, for larger-scale campaigns requiring a team effort or rapid scaling, you might need additional support beyond what a solo consultant can provide.

Which Clay Agency Is The Best For Your Needs?

Each of the Clay experts listed above brings something unique to the table.

If you already have a dialed-in outbound strategy and just need help enriching lists or cleaning your CRM, you’ve got solid options.

But if you’re looking for actual results—not just fancy dashboards or “good inputs”—you need more than just a Clay operator.

You need strategy. Messaging. Offers that convert. Deliverability that doesn’t tank. And a team that owns the outcome, not just the task.

That’s what we do at SocialBloom.

We’re not here to play with Clay. We’re here to build outbound machines that book meetings and drive pipeline.

And we guarantee it.

If that sounds like what you’re after, let’s talk.