Issues with Sourcing Contacts in Workbook: Troubleshooting Guidance

Frane R. · 2025-02-04 16:20:20.509889+00

Hi team, we're trying to source contacts using a workbook. We import a CSV (500 rows) list of companies (linked-in URLs) into a table and add an enrichment "Find companies" columns which writes it's results into another table. This all seems to work except when it doesn't. What happens is that a lot of companies from the list have no contacts found, even though the enrichment column finished properly without errors (an retrying doesn't help). The strange part is that if we create another workbook and repeat the steps with some of the "no contacts" companies, then the contacts show up. Is there something we should be aware of, some kind of limitation preventing this from working sporadically?

Issues with Sourcing Contacts in Workbook: Troubleshooting Guidance | Clay

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This behavior could be happening due to a few key factors: 1. Search Parameters Precision: The initial search parameters may not be optimized for your specific companies. Our Find Companies dataset combines multiple providers and requires precise search parameters for optimal results. 2. Iteration Requirements: The first set of search parameters is rarely perfect. When you create a new workbook and it works, it's likely because you're starting fresh with slightly different parameters that better match those specific companies. 3. Provider Specialization: Different data providers excel at enriching specific types of companies based on region, industry, or other factors. When you retry in a new workbook, you might be hitting different providers that are better suited for those particular companies.To improve results, try: ** Reviewing and adjusting your search filters ** Removing any overly restrictive limits ** Previewing company profiles to ensure alignment ** Iterating on your search parameters until you get optimal results Sources: Flexibly run any workflows based on conditional logic | Clay Find Companies [Clay 101] - Clay University
Frane R.
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We are using the "Find contacts" sourcing, not "Find companies". Secondly, there are no filters, and the only difference between the two runs in the number of rows in the "companies" table.
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This behavior can occur due to how our data providers and enrichment process works: 1. Different data providers specialize in different types of companies based on region, industry, or other factors. When you retry in a new workbook, you might be accessing different providers that are better suited for those particular companies. 2. Our enrichment process involves multiple steps: • Pulling existing social information • Enriching social information • Using AI search when needed • Compiling found information 3. To maximize your data coverage, we use waterfall enrichment which searches sequentially across multiple providers until finding valid matches. This approach typically helps triple data coverage and quality.To get better results, you may want to try breaking your list into smaller batches and running the enrichment in separate tables to leverage different provider combinations. Sources: Flexibly run any workflows based on conditional logic | Clay Clay Waterfall: maximize your coverage of contact info | Clay.com Keeping your CRM Up to Date With Clay [CRM Enrichment] - Clay University
Frane R.
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We are using the "Find People from companies)" enrichment, I don't think this is using any external providers. But regardless, it shouldn't matter since running the same process should produce the same results? The number of rows in the table shouldn't affect anything?
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The "Find People from companies" enrichment should produce consistent results when searching with the same parameters. However, there are a few important points to understand: 1. The search accuracy heavily depends on having the correct setup: • Make sure your companies table is properly linked • Ensure you're using the right data field (preferably company social URLs over domains) for better and more accurate results 2. When you run a new search or edit an existing one: • The results will be added as new rows to your current table • Previous results won't be changed or updated • You'll need to manually delete old data if you want to start freshFor best results: ** Use company social URLs when possible for richer information ** Preview your search before importing * Make sure you have the right table and data field linked before starting the search Sources: Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University Find People [Clay 101] - Clay University
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Looks like you're still looking for help. If you’re dealing with a specific table, drop the URL below so we can help you quicker. Otherwise, someone from our team will be in touch soon!
Frane R.
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Example of the large workbook which is missing contacts for some companies. https://app.clay.com/workspaces/310531/workbooks/wb_zBYhbZhoxRMJ/tables/t_NB3ogcW5FZwz/views/gv_HNRo8XPrYekh Example of the small workbook with two companies which have missing contacts in the large one, but have contacts found here. https://app.clay.com/workspaces/310531/workbooks/wb_AwneCcRbQZbU/tables/t_WoHokzqHVm2P/views/gv_mAZnRKhm8mea
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Is that what you were looking for?
Bo (.
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Hey Frane, I'm curious if you've made any changes to that table since you first ran the enrichment. When I checked, I couldn't find results for regmedxb.com in either the companies or people tables see here and after refreshing the search here, the table jumped from 7k to around 12k people. Let me know if anything changed on your end or if you need more help!
Frane R.
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Hey Bo, there weren't any changes to either of the tables. I just import a CSV and ran the "People Search (Find People from Custom Table)" step to find contacts. This table does have results for regmexb.com. Note that we're only interested in finding these contacts from the company table ("Custom Table"), we don't need any additional enrichment there (I see you added two columns). We only wish to call an HTTP API for the found contacts (as we do in the other workbook). Is there a reason why the only one of the two workbooks can find the 14 people for regmexb.com and the other cannot, but both have the same "Find People (People Search)" step (on the company table)?
Frane R.
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OK, I think I found the issue, if you specify a Limit per company it seems to for some reason to also filter out some companies entirely. If I remove it, I get 18k+ results for the full company list here. To me this looks like some sort of bug in Clay.
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Daniela D.
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Hey Frane! Thanks for reaching out. Happy to help✨. We'll run some tests to troubleshoot this and get back with an update.
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Daniela D.
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Hey Frane! QQ: Did you have job titles applied to the original search (prior to removing the limit per company filter)? We'd like to test with the exact search parameters used, to replicate this properly.

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