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Short answer
Make a view of your Clay table with only the columns you send (email, first name, company, your personal line), filter it to rows whose email validation is Valid, and download it with Export > Download CSV. Import the file into an Outreach2day campaign: the email column is required, and every other column becomes a variable named after its header, such as {{first_name}}. Plan one mailbox per about 180 new leads a month on a 3-step sequence.
Export the list from Clay
- Make an export view. Clay recommends duplicating the view as a CSV Export View and hiding the columns you don't need, keeping raw values only (university.clay.com)
- Filter the rows. Filter the view to the rows you will send, for example the validation status of the work email equals Valid (university.clay.com)
- Download the CSV. Open the Actions (or Tools) menu, choose Export and click Download CSV. Past files are listed under Available Exports (university.clay.com)
- The CSV contains exactly the columns of the table or view you export (university.clay.com)
- Tables hold up to 200 rows on the Free plan and 50,000 rows on Launch and Growth (university.clay.com)
- Clay counts exporting data out of Clay as actions; its pricing page does not publish the cost of one CSV download (clay.com)
Columns and how they map
Columns in the Clay export and what each one becomes in Outreach2day. Rename the headers before the import (or pick the field if the import asks you to map columns); a column you keep under its own name becomes a variable with that name.
| Clay column | In Outreach2day |
|---|---|
Work Email (or your email column) | email (required); rename the header to email to skip mapping |
First Name | first_name |
Last Name | last_name |
Company Name | company |
Job Title | job_title |
Your AI or formula columns (opener, pain point) | Custom variables, for example {{opener}} |
Validation status column | Filter on it in Clay, then hide it from the export view |
Clean the list before import
- Clay's verification statuses are Valid, Invalid, Catch-all, Unknown and Role-based; invalid emails should be removed, and the other non-valid statuses are less reliable (university.clay.com)
- In the Work Email waterfall, the Conservative validation strategy accepts only verified results and is the one Clay describes as best for cold outreach; Balanced also accepts catch-alls (university.clay.com)
- Turning on Require validation success in the waterfall keeps only explicitly valid emails (university.clay.com)
- Verify the list with an email verifier before import; Outreach2day does not verify addresses for you
- Drop invalid addresses, and drop catch-all and unknown ones when your bounce rate is already high
- Remove duplicates and anyone who asked not to be contacted, from every list you send
- Keep only the columns you use in the emails: email, names, company, title and one or two personal lines
Bounces hurt the mailboxes that send them. If a campaign starts bouncing, stop it and read why a cold email bounce rate gets too high; for the verification step itself, see how to pick an email verification program.
Import into an Outreach2day campaign
- Create a campaign. In Outreach2day open Campaigns and create a campaign. It stays a draft, and nothing is sent until you launch it
- Write the steps. Add the emails of the sequence. Use the columns of your file as variables, for example {{first_name}} and {{company}}
- Import the CSV. Open the campaign's Leads tab and import the file. It needs a header row and an email column; the other columns become variables
- Attach mailboxes. Attach mailboxes that are ready to send. The preflight check shows what is missing: steps, contacts, mailboxes or warm-up
- Launch. Launch the campaign, then follow sent, replies and bounces in its stats and the replies in the inbox
| Column | What it becomes |
|---|---|
email | Required. One address per row |
first_name, last_name | Variables {{first_name}}, {{last_name}} |
company | Variable {{company}} |
job_title, website, linkedin_url | Variables with the same names |
Any other column | A variable named after the column |
From an AI assistant, the Outreach2day MCP server runs the same flow: create_campaign, import_campaign_contacts (CSV text, up to 10,000 rows per call), attach_campaign_mailboxes, preflight_campaign and launch_campaign after you confirm.
How many mailboxes for your list
Each mailbox sends up to 25 cold emails a day, about 550 a month on weekdays. With a 3-step sequence every lead takes up to 3 of those sends, so the number of new leads a month is the monthly sends divided by 3:
| Mailboxes | Cold emails a day | Cold emails a month | New leads a month (3 steps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 300 | 6,600 | 2,200 |
| 25 | 625 | 13,750 | 4,583 |
| 50 | 1,250 | 27,500 | 9,166 |
| 100 | 2,500 | 55,000 | 18,333 |
| 200 | 5,000 | 110,000 | 36,666 |
A list of 5,000 verified leads on a 3-step sequence needs about 28 mailboxes for one month, or 14 for two. New mailboxes send cold email from day 14 of warm-up, so order them two weeks before the list is ready. The capacity calculator works it out for other volumes.
FAQ
Does Clay have a direct integration with Outreach2day?
No. Clay's sequencer integrations (Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist and others) push rows into those tools; for Outreach2day you download the view as CSV and import it into a campaign. If you send from Instantly or Smartlead, export Outreach2day mailboxes there and keep Clay's integration.
Which Clay columns should I export?
Only the ones the emails use: the email, first name, company and any line you wrote with an AI or formula column. Every exported column becomes a variable in Outreach2day, so a lean view keeps the import and the step editor readable.
Should I send to catch-all emails from Clay?
Start without them. Clay marks catch-all addresses as less reliable, and bounces cost the reputation of the mailboxes that send them. Add catch-alls later in a separate campaign if the bounce rate of the first one stays low.
Sources
Clay documentation, read on 2026-10-09. Menus and field names change; if a step differs, Clay's own page is the reference.
- Clay University: Download as a CSV: university.clay.com/lessons/download-as-a-csv-clay-101
- Clay University: Getting your lists out of Clay: university.clay.com/lessons/export-getting-your-lists-out-of-clay
- Clay docs: Email verification statuses: university.clay.com/docs/email-verification-statuses
- Clay docs: Work Email waterfall: university.clay.com/docs/work-email-waterfall
- Clay docs: Plans and billing: university.clay.com/docs/plans-and-billing
- Clay docs: Instantly integration: university.clay.com/docs/instantly-integration-overview
- Clay docs: Smartlead integration: university.clay.com/docs/smartlead-integration-overview
- Clay pricing: clay.com/pricing
