Signals in Clay

Signals are automated tracking systems that notify you of important changes related to your contacts and target companies. They help you identify and act on key business opportunities at the right moment.

Cost: Signals run on Clay credits. Depending on the signal, you're charged for each result it returns or for each record it checks on a run, and Clay shows an estimated cost for the cadence you pick before the signal starts running.

Signals in Clay can track these types of events:

• Topic intent: Surface the companies and people researching the topics you care about, and hear again when their interest level changes.
• New hires: Keep track of new hires at target companies within the last three months, enabling you to engage during the crucial decision-making window.
• Promotions: Monitor when contacts receive promotions within their current company, allowing you to engage during high-intent decision-making periods.
• Job change: Track when your contacts move to new companies, helping you leverage existing relationships for new opportunities or prepare for shifts in account engagement.
• Job postings: Monitor when target companies open new roles, pointing to teams that are growing or picking up new initiatives.
• News & fundraising: Alert you to significant events at monitored companies, helping you spot timely engagement opportunities.
• Web intent: Identify the companies visiting your own website, along with the pages they looked at and how they arrived.

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Setting up a Signal

To start a signal, you'll need a table of the companies or contacts you want to monitor, with a column holding the identifier that signal reads.

• New hires and job postings accept either a company domain or a company profile URL.
• News & fundraising needs a company domain.
• Job changes and promotions read a person identifier, such as a professional profile URL.
• Topic intent reads a company domain when you monitor companies, and a professional profile URL when you monitor people.

To create one:

1. Go to Signals, then choose the signal you want from the quick links. The New signal button on the same page lists the full set of signal types.
2. Select the table you want to monitor and identify the correct identifiers.
3. Configure filters for the Signal.
4. Set the frequency that the Signal should run.
   • The options are Quarterly, Monthly, Biweekly, Weekly, and Daily, and a new signal starts at Monthly.
   • Topic intent is the exception: Weekly is both its default and the shortest interval it offers.
5. Optionally, add enrichments to your table to gather additional useful data.
6. Optionally, Add sample results.
   • This lets you preview how the data will appear after any changes actually happen.
   • Once the sample rows are in, Keep sample results in table decides whether they stay. Turn it off and Clay clears them when you finish the step.
7. Click Save to finish the Signal.

Edit an existing Signal

1. Click the column title for the Signal — it carries that signal type's own icon.
2. Click Edit signal.
3. Modify any settings as needed, then save.
   • A signal that runs on a schedule gives you two buttons: Save only keeps your changes without running, and Save and re-run applies them and runs the signal again straight away.
   • On a signal that has never run, that second button reads Save and run instead.
   • A signal that doesn't run on a schedule has a single Save button.

Monitoring a segment in Audiences

A signal doesn't have to run on a table. If the records you want to watch already live in Audiences, open that segment and use Add signal to monitor them in place.

Which signals are on offer depends on what the segment holds:

• Account segments: topic intent, web intent, new hires, news & fundraising, and job postings.
• Contact segments: topic intent, job changes, and promotions.

FAQs

Can I set a signal on the first of the month?

Signals can only be adjusted by frequency, not set to run at specific times.

What plans are Signals available on?

Signals are available on every paid plan except Flex, and during a trial. Web intent is the exception: it needs a Growth or Enterprise plan, though trials include it too.