Thoughts on Clay vs simple mail merge for proprietary outreach?

June 23, 2025
by a searcher from University of Texas at Austin in Dallas, TX, USA
I recently started my self-funded search and just finished compiling a list of ~3000 enriched companies with email, address, est revenue, etc.
I'm considering the value of something like Clay to custom draft copy for the drip campaign vs just drafting the 3-5 emails I want to send and mail merging it.
I'm pretty sure I'd need to go with the $350/mo Explorer plan if I did Clay so it's pretty expensive. Anyone have experience with this or put deep thought into it? Other alternatives I should consider?
from New York University in San Diego, CA, USA
from University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI, USA