How to Look Up a Person Using Their Email in Clearbit with n8n

Overview

This guide explains how to use an n8n workflow template to perform a Clearbit Person Enrichment lookup using only an email address. The workflow is intentionally minimal and is triggered manually from the n8n editor, making it ideal as a reference implementation or starting point for more advanced automation.

You will learn how the workflow is structured, how data flows between nodes, how to configure the Clearbit node with your API key, and how to execute the enrichment request to retrieve a detailed person profile that can include name, location, job title, company, and other available attributes.

Workflow Architecture

The workflow consists of two nodes connected in a simple linear sequence:

• Manual Trigger node – Initiates the workflow execution when you click Execute Workflow in the n8n editor.
• Clearbit node – Calls the Clearbit Person Enrichment API with the specified email address and returns the enriched person data.

There are no branches, conditionals, or additional processing nodes in this template. It is designed to demonstrate a direct integration between n8n and Clearbit using a single email input.

Node-by-Node Breakdown

1. Manual Trigger Node

The Manual Trigger node is used as the entry point for this workflow. It is best suited for:

• Testing the Clearbit integration interactively in the n8n editor.
• Running ad-hoc person lookups without any external trigger.

Key characteristics:

• Trigger type: Manual.
• Activation: The workflow runs only when you click Execute Workflow in the UI.
• Input data: This template does not require or expect any incoming data payload to the Manual Trigger node.

The Manual Trigger node passes an empty or default data structure to the next node. All relevant parameters for the Clearbit request are configured directly on the Clearbit node itself.

2. Clearbit Node (Person Enrichment)

The Clearbit node is connected directly to the Manual Trigger node. It is configured to call the Clearbit Person Enrichment API using a specified email address.

Core Configuration

Within the Clearbit node settings, you must configure the following:

• Resource: Set the resource field to Person. This selects the Clearbit Person Enrichment endpoint rather than any company or other enrichment resources.
• Email: In the email field, enter the email address you want to look up. In this template, the email is entered as a static value in the node configuration rather than being mapped from previous nodes.
• Credentials: Attach your Clearbit API key credential. Make sure your API key is valid and has permission to use the Person Enrichment API.

Expected Output

When successfully executed, the Clearbit node returns an enriched person profile associated with the email address, if Clearbit has data for that email. The returned JSON can include, for example:

• Full name and given/family name details.
• Location data such as city, state, and country.
• Job title and role information.
• Associated company details where available.
• Additional profile attributes that Clearbit exposes for that person.

The exact fields and depth of enrichment depend on the data Clearbit has for the given email address.

Data Flow and Execution Sequence

1. You open the workflow in the n8n editor.
2. You click Execute Workflow to manually start the run.
3. The Manual Trigger node fires and hands control to the Clearbit node.
4. The Clearbit node sends an HTTP request to the Clearbit Person Enrichment API using:
   • The configured Person resource.
   • The email address entered in the node settings.
   • The Clearbit API key from the attached credentials.
5. Clearbit processes the request and returns the enriched person profile as JSON.
6. The Clearbit node outputs this data, which you can inspect in the n8n execution view or extend with subsequent nodes in your own workflows.

Configuration Notes

Clearbit Credentials

• Ensure you have created a Clearbit API key and added it to n8n as a credential.
• When selecting credentials in the Clearbit node, verify that the correct key is attached and that it is active.
• If the key is missing or invalid, the node will fail and the workflow execution will stop at the Clearbit node.

Email Address Input

• In this template, the email address is hard-coded in the Clearbit node configuration.
• For testing, you can manually change this email in the node before executing the workflow.
• To support dynamic or multiple emails, you can later replace this static value with expressions or upstream data, but that is outside the scope of this basic template.

API Response and Edge Cases

While the template focuses on the happy path, it is useful to be aware of several common scenarios:

• No match found: If Clearbit has no data for the email, the response may be empty or minimal. The node still completes execution, but the returned profile will not contain rich attributes.
• Rate limits or quota issues: If your Clearbit account hits a limit, the node may return an error from the API. In this template, such errors are not handled by additional nodes and will surface in the execution log.
• Invalid or malformed email: Supplying an invalid email format can result in an error or no enrichment, depending on how Clearbit validates the input.

Using the Template in n8n

This workflow template is designed as a quick starting point for integrating Clearbit with n8n for person enrichment. It is particularly useful for:

• Running manual, on-demand person lookups for testing or research.
• Validating your Clearbit credentials and API connectivity inside n8n.
• Serving as a base for more complex enrichment workflows that add storage, filtering, or downstream automation.

Benefits of Clearbit Person Enrichment in n8n

• Time-saving automation: Replace manual person lookups with a single workflow execution that calls the Clearbit Person Enrichment API.
• Accurate, up-to-date data: Use Clearbit as a reliable source for enriched profile information tied to an email address.
• Seamless integration: The dedicated Clearbit node in n8n simplifies configuration, credential management, and API interaction.

Advanced Customization Ideas

Once you are comfortable with this basic template, you can extend the workflow in several ways:

• Replace the Manual Trigger node with triggers such as Webhook, Form submissions, or CRM events to enrich contacts automatically.
• Chain additional nodes to store the Clearbit response in databases, CRMs, or spreadsheets.
• Add conditional logic to handle cases where no enrichment data is returned or where specific fields are missing.

While these enhancements are not part of the core template described here, the simple structure of this workflow makes it easy to adapt and integrate into broader n8n automation setups.

Getting Started

Load the template in your n8n instance, configure your Clearbit credentials and target email, then execute the workflow manually. You will immediately see how n8n and Clearbit work together to return enriched person data using only an email address.