Create contacts from email

How it works

1. 1

   Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add Dana to my contacts and put her under Fairfield Hotels".

2. 2

   The contact is created from the email itself: the name, the email address, the phone number and the job title out of the signature at the bottom.

3. 3

   The company goes on with them. Where that company is already in the CRM the two are linked, Pipedrive creates the organisation when it is missing, Close builds the company's lead around the new contact, and Attio works the company out from the email domain.

4. 4

   You receive a confirmation email containing a link to the new contact, plus an undo button if something doesn't look right.

FAQs

How do I create a contact from an email?

Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add Dana to my contacts and put her under Fairfield Hotels". ForwardThis creates the contact with the details out of the email and replies to confirm with a link. The first time, you will need a free ForwardThis account with your CRM connected - it takes about 30 seconds.

Which CRMs does it work with?

HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Close, Attio, Copper, Insightly, Freshsales, Capsule and Keap. The forward is identical in each: the person is added with what the email carries, and the confirmation links straight to their record.

What details does it pick up?

The name, the email address, the phone number, the job title and the company, read from the message and the signature underneath it. Salesforce and Insightly take a postal address too when the signature carries one. ForwardThis reads your email, not the inside of an attachment, so a detail that only exists in an attached file needs to be in your message.

Will it create a duplicate?

In most cases no. In HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Copper, Capsule and Keap the email address is the identity, so somebody already on file is updated rather than added a second time. The rest will hold two records for one person, and where that happens the confirmation email includes an undo that removes the one just created.

What if the email doesn't carry enough to create the contact?

Then ForwardThis replies to ask rather than inventing the missing piece. Each CRM has its own minimum: Zoho CRM needs a last name, Freshsales needs an email address or a mobile number, and Keap needs one of those two as well. Attio only accepts a phone number that carries its country code, so a bare 020 number is refused rather than saved wrong. Keap has one more rule of its own, and it is deliberate: adding the contact never opts them into marketing, because that decision stays with you inside Keap.

Doesn't my CRM have a Gmail or Outlook extension for this?

Most of them do, and if you already work with that sidebar open it is a click and you are done. It has to be installed in the email app you are using, on the machine you are using, and it only ever talks to its own CRM. A forward needs nothing installed, works the same from a phone, and the one address covers every CRM and every other app you have connected.

Does it work with Outlook and other email apps?

Yes. ForwardThis works with any email provider: Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and everything else. If it can forward an email, it works.

What happens to my email afterwards?

It gets deleted. ForwardThis holds your email briefly in case you press undo, then removes it completely. Nothing is stored long term.