Create CRM leads from email

How it works

1. 1

   Forward the enquiry to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add this as a lead for Wexford Facilities and give me a follow-up call on Thursday".

2. 2

   The lead is created with the sender's name, email address, phone number, company and job title taken from the email and the signature underneath it.

3. 3

   The follow-up goes on with it: a task with a due date, a note about what was asked for, and in Salesforce and Zoho CRM the owner it should sit with.

4. 4

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

FAQs

How do I turn an email into a lead in my CRM?

Forward the enquiry to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add this as a lead for Wexford Facilities and give me a follow-up call on Thursday". ForwardThis creates the lead with the sender's details filled in 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 can it create leads in?

Salesforce, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM each have a lead record, and that is what gets created. Close works from the company: adding the contact creates the lead around them, so both arrive together. HubSpot is the odd one out, because ForwardThis has no lead to write to there. It adds the person as a contact and opens a deal for the enquiry instead, which is what a HubSpot pipeline actually runs on.

What details end up on the lead?

Whatever the email carries: the sender's name, their email address, their phone number, their company and their job title, read from the message and the signature at the bottom of it. In Salesforce the website goes on too. ForwardThis reads your email, not the inside of an attachment, so a figure that only exists in an attached file needs to be in your message.

What else can it do in the same forward?

Add a follow-up task with a due date, and put a note on the lead saying what was asked for. Salesforce and Zoho CRM can also set who owns the lead, so it lands with the right person rather than with whoever connected the account. Converting the lead is a separate forward when you are ready: Salesforce, Zoho CRM and Pipedrive can all convert one, none of them can convert it back, and so ForwardThis lists everything it is about to create and waits for you to say yes.

What if the sender is already in the CRM?

A lead is a separate record from a contact in Salesforce, Zoho CRM and Pipedrive, so creating one for somebody already on file leaves you holding both. If they are already a contact, ask instead for the email to be logged on the record they already have, and it goes there rather than as a second record.

Doesn't Salesforce already have Web-to-Lead?

It does, and for a form on your own website it is the better tool: the fields are fixed, nobody types anything, and the lead arrives structured every time. What it cannot help with is the enquiry that arrives as an email, which is how most of them arrive. That one you forward, and your instructions travel with it.

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.