Turn Enquiry Emails into Leads with Email-to-Lead
Every LeadCentre account has its own Email-to-Lead address. Forward an enquiry email to it, or have a website form, directory or lead provider send its notification emails there, and each email becomes a lead with the person's details and message, a push alert for your team and Call, Text, WhatsApp and Email buttons.
Built In: Built into LeadCentre, with no other tool needed.
- Enquiries that only ever arrive by email reach your Leads list without anyone copying them across.
- Set up a forwarding rule once in Gmail or Outlook, and matching emails become leads from then on.
- Each emailed enquiry gets a status, follow-up reminders and a won value, like every other lead.
What this does
Plenty of enquiries still come by email: a contact form on an older website, a directory or quote site, a partner who passes work on, or a customer writing in direct. Email-to-Lead gives your account an address to send those to. LeadCentre reads each email that arrives there and creates a lead.
How LeadCentre reads an email
- A form or directory notification. Labelled lines such as Name:, Phone:, Email: and Postcode: go into the matching fields. The details written in the email are used, not the no-reply address it was sent from.
- A customer's own email that you forward. The original sender's name and email address become the lead's, not yours.
- Everything else in the email is kept as the enquiry text, so nothing is lost.
That's the job an email parser does for leads, with no rules to write: the useful details are pulled out for you, and the lead is ready to call.
What happens when an enquiry email comes in?
Step 1
The email reaches your address
Forwarded by hand, by a rule in your inbox, or sent there directly by a form or provider.
Step 2
LeadCentre creates the lead
The details in the email go into the lead's fields, and the rest of the email becomes the enquiry text.
Step 3
Your team gets the alert
A push notification goes to the people switched on for New lead alerts on the Team page.
Step 4
Someone gets in touch
Open the lead and tap Call, Text, WhatsApp or Email. Instant Replies can email the person straight away, and with Respond an automatic text can go to their mobile.
Step 5
It's followed through
Set follow-ups, move the status and record the job value when you win it.
What you can do with email enquiries
On every plan:
- New lead alerts. A push notification for each new lead, sent to the people switched on for New lead alerts. That alert is for your team, and the person who emailed doesn't see it.
- Contact buttons. Call, Text, WhatsApp and Email on the lead, opening your own templates with their name and the job filled in. The Email button opens your own email app, so you can keep replying by email if that's what the customer prefers.
- Instant Replies. An automatic email to the person who enquired, with different wording during and outside business hours. It goes to the email address on the lead, and one address gets at most one reply per account per day.
- Statuses and follow-ups. New, Contacted, Quoted, Booked, Won and Lost, with follow-up reminders, folders, assignment and custom fields.
With the Respond add-on:
- An automatic SMS reply to new leads with a mobile number, from your dedicated UK business number.
- Lead Rescue: automated follow-ups to leads at New or Contacted who haven't replied. It stops once a lead moves on.
- Two-way texts in the Messages tab, and AI that drafts or sends replies once you switch it on.
The push notification tells your team. Instant Replies and Respond's texts are what the customer receives.
How to set up Email-to-Lead
You need a LeadCentre login with the Admin role, and access to the inbox or form settings your enquiries come from.
For automatic forwarding, keep your email provider's own guide open: Gmail or Outlook.
- 1
Copy your address
In the portal at dashboard.leadcentre.com, go to Settings > Connections, find Email-to-Lead and copy your account's address.
- 2
Send a test
Forward one real enquiry email to the address. Check it appears in your Leads list with the right name, phone number and message, and that the alert reached your phone. Archive it afterwards if you've already dealt with it.
- 3
Point your form or provider at it
If a website form, directory or provider emails you each enquiry, add your LeadCentre address as a recipient in its notification settings. Keep your own address on there too if you want a copy.
- 4
Or forward from Gmail
Add your LeadCentre address as a forwarding address. Gmail sends it a confirmation link first: this shows on the Email-to-Lead card in Settings > Connections, so open it there and click the link. Then create a filter that forwards only your enquiry emails, such as those from your form.
- 5
Or forward from Outlook
Create a rule that forwards or redirects your enquiry emails to the LeadCentre address, with a condition such as the sender or a word in the subject, so the rest of your mail stays put.
- 6
Check the next one
When the next enquiry email arrives, check it becomes a lead with the customer's details, and the alert goes to the people you expect.
What data comes through?
LeadCentre takes what it can from the email itself, with nothing to match. A notification email with one labelled line per detail gives the most complete lead.
If you control the form, set its notification to list each answer on its own line with a clear label.
| Field sent | Usually matched to |
|---|---|
| Name: line, or the original sender's name | Full name |
| Email: line, or the original sender's address | |
| Phone: or Mobile: line | Phone (mobile or landline) |
| Address: and Postcode: lines | Address fields and Postcode |
| Service:, Job: or Enquiry type: line | Enquiry type |
| The subject and the rest of the email | Enquiry / Message |
| The time the email arrived | Date received |
| Email-to-Lead, added for you | Lead source |
Managing enquiries beyond the email inbox
An inbox shows that an email arrived. On a shared inbox it's hard to tell who rang the customer, when to try again or whether the job was won, and an enquiry can slip down the list under invoices and newsletters.
Once each enquiry is a lead in LeadCentre:
- Alerts reach a phone. People out on jobs get a push notification, whether or not they're watching email.
- Contact is one tap. Call, Text, WhatsApp and Email buttons sit on the lead, with your template ready.
- Everyone sees the status. New, Contacted, Quoted, Booked, Won and Lost, the same in the app and the portal.
- The promise to ring back gets a reminder. "I'll call them Thursday" becomes a follow-up, with a push to the person it's assigned to when it's due.
- Won work is counted. Record the job value when you win it, and Home adds it up with your win rate.
For more on where enquiries go missing, see why businesses lose leads.
For agencies managing client enquiries
Each client account has its own Email-to-Lead address, so a client's emailed enquiries become leads only in that client's account. A snapshot copies a client's setup to a new client but no addresses, as every account gets its own.
For a client whose website form can only send emails, add the client's LeadCentre address to the form's notification recipients. Open the client with Manage to copy the address from Settings > Connections. If you've switched Connections off for a client's own people, you can still set it up for them this way.
New lead alerts go to the people chosen on the client's Team page, and agency staff see the leads when they open the client. An Agency Admin can reach every client, and an Agency User only those assigned to them. More on agency accounts.
Pricing and requirements
What you need for this connection. Prices for each plan and the Respond add-on are on the pricing page.
- LeadCentre plan
Any plan. Email-to-Lead is included on Business, Agency Starter and Agency Scale.
- An email source
An inbox that can forward email, such as Gmail or Outlook, or a form, directory or provider that can send its notification emails to an address you give it.
- Admin role
An Admin on the account, or agency staff for a client account, copies the address and sets up forwarding.
- Respond add-on
Optional. Adds automatic SMS replies, Lead Rescue follow-ups and two-way texts from a dedicated UK business number. See Respond.
- Messaging usage
Instant Replies are emails and are included on every plan. Respond's texts count towards its monthly allowances. If one runs out, the account is told and can buy credits for extra usage. New leads are still saved.
Common problems
Newsletters and invoices are turning into leads
Your inbox is forwarding everything. Gmail forwards all new mail by default, so turn that off and use a filter that forwards only enquiries. In Outlook, add a condition to the rule, such as the sender or subject of your enquiry emails. Archive the leads that shouldn't be there.
Outlook forwarding bounces with a 5.7.520 error
Your organisation's Microsoft 365 settings block automatic forwarding to outside addresses. An administrator can allow it, as Microsoft explains. Or add your LeadCentre address straight to your form's notification settings.
The lead has my name, not the customer's
The forwarded email lost the original sender's details, for example because it was forwarded as an attachment. Forward it normally, or use an Outlook rule that redirects, which keeps the original sender.
The phone number is missing
LeadCentre picks a number up from a labelled line such as Phone:. If your form's email puts it somewhere else, change the notification to include a Phone: line, and add the number to this lead in the portal.
Gmail is waiting for confirmation
Gmail sends a confirmation link to a new forwarding address before it forwards anything. Open it from the Email-to-Lead card in Settings > Connections and click the link, then refresh Gmail's settings and turn on your filter.
Questions about this connection
What's the difference between Email-to-Lead and a webhook?
Both create leads. A webhook takes data that a system posts directly, with every field named. Email-to-Lead takes an email, so it suits sources that can only email you. If your form can send a webhook, the website forms guide shows how.
Do I need to set up parsing rules?
No. LeadCentre reads labelled lines such as Name:, Phone: and Email: for you, and keeps the rest of the email as the enquiry text. A notification with clear labels gives the most complete leads.
Will I still get the email in my own inbox?
Yes, if you forward a copy or add LeadCentre as an extra recipient. Gmail's forwarding settings let you keep Gmail's copy in your inbox.
Does an Instant Reply go to the customer or to the directory?
To the customer. The reply goes to the email address on the lead, which is the person who enquired, not the form or directory that sent the notification.
Who gets the alert when an email lead arrives?
The people switched on for New lead alerts on the Team page in the portal. An Admin chooses them, and each person can still turn alerts off on their own phone.
Does each account have its own address?
Yes. Every LeadCentre account has its own, so an agency's clients each have a separate address and their leads stay apart.
Connect your lead sources
Set up your LeadCentre account and connect this source, and your next enquiry can arrive on your phone.