Turn Website Chat Enquiries into Leads in LeadCentre
LeadCentre works with website chat tools through Zapier or Make. When a chat ends or a visitor leaves their details, your chat tool's trigger starts a Zap or scenario, which posts the visitor's name, email, phone and message to your LeadCentre webhook URL. LeadCentre creates a lead, alerts your team's phones and keeps the follow-up going after the chat window has closed.
Via Zapier/Make: Connect it through a Zapier or Make account of your own.
- Chat visitors who leave a name, email or phone become leads your team can call back
- A push alert to the people you choose, whether or not anyone is watching the chat inbox
- Statuses and follow-up reminders that carry on once the visitor has left your site
What this does
Chat is good at answering questions while the visitor is on your site. The enquiry often needs more than that: a call, a quote or a visit. Sending each chat to LeadCentre gives your team one place to pick those up, alongside your forms and ad leads.
What a chat needs to become a lead
A lead needs at least a name, phone or email. Most chat tools collect these in a pre-chat form, an offline message form or a bot step. Set yours to ask for a phone number or email, and send them to LeadCentre with the visitor's message.
Choosing a trigger
Chat tools offer several triggers. Pick the one that fires once per enquiry, after the details are in:
- A chat ending. It comes with what was said, but fires for every chat, including quick questions with no details.
- A ticket or offline message. It fires when a visitor leaves a message while nobody's available, usually with an email address.
- A contact from a bot. It fires when a bot has collected the visitor's details.
Keep transcripts short
LeadCentre takes up to 64 KB per post, and a long transcript can pass that. Send the visitor's first message or a summary as the message, with a link to the chat if your tool gives one.
What happens after a website chat?
Step 1
A visitor chats or leaves their details
In your chat widget, through a pre-chat form, a bot step or an offline message.
Step 2
Your chat tool's trigger fires
Such as a chat ending or a new ticket, which starts your Zap or scenario.
Step 3
Zapier or Make posts it to LeadCentre
Webhooks by Zapier, or Make's HTTP module, sends the fields you chose as JSON.
Step 4
LeadCentre creates the lead
A push goes to the people switched on for New lead alerts, and any Instant Reply email goes to the visitor.
Step 5
Someone follows it up
Call or text from the lead, set a follow-up, and move it on to Quoted or Booked.
What you can do with chat leads
On every plan
- Get a push on iPhone or Android when a chat becomes a lead, sent to the people switched on for New lead alerts on the Team page.
- Read what they asked in the enquiry text, then Call, Text, WhatsApp or Email in one tap, with your pre-written templates.
- Assign the lead to whoever handles that kind of job, and they get an alert.
- Set follow-ups for visitors who want a call on a particular day, with a reminder when each is due.
- Move each lead through New, Contacted, Quoted, Booked, Won and Lost, and record the job value when it's won.
- Send an automatic Instant Reply email to the visitor's address, with different wording during and outside business hours.
With the Respond add-on
- An automatic SMS reply to the visitor's mobile, from your dedicated UK business number.
- Lead Rescue: automated follow-up texts to leads still at New or Contacted who haven't replied.
- Carry on the conversation by text in the app's Messages tab, with Assist drafting replies if you switch AI on.
The push notification goes to your team. The Instant Reply email and the Respond text go to the visitor, after the chat has ended.
How to connect website chat to LeadCentre
You'll need a LeadCentre login with the Admin role, a Zapier or Make account of your own, and a chat tool with a trigger there. On Zapier, the POST step is Webhooks by Zapier, and that guide lists the plans it's on. On Make, it's the HTTP app's Make a request module. Three chat tools that list Zapier triggers:
- LiveChat: New Chat, Finished Chat and New Ticket, all instant.
- tawk.to: Chat Ended, New Chat Transcript, New Chat Started and New Ticket. Zapier says Chat Ended usually fires after 90 to 150 seconds of inactivity.
- Tidio: Contact Sent From Bot, which fires when a flow reaches its Send to Zapier action. Tidio's guide explains adding it to a flow, and says only details collected through the flow are sent.
The steps below use Zapier. For Make, the LeadCentre steps are the same, and the Make guide covers the module.
- 1
Create a key for your chat
In LeadCentre, go to Settings > Connections. Under "Add another key", type a name such as Website chat and press "Create". The name becomes the lead's source. Press "Copy" and keep the URL safe, as it's only shown once.
- 2
Set up the trigger
In Zapier, create a Zap, choose your chat tool and the trigger event, connect your account and test it. For Tidio, add the Send to Zapier action to your flow first, and enter its Integration Key when Zapier asks. If there's no sample, run a test chat that leaves a name and email.
- 3
Add the POST step
Press the plus icon to add an action, choose Webhooks by Zapier and pick POST as the event. Set Payload Type to JSON and paste your LeadCentre URL into URL, whole.
- 4
Fill in Data
Add one row per field, with a name on the left and the value from your trigger on the right: name, email, phone, message, and the chat or ticket ID as id. Put the first message or a summary in message, and a link to the chat in its own row if your tool gives one.
- 5
Listen, then test the step
In LeadCentre, follow "Next: test and match fields" and press "Listen for test data". Back in Zapier, test the POST step. The response should show results as test, and the fields appear under "2. Match the fields" a few seconds later.
- 6
Match and save
Smart Match should suggest most of these, as you chose the names. Confirm each one, check id is matched to Unique ID, and type a name such as Chat link to create a custom field for the link. Press "Save field matching".
- 7
Stop listening and publish
Press "Stop listening", because a real chat sent while listening counts as test data. Publish the Zap, run a real test chat that leaves your details, and check it reaches your Leads list.
What data can you send?
Chat triggers return different fields, and what's filled in depends on what your chat asked the visitor. These are the names we'd type on the left of Zapier's Data section, with the value to pick for each. Smart Match recognises all of them except chat_link, which you turn into a custom field. lead_source is optional: without it, the key's name is the source.
A chat needs a name, phone or email to become a lead, so set your chat to ask for one. The full list of LeadCentre fields is in the webhook reference.
| Field sent | Usually matched to |
|---|---|
| name (from the pre-chat form or bot) | Full name |
| phone | Phone (mobile or landline) |
| message (the first message, or a summary) | Enquiry / Message |
| service (a topic or department, if your chat asks) | Enquiry type |
| chat_link (a link to the chat, if your tool gives one) | A custom field, such as Chat link |
| lead_source | Lead source |
| created_at (when the chat started) | Date received |
| id (the chat or ticket ID) | Unique ID (stops duplicates) |
Managing chat leads beyond your chat inbox
Chat tools are built for the conversation. Their inbox shows who's on your site, what they asked and the transcript, and most have their own app for answering. Once the chat closes, the enquiry needs a different kind of tracking: did anyone call back, did a quote go out, did it become a job.
LeadCentre holds that part:
- Each chat that left details becomes a lead with a status, from New to Won or Lost.
- Follow-up reminders for visitors who want a call tomorrow or a quote next week.
- The same Call, Text, WhatsApp and Email buttons as your other leads.
- A job value on each win.
- Chats in one Leads list with your forms, ad leads and calls.
Keep answering chats in your chat tool. LeadCentre picks up once the visitor has left their details.
A worked example: a cleaner's evening chats
Say a cleaning company runs LiveChat on its website, and the office closes at 5pm. Its Zap uses the New Ticket trigger, so an evening visitor's offline message, with their name, email and phone, posts to LeadCentre. The owner gets the push on their phone, and the visitor gets the Instant Reply email written for outside business hours, saying the office opens at 8am. In the morning the lead is waiting at New with the message, and the owner sets a follow-up when the first call goes to voicemail.
For agencies managing client enquiries
Chat on client sites connects client by client. Open each client's account with Manage, create a key under Settings > Connections, and point that client's Zap or Make scenario at its URL. Every client account has its own webhook keys, so one client's chats never reach another.
- Clients see their own chats as leads in the app and the portal.
- Alerts go to the client's people: the ones switched on for New lead alerts on that client's Team page, never agency staff.
- Permissions stay separate. Agency Users only reach the clients assigned to them, and you can untick Connections for a client's own people.
- One Zap per client. Keep each client's chat account, Zap and key together, so a change for one client can't affect another.
There's 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. An Admin creates the webhook key under Settings > Connections.
- Respond add-on
Optional. Adds a dedicated UK business number, automatic SMS replies, Lead Rescue follow-ups and two-way texting with AI if you want it. See Respond.
- Chat tool
One with a Zapier or Make trigger, and a way to collect a name, phone or email, such as a pre-chat form, offline form or bot. Check your chat plan includes its Zapier or Make connection.
- Zapier or Make
A Zapier account with Webhooks by Zapier, which Zapier's guide lists by plan, or a Make account using the HTTP module, with plans measured in credits. Each chat sent uses part of that allowance.
- Messaging usage
Respond's allowances are monthly. When one runs out, the account is told and can buy credits for extra usage. Chats sent by your Zap are still saved as leads.
Common problems
Some chats show "No name, phone or email" under Recent activity
The visitor left no contact details, so there was nobody to create a lead for. Ask for an email or phone number in your pre-chat form or bot, or add a Zapier filter so only chats with an email or phone continue.
Every chat creates a lead, including quick questions
A chat-ended trigger fires for every chat. Switch to a ticket, offline message or bot contact trigger, or filter on the email or phone field. Archive the leads you don't need.
The same chat arrived twice
Two Zaps or two triggers, such as chat started and chat ended, are posting the same chat. Keep one, and send the chat ID as id, matched to Unique ID, so a repeat is skipped.
Zapier shows a 413 from LeadCentre
The post is over 64 KB, usually because of a full transcript. Send the first message or a summary instead, with a link to the chat.
The message field is empty on the lead
The Data row for message points at an empty value, or the trigger doesn't include the chat text. Check the sample in Zapier, pick the value that holds the visitor's message, and retest.
Leads arrive a few minutes after the chat ends
Some triggers wait for the chat to close. Zapier says tawk.to's Chat Ended usually fires after 90 to 150 seconds of inactivity. A ticket or bot contact trigger fires as soon as the details are left.
Questions about this connection
Which chat tools work with LeadCentre?
Any with a Zapier or Make trigger that passes on the visitor's details. LiveChat, tawk.to and Tidio all list Zapier triggers.
Do I still answer chats in my chat tool?
Yes. The chat itself stays in your chat tool. LeadCentre takes over once the visitor has left their details, for the callback, the quote and the follow-ups.
Can LeadCentre reply to the visitor?
Instant Replies sends an automatic email to the visitor's address on every plan. With the Respond add-on, an automatic text goes to their mobile, and you can carry on by text in the app's Messages tab.
What about enquiries on WhatsApp?
Incoming WhatsApp messages become leads too, with their own setup. See WhatsApp Business enquiries.
Zapier or Make?
How do I stop one chat creating two leads?
Send the chat or ticket ID as a field called id and match it to Unique ID. A repeat is then skipped.
Related features and guides
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