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Automation for each stage of your lead lifecycle

A step-by-step guide to automating your lead funnel—so you can find, nurture, and win more leads.

Automation for each stage of your lead lifecycle

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Stage one: Lead generation

Lead generation is where you collect info for prospective customers who are interested in what you're selling. You can generate leads through website forms, landing pages, ad tools, and more.  

lead generation

The challenge:

Quickly routing leads to the right app right away. That way, they don’t go cold, and you can start reaching out without delay.

The solution:

Use automation to send leads to your lead management apps instantly, which saves you time and increases data accuracy.

Streamline lead generation with these automation ideas:

How to automatically add leads to your nurture campaign

Instantly send leads to the right email nurtures

Use automation to make sure new leads end up in the right email campaigns.

How to automatically add leads from forms to your database or spreadsheet

Route leads from your forms to the app you want

Never lose a lead again with this automatic workflow.

Automatically add leads to your CRM or email marketing platform

Immediately add leads to your CRM and email marketing apps

Instantly send leads to the right place—no matter where they’re coming from.

Automatically send lead information to your ad tools

Send lead info to your ad tools for targeted campaigns

Discover how to automatically target leads for better conversion rates.

How to set up email alerts for Facebook Lead Ads

How to set up email alerts for Facebook Lead Ads

Get notified via email whenever you get a new lead.

How to get custom chat notifications for new form submissions or emails

Get notifications for new form submissions or emails

Stay on top of new leads so you can give them a great experience with your team.

Zapier works with more than 5,000 apps. Find ways to automate your apps in our App Directory.

Stage two: Lead cultivation and nurture

Not every lead is qualified or ready to buy right away—usually, they need a little convincing. Often, companies nurture leads through multiple channels like email campaigns, retargeted ads, and old-fashioned sales calls.

lead cultivation and nurture

The challenge:

It's tough to reach leads with the right message in the right channel at the right time so that you can nurture them with the right content.

The solution:

Enrich your lead data with automation. That way, you can send faster, more personalized outreach. Plus, you can build high-converting retargeted ad campaigns.

Better cultivate leads with these automation ideas:

Automatically send personalized emails to new leads that fill out a form

Immediately send messages to new leads

Reach out faster by automatically sending messages to leads who fill out a form.

How to use automation with Google Customer Match for better audience targeting

Automate Google Customer Match for better lead targeting

Cultivate qualified leads when you connect Google Customer Match and Zapier.

Build custom notification bots for new leads

Send notifications to your sales staff about new leads

Build a custom notification bot for new leads—so you can reach out right away.

How to automatically enrich your lead data for better personalization

Automatically enrich lead data  for personalized messaging

Send better outreach to leads with the most up-to-date data.

How to analyze and score leads with GPT-3 and Zapier

Analyze and score leads with GPT-3 and Zapier

Discover how to better prioritize leads by connecting OpenAI with your other apps.

4 ways to automate Facebook’s Conversion API tool with Zapier

4 ways to automate Facebook’s Conversion API tool with Zapier

Learn how to better retarget leads for increased conversion rates.

Zapier works with more than 5,000 apps. Find ways to automate your apps in our App Directory.

Stage three: Lead conversion

Congrats! A lead's ready to make a purchase. But there's still work to do. Depending on what products or services your business offers, you'll need to send a contract, invoice, or receipt. You’ll also want to track the sale internally.

lead conversion

The challenge:

Making sure a new customer's first buying and billing experience goes smoothly—so they become a repeat customer.

The solution:

Use automation to streamline your payment and accounting processes. That way, there are no payment delays or errors.

Convert leads faster with these automation ideas:

5 workflows to streamline your invoice and payment processes

5 workflows to streamline your invoice and payment processes

Stop chasing unpaid invoices with the help of these automatic workflows.

7 ways to manage your electronic signatures, automatically

Automate signatures so there are no payment delays

Close your sales deals faster by automatically gathering your signatures.

Level up your transactional email app with automation

Improve transactional emails for a better customer experience

Ensure prompt follow-ups, get updates on errors, and more with these Zap ideas.

Save time and reduce errors with accounting automation

Save time and reduce errors with accounting automation

Discover which accounting processes you should automate—and how to do it.

How to automate invoices with QuickBooks Online and Zapier

How to automate invoices with QuickBooks Online and Zapier

Use this Zap to automatically create a QuickBooks invoice, which saves you time.

Zapier works with more than 5,000 apps. Find ways to automate your apps in our App Directory.

Stage four: Lead upsell and cross-sell

It's cheaper to upsell or cross-sell an existing customer than to win a new one—so, it's important to keep nurturing customers even after they've made their first purchase.

Lead upsell and cross-sell

The challenge:

Keeping your business top of mind and cultivating a long-term relationship with customers.

The solution:

Automate your customer review and lead-tracking processes, so you can send the right re-sell nurture content.

Turn customers into repeat buyers with these automation ideas:

How to add new Stripe customers to Mailchimp audiences

Add new Stripe customers to Mailchimp audiences

Instantly move new customers into the right email campaigns with this Zap.

Automatically follow up on customer reviews

Automate customer feedback and reviews

Streamline customer feedback so you can make customer-based business decisions.

5 ways to automatically thank your customers and clients

Delight customers with personalized thank yous

Use automation to easily say thank you to customers.

Postcards: An automated take on a classic marketing channel

Postcards: An automated take on a classic marketing channel

Add a human touch that’s powered by automation.

Improve your customer feedback loops with automation

Improve your customer feedback loops with automation

Learn how to listen to your customers at every stage of their journey.

How to instantly enrich your CRM with new purchase data

How to instantly enrich your CRM with new purchase data

Scale your cross-sell, upsell, and resell efforts with up-to-date customer data.

Zapier works with more than 5,000 apps. Find ways to automate your apps in our App Directory.

See lead management automation in action

Want more lead management automation advice?

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