Forward lead emails

How it works

Keep using the lead services and website form you already have. Their emails do the rest.

1. Your workspace gets its own address, such as leads-k3x9q…@mail.boilerplate.fyi.
2. You forward lead emails to it, automatically with a rule in your email, or point the services that send you leads straight at it.
3. Boilerplate reads each one: is someone asking about your work, who are they, how can you reach them, and what do they need. Newsletters, receipts and anything else are left out.
4. Each inquiry becomes a lead in your Leads inbox, scored by your rules and assigned, and the right person is alerted, just like a web-form lead. If the same person is already a lead, it's added to theirs.

Only what the email says is used. A name, email address or phone number is taken only if it's written in the email, so nothing is ever sent to an address someone made up. Some lead platforms leave out the customer's email address; those leads arrive with what the email does say, and you reply through the platform as before. If AI reading is off in your Lead settings, only emails with labelled fields (Name:, Email:, Phone:) become leads.

Get your address

You need to be an Admin in Boilerplate. It takes a few seconds.

1. In Boilerplate, open Leads → Settings and find Leads by email.
2. Press Create my lead email address.
3. Copy the address. You'll paste it into your email's forwarding settings, or into the services that send you leads.

The same card lists the last few emails that arrived and what each became, so you can see straight away whether forwarding works.

Forward from Gmail

Gmail and Google Workspace forward in two steps: add the address once (Gmail checks it with a code), then a filter forwards just the lead emails.

1. On a computer, open Gmail and go to Settings (the gear) → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
2. Press Add a forwarding address, paste your lead email address, then Next → Proceed → OK. Gmail sends a confirmation to your lead email address.
3. Within a minute, Leads by email in Boilerplate shows Gmail's confirmation code and Google's confirmation link. Enter the code in Gmail's forwarding settings and press Verify, or open the link.
4. Leave forwarding of all your mail off. Instead, in Gmail's search bar press Show search options, and in From enter the service that sends your leads, such as thumbtack.com OR angi.com.
5. Press Create filter, tick Forward it, choose your lead email address, and press Create filter again.

Filters only act on new emails. To bring in one you already have, forward it to the address by hand. On Google Workspace, if forwarding isn't offered in Gmail's settings, your admin has turned it off: they can allow it in the Admin console under Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → End User Access → Automatic forwarding.

Forward from Outlook or Microsoft 365

A rule in Outlook sends matching emails on as they arrive.

1. In Outlook, go to Settings → Mail → Rules and press Add rule (Add new rule in some versions).
2. Name it, such as "Leads to Boilerplate", and add a condition that matches only lead emails: From the service that sends them, or a subject that includes "new lead".
3. For the action, choose Redirect to and paste your lead email address. Redirecting keeps the original sender, which helps Boilerplate see where the lead came from. Forward to works too.
4. Press Save.

Microsoft 365 blocks forwarding to outside addresses unless an admin allows it. If you get a bounce saying 5.7.520 Access denied, Your organization does not allow external forwarding, your Microsoft 365 admin can allow it in the Microsoft Defender portal (security.microsoft.com/antispam): edit the outbound anti-spam policy and set Automatic forwarding rules to On - Forwarding is enabled, ideally in a policy that covers only the people who forward leads.

Other email services

Look for forwarding or rules in your email's settings. Forward only lead emails, not everything.

Send notifications straight to it

Some lead platforms and website builders let you choose where they email new leads. Add your lead email address there, next to your own, and skip forwarding.

Follow-ups for these leads

Off to start. Leads that arrive by email are scored and the right person is alerted, but nothing is sent to them until you say so.

1. In Leads → Settings → Leads by email, press Turn on follow-ups.
2. From then on, when an email gives the customer's own address, they get the same automatic follow-ups as your web form, from the sequence for their priority.
3. Leads without an email address, such as most from lead platforms, are never emailed. Reply to them through the platform or by phone.

Your follow-up emails only go out once you've approved them, and they stop when the lead replies, books, unsubscribes or someone takes over. Some lead platforms ask you to reply to customers through them; check theirs before turning this on.

Check it's working

Send one lead email through the way you set up, then look for it.

• Send a test the real way: submit your own website form, or ask a lead platform to send a test lead if it can.
• Within a minute it shows under Recently received on Leads by email, with what it became.
• A lead shows in your Leads inbox with the customer's name and where it came from.
• Delete the test lead afterwards (open it, then Delete this lead) so it doesn't count in your results.

Keep it to your team

Anyone who has the address can add leads to your workspace. It can't read anything back.

1. Give it only to the services you use, and set up forwarding for lead emails only.
2. If it's been shared somewhere it shouldn't be, press New address (old one stops working), then update your forwarding and services with the new one.
3. Up to 200 emails a day are read for each workspace. Turning Leads off stops the address from taking anything in.

Troubleshooting

Recently received, on Leads by email, shows every email that arrived and what it became. Start there.