Most small businesses lose leads not because their offer is wrong, but because follow-up is slow. A contact form submission sits in an inbox for a day, and the prospect has already booked someone else. This tutorial builds an automation that responds in minutes while keeping a human in control.
What You Will Build
- A trigger when a new lead submits your website form
- An AI step that summarises the enquiry and categorises it
- A new contact or deal in your CRM
- A personalised draft reply saved in your email for review
- A Slack or email alert to the right person
Step 1: Set Up the Trigger
In Zapier, create a new Zap and choose your form tool (for example, your website form plugin, Typeform, or Google Forms) as the trigger. Submit a test entry so Zapier has sample data.
Step 2: Add the AI Qualification Step
Add an AI step and pass in the form fields. Ask for structured output so later steps can use it.
Step 3: Create the CRM Record
Add an action for your CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, or even a Google Sheet) and map the contact details plus the AI’s category, priority, and summary into custom fields.
Step 4: Draft the Personalised Reply
Use a “Create Draft” action in Gmail or Outlook so the email waits for your review rather than sending automatically.
Step 5: Alert, Test and Monitor
Add a Slack or email notification with the summary and priority. Run five realistic test leads through the workflow, check each step’s output, and turn it on. Review the AI’s categorisation weekly for the first month.
Prefer a visual builder? The same workflow works in Make; see our Zapier vs Make comparison. To understand where workflows like this are heading, read our explainer on AI agents.
