Automatic leads: when a client inquiry becomes a deal

What counts as an inquiry

A lead is created only for a live incoming inquiry from the client:

• an incoming message on any connected channel;
• an incoming call, missed ones included;
• a visitor's first message in the website widget. An opened widget window with no message is not an inquiry.

If your company started the conversation (an operator wrote first, a message went out through the API or a broadcast, a teammate wrote or called from the phone), the client's reply in that conversation will not become a lead. This does not expire: a reply in such a conversation creates no deal an hour later or a week later. Only a new conversation started by the client counts as a new inquiry. If you do need a deal for such a conversation, create it manually from the contact card.

When no lead is created

• Outgoing messages and calls by your team, broadcasts, and conversations your company started.
• Group chats.
• Hidden and blocked contacts, and contacts marked "No leads".
• The client already has an open deal and the settings say "Into the client’s open deal": the inquiry goes into that deal's history.
• A lead in this conversation has already been declined. A new lead appears only in the client's next conversation.
• The pause after the client's last deal was closed or their lead was declined has not run out yet (see below).
• History import, and messages older than a day that arrive after a channel reconnects.
• Conversations started before auto-leads were turned on: no leads are created retroactively.
• Flood protection: no more than 60 new leads an hour from one website widget and 150 an hour from all of the company's widgets, and no more than 300 new leads an hour across all channels. When the overall limit is reached, administrators get a notification.

Three modes

The mode is chosen in Settings → Deals, in the "Automatic leads" block. Administrators and managers can change the deal settings.

The mode applies to new inquiries; existing deals do not change. If you switch away from "To Unsorted", the leads already in the column stay there until someone sorts them. Auto-leads can be turned on only when the company has at least one funnel.

Funnel. The lead goes to the funnel set in the channel settings; if there is none, to the default funnel from the deal settings; if that is not set either, to the company's first funnel.

Responsible user. The lead gets the contact's responsible manager. If there is none, the teammate assigned to the conversation. If there is none either, the first teammate who joins the conversation becomes responsible.

The "Unsorted" column

In "To Unsorted" mode every funnel in the Deals section starts with an "Unsorted" column. A card shows the client's name, the channel, the last message and when the inquiry came in. The "Returning" badge means the client already has closed deals. Each card has three actions:

• "Accept" — pick a stage and a responsible user (by default the first stage and yourself). The deal takes its place on the board and the responsible user is notified about the new deal. You can also accept a lead right from the conversation: the chat header offers it for such a deal.
• "Link" — when this continues a deal that is already in progress. The conversation moves to the chosen open deal, the lead is removed, and the deal history gets an "Inquiry linked" entry.
• "Decline" — the lead is removed, the conversation stays in chats and the client will not notice anything. The "Stop creating leads for this contact" checkbox is there for suppliers, spam and your own staff.

Managers and administrators sort the column. Operators see it but cannot accept, link or decline a lead. Until a lead is accepted it cannot be dragged to another stage or closed: accept it first. People who can sort leads hear about new ones from the notification bell: one row per funnel with the current number of leads and a "Sort" button.

Returning inquiries

What happens when a client who already has an open deal writes or calls again is set by the "Returning inquiry" setting:

• "Into the client’s open deal" (the default) — the inquiry goes into the history of the client's latest open deal as a "New inquiry from the client" entry, and no new deal is created. A lead still waiting in "Unsorted" counts as an open deal too.
• "Always a new deal" — every new conversation with the client creates a separate deal, even if an open one exists.

Messages in a conversation that already has a deal never create new leads, whatever the setting. A returning inquiry is a new conversation: it starts when the previous conversation has been closed and the client writes or calls again.

Pause after a deal is closed

The "Pause after a deal is closed" setting is in hours, from 0 to 720, 24 by default. Until that many hours have passed since the client's last deal was closed or their lead was declined, no new lead is created for them. 0 means no pause. The pause belongs to the client, not the conversation, so it applies even when the client writes on another channel. Say the order was delivered, the deal was closed as won, and an hour later the client writes "thank you": with a 24-hour pause that does not become a new lead.

Excluding a contact

The contact card has an "Automatic leads" block with a "Do not create leads for this contact" switch. Such a contact is marked "No leads": their messages and calls arrive in chats as usual, and a deal can still be created manually. The checkbox on "Decline" sets the same mark, and you can lift it in the contact card. Changing it takes a teammate with permission to edit contacts.

Bitrix24, amoCRM and automations

• Bitrix24 can create a lead for every new inquiry on its own. In "Straight to the pipeline" mode AISAR deals are sent to Bitrix24 too, so one inquiry becomes both a lead and a deal there. Choose "To Unsorted" so that only accepted deals reach Bitrix24, or turn auto-leads off in AISAR and run the funnel in Bitrix24.
• amoCRM with deal creation turned on opens a deal for a new inquiry itself, and AISAR deals are not sent to amoCRM. With auto-leads also on in AISAR, one inquiry becomes a deal in both systems. If you run your funnel in amoCRM, turn auto-leads off in AISAR.
• Automations. The "Create deal" node does not create a second deal when the conversation already has an open one, nor, with "Into the client’s open deal", when the client has one.

When such an integration is connected, the deal settings show a warning with the suitable option.

Common questions

See also

Funnels, stages and the deal card — in Contacts and deals. Syncing deals with Bitrix24 — in Connecting Bitrix24. Scenarios that create deals — in Automations.