Nurture leads with the CRM
Outcomes
✓ Create, style, and embed forms to capture leads
✓ Set up the AI-assisted webchat widget
✓ Automate follow-up emails on form submission
✓ Send email campaigns with strong deliverability
Required Access
Partner Center admin access, CRM enabled
Related Docs
This lab covers the marketing side of the CRM—capturing leads through forms and webchat, automating follow-up, and running email campaigns that actually reach the inbox.
Step 1: Create a form to capture leads (3 min)
Do
Create, style, and embed forms in Vendasta's CRM to capture lead information efficiently. The form is built to integrate easily with reCaptcha, which helps protect your form from spam and ensure you're only dealing with genuine leads, maintaining the quality of your marketing data.
Step 2: Automate your lead generation (3 min)
Do
Send a follow-up email when a form is submitted
This automation triggers a campaign to be sent to a contact every time a new contact is created from a form submission.
To use this automation, you'll need to have a published email campaign that has been activated. Check out our recommended campaigns to find the one that will work best for you or build your own.
Step 3: Set up the webchat (4 min)
Do
Automatically capture lead information
The AI will automatically work to capture contact information and add it to the CRM as a new contact. If you want to use the AI assistant as a help-bot and not as a lead capture tool, you can uncheck the capture lead information box to disable this feature.
In Partner Center, messages exchanged with customers can be reviewed in the Inbox Messages section.
Add additional knowledge for the AI assistant
You can give your AI assistant additional knowledge from any source. Click Add Knowledge and choose between adding your own custom text knowledge (such as frequently asked questions) or enter a website address to scrape the website for business information.
For a complete walkthrough of the webchat setup, visit the Vendasta Support center.
Step 4: Send a campaign (5 min)
Do
Authenticate your custom email domain
To update the sender address to use your custom domain instead of smblogin.com, you'll first need to update the SPF record in your Domain Name System (DNS). Log in to your DNS provider (e.g., GoDaddy if you bought your domain there) to authenticate your domain.
It's important to update your DNS before adding your custom email address. Until you update your SPF records, there's a high chance your emails will land in the spam folder. This applies even if you sign up for Vendasta with a custom-domain email address. Grey-label your sender address until you own a custom domain and update the SPF records.
You can only update the sender address with a custom email. Free email addresses (gmail.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com) will not save.
Authenticating your custom domain allows you to build a reputation under your brand's domain, minimizing any negative impacts from other senders on the shared domain.
Personalize with dynamic content
Personalizing emails with dynamic content allows you to tailor your messages, making them more engaging and informative.
Improve your email deliverability
| Best Practice | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Write trustworthy subject lines | Subject lines should convey real value. Aggressive statements like "Urgent" or "Act now" are associated with spam and can affect whether your email lands in the inbox at all. |
| Keep your email list clean | Regularly remove inactive contacts to maintain list health and improve deliverability. |
| Avoid spam traps | Spam traps are addresses created by providers to catch unwanted senders. Maintain a list of active users and never purchase an email list. |
| Send emails your contacts love | High open and click rates show valuable content. Monitor performance to discover what appeals and who to focus on in future campaigns. |
An agency embeds a form with reCaptcha on their landing page. When a prospect submits, an automation sends a welcome email from their authenticated custom domain. They also run the AI webchat on their site with custom knowledge from their FAQ page. Leads captured via form or webchat appear in the CRM. They monitor lead scores, remove inactive contacts monthly, and use trustworthy subject lines—their deliverability stays strong and their campaigns perform well.
Key Resources
Knowledge Check
Knowledge Check
Test your understanding with 5 random questions from a pool of 5.