How to send website chat leads into your CRM

The flow uses two Chatref features together: lead capture and custom actions. Lead capture presents a form right inside the chat widget, collecting name, email, company, and any other fields you define. When the visitor submits, Chatref saves the record and can fire a custom action. A custom action is a webhook configured in your agent’s settings that POSTs the lead data to a URL you specify. That URL could be a direct endpoint exposed by your CRM API, a Zapier webhook that maps fields and creates a contact, or middleware you control.

For CRM platforms – the SaaS companies that sell CRM tools – this pattern lets you push leads from your own marketing site into your pipeline automatically, without manual exporting. The integration is the same whether you run a CRM product or simply need to route captured leads into an internal CRM.

1. Enable lead capture. In your Chatref agent’s settings, turn on “Lead capture” and configure the form. At minimum, add “Name” and “Email” fields. You can also add “Company”, “Phone”, or custom qualifiers like “Use case”.

2. Set up your CRM webhook. In your CRM, create an incoming webhook or API endpoint that accepts a JSON payload. Many CRMs support this natively (for example, HubSpot’s API for contacts, Salesforce’s REST API, or a tool like Zapier that receives a webhook and creates the contact). Note the endpoint URL and any required authentication headers.

3. Create the custom action. In Chatref, go to the agent’s “Custom actions” section and add a new action. Name it something like “Send lead to CRM”. Choose the trigger that fires when a lead form is submitted (the exact wording may be “On lead captured” or similar). Enter the webhook URL from step 2. In the payload template, map the lead fields to the JSON structure your CRM expects – for example:

{
  "email": "{{lead.email}}",
  "firstname": "{{lead.name}}",
  "company": "{{lead.company}}"
}

If your CRM needs an API key, add it as a header in the custom action’s configuration (e.g. Authorization: Bearer your-key).

1. Test the flow. Open the chat widget on your site, fill in and submit the lead form, then check your CRM for a new contact. If the record doesn’t appear, see the troubleshooting section later in this guide.

Optionally, you can add conversation logic to qualify leads before showing the form. For instance, let the agent ask a few intent questions, then only display the form when a visitor indicates strong interest. This improves CRM lead capture quality without changing the technical integration.

From the visitor’s side, the experience stays inside the chat. After a few exchanges, the agent invites them to share details to continue. A compact form appears inline; they fill in name, email, and any extra fields, then press submit. The chat continues immediately – no pop-up, no page reload. Behind the scenes, Chatref posts the data to your CRM within seconds, but the visitor never sees that step. They receive a response like “Thanks – I can help you now,” and the conversation keeps going. Your sales team gets a new CRM record with the lead’s contact info and context from the chat session, while the user experience remains smooth and interruption-free.

Lead not appearing in the CRM. First, check the Chatref conversation log for that visitor. If the lead form submission is recorded but the custom action didn’t fire, look at the custom action’s run history for errors. Common causes: the webhook URL is incorrect, the CRM endpoint timed out, or the JSON payload was malformed.

Authentication error. Some CRMs require an authorization token. Verify that the header name and value match exactly what the CRM expects (often Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN). Also ensure the URL uses https://.

Field mismatch. If the CRM returns a 400 error, the field names in the payload likely don’t match the CRM’s schema. For example, if your CRM expects email_address but you send email, the request will fail. Adjust the template mapping in the custom action accordingly.

Testing without polluting the CRM. Use a temporary webhook catcher like webhook.site to inspect what Chatref sends. Once the payload looks correct, swap the URL to the real CRM endpoint.

Lead capture form not showing. Confirm that lead capture is enabled and that your agent is live. The form might be configured to appear only after certain intent is detected – review the agent’s conversation flow settings.

Action fires but duplicate contacts appear. Your custom action might be triggering more than once. Check if there are other events or actions also firing on form submission, and add deduplication logic in the CRM or in a middleware layer if needed.

Can chat create CRM contacts?

Yes. When lead capture is combined with a custom action that points to your CRM’s API, every lead form submission creates a contact automatically. The record includes name, email, and any custom fields you defined.

How do I push chat leads to a CRM?

Enable lead capture in Chatref, then create a custom action that fires on lead submission and POSTs the data to your CRM’s webhook. Map the lead fields to the CRM’s expected format and add any required authentication. The setup steps are detailed under “How to set it up.”