Draft — in editorial review, not yet published. Content has not been approved by a human reviewer.
Lesson 19 / 50 · Version 2.2.0
Lead Routing Across Apps
- Level
- Beginner–Intermediate
- Duration
- 15 min learn + 15 min apply
- Prerequisites:
- Lessons 11–18
Why it matters: Speed to first response often decides who wins a lead. Routing that is explicit, consent-aware, and duplicate-safe gets the right person on the right lead fast without annoying prospects.
By the end you can:
- Define a lead data contract
- Write transparent routing rules with a default queue
- Prevent duplicates and respect consent
- Measure the handoff
Learn (15 min)
1. The lead contract (5 min)
Define before building:
| Field | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Validated; lowercase | |
| Name | Yes | Split first/last |
| Service interest | Yes | Controlled list |
| Consent to contact | Yes | Record source and timestamp |
| Source/campaign | Yes | e.g., google-ads-headshots |
| Phone | No | Normalize format |
Pick the source of truth (usually the CRM). Don't infer sensitive attributes.
2. Explicit rules and a default (5 min)
| Condition | Route to |
|---|---|
| Service = Team Headshots AND headcount ≥ 5 | Corporate queue |
| Service = Individual Portrait | Booking-link follow-up |
| Outside service area | Referral template |
| Anything else / missing | Unassigned queue (default) |
| Rules should be explainable and testable. Before creating, search by email to avoid a duplicate contact. |
3. Close the loop (5 min)
Record owner, route, timestamp, and any failure. Notify only the relevant people. Respect consent and communication preferences before any outreach (see your jurisdiction's email/SMS rules and the CAN-SPAM guide for U.S. email). Track: time to assignment, time to first response, unassigned count, duplicate rate, routing corrections.
Apply (15 min)
Worked example (3 min). Inquiry: ana@lawfirm.com, "Team headshots, 12 people", consent yes, source google-ads. Flow: validate → search CRM (not found) → create contact + deal in Corporate → assign by rotation → email owner + create task "Call within 2 business hours" → log route. If consent were blank: contact stored, no outreach, task for human review.
Lab (7 min): Build the routing table.
- Write your lead contract (6 fields).
- Write four routing rules plus the default.
- Write 6 test leads (including a duplicate, a missing consent, and an unknown service) and predict the route for each.
Deliverable: Contract + rules + prediction table. You're done when: Every test lead lands somewhere explainable and no one is contacted without consent.
Check yourself (5 min)
- Why name a source of truth?
- What should happen for an unknown category?
- Scenario: A returning customer submits a new form. How do you avoid a duplicate contact?
- Name two routing metrics.
- May automation infer sensitive traits to assign leads?
Reference
Common mistakes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Leads sit unowned | No default queue/alert | Add unassigned queue + SLA alert |
| Prospects emailed without consent | No consent gate | Gate outreach on recorded consent |
| Duplicates everywhere | No pre-create search | Search by email first |
Cheat sheet: Validate → dedupe → confirm consent → apply explicit rule → assign → record → monitor.
Key terms: lead, source of truth, normalization, consent, fallback queue.
Interview prompts: Design routing for a service business. How do you measure whether routing is working?
Go deeper: Zapier filter/path rules · Make filtering · FTC CAN-SPAM guide
Next: Lesson 20 — keeping automations healthy in production.