The short answer

Three modules do the work — a webhook that catches the form, a row that records the lead, and a scheduled branch that sends the follow-up if nobody replied. Build the record first, the message second.

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What you are building

A lead arrives through a form. Without automation, it lands in an inbox and depends on you noticing it. With this workflow it does three things instead:

  1. Records the lead in one place, with the date it arrived.
  2. Sends an acknowledgement while the enquiry is still warm.
  3. Raises a follow-up if there has been no reply after a set number of days.

The third step is the one that actually changes outcomes, and it is the one most people leave out.

Before you start

You need three things wired up: a form you can point at a webhook, somewhere to store the lead (a spreadsheet is fine), and an email address to send from. If the form cannot post to a webhook, an email parser can stand in, at the cost of reliability.

Step 1 — Create the scenario and add the trigger

Start with a webhook trigger so the form can post directly into the workflow. Send a test payload from the form builder and confirm the fields arrive with the names you expect. Field names are the single most common source of silent failure later.

Step 2 — Record the lead before doing anything else

Add a module that appends a row to your lead table. Map every field you will ever want to filter on: name, email, source, date received, status.

Do this step first, before the email. If the email module fails, you still have the lead. If you build the email first, a failed send can lose the enquiry entirely.

Step 3 — Send the acknowledgement

Add an email module that fires immediately. Keep it to three lines: what happens next, when, and how to reach you. The purpose is to confirm receipt, not to sell.

Step 4 — Add the follow-up branch

This is the part worth building carefully.

  • Add a scheduled trigger, running once a day.
  • Search your lead table for rows where status is still “new” and the received date is more than your threshold old.
  • Send the follow-up and update the status so it cannot fire twice.

The status check is not optional. Without it, every daily run re-sends the same message and the workflow becomes a spam machine.

Step 5 — Test the failure paths

A workflow is only as good as its behaviour when something is missing. Test:

  • A submission with no email address.
  • A duplicate submission from the same person.
  • A run where the table is empty.
  • A run where the email module fails.

If any of these produce a broken run rather than a handled one, add a filter or an error route now rather than discovering it during a busy week.

Where this breaks in practice

  • Silent field renames. The form builder changes a field name and the mapping stops working. Check after any form edit.
  • Duplicate leads. Two submissions create two rows and two follow-ups. Add a deduplication check on email address.
  • Timezone drift. A “3 days later” rule evaluated in a different timezone fires early. Set the scenario timezone explicitly.
  • Paid operations. Every run costs operations, and a daily scan of a large table adds up. Keep the search narrow.

When not to automate this

If you receive fewer than about five enquiries a month, a manual system with a weekly review is cheaper to run and easier to fix. Automation pays off when the volume makes manual tracking unreliable, not before.

Frequently asked

Do I need a paid Make plan?

The volume of operations matters more than the number of workflows for a small business. Check the current operation allowance; this page does not quote one because plan terms change.

Can I build this without Make?

Yes — the same three steps work in most automation tools. The design constraint is the same: record first, message second, guard the follow-up against repeat sends.

What if I use a CRM instead of a spreadsheet?

Better, if you already have one. The follow-up step becomes a filter on the pipeline rather than a row in a table.