BoldTrail has numerous options for funneling your generated leads to the Smart CRM. However, there are situations when it’s not readily apparent how you would get leads from one system into BoldTrail automatically as a new lead – Zapier might be the answer. Whether Zapier will be the best option is dependent on which lead source you’re trying to import leads from. Our recommendation is to learn all of the BoldTrail basics of lead generation, and then use those basic tools to start getting all of your existing leads flowing in the system. For some services, there is not a readily available option to move leads into your BoldTrail CRM. However if they’re integrated into Zapier then you can – with a little help from this article!

If you’re interested in which apps Zapier currently connects to, please go to Zapier’s website here.

1. Click on the 'Lead Engine' tab from the main navigation. Then select the 'Lead Dropbox' tile.

2. In the entity container for which you want to provide data, copy your Zapier Key.

Zapier Invite Link.

Clicking the link above will prompt you to either log into your existing Zapier account or create a new one.

After logging in you’ll want to continue with the steps (choosing apps, etc.).

You’ll then be invited to accept the invite and build a Zap!

*This screen (below) looks very similar to the above, but it will take you to your first Zap.

Because the link is an invite, it assumes you want to create a Zap right away. You’re more than welcome to create a Zap later. No rush!

The first page you land on after following the invite link and filling out your information has the steps for creating a new Zap. You’ll first want to select a trigger.

However, before continuing you have to decide one of two things.

· Am I sending leads FROM BoldTrail TO somewhere else?

· Am I sending leads TO BoldTrail FROM somewhere else?

If you’d like to send your leads from BoldTrail to another system, you can proceed to the example Zap. The example Zap starts with the original page you land on after clicking the invite link at the beginning of this guide, and you don't need to change the trigger app. It's already set to BoldTrail.

When starting with BoldTrail (or kvCORE in the Zapier platform) as the trigger app, your only option is to send a lead to another program from your BoldTrail CRM.

If you’d like to send leads from another system to BoldTrail, you need to change your trigger app. The trigger app is the first step of a Zap. Since the lead is coming from another program (not BoldTrail), we must start with that program as our trigger app.

To change the trigger app:

1. Click the ‘change’ button to change the trigger app from BoldTrail (kvCORE in Zapier) to a different starting program (the program where the leads are coming FROM.)

2. Click into the search box to find the trigger you’d like to use.

3. As soon as you select the one you want your trigger will change!

From here you can proceed to the example zap below to follow along.

In this example, we will create a Zap that sends leads into BoldTrail from Twitter.

Now, calling them leads is a stretch. Twitter doesn't provide the emails of followers to insert into a personal database. However, the idea of using Twitter in this way makes for a fun, relatable example. This way Inside Real Estate can show you how you can connect all types of platforms and the different steps Zapier uses to form a connection.

Other programs can of course provide you with phone numbers or emails of those leads or contacts you want sent to BoldTrail . For example, if you run a newsletter campaign via a popular blog or landing page through Mailchimp, you could add your new subscribers automatically to BoldTrail. The process is almost the same, apart from the names of some of the options in one program vs. another.

First, select twitter under the trigger step:

I’d like my new followers from Twitter to be added automatically into BoldTrail. In this case select ‘New Follower of Me’

This means that every time I get a new follower on Twitter the information available will be sent to BoldTrail automatically.

Then click ‘Continue’

We’re then prompted to sign into Twitter. Click ‘Sign in to Twitter’ and then give Zapier permission to access your Twitter account

You’ll need to authorize the app officially right afterward, using the ‘Authorize app’ button seen below

After the account is added select ‘Continue’ once more

You can then test the connection to make sure it’s working properly by clicking the ‘Test trigger’ button.

. Below you will see the information from the contact selected and press ‘Continue’.

You can then select ‘Close’. The green checkmarks to the right side indicate that each item has been completed.

*We will come back to this in a moment!

Connecting BoldTrail

If you started with BoldTrail as your trigger, you'll need your Zapier API key. It can be found in your Lead Dropbox. Look for the ‘Zapier Key’ and select ‘Copy’

We are now ready to select BoldTrail as the destination for our followers snatched from Twitter!

Click the ‘+’ sign underneath the Twitter trigger.

Put ‘kvCORE’ in the search box

Now, this should be a little familiar. It's time to pick kvCORE as the 'action’. Simply search for and pick kvCORE from the dropdown.

*If you cannot find kvCORE, you did not previously accept the invite link at the very beginning of this guide. If this is the case you can open the invite link in a new tab and accept it. Then return to the tab you are creating your Zap in, and refresh the page.

After clicking on 'kvCORE' to select it, you will want to select ‘Create Contact (Post)’ from the dropdown. This will create a new contact in your CRM when a new contact is added to Twitter.

Then click ‘Continue’

You’ll then be prompted to sign into BoldTrail.

After clicking ‘Sign in to kvCORE’ a new window opens where you insert your API Key.

Again, this is found in BoldTrail under the Lead Engine tab > Lead Dropbox.

Click the COPY button to the right of the key you want to use.

Once your key is copied, paste it in, click ‘Continue’, and you should be able to test it successfully. You’ll then want to click ‘Continue’ once more.

Click ‘Save’ + ‘Continue’

We can then begin to match up each of the fields with the corresponding data from Twitter. This dictates the data that will flow over from the trigger to BoldTrail. Click on the dropdown menu of each field for the BoldTrail record and match it to the Twitter record. You can specify anything you want here, from information about where they are looking to what status they should be inserted into, and even what hashtag to use.

Here are some examples below to help make this process a little easier!

First Name field: Twitter does not have the names separated. I recommend using the follower name and editing in BoldTrail when you have the full name

Hashtag field: You don’t need to add a ‘#’ sign. It will be added automatically in BoldTrail. If you’d like to add multiple hashtags please use the ‘|’ symbol to separate the hashtags.

Because we’re using Twitter as an example there will not be an exact match for all the fields. We may not be given a full name, and instead of a follower name, screen name, etc. Twitter will not provide email data, but I recommend using the Twitter ID and adding @btleads. This will create a fake email address and ensure that all the leads that are funneled into kvCORE have unique contact records. You can then edit this in their CRM when their actual email address is available.

Here's another example using Gmail instead of Twitter, to highlight some of the differences between triggers. The available actions depend on what the specific program can provide via their API to Zapier.

There are many different fields that you can specify for adding leads to BoldTrail. You can create hashtags, add notes, and you can even specify a custom lead source. This lead source can be used in lead routing rules, and hashtags can be used to automatically assign smart campaigns! Your options for automating what happens when these leads flow in are (almost) endless.

Clicking ‘Continue’ will then display a report of the data that was entered, and you can verify that the fields are set up as you like.

Here I highlighted the data I picked out from Twitter to send as a test lead. The fields that have been matched will show in the top half of the screenshot, whereas the fields that don’t have a match from the trigger app will show in the bottom.

At the bottom, click the blue 'Test & Continue’' button. If it completes successfully then you'll see a new test lead in your account.

After a successful test, you can turn on the Zap. This means that it will trigger for all new leads going forward. You can turn it on by clicking the ‘Turn on Zap’ button shown below.

Zapier campaign actions can help trigger events outside of BoldTrail using your Smart Campaigns. This action is designed as an alternative that is much easier to digest than webhooks. If you are familiar with Zapier, you can use a Zapier campaign action to trigger a Zap.

When the Zapier campaign action is triggered, the information on the contact is passed through to Zapier, so you can do something with it outside of BoldTrail. For example, if you wanted to send a postcard as part of your Seller lead Smart Campaign, Zapier would get the Seller's address from BoldTrail for that contact on that campaign. It can then take that address and feed it to an app that is also connected to Zapier, such as thanks.io. thanks.io can then take that Seller info and send out a handwritten postcard.

Before you can create a campaign Zap, you must first create the campaign action that will trigger the Zap. It's important to do this first because you are going to be using something called a Zap ID, which is generated when you create a campaign action. This Zap ID is going to be used as a filter in Zapier, so the Zap will only run for the contacts who are on that specific campaign.

If you do not add the filter, the Zap will run every time a Zapier action is triggered in any Smart Campaign in your BoldTrail database.

When creating the action, copy down the Zap ID to a file or note that's easily accessible.

Now that you have your action created, and your ID copied and ready, you can create a new Zap.

In Zapier, create a new Zap, and choose kvCORE as the starting point. You will choose the 'Campaign Action' trigger.

After clicking 'Continue', connect your BoldTrail account. Click 'Continue' again.

Next, paste the Zap ID that you copied from the campaign action you created. Click 'Continue'.

You can then test your trigger before finishing it. Click 'Test Trigger'.

On the following screen, Zapier will pull contacts from three different smart campaigns (they can be found in the dropdown menu). Pick a contact that has the kind of info in it that you want to use (such as a full seller address). Once you've found a contact with the necessary information select 'Continue'.

Even though this campaign that was found is NOT the campaign that you created an action for, you can select it anyway. This is why the Zap ID is going to be used as a filter.

At this stage, your trigger is set up. Zapier has connected to a campaign to use as an example, and now you have to tell Zapier what you want to do with the contact that is on this campaign.

Select 'Filter' from the right-hand side of the next screen.

Next, you only want this Zap to fire if the specific campaign action you added to the Smart Campaign is triggered. Therefore, for the filter, start by selecting the Zap ID as the starting point in the far left dropdown menu.

In the middle menu, select '(Text) Exactly matches.'

In the final field to the right, paste in your Zap ID from your campaign action once again.

After filling in the 3 sections click 'Continue' on the bottom left.

With this step configured, you can add the next step. Here you can connect the app that you want to perform the next task with. For example, sending a postcard using thanks.io.

Select the action even that you'd like to take place. In this case 'Send Postcard'.

Next, connect your thanks.io account and click 'Continue'.

In order for thanks.io to send postcards, it requires contact info. The Smart Campaign was connected in the first step of setting up this Zap using the API key & choosing the correct campaign example. Now using that example info you can connect the rest of the fields.

Once your data is matched to the required fields (some are optional in this case), select 'Continue. Then you will see a summary to test. Click 'Test & Continue' on the bottom right.

If you test successfully you can save and enable this zap. Now, your Smart Campaign can send postcards from an outside system using a Zap! Or, if not postcards, anything else that connects to Zapier!

Please Note: In the case of thanks.io, in the above example 'Full Address' was selected to input the seller's address for simplicity's sake. In reality, you must set the Street Address, City, State, etc separately.

In the case of some third parties like API Nation, you may need to contact them if your leads are showing up in BoldTrail as 'NULL' or 'Manual' for the Source name. This likely means that a Source name was not specified when the API connection was set up. If you are building Zaps or using third-party API's, be sure the 'Source' is set (at the source.)

For example, when setting up a Zap, you can set the Source for the leads that will be fed to BoldTrail from that zap:

If the Source is set and you continue to have these issues please reach out to the third party to assist with troubleshooting!

BoldTrail offers many ways to move leads from other systems into your Smart CRM such as lead imports via a CSV file, Zillow, the Lead Dropbox, and many others! Zapier's lead parsing has proven to be an easy, reliable way for Agents to import leads, and has become a fan favorite!

While the directions will be included below Zapier's help article and video are attached here to make your life a little easier.

Signup on parser.zapier.com and create your first mailbox with an email address (ex: shipping123@robot.zapier.com). Send the Zapier team an email (auto-forwarded emails work best!) to use as the basic template.

Simply highlight and name the text that you want to extract from future emails matching the template.

Choose which pieces of the email you wish to send as data to BoldTrail!

All emails sent to the mailbox will now be parsed and extracted. Data will be saved and accessible on your dashboard!

You will need to create a Zap connecting your parser mailbox to kvCORE and then you're all set!
​

Have more questions? Please reach out to Customer Support via the blue chat bubble to the right or by emailing support@insiderealestate.com!

(Keywords: zap, Zapier, MOJO)