Lead pipelines
What a pipeline is, where it lives, and how to create, rename and delete one
Path: Communication > Leads
A pipeline is a row of stages that a lead moves through, from the first message to Won or Lost. Every account starts with one pipeline and can add more, for example one for product buyers and one for wholesale enquiries. Each pipeline has its own stages, its own goal for the bot, and its own rules about which new contacts land on it.
The Leads page has two views, switched with the buttons at the top:
- Board — the columns and cards of the selected pipeline. See The Leads board.
- Results — how the leads of each team member ended. See Results and lead owners.
What you can set up, and where
| What | Where | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Stages: add, rename, reorder, delete, the entry stage, and what the bot does in each stage | The menu of each column on the Board | Pipeline stages |
| Goal, who belongs here, who closes the sale, how the bot moves contacts | Pipeline selector → Pipeline settings | Pipeline settings |
| Which new contacts land on which pipeline, ads, comments, campaigns | Pipeline settings → More options | How leads enter a pipeline |
| What the bot reads, when it suggests or moves a lead | — | How the bot works a pipeline |
| Designing a pipeline for your business | — | Design a pipeline |
The pipeline selector
The button at the top left of the Board shows the name of the pipeline you are looking at. Open it to switch pipelines or to reach these actions:
- Rename pipeline — also changes its icon.
- Delete pipeline — not offered on your main pipeline.
- Pipeline settings — Administrators only.
- + New pipeline.
When you have two or more pipelines, an All pipelines button appears next to the selector. It opens an overview with one card per pipeline showing its number of leads, how many are Won and how many are Lost. Select a card to open that board.
Your main pipeline
The first pipeline is created automatically. It is called Sales and is your main pipeline: it receives every new contact that no other pipeline takes. You can rename it and change its stages, but you cannot delete it.
A new main pipeline starts with the stages New lead, Contacted, Qualified, Booking, Won and Lost, in your account's language. New lead is the entry stage, where new leads land.
Create a pipeline
- Open the pipeline selector and choose + New pipeline.
- Type the Pipeline name (up to 128 characters). Two pipelines cannot share a name; upper and lower case do not count as different.
- Optionally pick an Icon. There are 16 to choose from (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Email, Website, Form, Ad, Phone, Star, Home, Cart, Calendar, People, Tag, Briefcase, Heart) or No icon. The icon appears on lead cards so you can tell pipelines apart.
- Choose how it starts:
- Start with the default stages — New lead, Contacted, Qualified, Booking, Won and Lost.
- Untick it and type a First stage name (up to 64 characters) — the pipeline starts with only that one open stage.
- Start from a template (Administrators) — pick Blank pipeline or one of the templates below.
- Select Save.
Stages you add later from the Board are always open stages; the dashboard has no way to add a Won or Lost stage afterwards. A pipeline started from a single First stage name therefore has no Won or Lost stage. If you want to close leads as Won or Lost on it, start with the default stages or from a template instead.
Templates
A template creates the stages and also fills in the pipeline's goal and what the bot does in each stage. You can edit everything afterwards.
| Template | For | Stages |
|---|---|---|
| General sales | Any business that sells products or services over chat | New, Interested, Ready to buy, Won, Lost |
| Appointments | Businesses that work by appointment: clinics, salons, consultancies | New, Choosing a time, Booked, Won, Lost |
| Real estate | Buyers or tenants looking for a property | New, Searching, Viewing booked, Negotiating, Closed, Lost |
| Online orders | Shops that take orders and payments over chat | New, Building the order, Awaiting payment, Order confirmed, Lost |
| Membership sales | Selling plans or subscriptions with a trial or an activation | New, Evaluating, Trial active, Subscribed, Lost |
Some template stages come with an automatic event already set: Booked and Viewing booked receive contacts whose appointment is confirmed, the Won stage of General sales and Order confirmed receive contacts whose order is confirmed, and Trial active receives a trial start reported by an integration. See How the bot works a pipeline.
You can also apply a template's texts to a pipeline that already exists, from Pipeline settings. See Pipeline settings.
Rename or delete a pipeline
Rename pipeline changes the name and the icon. Delete pipeline also deletes the pipeline's stages. A pipeline that still has contacts cannot be deleted: move them to another pipeline first, by changing each contact's stage. The main pipeline cannot be deleted.
Limits
- Up to 5 pipelines per account, the main one included.
- Up to 15 stages per pipeline, Won and Lost included.
- Pipeline name: up to 128 characters. Stage name: up to 64 characters.
Who can do what
- Anyone who can open Leads can see the boards, drag cards, decline a lead, accept or ignore the bot's suggestions, open a lead and undo a move.
- Only an Administrator sees Pipeline settings, Configure stage, Make this the entry stage and the templates, and only an Administrator can change a lead's owner or send a WhatsApp message to a whole stage.
- Results is available to Administrators and Messages Managers.
If your Leads page looks different
If your Leads page has no Board and Results buttons, or you are an Administrator and do not see Pipeline settings, contact support.