Take leads from a partner and follow them up automatically

Set up a campaign for a partner's leads, give them the sending details, and build a workflow that assigns, tasks and messages each new lead.

4 min read Updated October 15, 2026

By the end, a partner can send leads straight into Subcontext. Each one is checked against your rules, given an owner, put on that person's task list to call, and sent a first message on the channels they agreed to.

You'll need

  • To be an owner or manager. Only owners can create API credentials.
  • An outreach stream if you want leads messaged automatically (outreach streams are a plan feature).

1. Create the campaign

  1. Go to Campaigns and press New campaign.
  2. Give it a Name. Leave Key blank to make one from the name. The key can't be changed later, because the partner puts it in every lead they send.
  3. Under What counts as a lead here, press Add a rule for each thing a good lead must have, for example Phone "Must be a real phone number". Leads that fail are kept in full but held for review.
  4. Press Create campaign.

2. Give the partner the sending details

  1. Open the campaign's Lead capture tab (a new campaign opens on it) and choose See the example in the API section. Its page shows the address to send to and an example. Copy example copies it.
  2. Create credentials under API applications with New application. Tick the write and crm scopes, and copy the client secret straight away: it's only shown once.
  3. Send the partner the example, the client ID and the secret.

3. Build the workflow

  1. Go to Workflows and press New workflow.
  2. Set When to A lead arrives and Applies to to your new campaign.
  3. Under Then, press Add an action for each step:
    • Assign an owner: choose the person.
    • Create a task: write "Call within the hour", choose Call, and set Due in to 0 days so it's due today. Leave the person as the lead's owner.
    • Add to an outreach stream: choose a stream that sends automatically. Only channels the person agreed to are used; anyone without consent is skipped.
  4. Press Create workflow. It's switched on straight away.

Tasks can only be due on a day, not an hour. To be told when a lead waits too long, a manager can set Alert if a new lead is not contacted within (minutes) (60 by default). You can also build a second workflow on Nobody has contacted them yet that uses Tell the team.

4. Test it

  1. On the workflow's page, type a lead's name, email or phone under Test on a lead and press Test. You'll see each check and what it would do, without anything happening.
  2. For a real run, press New lead on Leads, use your own details, pick the campaign and tick the channels you agree to. Then press Add lead.

Check it worked

  • Your test lead shows the owner, and the task appears in the owner's My work.
  • The workflow's Last few runs, or Activity, shows the run as Worked.
  • The campaign's Overview counts its new leads and shows how they came in, and View leads lists them.

If something goes wrong

  • Leads held: the campaign's Held for review count goes up. On Review, open each held lead to see which rule it failed, then Accept anyway or Reject. Only managers can decide.
  • The partner gets an error: a paused campaign refuses leads until you press Resume. Check the application has both the write and crm scopes.
  • Nothing ran: check the workflow isn't paused and Applies to names the right campaign.

See Campaigns, Workflows and API applications for more.

Or ask the assistant: it can do these steps for you, asking before each change.

Using Subcontext?

Sign in and the assistant can do these steps for you. New here? We'll show you around.

Sign in Talk to Subcontext