Capturing leads with the Lead Received webhook trigger

The Lead Received (Webhook) trigger lets any outside source — a landing page, a portal like Zillow, or a tool with no native integration — push a lead straight into a SAMI OS workflow. You get a unique URL to send lead data to, then map the incoming fields into a Create Contact step and everything that follows.

How the webhook trigger works

When you pick this trigger, SAMI OS generates a webhook URL just for that workflow. Anything that can send an HTTP POST — a form tool, a portal, a Zapier or Make scenario — posts a lead's details as a JSON payload to that URL. Each post enrolls a new contact and runs your steps.

Because the payload comes from an outside system, SAMI OS can't know its shape ahead of time. So the trigger shows no available fields until a real lead actually arrives. Once one does, every field in the payload — name, phone, email, and anything else you send — becomes a token you can drop into later steps.

Set up the trigger and capture a payload

1. Add the trigger

   Open your workflow from Workflows, click the placeholder trigger node, and choose Lead Received (Webhook) from the Inbound group in the picker.

2. Copy your webhook URL

   In the side panel, the Required setup section shows your Webhook URL — click it to copy. The helper text reads "POST lead data to this URL to trigger the workflow."

3. Send a test lead

   Configure your external source to POST a lead to that URL, then send one real or test lead through it. The builder watches for it and confirms with "Webhook data received! Your trigger is ready."

4. Pull in the fields

   In the trigger's test panel, click Find new records to load the payload. Each field appears as a row; click one to copy its {{trigger.…}} token for use in your steps.

Map the payload into your steps

With a captured payload in hand, add a Create Contact step right after the trigger. In each field, use the data picker (the "Use workflow data" plus button) to insert the matching trigger token — map the incoming name into First Name and Last Name, the phone value into Phone, and email into Email. See data mapping tokens for how the picker and {{trigger.…}} paths work.

From there, the same trigger and contact data flows into every downstream step: send a welcome text, assign an agent, or kick off a SAMI Bots call. Anything the payload carried is available the moment the contact is created.

When to use Poll External API instead

A webhook is push-based — the source has to send leads to you. If a system can't post out but does expose a way to read leads, use the Poll External API trigger in the picker's Advanced group instead. It checks the outside service on a schedule and enrolls contacts from the results it pulls back. Like the webhook, it only lists fields after a successful poll returns real data, so run a test before mapping. For pushing leads back out to other tools, pair either trigger with an App Action step.

Related articles

• Choosing a trigger to start your workflow
• Personalize steps with data mapping tokens
• Connecting apps and adding App Action steps