Applicable for: Bot Admins and Team Members
NoForm AI uses artificial intelligence to identify potential customers through natural conversation, removing the need for traditional static forms. This guide explains the automated lead qualification pipeline and how you can use the Leads Inbox to manage your sales opportunities effectively.
The Visitor-to-Lead Pipeline
The system categorizes website interactions into a three-stage progression to help you understand where a potential customer sits in your funnel:
Visitor: This is the entry point. When someone loads a page with the NoForm widget, the system captures their unique ID, the URL they are visiting, and geographic data (country, city, timezone) derived from their IP address.
Chat: A visitor moves to this stage once they send their first message. The system creates a user record, generates a conversation title from the first 100 characters of their message, and sets the initial status to "Unknown".
Lead: A chat is promoted to a Lead when the AI successfully extracts "initiatory" information—specifically an email address or phone number—from the natural flow of conversation.
How AI Extracts Lead Details
Instead of forcing users to fill out a form, NoForm AI analyzes the conversation transcript to find contact details. This process happens in the background after a conversation has been idle for 15 minutes.
The AI looks for missing attributes, such as "Email" or "Phone," and appends them to the user's record. To ensure the conversation remains natural, the chatbot is instructed to weave these requests into the dialogue. Furthermore, if the bot asks for a lead attribute like an email, the system automatically hides "quick reply" buttons to let the visitor type their information freely.
Managing Your Leads Inbox
The Leads page serves as your central hub for all qualified prospects and is located under the Leads section in the main sidebar.
Column Name | Description |
Location | The country of the lead based on their IP address; shows "Unidentified" if unknown. |
Contacted | Displays a green checkmark and the staff member's name if follow-up has occurred. |
Email / Phone | The contact details extracted by the AI, including a button to copy them to your clipboard. |
Date | The date of the lead's last activity, formatted as dd/MM/yyyy. |
The table loads 20 items at a time and fetches more as you scroll down the page. When you click on a lead to view details, the table condenses to make room for a side panel containing the full conversation and summary.
Filtering and Searching for Leads
You can refine your view using several filtering options located at the top of the Leads page:
Date Range: Use the date picker in the header to filter leads by their last activity (e.g., Today, Last 30 days, or Year to date).
Location Filter: This allows you to find leads by country using text operators like "Contains," "Starts with," or "Exact Match".
Keyword Search: This performs a server-side search through all message content to find specific terms. There is a 300-millisecond delay (debounce) while typing to ensure the search is efficient.
Chat ID: If you have a specific chat ID number, you can enter it to find that exact conversation.
Tracking Follow-ups with "Contacted" Status
The "Contacted" feature helps your team coordinate by marking which leads have been handled.
To mark a lead, open the lead details panel and check the Contacted box at the top. The system will record the current timestamp and the name of the staff member who performed the action. For security and accuracy, only the person who marked the lead as contacted—or a user with the Admin role—can unmark it. If you do not have permission, the checkbox will appear as a static icon that cannot be changed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the "Unknown" status mean?
The "Unknown" status is the default for every new chat and means the system has not yet processed the conversation for lead qualification. This usually happens because the conversation is still active or has not yet hit the 15-minute idleness threshold required for AI processing.
Why do some chats show as "Not Lead"?
A chat is classified internally as "Not Lead" if the AI processes the conversation after it goes idle but finds no initiatory attributes, such as an email or phone number. These interactions will appear in your "Chats" view but will not be listed in the "Leads" section.
How do I know when a new lead is captured?
When a chat is promoted to Lead status, the system automatically sends email notifications to the bot's admin team. If you have a webhook URL configured, NoForm AI will also send a webhook event and track the conversion for your analytics.
Benefits
Automated Qualification: AI identifies leads 24/7 without requiring manual review or rigid forms.
Enhanced Team Coordination: The "Contacted" status and staff tracking prevent multiple team members from reaching out to the same lead.
Contextual Insights: Every lead includes an AI-generated conversation summary, giving you an immediate overview of the prospect's needs before you contact them.
Powerful Organization: Flexible filtering by location, date, and keywords allows you to prioritize the leads that matter most to your business.