How Leads Get Into Alivo

A lead in Alivo is a contact record for someone who might hire you, along with the conversation history tied to that person. Every job starts as a lead somewhere, and Alivo needs a way to receive it. Most leads arrive in one of two ways: a phone call forwarded into Alivo, or a digital lead sent through an integration. You can also add leads yourself. This guide walks through each path at a high level so you know where your inquiries land and what happens when they do.

Phone Calls and Call Forwarding

The first main path is inbound phone calls. When someone calls your business and that call reaches Alivo, Alivo creates a lead automatically using the caller's phone number. You do not have to type anything in or import a file.

How the call gets to Alivo is call forwarding. Your existing phone system (a cell carrier, a desk phone provider, or another VoIP service, which is just phone service over the internet) is set up to forward calls to an Alivo phone number. That number is assigned to your voice agent in Alivo. Once forwarding is in place, every forwarded call is treated as a new inquiry.

From there, Alivo handles the call based on how your agent is set up. Lilly, the phone agent, can answer, qualify the caller, and book an inspection. Or the call can route to your team during business hours and hand off to the agent after hours. Either way, the lead is captured in your pipeline with a source label tied to that phone number, usually shown as "Call" unless you have given the number a custom label.

Good to know: Call forwarding is about sending calls into Alivo from an outside phone system. That is different from Alivo forwarding a live call out to someone on your team when a handoff is needed. Both use the word "forwarding," but they point in opposite directions.

Digital Lead Sources

The second main path is digital leads: form fills, marketplace inquiries, ad leads, website chats, and anything else that arrives online instead of by phone. These come in through lead source integrations in Alivo. Once connected, new digital leads show up in your pipeline on their own, the same way a forwarded call would.

Native Integrations

Alivo has built-in connections for many common lead sources. You turn on the integration in Settings, and leads from that platform flow in automatically. Native integrations include marketplaces and ad platforms like Angi, Angi Ads, Thumbtack, Networx, Google LSA (Local Services Ads, Google's pay-per-lead ads for local businesses), Roofle, eLocal, Shed App, and others.

Each native integration has its own connection in Alivo. When a lead comes through, Alivo creates the contact record and tags it with the source name so you can see where it came from in reporting.

Alivo Capture Tools

Some digital leads never leave your own marketing. Alivo includes capture tools you can put on your website or share as links: website forms, a chat widget, pop-up widgets, a booking widget, hosted landing pages, and smart text links (shareable links that open a text conversation). These are built into Alivo rather than pulled from a third-party marketplace. Leads from these tools land in the same pipeline as everything else.

Custom Webhooks

Not every lead source has a native button in Alivo. For those, you can use a custom webhook, which is a secure URL that accepts lead data from another system. You create a Custom lead source in Alivo, and Alivo gives you a webhook address. Any outside tool that can send an HTTP POST request (a standard way for apps to push data to each other) can deliver leads to that address.

This is how you connect systems Alivo does not integrate with directly. Automation platforms like Zapier or Make are common choices: when a new lead appears in Facebook, your CRM, a spreadsheet, or almost any other app, the automation sends the contact info to Alivo's custom webhook. Alivo creates the lead and can start a text conversation if an agent is assigned.

Rule of thumb: If Alivo has a native integration for your lead source, use that first. It is the simplest path. Reach for a custom webhook when the source is not on the list or you need to wire up your own workflow.

Evan, the web-lead agent, is built for this digital side of the house. When a lead arrives from an integration or webhook, Evan can respond by text or email in under 60 seconds, qualify the prospect, and move toward booking while the lead is still hot.

Adding Leads Manually

You do not have to wait for a call or an integration to create a lead. You can add one yourself at any time from the pipeline or audience screen using the Add lead button. Enter the contact's name, phone number, and any notes, and the lead appears in your pipeline right away.

For larger batches, Alivo also supports bulk upload from a CSV file (a simple spreadsheet format). That is useful after a home show, a mailing campaign, or any time you have a list of contacts to load at once. Manually added leads are tagged as "Manual Add" or "Bulk Add" so you can tell them apart from inbound sources in reporting.

Keep in mind: Manual leads go into your pipeline immediately, but they do not automatically start a text or call sequence unless you assign them to an agent. Inbound leads from a connected source or forwarded call can kick off follow-up on their own.

What Happens After a Lead Arrives

No matter which path a lead takes in, it ends up in the same place: your Alivo pipeline as a contact you can view, message, and move through stages. The lead keeps its source tag so you know whether it came from a call, Angi, a webhook, or a manual entry.

If the lead is tied to an agent, Alivo can start follow-up automatically. Phone leads may be handled by Lilly on the call or routed to your team. Digital leads can get an instant text from Evan. Everything syncs to your CRM if you have one connected, so you are not entering the same person twice.

The big picture is simple: forward your calls, connect your lead sources, or add contacts by hand. Pick the paths that match how your business actually gets inquiries, and Alivo pulls them into one pipeline instead of scattered voicemails, emails, and spreadsheets.

Still have a question this didn't answer? Reach out to our support team support@alivo.ai and we'll be glad to help.