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How to Use Email Forwarding to Create A Lead Automatically

Email Forwarding lets you turn inbound inquiry emails into Event Temple bookings. When you forward an email to your organization's unique forwarding address, Event Temple's AI extracts the key details and creates a new inquiry.


How It Works

  1. Receive an inquiry — An RFP or sales lead lands in your inbox.

  2. Forward the email — Forward it to your organization's unique Event Temple forwarding address.

  3. Inquiry is created — Event Temple automatically creates a new inquiry, extracting details like contact name, company, phone, and email.


Setting Up Email Forwarding

  1. Go to Settings → Channels → Email Forwarding.

  2. Copy your organization's Forwarding email address (e.g., inbox-xxxxxxxx@mail.eventtemplemail.com).

  3. In your email client, forward any inbound inquiry to that address.


Set Up Automatic Forwarding Rules (Gmail & Outlook)

If your property receives leads from a tourism board, CVB, or city distribution list, you can create an automatic rule in your email client so those emails are forwarded to Event Temple without any manual steps. Every time a lead arrives from that source, it will be sent directly to your Event Temple forwarding address and a new inquiry will be created automatically.

Gmail

  1. Open Gmail and click the Settings gear → See all settings.

  2. Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab and click Create a new filter.

  3. In the From field, enter the sender address (e.g., leads@tourismboard.com) or a domain (e.g., @tourismboard.com). Click Create filter.

  4. Check Forward it to and enter your Event Temple forwarding address (e.g., inbox-xxxxxxxx@mail.eventtemplemail.com).

  5. Click Create filter to save.

Note: Gmail requires you to verify a forwarding address before it can be used in a filter. If you haven't done this yet, go to Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP, add your Event Temple address, and complete the verification step first.

Outlook

  1. Open Outlook and go to Settings (gear icon) → View all Outlook settings.

  2. Select Mail → Rules and click Add new rule.

  3. Give the rule a name (e.g., "Forward Tourism Leads to Event Temple").

  4. Under Add a condition, select From and enter the sender address or domain (e.g., leads@tourismboard.com).

  5. Under Add an action, select Forward to and enter your Event Temple forwarding address.

  6. Click Save.

Tip: You can add multiple conditions (e.g., matching by subject line keyword like "RFP" or "lead") to make the rule more targeted.


Configure Default Settings

Under Settings on the Email Forwarding page, you can set:

  • Assignee — The team member automatically assigned to bookings created via email forwarding.

  • Pipeline Stage — The default stage new bookings will be placed in (e.g., Inquiry).

Click Edit to update these at any time.


Viewing Processed Inquiries

All forwarded emails appear in Inquiries (left navigation). Each inquiry shows:

Column

Description

Summary

AI-generated summary of the email content

Source

How the inquiry was received (e.g., Email, Intake Form)

Status

Processed, Needs Review, Unread, or Failed

Booking

The booking automatically created from the inquiry

Created At

Date and time the inquiry was received

Use the filter tabs — All, Needs Review, Unread, Failed — to quickly find inquiries that need attention.


What Gets Extracted Automatically

When an inquiry is processed, Event Temple's AI attempts to extract:

  • Contact details — Name, email address, phone number, and company

  • Booking details — Start date and end date (where present in the email)

  • AI Summary — A plain-language summary of the inquiry

Each inquiry displays a Confidence score indicating how reliably the details were extracted. If confidence is low (e.g., 30%), review the extracted details before proceeding.


Tips

  • Double-forwarded emails work — If an email was forwarded to you before you forwarded it to Event Temple, the system handles the chain and extracts the original sender's details.

  • A booking is created automatically if confidence level is high — Once processed, you'll see a linked booking (e.g., BK-00210) directly from the inquiry view. Click View Booking to open it.

  • Failed inquiries — If an inquiry fails to process, check the Failed tab and review the original email for formatting issues or missing information.


AI Credits

Email Forwarding uses AI credits to process each inquiry. You can monitor your usage under Settings → Subscription. The free plan includes 100 credits per month, which reset on the 1st of each month with no rollover.

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