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The outbound lead pipeline is a kanban board for your cold-email leads. Each column is a stage you define, and each stage carries two pieces of configuration: an entry rule (what puts a lead in this column) and CRM automation (what entering this column should create in your CRM — a contact, a company, a deal with a value). Once configured, the board runs itself: a prospect replies “interested”, the lead lands in your Interested column, and a deal appears in your CRM pipeline — no copy-paste, no manual data entry. Find the board at Marketing → Outbound → Cold Email, on the Leads tab. Use the List / Pipeline toggle to switch views — Pipeline is the default.
This board manages leads from your cold-email campaigns. It feeds your CRM but does not replace it — contacts, companies, and deals it creates live in /dashboard/crm/ like any other record. The Sales AI Co-pilot can then work those records as usual.

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The board

  • Columns are your stages, in the order you set. An Unassigned column always exists — a lead that matches no rule lands there instead of disappearing.
  • Counts are exact. Each column shows its true total and pages in more cards with Load more.
  • Drag to move. Dragging a card is a human decision, so it pins the lead (a Pinned badge appears) and automatic rules will not move it back.
  • Cards show status at a glance — reply and open counts, an Interested badge, the lead’s tags and category, and an In CRM badge once a CRM contact exists for the lead.

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Configure a stage

1

Open the configuration

Click Configure in the board header (or Configure pipeline if the board is empty).
2

Create a stage

Give it a name and a color. Drag stages to reorder — the board mirrors the order here.
3

Set the entry rule

Under Leads enter this stage when, choose the signals that place a lead in this column. A live “N leads match” count updates as you edit, so you can see the rule’s reach before anything runs.
4

Choose what entering creates

Under When a lead enters, decide whether the sequence pauses and which CRM records get created.
A stage with no entry rule shows “No rule yet, so no lead can land here.” Add at least one signal — a category, a tag, or a toggle — or the column stays empty.

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Entry rules

A lead enters a stage when it matches any of the signals you enable: You can additionally scope the rule with Only these campaigns — leave it empty to match across all campaigns, or select specific ones to gate the stage. As new replies and signals arrive, the board re-evaluates in the background and moves matching leads into place — except leads you’ve dragged by hand, which stay pinned where you put them.

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CRM automation

Under When a lead enters, each stage offers:
  • Pause their sending sequence — stops further emails to leads that reach this stage. This is a per-stage choice: leave it off and the sequence keeps running even after the lead moves here.
  • Create or update a CRM contact — creates the contact, or links and updates the existing one if the lead is already in your CRM. No duplicates.
  • Also create the company — creates the lead’s company alongside the contact.
  • Also create a deal — creates a deal in a CRM pipeline of your choice.

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Deal settings

When Also create a deal is on, you must pick a CRM pipeline and a Deal stage — until both are chosen, no deal can be created and the stage shows a “needs setup” chip. Then optionally set: If no value source yields a number, the pipeline’s default deal value applies; failing that, the deal is created without a value — you can fill it in later in the CRM.

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Automation guarantees

  • Each action runs once per lead per stage. A lead that leaves and re-enters a stage never gets a second deal.
  • Deals are created, then left alone. Moving the card afterward does not update, move, or delete the deal — the CRM stays yours to manage.
  • Bulk creation asks first. Turning automation on when more than 200 leads already match the rule prompts you with the exact count before anything is created. Records for a large backlog are created in the background over the next few sweeps.
  • Drags ask first too. Dropping a card into an automation stage by hand shows a confirmation (“…is set up to create a contact, a deal in your CRM. Run that for this lead now?”) — a drag never quietly writes to your CRM.

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Stage outcomes

Each stage can be marked Won, Lost, or Neither in its configuration. Use this to designate your terminal columns — for example, mark “Meeting booked” as Won and “Not interested” as Lost — so your board reads as a true pipeline.

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Troubleshooting

Open Configure and check the stage’s entry rule. If it shows “No rule yet, so no lead can land here”, add a category, tag, or toggle. If a rule exists, check the live match count — a count of 0 means no current lead satisfies it, and check whether a campaign filter is excluding the leads you expect.
A deal needs a target. If the stage shows an amber “needs setup” chip, open it and choose a CRM pipeline and Deal stage — until both are set, nothing is created. If you have no CRM pipeline yet, create one in the CRM first.
Unassigned holds every lead that matches no stage rule — it is a to-triage column, not an error. Either broaden a stage’s rule to catch them or drag them into place by hand (they’ll stay pinned).
Look for the Pinned badge — leads placed by hand are exempt from automatic rules. Drag the card where you want it, or into Unassigned to let the rules take over again on a later change.
The stage had no fixed value and the lead field was missing or non-numeric, and the CRM pipeline has no default deal value. Set a fixed amount on the stage, fix the lead field name, or set a default value on the pipeline.

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Next steps

Cold Email

Set up campaigns, sending accounts, and the BDR inbox.

CRM contacts

Work the contacts and deals your stages create.

Sales AI Co-pilot

Let the Co-pilot draft follow-ups for the deals that land in your CRM.