LeadPress Documentation
Welcome to the official LeadPress documentation. This guide walks you through everything from initial setup to using the full feature set of the plugin. Use the sidebar to navigate between sections, or scroll through at your own pace.
Installation
Installing LeadPress takes just a few minutes. Follow these steps to get the plugin up and running on your WordPress site.
- Download the plugin. Log in to your LeadPress account at
leadpress.co/account and download the latest leadpress.zip file.
- Upload to WordPress. In your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Click Choose File, select the
leadpress.zip file you downloaded, and click Install Now.
- Activate the plugin. Once the upload completes, click the Activate Plugin button. LeadPress will appear in your admin sidebar immediately.
- Automatic database setup. On activation, LeadPress creates the necessary database tables automatically. There is no manual migration step required. The plugin creates tables for leads, contacts, activity logs, pipeline stages, and settings.
Tip: Updating LeadPress
To update the plugin, download the latest version from your account and repeat the upload process. WordPress will prompt you to replace the existing version. Your data and settings are preserved during updates.
If you prefer installing via FTP, extract the leadpress.zip archive on your computer and upload the resulting leadpress folder to /wp-content/plugins/ on your server. Then activate the plugin from the Plugins page in WordPress.
Quick Start
After activating LeadPress, follow these steps to start capturing and managing leads right away:
- Open the LeadPress menu. Click on LeadPress in your WordPress admin sidebar. You will land on the main dashboard, which displays an overview of your CRM pipeline.
- Create your pipeline stages. Click the + Add Stage button on the Kanban board to create your first stages. Common setups include stages like New, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, and Won. You can add as many stages as you need and rename them at any time by double-clicking the stage title.
- Enable form integrations. Go to LeadPress → Settings → Integrations. Toggle on whichever form plugins you have installed (WPForms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, or SureForms). LeadPress will auto-detect which form plugins are active on your site.
- Test a submission. Submit a test entry through one of your forms. Return to the LeadPress dashboard, and you should see a new lead card appear in your first pipeline stage.
- Manage your leads. Click on any lead card to open the full lead detail view, where you can update status, add notes, change the pipeline stage, and view the original form submission data.
You are all set!
From this point on, every form submission captured by your enabled integrations will automatically create a new lead in LeadPress. No extra configuration is needed for basic use.
System Requirements
LeadPress is designed to be lightweight and compatible with most WordPress hosting environments. The minimum requirements are:
- WordPress: Version 5.8 or higher
- PHP: Version 7.4 or higher (PHP 8.0+ recommended for best performance)
- MySQL: Version 5.7 or higher, or MariaDB 10.3 or higher
- Browser: Any modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) for the admin interface
PHP Version Notice
If your hosting environment runs PHP 7.3 or earlier, the plugin will not activate. Contact your hosting provider to upgrade your PHP version, or use the PHP version switcher in your hosting control panel.
LeadPress does not require any external API services, third-party accounts, or cron job configuration to function. All data is stored locally in your WordPress database.
General Settings
Access General Settings by navigating to LeadPress → Settings → General. This is where you configure the core behavior of the plugin.
- Company Name: Set your company or organization name. This appears in email notifications and exported reports.
- Default Lead Status: Choose the status that new leads are assigned when they are created. Options are New, In Progress, Done, Lost, and Invalid/Spam. Most users leave this set to New.
- Leads Per Page: Control how many leads appear per page in the list view. The default is 20, but you can increase or decrease this depending on your workflow.
- Kanban Card Display: Choose which fields are visible on Kanban cards. You can toggle the display of email, phone number, status badge, assigned user avatar, source tag, and creation date.
- Dashboard Layout: Select your preferred dashboard layout from three options: Default, Modern, or Compact. See the Dashboard Layouts section below for details on each.
Integrations
LeadPress integrates with popular WordPress form plugins to automatically capture submissions as CRM leads. Navigate to LeadPress → Settings → Integrations to manage your form integrations.
Supported Form Plugins
- WPForms — Both Lite and Pro versions are supported.
- Gravity Forms — All versions supported.
- Contact Form 7 (CF7) — The most widely used free form plugin.
- SureForms — Full support for SureForms submissions.
How It Works
LeadPress automatically detects which form plugins are installed and active on your WordPress site. On the Integrations settings page, each detected plugin appears with a toggle switch. Simply turn on the toggle for any plugin you want to capture leads from.
Auto-Detection
If a form plugin is not installed or not activated, its toggle will be grayed out with a note indicating the plugin was not found. You do not need to configure anything manually — LeadPress checks for the plugin in your database before attempting to hook into it.
Field Mapping
When a form is submitted, LeadPress intelligently reads the form data and maps fields automatically:
- Name fields (first name, last name, full name) → Contact Name
- Email fields → Contact Email
- Phone fields → Contact Phone
- Subject fields → CRM Title (lead title)
- Message / textarea fields → CRM Description (lead body)
The mapping is intelligent — it looks at field names, labels, and types to determine the best match. In most cases, no manual mapping is required. Custom field mapping options will be available in a future release.
Notifications
LeadPress can send email notifications when new leads are created. Navigate to LeadPress → Settings → Notifications to configure this.
- Enable New Lead Notifications: Toggle this on to receive an email every time a new lead is captured from a form submission.
- Notification Email Address: By default, notifications are sent to the WordPress admin email. You can override this with a custom email address, or enter multiple addresses separated by commas.
Notification emails include the lead title, contact name, email address, phone number, the form source, and a direct link to the lead in your WordPress dashboard.
Email Deliverability
LeadPress uses the built-in WordPress wp_mail() function for sending notifications. If you experience delivery issues, consider using an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP to improve reliability.
Dashboard Layouts
LeadPress offers three dashboard layout options, allowing you to choose the visual style that best fits your workflow. Change layouts in LeadPress → Settings → General → Dashboard Layout.
Default Layout
A clean, standard interface with a white background, clear card borders, and comfortable spacing. This is the recommended layout for most users. It prioritizes readability and is easy on the eyes during long sessions of lead management.
Modern Layout
A contemporary design featuring glassmorphism effects (frosted glass cards with translucent backgrounds), subtle gradient accents on headers and action buttons, and soft shadow depth. This layout gives your CRM dashboard a polished, premium look.
Compact Layout
A dense, data-focused layout that reduces card padding and spacing to display more leads on screen at once. Ideal for teams managing a high volume of leads who want to minimize scrolling and see more information at a glance.
Instant Switching
Layout changes take effect immediately. You can switch between layouts at any time without affecting your data or pipeline configuration.
Kanban Board
The Kanban board is the heart of LeadPress. It provides a visual overview of your entire sales pipeline, with leads organized as cards across customizable stages.
Drag and Drop
Move leads between stages by dragging and dropping cards. When you drop a lead into a new stage, the change is saved automatically. This makes it fast to progress leads through your pipeline as deals move forward.
Unlimited Stages
There is no limit on the number of pipeline stages you can create. Click the + Add Stage button at the end of the board to add a new column. Stages can be reordered by dragging the stage header.
Quick-Add Leads
Click the + button at the top of any stage column to create a new lead directly in that stage. A quick-add form appears inline, letting you enter a title and basic contact information without leaving the board.
Rename Stages
Double-click on any stage title to rename it. Press Enter to save or Escape to cancel. Stage names can be anything that fits your workflow — there are no restrictions.
Color-Coded Status Indicators
Each lead card displays a color-coded status badge showing its current status: New (blue), In Progress (amber), Done (green), Lost (red), and Invalid/Spam (gray). This provides instant visual feedback on the state of each lead.
Lead Management
LeadPress provides a comprehensive set of tools for creating, editing, and tracking leads through your sales process.
Creating Leads Manually
While most leads are captured automatically from form submissions, you can also create leads manually. Click the Add Lead button in the top-right corner of the dashboard to open the lead creation modal. The modal contains three sections:
- Lead Info: Enter the lead title (subject) and description (message body). Select the initial status and pipeline stage.
- Contact: Enter the contact's name, email address, and phone number. If a contact with the same email already exists, LeadPress will link the lead to the existing contact record.
- Pipeline: Choose which pipeline stage the lead should be placed in and, optionally, assign the lead to a team member.
Editing Leads
Click on any lead card (in Kanban or List view) to open the single lead detail view. The detail view is organized into tabs:
- Details: Edit the lead title, description, status, stage, assigned user, and contact information. Each field is accompanied by an icon for easy identification.
- Submission Data: View the raw form data exactly as it was submitted. This includes all form fields, even those not mapped to CRM fields. Useful for reviewing the complete original message.
- Notes: Add internal notes to a lead for your team. Notes are timestamped and attributed to the user who created them. Use notes for follow-up reminders, call summaries, or any context you want to track.
- Activity: A chronological log of every action taken on this lead — creation, stage changes, status updates, notes added, and more. Activity entries cannot be deleted, ensuring a complete audit trail.
Lead Statuses
Every lead has one of five fixed statuses:
- New: The lead has just been created and has not been reviewed yet.
- In Progress: The lead is being actively worked on — calls made, emails sent, negotiations ongoing.
- Done: The lead has been successfully converted (deal won, inquiry resolved, etc.).
- Lost: The lead did not convert — the deal was lost, the prospect went with a competitor, or the opportunity is no longer viable.
- Invalid/Spam: The lead is not a genuine inquiry. This covers spam submissions, test entries, or irrelevant messages.
Status vs. Stage
Statuses and stages are separate concepts. Stages represent where a lead is in your pipeline (e.g., Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation). Statuses represent the outcome or current state of the lead (e.g., New, In Progress, Done). A lead can be in the "Proposal" stage with an "In Progress" status.
LeadPress automatically creates contact records from form submissions, building a database of everyone who has reached out through your website.
Automatic Contact Creation
When a new lead is captured, LeadPress checks whether a contact with the same email address already exists. If not, a new contact record is created automatically. If a matching contact is found, the new lead is linked to the existing contact, keeping all interactions grouped together.
Contact Profiles
Each contact record stores the following information:
- Full Name (first and last name)
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- City
- Gender
- Company
Gravatar Integration
Contact avatars are pulled automatically from Gravatar using the contact's email address. If the contact has a Gravatar profile, their photo will appear throughout the CRM — on contact cards, lead detail views, and Kanban cards.
Associated Leads
On each contact's profile page, you can see a list of all leads associated with that contact. This gives you a complete interaction history: every form submission, every inquiry, every deal — all tied to one person.
Export and Import Contacts
You can export your entire contact list as a CSV file for use in other tools, email marketing platforms, or spreadsheets. You can also import contacts from a CSV file to bulk-populate your contact database. See the Import & Export section for details.
Activity Logs
LeadPress tracks every action taken within the CRM, giving you a complete audit trail for compliance, team oversight, and historical reference.
What Gets Tracked
The following actions are recorded automatically:
- Form submissions (new lead created from a form)
- Stage changes (lead moved from one pipeline stage to another)
- Status changes (e.g., "New" to "In Progress")
- Notes added to leads
- Lead assignments (assigned or reassigned to a team member)
- Lead imports and exports
- Contact creation and updates
- Manual lead creation
Global Activity Log
Navigate to LeadPress → Activity Logs to view all activity across the CRM. The global log supports filtering by:
- Action Type: Filter by specific actions (e.g., only stage changes, only notes).
- Object Type: Filter by leads, contacts, or settings.
- Search: Free-text search across activity descriptions.
Per-Lead Activity
Each lead's detail view includes an Activity tab showing only the actions related to that specific lead. This tab provides a focused timeline of everything that has happened with a lead from the moment it was created.
Activity entries cannot be deleted.
This is by design. The activity log serves as an immutable audit trail, ensuring that the history of every lead is preserved for accountability and compliance purposes.
Analytics
The Analytics dashboard gives you a data-driven overview of your CRM performance. Navigate to LeadPress → Analytics to access it.
Overview Cards
At the top of the Analytics page, summary cards display key metrics at a glance:
- Total Leads: The total number of leads in your CRM.
- New: Leads with "New" status.
- In Progress: Leads currently being worked on.
- Won: Leads marked as "Done" (successfully converted).
- Lost: Leads that did not convert.
- Invalid: Leads marked as Invalid/Spam.
- Conversion Rate: The percentage of total leads that were marked as Done (won).
- Today: Leads created today.
- This Week: Leads created in the current week.
Charts and Visualizations
Below the overview cards, interactive charts provide deeper insights into your lead data. All charts are powered by Chart.js.
- Lead Trends (30 days): A line chart showing the number of new leads created each day over the past 30 days. Useful for spotting trends and seasonal patterns.
- By Stage: A bar chart showing how many leads are in each pipeline stage. Helps identify bottlenecks in your pipeline.
- By Status: A doughnut chart breaking down leads by their current status.
- By Source: A chart showing which form plugins are generating the most leads (WPForms, Gravity Forms, CF7, SureForms).
- By Country: A chart displaying leads grouped by country, based on available location data.
- Referrers: Shows which websites or pages are sending traffic that converts into leads.
- UTM Tracking: Breaks down leads by UTM campaign, source, and medium parameters captured from the form submission URL.
UTM Tracking
LeadPress automatically captures UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign) from the URL when a form is submitted. No additional setup is needed — just make sure your marketing links include UTM parameters.
Team Assignments
LeadPress supports assigning leads to team members, so everyone knows who is responsible for following up on each lead.
Assigning Leads
You can assign a lead to any WordPress user with an Administrator, Editor, or Author role. To assign a lead, open the lead detail view and select a user from the Assigned To dropdown. You can also assign leads during manual creation or via the quick-edit option on the Kanban board.
Default Assignment
In LeadPress → Settings → General, you can set a default assignee. When a new lead is created (either from a form submission or manually), it will be automatically assigned to this user. Leave this blank to have leads start unassigned.
Auto-Assignment Rules
For more advanced workflows, navigate to LeadPress → Settings → Lead Assignments. Here you can create auto-assignment rules per pipeline stage. For example, you might want all leads that enter the "Qualified" stage to be automatically assigned to your sales manager, while leads in the "Support" stage go to your support team lead.
Visual Indicators
On the Kanban board, assigned leads display the user's avatar in the bottom corner of the card. In list view, the assigned user's name appears in a dedicated column. This makes it easy to see at a glance who is handling each lead.
Import & Export
LeadPress supports importing and exporting data as CSV files, making it easy to migrate data, create backups, or share information with other tools.
Exporting Leads
Go to LeadPress → Tools → Export and select Leads. The exported CSV file includes the following columns:
- Lead Title
- Contact Email
- Contact Phone
- Status (New, In Progress, Done, Lost, Invalid/Spam)
- Pipeline Stage
- Tags
- UTM Source, UTM Medium, UTM Campaign
- Created Date
You can use filters before exporting to only include leads matching specific criteria (e.g., only "Done" leads, or only leads from a certain date range).
Importing Leads
Go to LeadPress → Tools → Import and select Leads. The import process works as follows:
- Upload your CSV file. Drag and drop the file onto the upload area, or click to browse. LeadPress accepts standard CSV files with headers in the first row.
- Map columns. LeadPress uses smart column mapping to automatically match your CSV columns to CRM fields. Review the suggested mapping and adjust if needed. For example, if your CSV has a column named "Full Name," LeadPress will map it to the Contact Name field.
- Review and import. Preview the first few rows to verify the mapping looks correct, then click Import. LeadPress will create new lead and contact records for each row.
Duplicate Handling
During import, if a contact with the same email address already exists, LeadPress will link the imported lead to the existing contact rather than creating a duplicate. Lead records are always created as new entries.
Exporting and Importing Contacts
Contacts can be exported and imported separately from leads. Go to LeadPress → Tools → Export or Import and select Contacts. The contact CSV includes name, email, phone, city, gender, and company fields.
WhatsApp Integration Coming Soon
We are building a WhatsApp integration that will allow you to communicate with leads directly from within LeadPress. This feature will connect to the WhatsApp Business API to enable two-way messaging without leaving your CRM.
Planned capabilities include:
- Send and receive WhatsApp messages from the lead detail view.
- Message templates: Create reusable message templates for common follow-ups, greetings, and responses. Templates will support dynamic placeholders like
{{contact_name}} and {{lead_title}}.
- Conversation history: Every WhatsApp message sent or received will be logged in the lead's activity timeline, providing a complete conversation record.
- Quick replies: One-click replies from the Kanban board without opening the full lead detail view.
While LeadPress currently relies on third-party form plugins (WPForms, Gravity Forms, CF7, SureForms), we are developing a built-in form builder so you will not need any additional plugins to capture leads.
Planned capabilities include:
- Drag-and-drop form creation: Build forms visually with a drag-and-drop interface. Add text fields, dropdowns, checkboxes, file uploads, and more.
- Direct CRM field mapping: Map form fields directly to LeadPress CRM fields during form creation. No post-submission mapping needed.
- Embeddable anywhere: Place forms on any page or post using a shortcode or Gutenberg block.
- Conditional logic: Show or hide fields based on user input.
- Styling controls: Customize form appearance to match your theme without writing CSS.
Mail Communication Coming Soon
A built-in email communication system is on the roadmap, enabling you to send emails to leads directly from the CRM interface.
Planned capabilities include:
- Send emails from the lead view: Compose and send emails without switching to your email client. Emails are sent from your configured WordPress email or a custom SMTP connection.
- Email templates: Create reusable email templates with rich text formatting and dynamic merge fields like
{{contact_name}}, {{company}}, and {{lead_title}}.
- Open and click tracking: Track when recipients open your emails and which links they click. Tracking data will appear in the lead's activity timeline.
- Conversation thread: All emails sent to and received from a lead will be displayed as a threaded conversation within the lead detail view, similar to a traditional email client.
More Integrations Coming Soon
We are expanding LeadPress's integration capabilities to connect with more tools and platforms.
Planned integrations include:
- Zapier and Webhooks: Connect LeadPress to thousands of apps through Zapier, or use outgoing webhooks to send lead data to any external service when specific events occur (new lead, status change, stage change).
- WooCommerce: Automatically create leads from WooCommerce orders, abandoned carts, and customer inquiries. Track e-commerce customers through your sales pipeline alongside form-generated leads.
- REST API: A full REST API for LeadPress, enabling external applications to create, read, update, and delete leads, contacts, and pipeline stages programmatically. The API will use WordPress REST API authentication and follow standard REST conventions.
- Additional form plugins: Support for Fluent Forms, Formidable Forms, Ninja Forms, and other popular WordPress form builders.
Feature Requests
Have an integration or feature you would like to see? We prioritize development based on user feedback. Reach out to us at support@leadpress.co with your suggestions.