So, you’ve put together a slick interactive product tour in Storylane, and now you want to actually get some leads out of it—without babysitting every demo or wrangling CSVs. This guide’s for folks who want to automate lead capture, skip the manual grunt work, and make sure those hard-won demo clicks actually land in your CRM or inbox.
If you’re after a simple, honest walkthrough (minus the hype), you’re in the right place. Let’s get you from “nice tour” to “leads in my pipeline” in a few, actually doable steps.
Step 1: Decide Where Your Leads Should Go
Before you start fiddling with forms, get clear on where you want your leads to end up. Don’t skip this—choosing the wrong destination now means more cleanup later.
Common destinations: - CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc.) - Marketing automation (Mailchimp, Marketo, etc.) - Just your inbox (if you’re small and scrappy) - Google Sheets (if you’re prototyping or want to play with the data)
Pro tip: If you’re not sure, start with a Google Sheet or your email. It’s easier to test and you won’t clog up your real CRM with test entries.
Step 2: Set Up Lead Capture in Storylane
Storylane tours themselves don’t magically know who’s taking the demo. You need to add a form (or “lead gate”) that asks for info—usually name and email—before, during, or after the tour.
Options inside Storylane: - Gate before the tour: Good for high-intent demos, but expect drop-off. - Gate at the end: More folks finish, but some bounce before giving details. - Inline questions: Ask for info partway through (can feel less intrusive).
How to add a lead form: 1. Open your Storylane dashboard. 2. Edit your tour. 3. Find “Lead Capture” or “Lead Gate” in the settings or steps. 4. Drag in a form step. 5. Choose your fields (keep it short—name and email are usually enough). 6. Customize the prompt so it doesn’t sound like a robot. 7. Save and Preview.
What actually works: - Fewer fields = more leads. Don’t overthink the design. - People bail if you ask for phone numbers or job titles unless you have a very good reason. - Avoid gating before the tour unless you truly need to qualify every visitor.
Step 3: Connect Storylane to Your Lead Destination
This is where most people get stuck. It’s not always “one-click” simple, and not all Storylane plans have every integration unlocked.
Direct Integrations (Best if You Have Them)
Storylane has native integrations with some big CRMs and marketing platforms. If you see a direct integration for your tool, use it—it’s the least fragile option.
To connect directly: 1. Go to your Storylane project settings. 2. Look for “Integrations.” 3. Pick your tool (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo). 4. Authenticate and map the form fields. 5. Test it! Submit a dummy lead and check your destination.
Things to watch out for: - Field mapping matters—make sure “Email” in Storylane matches “Email” in your CRM. - Test with a real email, not just “test@test.com,” to avoid spam filters. - If you’re on a free plan, these integrations might be locked—double-check before promising anyone a live demo.
Using Zapier or Make (for Everything Else)
If you don’t see a direct integration, go the automation route with Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat). The idea: when someone fills out a Storylane form, Zapier grabs the info and sends it wherever you want.
How to set up: 1. Create a Zapier account (if you don’t have one). 2. In Storylane, find “Webhooks” (usually in integrations or advanced settings). 3. Create a new Zap: - Trigger: Webhooks by Zapier (catch a hook) - Action: Your destination (e.g., add to Google Sheet, send email, add contact to CRM) 4. Copy the webhook URL from Zapier and paste it into Storylane’s webhook field. 5. Map the form fields in Zapier. 6. Test the flow.
What works well: - Zapier is flexible and doesn’t require code. - You can add logic (e.g., “if demo is X, send to sales; if Y, just add to list”).
What to ignore: - Fancy flows at first. Just get the lead into something you can check. - Don’t try to build a multi-step nurture sequence on day one. Start simple.
If you’re technical:
You can build your own endpoint to catch the webhook and do what you want—just know Storylane’s webhook payload is basic, so you’ll need to handle parsing.
Step 4: Test… and Actually Submit a Few Leads
This sounds obvious, but too many folks skip it. Always run through the tour yourself (and with a friend) to make sure:
- The form appears where you expect.
- Submitting info sends it to the right place.
- You get notifications, if needed.
- The data comes through cleanly (no weird field names or missing info).
Pro tip:
Use a unique email for every test (e.g., yourname+test1@gmail.com), so you can spot duplicates in your CRM or spreadsheet.
Step 5: (Optional) Set Up Notifications and Follow-Ups
If a lead lands in your CRM and just sits there, it’s not worth much. You might want to:
- Get instant notifications: Use your CRM’s alerts, or set Zapier to send you a Slack or email ping.
- Trigger an auto-response: Thank them for checking out the demo, or send a link to book a call.
- Assign leads to sales: If you’ve got a team, automate hand-offs so nobody drops the ball.
What to watch out for: - Don’t over-automate. Start with basic alerts—you can layer on more later. - Make sure your auto-response doesn’t sound like a canned marketing pitch. Keep it human.
Step 6: Monitor and Improve
Once the leads start rolling in, keep an eye on:
- Conversion rates: How many folks submit the form vs. bounce? Too few? Try moving the form later, or asking for less info.
- Lead quality: Are you getting actual buyers, or just tire-kickers?
- Technical hiccups: Sometimes integrations break—check your flows every so often.
What doesn’t work: - Set-it-and-forget-it. Even the best automations need a check-in now and then. - Chasing every feature in Storylane or your CRM. Get the basics right before you add more.
FAQs and Honest Gotchas
Is Storylane’s lead capture GDPR compliant?
Sort of—but you are responsible for how you collect, store, and use data. Add a privacy notice or checkbox if you’re dealing with EU visitors.
Can I capture leads without a form?
Not reliably. You need some info—at minimum, an email—to call it a “lead.”
Will this work for every CRM?
If your CRM is obscure, you might have to use Zapier or a custom webhook. Test before you promise anything to your team.
What about spam or junk leads?
It happens. Don’t overcomplicate things with captchas at first, but be ready to tweak your form or add basic validation if you get a flood of garbage.
Keep It Simple (and Keep Tweaking)
You don’t need a 20-step nurture flow or a fancy AI scoring system to automate lead capture from Storylane product tours. Start with a single, clear form. Pipe those leads somewhere you actually check. Test with real data, and fix what breaks.
Most of the “magic” here is just common sense and a little elbow grease. Spend your time on what matters—improving your product and following up with the leads you get. If you keep it simple, you’ll save your sanity and actually get results.