If you’re drowning in leads and your CRM is a mess of half-finished notes and forgotten follow-ups, this guide is for you. Integrating Boomerang with your CRM isn’t magic, but it does help make sure leads don’t fall through the cracks. Here’s how to actually make them work together, without the fluff.
What is Boomerang—and Why Bother Integrating?
First things first: Boomerang is an email add-on (mainly for Gmail and Outlook) that lets you schedule messages, set reminders, and pause your inbox. It’s popular because it helps you stay on top of important conversations—especially if you’re in sales or customer support.
CRMs (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive) are supposed to be your source of truth for leads. Problem is, a lot of sales activity still happens in your inbox. Without some kind of integration, you’re stuck copying info back and forth or, worse, forgetting to log key details.
Integrating Boomerang with your CRM won’t automate your entire workflow. But it will help you:
- Make sure no follow-up gets missed
- Keep your CRM updated with key email activity
- Cut down on manual data entry
Let’s get practical.
Step 1: Decide What “Integration” Really Means for You
“Integration” is one of those words that gets thrown around. Here’s the honest truth: there’s no one-click solution that magically syncs Boomerang and your CRM. You’re basically stitching together tools and workflows.
Before you start, ask:
- What do I actually want to sync? (Tasks, reminders, email activity, contact info?)
- How much manual work am I willing to do? (Be realistic here.)
- What’s my CRM? (Some CRMs have better integrations than others.)
Pro tip: Write down the top 2–3 things you wish happened automatically. That’s your real goal—not just “integration for the sake of integration.”
Step 2: Pick Your Weapons—What Tools Do You Need?
Here’s the lay of the land:
- Boomerang doesn’t have native, direct integrations with major CRMs. The closest you’ll get is using its reminders and scheduled emails to nudge yourself.
- Zapier or similar automation tools (like Make, formerly Integromat) can tie Gmail/Outlook actions to your CRM.
- CRM browser extensions sometimes pick up emails automatically, but rarely work seamlessly with Boomerang’s features.
- Manual copy-paste—not sexy, but sometimes still the fastest for small teams.
What actually works:
For most people, combining Boomerang’s reminders with Zapier automations gets you 80% there. If you’re in a highly regulated industry or need deep CRM logging, you’ll need to check what’s allowed (sometimes, you just can’t automate everything).
Step 3: Set Up Your Boomerang Workflow
If you haven’t already, install Boomerang for your email client. Then:
- Decide on your follow-up cadence. Are you following up every 2 days? Once a week?
- Use Boomerang’s “Remind Me” feature. When you send an email to a lead, set a reminder for yourself (e.g., “Remind me in 3 days if no reply”). This stops leads from going cold.
- Use Inbox Pause strategically. If you get distracted by incoming mail, pause your inbox to focus on working leads already in your CRM.
What doesn’t work:
Setting a million reminders for yourself without a plan. You’ll just create notification noise. Be selective about what you want to be reminded about.
Step 4: Connect Boomerang to Your CRM (Sort Of)
Here’s where it gets a bit hacky—because, again, there’s no direct integration. But you can get close.
Option 1: Use Zapier to Bridge Gmail/Outlook and Your CRM
If your CRM has a Zapier integration, you can:
- Set up a Zap to create or update a lead in your CRM when you send (or receive) certain emails.
- Trigger actions based on Gmail labels or Outlook folders. For example, label an email “Follow Up” and have Zapier add a task to your CRM.
How to set up:
- Create a trigger in Zapier:
- For Gmail: “New Email Sent” or “New Labeled Email”
- For Outlook: “New Email”
- Add a filter so only emails to leads (or with certain keywords/tags) trigger the workflow.
- Set the Zap to create/update a contact, log an activity, or create a task in your CRM.
Pro tip: Use Boomerang to add a specific label (“Boomerang-FollowUp”) when setting a reminder. Zapier can watch for this label.
What’s clunky:
- Some CRMs only support limited actions via Zapier.
- You might still need to manually clean up lead details.
Option 2: Use CRM Email Logging Features
Most CRMs let you BCC a special address (like leads@yourcrm.com) to log emails automatically.
- When sending an email (with Boomerang), BCC your CRM’s tracking address.
- The email gets logged to the right contact or deal in your CRM.
What’s good:
- No extra tools needed.
- Works with any email you send.
What’s annoying:
- You have to remember to BCC.
- Attachments, reminders, and some metadata from Boomerang won’t show up in your CRM.
Option 3: Manual Updates
Sometimes, you just have to copy and paste key info into your CRM after a Boomerang reminder triggers. Not elegant, but for low volume, it works.
Step 5: Build a “Lead Hygiene” Habit
Even with the best workflow, your CRM can still get messy. Here’s how to keep things tight:
- Set a daily or weekly “CRM catch-up” time. When your Boomerang reminders pop, check your CRM and update lead statuses.
- Archive or close dead leads. Don’t let your CRM turn into a graveyard.
- Refine your automation. If you’re getting too many or too few reminders, adjust Boomerang and Zapier settings.
Pro tip: Less is more. Automate the stuff you actually hate doing, not everything.
What to Ignore (Seriously)
- Trying to “fully automate” everything. You’ll spend more time fixing broken automations than selling.
- Expensive third-party “integration” tools that promise the moon. Most just wrap the same Zapier or BCC tricks in a nicer package.
- Overthinking data syncing. For most teams, perfect CRM activity logs aren’t worth losing momentum on actual follow-ups.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
Integrating Boomerang with your CRM isn’t a one-and-done project. It’s a series of tweaks to cut down on busywork and keep your leads moving. Start with the basics (reminders and BCC logging), layer on automation if you need it, and review your setup every couple months.
Don’t stress about making it perfect. If you’re following up reliably and your CRM isn’t a dumpster fire, you’re already ahead of the game.