Close is built for calling, so the gap is rarely the dialer. The gap is the first 30 minutes after a form comes in. The lead lands in Close, nobody notices until the next time someone checks the inbox view, and by then the person has filled in a competitor’s form too. At the end of this guide, a form submission in Close will start a Workflow. That Workflow puts a call task in front of the owner right away, sends an email from that owner, and runs a week of follow-up that pauses on its own when the lead replies or books.
What you need
- Close Growth or Scale. Close’s help center says Workflows are “only available on the Growth and Scale plans.” On the pricing page at the time of writing, Growth is $99 per user per month billed annually, or $109 monthly. Scale is $139 annually, or $149 monthly. Solo and Essentials do not include Workflows.
- Close Forms, which every plan includes. You can also use your own form, as long as it creates leads in Close through an integration. But then you can’t use the Form Submission trigger described below.
- Admin or Super User rights. You need them to set which user sends each Workflow step.
- A2P 10DLC registration if you want to text US numbers. Close says registration is mandatory before US SMS will deliver. It lists one-time fees of $4.50 for low-volume brands, plus a $15 campaign verification fee. Start this early, because approval takes time.
Step by step
1. Build the form
Go to Settings > Connect > Forms. Keep it short: name, work email, phone, company, and one question that tells you what they want, such as “What are you looking to fix?”. Close’s own inbound guide suggests using the pre-mapped field templates for standard fields. Use them, so the data lands in real lead and contact fields rather than notes.
In the form’s settings tab, tick Track URL Parameters and add utm_source and utm_campaign. Map them to custom fields. Without that, you won’t know later which channel sends leads that actually answer the phone.
Click Publish, copy the embed code, and put it on your site.
2. Decide who owns the lead
Create a User-type custom field called Lead Owner if you don’t already have one. Workflows can send from whoever is named in that field. You set the owner in one of three ways:
- One rep handles all inbound: add a step that sets Lead Owner to that rep.
- Several reps: use Close’s Groups to split by source, region or product, as Close’s inbound guide suggests.
- Small team, no rules: a manager assigns from a Smart View called “New inbounds today,” filtered to leads created in the last 24 hours. This is slower, so only use it if someone actually watches that view.
3. Turn on automated sending
Each rep needs Allow automated Workflows to send on your behalf enabled in their settings. Admins also turn on Automated Workflows in Settings > Send As. If you skip this, email and SMS steps sit there and never go out. Check the Send As column in Settings > Team Management to see who is set up.
4. Create the Workflow
Open Workflows in the left sidebar and create a new one. For the trigger, choose Form Submission event and select your form.
Then add steps. Close’s inbound best-practice guide recommends a first-week cadence close to this one:
| When | Step |
|---|---|
| Immediately | Call task, assigned to Lead Owner |
| +10 minutes | Email from Lead Owner |
| Day 2 morning | Call task |
| Day 2 afternoon | SMS (only if you have consent and 10DLC) |
| Day 4 | |
| Day 6 | Call task |
| Day 10 | Final email |
In each step’s advanced settings, set the sender to the Lead Owner field rather than to yourself. Otherwise every email comes from whoever built the Workflow.
5. Write the first email so it sounds human
The first email goes out within minutes, so write it as a reply, not a newsletter:
Subject: Your request on our site
Hi {first name}, I saw your note about {what they’re looking to fix}. I’ll try you by phone in the next few minutes. If now’s bad, reply with a time that works and I’ll call then.
{owner first name}
Keep it plain text, with no images or tracking-heavy templates. The day-10 email should close the loop: “I’ll stop reaching out. If this comes back up, reply here and it comes straight to me.”
6. Check the goals and the sending window
When a Workflow has a recipient, Close turns on goals for incoming email, SMS, calls and meetings booked by default. These pause the run and mark it “Goal Met.” Leave them on. That’s what stops a lead who replied from getting the day-4 email.
Close also sends automated steps in a default window: Monday to Friday, at a random time between 9 AM and 4 PM in the contact’s timezone. That’s sensible for follow-ups, but it means a form submitted at 6 PM won’t get its first email until the next business morning. Your call task still appears, though. If you want after-hours leads acknowledged right away, check the step’s scheduling options in your account, since I couldn’t confirm from the docs how far the window can be changed. Close’s inbound guide suggests an auto-acknowledgement email for after-hours leads and a call first thing the next business morning.
7. Measure it
Close offers Workflow Reporting with average response time and response rate. Its inbound guide suggests tracking the median time from form to first call, with a target under 5 minutes during business hours. Look at it weekly for the first month. If the number is bad, the cause is almost always people, not the Workflow: call tasks created but not worked.
Common mistakes
- Building on Essentials. Workflows need Growth or Scale. Confirm your plan before you build the form around them.
- Automated sending not enabled. The Workflow runs, but email and SMS steps never send. Check Send As for every rep.
- Sending from the builder. Without the Lead Owner sender setting, every email comes from the admin who built it.
- Texting before 10DLC is approved, or texting without opt-in wording on the form. Close’s docs say opt-in is mandatory.
- Turning off goals. People who already replied then get “just following up” emails, which looks careless.
When it’s worth getting help
If your leads come through Close Forms and you have one or two reps, the steps above will get you running. It gets harder when some leads come from a third-party form, ads or a chat tool. Those need an integration to create the lead in Close and start a Workflow, and the Form Submission trigger won’t fire for them. My B2B CRM page covers that kind of setup. The cost calculator gives a rough sense of what slow response costs you.