Web-to-Lead
A Salesforce feature that automatically creates lead records from visitor submissions on a web form embedded on your website, capturing prospect information and optionally triggering auto-response rules and assignment rules.
Definition
A Salesforce feature that automatically creates lead records from visitor submissions on a web form embedded on your website, capturing prospect information and optionally triggering auto-response rules and assignment rules.
In plain English
“Web-to-Lead is a Salesforce feature that automatically creates lead records from visitor submissions on a web form embedded on your website. It captures prospect information and can trigger assignment rules and auto-response emails.”
Worked example
Tarryholme Software's marketing team adds a contact form to their public website. When a visitor submits - name, email, company, what they're interested in - Web-to-Lead automatically creates a Lead record in Salesforce. Active assignment rules route the new Lead to the right SDR queue based on the visitor's region. An auto-response email goes out to the visitor confirming the inquiry. None of the Lead-creation work requires a human to type anything in Salesforce; Web-to-Lead bridges the public-website form-fill with the internal CRM.
Why Web-to-Lead matters
Web-to-Lead is a Salesforce feature that automatically creates lead records from visitor submissions on a web form embedded on your website, capturing prospect information and optionally triggering assignment rules and auto-response emails. It's one of the simplest lead capture mechanisms in Salesforce.
Web-to-Lead has a daily limit on submissions (default 500 per day) and captures basic form data. For higher volume or more sophisticated lead capture, organizations use marketing automation tools like Pardot (Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) or custom form solutions with API integration.
How to set up Web-to-Lead
Web-to-Lead generates an HTML form you embed on your marketing site. Submissions create Lead records in Salesforce, optionally fire the Lead Assignment Rule, and optionally trigger an Auto-Response Rule to email the prospect. It's the simplest inbound capture path Salesforce ships.
- Open Setup → Web-to-Lead
Setup → Quick Find: Web-to-Lead → Web-to-Lead.
- Tick Web-to-Lead Enabled and pick Default Lead Creator
Default Creator owns Leads if no assignment rule fires. Pick a service-account user, not a real human.
- Set the Default Response Template (optional)
The Email Template auto-sent to prospects on submission. Lives in Setup → Email Templates.
- Click Create Web-to-Lead Form
Top of the page. The wizard generates the HTML.
- Pick fields to include
Standard Lead fields + custom fields. Skip required-on-the-platform fields you can't ask the user (e.g. you'd never ask for Lead Status).
- Set Return URL
Where the user is redirected after submit. Your thank-you page.
- Generate and embed the HTML
Copy the generated HTML, paste into your marketing site. The form posts to Salesforce — keep the hidden orgid field intact.
Owner of inbound Leads if assignment rules don't fire. Service-account user is the convention.
Auto-emailed to prospects (uses Auto-Response Rules for per-criteria templates).
Require reCAPTCHA before submit. Highly recommended — without it, bots flood the form.
Required on the form. Identifies your Salesforce org. Don't strip from the generated HTML.
Where the form redirects after submit.
- Web-to-Lead is rate-limited at 500 leads per day per org. Higher-volume forms need a paid integration (Marketing Cloud, Pardot, or a custom API integration with a token).
- Validation rules fire on Web-to-Lead submissions. A required-by-validation field that the form doesn't ask for blocks the lead silently — submissions just disappear into the Daily Lead Submission Log.
- Without reCAPTCHA, bots submit hundreds of garbage Leads per day. Always enable reCAPTCHA for public forms.
How organizations use Web-to-Lead
Uses Web-to-Lead for basic lead capture on their website landing pages.
Combines Web-to-Lead with assignment rules and auto-response emails.
Uses Pardot for higher-volume lead capture beyond Web-to-Lead limits.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Web-to-Lead.
- Set Up Web-to-LeadSalesforce Help
- Generate Leads from Your WebsiteSalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is Web-to-Lead?
Q2. What's a limitation?
Q3. What can it trigger?
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