Automatic Lead Capture in Chat

Even when a visitor does not book immediately, their chat should still be useful to you. TrailerBase's Renter Chat automatically captures contact info in the greeting, ties every chat to a customer record, and links future bookings back to the original conversation. This article shows you how lead capture works and how to export the list.

How the greeting works

When a new visitor opens the chat for the first time, the bot's opening message politely asks for three things:

1. Name — so it can address them personally.
2. Email — so you can follow up if the chat is cut off.
3. Phone — optional by default, but you can require it.

The visitor provides each one in plain language, and the bot parses them out. If they skip a field, the bot gently re-asks once, then moves on rather than becoming a blocker — nothing kills a chatbot faster than a rigid form.

Configuring what to ask

In Settings > Chat > Lead Capture you can:

• Turn email, phone, or name on or off.
• Mark fields as Required (chat cannot proceed) or Optional (bot asks once, then drops it).
• Customize the wording of the capture prompts.
• Skip capture entirely for returning visitors the bot already recognizes.

For most rental operators we recommend: name required, email required, phone optional.

The lead record

As soon as a visitor provides any contact info, TrailerBase creates or updates a Lead in your CRM. The lead stores:

• Contact info.
• The full chat transcript.
• UTM parameters from their arrival.
• Device, rough location (IP-based), and referrer.
• Any trailers they asked about during the chat.

You can find leads in CRM > Leads or on the Chat Inbox under the visitor's name.

Tying leads to bookings

Here is where it gets powerful. When that same visitor later books — minutes, hours, or days later — TrailerBase matches them by email (primary) or phone (fallback) and promotes the lead to a Customer. The chat transcript becomes part of their customer record, and the booking's "source" field is set to "Chat."

This means you can answer questions like:

• What percentage of our bookings started with a chat?
• Which chat topics convert best?
• Are leads from after-hours chats worth as much as daytime ones?

All visible in the CRM > Reports view.

Exporting leads

To get your leads out for use elsewhere:

1. Open CRM > Leads.
2. Apply any filter you want (date range, source, tag, with/without phone).
3. Click Export CSV.

The export includes contact fields, UTM info, first and last touch timestamps, and a link back to the chat transcript. You can import this into almost any email marketing tool — Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ConvertKit — to re-engage people who did not book.

Tips for cleaner leads

• Keep the greeting friendly and short. Long greetings scare visitors away.
• Pre-populate name if the visitor arrived from an email link that carries it.
• Be honest about what happens next — visitors who know "we will follow up if you leave" convert at higher rates.
• Review abandoned leads weekly and send a soft follow-up email with a promo code.