Did you know that there is a way to integrate LeadSimple and Slack directly, without the need to use Zapier? Imagine any process being able to push an automatic custom message, in any slack channel, at any point.

Note that similar setup is possible with Microsoft Teams.

This is done through slack channel email addresses. (Essentially, you can create a unique email address for any slack channel and then use that address as a custom recipient in an auto email in LeadSimple.) This means that you can build slack notifications directly into your processes.

Let's take a look at how to do this.

The first step is to set up email addresses for each channel we would like to push messages to. (Note that this functionality is only available on paid Slack plans.)

To do this, log into Slack and click into the channel you would like to connect LeadSimple to.

Next, click the name of the channel at the top.

In the window that appears, click "Integrations".

Then click "Send emails to this channel".

In the window that appears, you'll see the new email that was created for this channel. You can copy it here (you can also follow the above steps to find the email address again.)

To customize the appearance (name and icon) of the messages as they come through, click "Customize Email Appearance".

Add the LeadSimple logo or an emoji of your choice and name the email so it will be obvious these messages came from LeadSimple.

Hit "Save Changes" to save the email address and then click out of the integrations window.

Now that you have your custom Slack email address, it's time to build your custom messages into your processes in LeadSimple.

Log into LeadSimple and select the process you want to build the custom message into.

Here are some examples:

First, navigate to the stages and workflows for your chosen process. Click into the stage where you want to add the email step.

Add an email step to your workflow and click the "add template" icon on the righthand side of the step to add a template.

Write your email message. Don't forget that you can use merge tags to customize the info in the email!

Next, you need to add your Slack channel email address as a custom recipient to the template.

To do this, click the "To, CC, BCC" button on the righthand side.

Paste your Slack channel email address into the "To" field.

Save your template and then select it from the list to add it to your workflow step.

Once the template is added, you can edit the step delay on the left and set the email step to be automatic.

And there you go! That's how to set up your processes to send a customized notification to Slack to notify your team at specific points in your processes.

(Even more integration options are possible through Zapier!)