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Documentation: Forecourt

Leads

Every request sent through the contact form on a vehicle detail page is stored as a lead. You find them under Components > Forecourt > Leads.

What a lead contains

The name, email address, phone number and message of the visitor, the date, and the vehicle the request was about. The vehicle is stored as a short description as well, so you still know which car it was after the vehicle has been sold and removed.

Working with leads

  • Click a lead to open its details with the full message.
  • In the details, give the lead a status: New, Handled or Archived.
  • Use the search field to find a lead by name, email address or vehicle, and the status filter to show only new requests.

Email for new leads

Forecourt sends you an email for every new lead. It has the vehicle with a link to its page, and the name, email address, phone number and message of the visitor. Reply to the email and your answer goes straight to the visitor.

The email goes to the site email address from the Global Configuration. To send it somewhere else, or to several people, fill in Send to under Options > Contact Options. You can switch the emails off there too. The lead is saved either way, so nothing is lost when an email does not arrive.

The visitor does not get a confirmation email. That is on purpose: a form that mails whatever address is typed in gets abused to send spam to other people.

Protection against spam

The contact form has three layers, all set under Options > Contact Options.

Captcha Shows a captcha on the form. Use Default follows the default captcha from the Global Configuration, so the form is protected as soon as your site has one. You can also pick a specific captcha plugin or switch it off for this form.
Maximum enquiries and Time window One visitor can send 3 enquiries in 10 minutes. After that the form asks to try again later. Change both numbers to suit your site, or set the maximum to 0 to switch the limit off.
Hidden field The form has a field visitors never see. Bots tend to fill it in, and those submissions are dropped without a lead or an email. There is nothing to set up.

The limit counts per IP address. Visitors behind one shared connection, such as an office, count as one.

Privacy

Leads contain personal data, so mention the contact form in your privacy statement. Besides the details the visitor enters, Forecourt stores the IP address of the sender with each lead. The same details are in the email that is sent to you.