How to Send Gmail Sales Alerts to Slack with Make

Gmail > Settings (gear icon) > See all settings > Labels > Create new label

Create a Gmail Label for High-Priority Emails

Before building anything in Make, set up a Gmail label called 'Sales-Priority' (or whatever naming convention your team uses). This label is what Make will watch — without it, you'd have to filter inside Make using fragile subject-line matching. Go to Gmail Settings, click 'Labels', then 'Create new label'. You can also create a Gmail filter under Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses that auto-applies this label to emails from specific domains or containing keywords like 'pricing' or 'demo'.

1. 1Open Gmail and click the gear icon in the top right, then 'See all settings'
2. 2Click the 'Labels' tab
3. 3Scroll to the bottom and click 'Create new label'
4. 4Type 'Sales-Priority' and click 'Create'
5. 5Optionally go to 'Filters and Blocked Addresses' and create a filter to auto-apply this label to emails from prospect domains

make.com > Scenarios > Create a new scenario

Create a New Scenario in Make

Log into Make at make.com and click the 'Create a new scenario' button on the Scenarios dashboard. You'll land on the visual canvas with a single empty circle in the center — this is where your trigger module goes. Click the circle to open the app search panel on the right side of the screen.

1. 1Log in at make.com and go to 'Scenarios' in the left sidebar
2. 2Click the blue 'Create a new scenario' button in the top right
3. 3Click the large circle with a plus icon in the center of the canvas

Scenario Canvas > App Search > Gmail > Watch Emails

Add the Gmail 'Watch Emails' Trigger

Search for 'Gmail' in the app panel and select it. From the list of Gmail modules, choose 'Watch Emails' — this is the polling trigger that checks your inbox on a schedule you define. On the next screen, Make will ask you to connect your Google account. Click 'Add' next to the Connection field and follow the OAuth flow. After connecting, set the 'Folder' field to 'Sales-Priority' (the label you created in Step 1).

1. 1Type 'Gmail' in the app search bar and click the Gmail icon
2. 2Select 'Watch Emails' from the module list
3. 3Click 'Add' next to Connection and complete the Google OAuth flow
4. 4Set 'Folder' to 'Sales-Priority'
5. 5Set 'Maximum number of results' to 5 (catches bursts without hammering the API)

Scenario Canvas > Gmail Module > Settings panel > Criteria section

Set the Email Filter Criteria

Inside the Gmail 'Watch Emails' module, scroll down to the 'Criteria' section. Set 'Sender email address' or use the Search field to narrow results. For the Search field, you can enter Gmail search syntax directly — for example, 'is:unread' ensures you only process new emails, not ones already read. This prevents duplicate notifications if the scenario runs while an email is still sitting in the inbox.

1. 1Inside the Gmail module settings, scroll to the 'Search' field
2. 2Enter 'is:unread label:Sales-Priority' to filter to unread emails with the label
3. 3Leave 'Mark messages as read' toggled ON so processed emails don't trigger again
4. 4Click OK to save the module settings

Scenario Canvas > + button right of Gmail module > Text Parser > Replace

Add a Text Parser to Build the Email Preview

Click the small circle to the right of the Gmail module to add another module. Search for 'Text Parser' and select 'Replace'. You'll use this to strip HTML tags from the email body so the Slack message shows clean plain text instead of a wall of HTML code. Set the 'Text' field to the Gmail Body Plain variable, and in 'Pattern' enter a regex to trim it to the first 300 characters. Alternatively, use Make's built-in substring() formula directly in the Slack module — either approach works.

1. 1Click the small circle to the right of the Gmail trigger module
2. 2Search for 'Text Parser' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Replace' from the Text Parser module list
4. 4In the 'Text' field, map the Gmail variable '1. Body Plain'
5. 5In 'Pattern' enter '<[^>]+>' and leave 'Replacement' empty to strip HTML tags
6. 6Click OK

Scenario Canvas > + button > Slack > Create a Message > Add Connection

Connect Your Slack Account

Click the circle to the right of the Text Parser module and search for 'Slack'. Select the 'Create a Message' module. Click 'Add' next to the Connection field and follow the Slack OAuth flow — Make will open a new window asking you to authorize access to your Slack workspace. Select the workspace your sales team uses. Make needs permission to post messages; ensure you're authorizing with an account that has access to the target channel.

1. 1Click the circle to the right of the Text Parser module
2. 2Search for 'Slack' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Create a Message' from the Slack module list
4. 4Click 'Add' next to the Connection field
5. 5In the OAuth window, select your sales team's Slack workspace and click 'Allow'

Scenario Canvas > Slack Module > Settings panel > Text field

Configure the Slack Message Content

With the Slack module open, set 'Channel' to your sales channel (e.g., #inbound-leads). In the 'Text' field, build your message using Slack's mrkdwn formatting. Map Gmail variables directly from the trigger module: sender name, sender email, subject, and the cleaned body text from the Text Parser. Use Slack block formatting to make the message scannable — bold the subject line, show sender on its own line, and truncate the preview to 300 characters using Make's substring() formula.

1. 1Set 'Channel' to your target Slack channel (type # to search)
2. 2In the 'Text' field, click inside and use the variable picker to insert Gmail fields
3. 3Build the message: '*New Lead Email* :email:\n*From:* {{1.from.name}} <{{1.from.value}}>\n*Subject:* {{1.subject}}\n*Preview:* {{substring(2.result; 0; 300)}}'
4. 4Set 'Bot name' to 'Sales Alerts' so it's clearly identified in Slack
5. 5Set an emoji icon like ':email:' in the 'Bot icon' field
6. 6Click OK

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Scenario Canvas > Connection line between modules > Wrench icon > Add a router

Add a Router for Priority Filtering (Optional but Recommended)

If you want to send different Slack messages — or post to different channels — based on whether the email is from a known prospect versus a cold inbound, add a Router between the Gmail trigger and the Text Parser. Click the wrench icon on the connection line between modules, then 'Add a router'. Create two routes: one for emails matching known prospect domains (use Make's contains() formula on the sender email field), and one for all others. This gives your team channel-level triage without any manual work.

1. 1Click the small wrench icon on the line connecting Gmail to Text Parser
2. 2Select 'Add a router'
3. 3On Route 1, click the filter icon and add condition: '1.from.value' contains '@yourprospectdomain.com'
4. 4Map Route 1 to post to #priority-deals
5. 5Leave Route 2 as a catch-all posting to #inbound-leads

Scenario Canvas > Gmail Module > Clock icon (bottom left of module)

Set the Polling Schedule

Click the clock icon in the bottom left of the Gmail trigger module (it looks like a small gear with a clock). This opens the scheduling panel. Set the interval to 1 minute if you're on a Core plan or higher, or 15 minutes on the free plan. For most sales teams, 1-minute polling gives near-real-time response without meaningful delay. The scenario will activate and start watching on this schedule once you turn it on.

1. 1Click the clock icon on the Gmail module
2. 2Set 'Run scenario' to 'At regular intervals'
3. 3Set the interval to '1 minute' (requires Core plan) or '15 minutes' (free plan)
4. 4Click OK

Scenario Canvas > Bottom toolbar > Run once button

Run a Test with a Real Email

Send a test email to your Gmail account from an external address and apply the 'Sales-Priority' label manually (or let your filter auto-apply it). Back in Make, click 'Run once' in the bottom toolbar. Make will execute the scenario once immediately. Watch the execution flow on the canvas — each module will show a bubble with the number of records it processed. Click the bubble on the Slack module to confirm it shows the message data.

1. 1Send a test email from a non-Gmail account to your Gmail address
2. 2In Gmail, apply the 'Sales-Priority' label to that email
3. 3In Make, click 'Run once' in the bottom toolbar
4. 4Watch the green bubbles appear on each module as execution flows left to right
5. 5Click the bubble on the Slack module to inspect the output data

Scenario Canvas > Bottom left toggle switch

Activate the Scenario

Once the test passes, click the toggle switch in the bottom left of the Make canvas to turn the scenario from OFF to ON. The toggle turns blue and Make shows a 'Scenario activated' confirmation. From this point, Make polls Gmail every 1 minute (or 15 minutes on free) and posts to Slack automatically. Check the 'History' tab in the top menu after 24 hours to confirm runs are succeeding and no errors have appeared.

1. 1Click 'Save' in the bottom toolbar to save the scenario
2. 2Click the toggle switch in the bottom left — it turns blue
3. 3Confirm the 'Scenario activated' toast notification appears
4. 4Go to the 'History' tab after 1 hour to review the first few automated runs

This Make formula builds a smarter Slack message: it detects whether the email is a reply (subject starts with 'Re:') and flags it differently, truncates the preview cleanly at a word boundary, and constructs a direct Gmail deep-link using the message ID. Paste this into the Slack module's Text field using Make's formula editor (click the variable icon, then switch to 'Formula' mode).

{{if(
  contains(toLower(1.subject); 're:');
  concat(

{{if(
  contains(toLower(1.subject); 're:');
  concat(
    '*↩ Reply from existing prospect* :speech_balloon:\n';
    '*From:* '; 1.from.name; ' <'; 1.from.value; '>\n';
    '*Subject:* '; 1.subject; '\n';
    '*Received:* '; formatDate(1.date; 'MMM D [at] h:mm A');
    '\n*Preview:* ';
    substring(2.result; 0; 280);
    if(length(2.result) > 280; '...'; '');
    '\n<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/'; 1.id; '|Open in Gmail>'
  );
  concat(
    '*🆕 New inbound lead* :email:\n';
    '*From:* '; 1.from.name; ' <'; 1.from.value; '>\n';
    '*Subject:* '; 1.subject; '\n';
    '*Received:* '; formatDate(1.date; 'MMM D [at] h:mm A');
    '\n*Preview:* ';
    if(2.result; concat(substring(2.result; 0; 280); if(length(2.result) > 280; '...'; '')); '(HTML-only email)');
    '\n<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/'; 1.id; '|Open in Gmail>'
  )
)}}