How to Send Gmail Lead Alerts to Slack with Zapier

Gmail > Settings > Labels > Create new label

Create a Gmail label for high-priority leads

Before building the Zap, set up a dedicated Gmail label that will act as your trigger filter. Open Gmail, click the gear icon in the top right, then 'See all settings', navigate to the Labels tab, and click 'Create new label'. Name it something like 'Hot Lead' or 'Sales Priority'. This label is what Zapier will watch — every email you apply it to will trigger a Slack notification.

1. 1Open Gmail and click the gear icon in the top right corner
2. 2Click 'See all settings'
3. 3Navigate to the 'Labels' tab
4. 4Scroll down and click 'Create new label'
5. 5Type your label name (e.g. 'Hot Lead') and click 'Create'

zapier.com > Create > Zaps > Trigger > Gmail > New Labeled Email

Create a new Zap and set Gmail as the trigger

Log in to Zapier at zapier.com and click the orange 'Create' button in the top left, then select 'Zaps'. In the trigger search box, type 'Gmail' and select it from the app list. Zapier will ask you to choose a trigger event — select 'New Labeled Email'. This event fires each time an email receives your chosen label, which is exactly what you set up in step 1.

1. 1Click the orange 'Create' button in the top-left navigation
2. 2Select 'Zaps' from the dropdown
3. 3Click the trigger step labeled '1. Trigger'
4. 4Search for 'Gmail' in the app search box
5. 5Select 'New Labeled Email' as the trigger event

Trigger > Gmail > Choose Account > Sign in to Gmail

Connect your Gmail account

Click 'Sign in to Gmail'. A Google OAuth popup will open asking you to select your Google account and grant Zapier read access to your Gmail. Choose the account that receives your sales emails — this is usually your work Google Workspace account. After granting access, Zapier closes the popup and shows your email address in the account selector. Click 'Continue'.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Gmail' in the account selector
2. 2Choose your Google Workspace account from the popup
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Zapier Gmail read permissions
4. 4Confirm the correct email address appears in the account field
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Trigger > Gmail > New Labeled Email > Label/Mailbox

Configure the Gmail label filter

In the 'Label/Mailbox' dropdown, select the label you created in step 1 (e.g. 'Hot Lead'). Zapier polls this label every 1-3 minutes for new emails. If you want to further restrict which emails trigger the Zap — for example, only emails from specific domains — you can add a Filter step later. For now, select your label and click 'Continue'.

1. 1Click the 'Label/Mailbox' dropdown
2. 2Scroll or search for your label name (e.g. 'Hot Lead')
3. 3Select the label
4. 4Click 'Continue'

Trigger > Gmail > Test trigger

Test the Gmail trigger

Click 'Test trigger'. Zapier will pull the 3 most recent emails that already carry your label. If no emails have the label yet, manually apply it to any email in Gmail first, then return and click 'Test trigger' again. Review the test data — you should see fields like 'From Name', 'From Email', 'Subject', 'Body Plain', and 'Date'. These are the fields you will map into the Slack message in the next steps.

1. 1Apply your label to at least one existing Gmail thread if you haven't already
2. 2Click 'Test trigger' in Zapier
3. 3Review the returned data fields in the 'Record' panel
4. 4Confirm 'Body Plain' contains readable email text (not HTML)

Zap Editor > + between steps > Filter by Zapier

Add a Filter step to catch only prospect emails (optional but recommended)

Click the '+' button between the trigger and action to add a Filter step. Select 'Filter by Zapier'. Set the condition to 'From Email' → 'Contains' → your target domain (e.g. 'acme.com') or leave it open to catch all labeled emails. You can also filter by Subject containing words like 'demo', 'pricing', or 'proposal' to further tighten the signal. This step prevents internal CC emails or newsletter replies from spamming your Slack channel.

1. 1Click the '+' icon between the trigger step and where the action will be
2. 2Select 'Filter by Zapier' from the step type list
3. 3Set Field to 'From Email'
4. 4Set Condition to 'Does not contain'
5. 5Enter your own company domain (e.g. 'yourcompany.com') to exclude internal emails

Zap Editor > + > Slack > Send Channel Message

Add Slack as the action app

Click the '+' button to add the next step, then search for 'Slack' in the app list. Select 'Send Channel Message' as the action event — this posts a message to a public or private channel, which is what you want for team visibility. Do not choose 'Send Direct Message' unless you want alerts going to a single rep rather than the whole team.

1. 1Click the '+' button after your last step
2. 2Search 'Slack' in the app search box
3. 3Select 'Slack' from the results
4. 4Choose 'Send Channel Message' as the action event
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Action > Slack > Choose Account > Sign in to Slack

Connect your Slack workspace

Click 'Sign in to Slack'. A Slack OAuth popup opens asking which workspace to connect and which permissions to grant. Select your sales team's workspace. Zapier needs permission to post messages to channels — click 'Allow'. After connecting, your workspace name appears in the account field. Make sure you are connecting the workspace where your #sales-leads channel (or equivalent) exists.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Slack'
2. 2Select your workspace from the dropdown in the popup
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Zapier posting permissions
4. 4Confirm the correct workspace name appears in the account field
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Action > Slack > Send Channel Message > Channel + Message Text

Configure the Slack message fields

Select your target channel from the 'Channel' dropdown (e.g. #sales-leads). In the 'Message Text' field, build your notification using Gmail data fields from the trigger. Click the '+' icon inside the text field to insert dynamic values. Build a message that includes the sender name, email address, subject line, and a truncated preview of the body. The example below shows a clear, scannable format your team can act on immediately.

1. 1Select your channel from the 'Channel' dropdown (e.g. #sales-leads)
2. 2Click inside the 'Message Text' field
3. 3Type '🔔 *New Lead Email*' as the opening line
4. 4Use the '+' insert button to add: From Name, From Email, Subject, and Body Plain fields from the Gmail trigger
5. 5Format the message as multi-line with labels: '*From:*', '*Subject:*', '*Preview:*'

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

Action > Slack > Send Channel Message > Bot Name + Icon

Add sender details and a Bot name

Scroll down in the Slack action configuration. Set 'Bot Name' to something recognizable like 'Gmail Lead Alerts' so reps know which bot is posting. Optionally set 'Bot Icon' to a Gmail or envelope emoji URL. In the 'Sender Name' field, you can also insert the Gmail 'From Name' field to make each notification feel contextualized. These fields are cosmetic but matter for usability — unnamed bots get ignored.

1. 1Scroll to the 'Bot Name' field and type 'Gmail Lead Alerts'
2. 2Set 'Bot Icon' to an emoji like ':email:' or paste an icon URL
3. 3Leave 'Send as a Bot?' set to 'Yes'
4. 4Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Test action > Publish Zap

Test and activate the Zap

Click 'Test action'. Zapier sends a real Slack message to your chosen channel using the sample Gmail data from step 5. Open Slack and check the channel — you should see the notification appear within seconds. If the formatting looks off, return to step 9 and adjust the Message Text field. Once satisfied, click 'Publish Zap' in the top right. The Zap is now live and will poll Gmail every 1-3 minutes.

1. 1Click 'Test action'
2. 2Open Slack and check your target channel for the test message
3. 3Verify the sender name, subject, and body preview appear correctly
4. 4Return to the Zap editor and fix any formatting issues
5. 5Click 'Publish Zap' in the top-right corner

This Code by Zapier step truncates the email body to 300 characters, strips newlines that break Slack formatting, and builds the full message string in one place instead of stitching it together in Slack's text field. Add a 'Code by Zapier' step between the Gmail trigger and the Slack action, select 'Run Python', and paste this into the code editor. Map 'inputData.body', 'inputData.from_name', 'inputData.from_email', 'inputData.subject', 'inputData.date', and 'inputData.url' from the Gmail trigger fields in the Input Data section above the code block.

# Input Data fields to map in Zapier:
# body -> Body Plain (from Gmail trigger)
# from_name -> From Name

# Input Data fields to map in Zapier:
# body -> Body Plain (from Gmail trigger)
# from_name -> From Name
# from_email -> From Email
# subject -> Subject
# date -> Date
# url -> Message URL

body = input_data.get('body', '')
from_name = input_data.get('from_name', 'Unknown Sender')
from_email = input_data.get('from_email', '')
subject = input_data.get('subject', '(no subject)')
date = input_data.get('date', '')
url = input_data.get('url', '')

# Strip newlines and extra whitespace from body
clean_body = ' '.join(body.split())

# Truncate to 300 characters and add ellipsis if needed
preview = clean_body[:300] + '...' if len(clean_body) > 300 else clean_body

# Build the Slack message string
message = (
    f":bell: *New Lead Email*\n"
    f"*From:* {from_name} ({from_email})\n"
    f"*Subject:* {subject}\n"
    f"*Preview:* {preview}\n"
    f"*Received:* {date}\n"
    f"<{url}|Open in Gmail>"
)

output = [{'message': message}]