Step 1 of 10

Create the lead form

Build the input layer of the automation - astructured Google Form that captures clean, predictable lead data.

Why this matters

The form is the only human-facing layer in this entire system. Every downstream step, the spreadsheet, the Zap trigger, the AI prompt, and the Gmail send, depends on what data it receives here. Poorly designed fields (free-text where you need structured data) create edge cases that silently break your workflow. Getting this right once saves hours of debugging later.

Build instructions

Sign in to Google and open Forms

You need a Google account with access to Drive and Forms. If you already have one, skip to step 2.

Step 1
Go to accounts.google.com/signup. Click 'Create account' and choose 'For my personal use'. Complete the signup flow, name, username, password, recovery email.
Step 2
Once your account is created and you are signed in, open forms.google.com in the same browser tab.
Step 3
You will see a '+' blank form card in the top row under the heading 'Start a new form'. Click it. A new untitled form opens in edit mode with one empty question already added.

Name and describe the form

Step 1
Click the 'Untitled form' text at the very top of the form editor. Type 'Lead Inquiry Form' and press Enter.
Step 2
Click the 'Form description' placeholder directly below the title. Type: 'Fill out this form to get in touch. All fields marked with an asterisk are required. We will respond to the email address you provide.'
Step 3
Leave the 'Collect email addresses' setting OFF in the Settings panel. You are collecting email as an explicit form field instead, this gives you full control over validation.

Add the four required fields in order

The order you add fields determines the column order in the linked Google Sheet. Add them exactly as listed below.

Step 1
Field 1: Full Name: The first question already exists as 'Untitled Question'. Click it. Rename it to 'Full Name'. Change the question type (the dropdown showing 'Multiple choice' or 'Short answer') to 'Short answer'. Toggle the 'Required' switch at the bottom right of the field card to ON.
Step 2
Field 2: Email Address: Click the '+' circle icon on the floating toolbar on the right side. A new question appears. Name it 'Email Address'. Set type to 'Short answer'. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) at the bottom right of this field. Choose 'Response validation'. In the dropdown that appears, select 'Text' → 'Email address'. In the error text box, type 'Please enter a valid email address'. Toggle Required to ON.
Step 3
Field 3: Inquiry Type: Add another field. Name it 'Inquiry Type'. Change type to 'Dropdown'. In the options list, replace 'Option 1' with 'General question'. Click 'Add option' and type 'Pricing'. Add 'Project inquiry'. Add 'Support'. Toggle Required to ON.
Step 4
Field 4: Message: Add one more field. Name it 'Message'. Change type to 'Paragraph'. Toggle Required to ON. Optionally add a description: 'Briefly describe what you need help with.'

Test the form before moving on

Step 1
Click the eye icon (Preview) at the top right of the form editor. The form opens in a new tab as it appears to submitters.
Step 2
Try clicking 'Submit' with all fields empty. Each required field should show a red error message.
Step 3
In the Email Address field, type 'notanemail' and try to submit. Your custom validation error message should appear.
Step 4
Now fill all four fields with valid data: full name, a real email, one of the dropdown options, and a message. Click Submit. You should see 'Your response has been recorded.'
Step 5
Close the preview tab, return to the form editor, and click the 'Responses' tab. Confirm your test response appears with all four answers populated.

Common mistakes

Using 'Short answer' for Inquiry Type instead of 'Dropdown'. Free-text allows values like 'pricing info' or 'PRICING' that will break exact-match Zap filters later. Always use Dropdown for fields with a fixed set of values.
Enabling 'Collect email addresses' in Form Settings. This adds a system-generated email field separate from your explicit Email Address field. The duplicate causes mapping confusion in the linked sheet.
Not setting email validation on the Email Address field. Without it, leads can submit 'john' or 'john@' and these will reach the Gmail send step, which will fail silently or bounce.
Skipping the test submission. If you move to Step 2 without a test row in Responses, the sheet will have no data to link and Zapier will have nothing to trigger from.

Pro tips

Add a description to the Email Address field saying 'We will reply to this address within one business day.' Users who see this are more careful about typos.
Test the form on a mobile device before moving on. Fields behave differently on mobile, dropdowns become native pickers and paragraph fields may auto-shrink.

Before you continue

Open the Responses tab in the form editor. You should see at least one test response with data in all four fields: Full Name, Email Address, Inquiry Type, and Message. If the tab says '0 responses', re-run the test submission before continuing.

Step result

A four-field intake form that enforces valid email input, blocks empty required fields, and produces clean structured data your automation can rely on.