Lead Qualification from Form: Automate Scoring & Notifications with n8n

Collecting leads is only half the battle. The other half is quickly validating and prioritizing them so sales can focus on the hottest opportunities. In this guide you’ll learn how to implement a reliable, low-code lead qualification workflow using an n8n template that integrates form submissions, Hunter email verification, MadKudu lead scoring, and instant notifications to Telegram and Slack.

Why automate lead qualification?

Manual lead triage wastes time and introduces inconsistent follow-up. Automating lead qualification delivers clear benefits:

• Faster response to high-value leads
• Cleaner databases via email validation
• Scalable triage without extra headcount
• Actionable context for sales (company fit signals)

What this n8n template does

The provided n8n workflow (“Lead Qualification from Form”) wires the following steps together:

1. Form Trigger: Captures form submissions (any form provider that posts to n8n’s webhook).
2. Hunter Email Verification: Checks whether the submitted email is deliverable.
3. If valid: Call MadKudu to retrieve company and customer-fit scoring.
4. Customer Fit Check: Compare MadKudu’s score against a threshold (default 60).
5. High-fit leads: Notify sales via Telegram and Slack with relevant signals.
6. Low-fit or invalid leads: No-op (or route to nurture lists) to avoid noise.

Step-by-step setup

1. Add your credentials

In n8n, add credentials for:

• Hunter (email verifier API key)
• MadKudu (API key or configured HTTP header)
• Telegram (bot token) and Slack (workspace token) for notifications

Store secrets in n8n’s credential manager — do not hardcode keys in nodes.

2. Configure the Form Trigger

Swap the demo form trigger with your production form’s webhook URL. You can use Typeform, Google Forms (via webhook), a custom HTML form, or any tool that posts JSON to n8n.

3. Set email verification & scoring

Hunter verifies deliverability (MX records, SMTP check, disposable detection). Only route leads forward when Hunter’s status is valid or deliverable.

MadKudu scoring enriches the lead with company signals and a customer_fit.score. The template checks if the score is greater than 60 by default. Adjust this threshold to match your ICP (ideal customer profile).

4. Configure notifications

Update the Telegram node’s chat id to your sales channel or group and configure Slack’s channel. The notifications include the email and formatted top signals from MadKudu so reps have immediate context.

Best practices for thresholds and signals

• Start with a conservative score threshold (50–60) and increase as you get comfortable.
• Use MadKudu’s top signals to prioritize outreach messaging (e.g., funding, location, industry).
• Route borderline fits into a nurture sequence rather than dropping them entirely.

Use cases

This automated lead qualification pipeline is ideal for:

• SaaS startups who want to respond quickly to high-intent leads
• Marketing teams that collect high volumes of inbound leads
• Sales teams that need enriched lead context before outreach
• Operations teams aiming to reduce manual triage work

Customizations and extensions

The template is designed to be extensible. Common customizations include:

• Replace the Form Trigger with Typeform, Google Forms, or a CMS webhook.
• Add an enrichment step (e.g., Clearbit, FullContact) to pull firmographic data if you don’t use MadKudu.
• Push hot leads into your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) when the fit is high.
• Use conditional branches to route very high-priority leads to reps by geography or ARR.
• Log all lead activity to a Google Sheet or database for analytics and audit trails.

Testing and validation

Before switching to production:

1. Use the template’s Test Workflow mode and submit sample emails to validate Hunter results and MadKudu responses.
2. Confirm Telegram and Slack notifications are delivered to the right channels.
3. Check that low-fit leads follow the expected no-op or nurture path.

Security and compliance

Keep these points in mind:

• Secure API keys in n8n credentials; rotate keys regularly.
• If collecting PII, ensure you follow GDPR/CCPA rules for consent and storage.
• Consider anonymizing or hashing sensitive fields if you store them outside controlled systems.

Troubleshooting

• No webhook hits: Confirm the form posts to n8n’s public webhook URL and that the workflow is activated.
• Hunter returns false positives/negatives: Check quota limits and test with known good/bad emails.
• MadKudu errors: Verify the API key and endpoint; use the response object to debug missing properties.
• Notifications not sent: Verify bot tokens and chat IDs for Telegram, and Slack app permissions for posting messages.

Real-world example

Imagine an inbound lead submission from a marketing sign-up. The workflow verifies the email, fetches a MadKudu customer_fit score (e.g., 81) and top signals like funding amount, industry, and company size. Because the score is above the threshold, the workflow sends an immediate message to the sales team’s Telegram and Slack channels reading: “⭐ New hot lead: [email] — ✔ Company raised $13.5M, ✔ Located in Germany, …” Sales can then prioritize outreach with rich context.

Wrapping up

Automating lead qualification with n8n reduces manual work, improves response times, and ensures sales have the context they need. The template stitches together form capture, email verification, enrichment, scoring, and notifications so you can focus on closing deals.

Have questions or want a tailored version for your CRM? Contact us to get a custom n8n automation built to match your sales process.