Put new leads into Google Sheets automatically, with one formula

To put new leads into Google Sheets automatically, make your leads link in Leadistry and paste one formula into a cell: =IMPORTDATA("your link"). Google Sheets reads the link, lays out every lead as rows and columns, and fetches it again from time to time on its own, so new leads appear without you doing anything. No Zapier, no Make, no code. The leads link comes with any paid plan.

That is the whole method. The rest of this page is the steps in order, what arrives, how to keep your own notes beside it, and when a webhook suits you better.

The steps

1. Open Apps. In Leadistry, open Apps under Set up, then For developers.
2. Make your leads link. Press Create my leads link. It is shown once, as two addresses: one for a spreadsheet and one for other tools.
3. Copy the Google Sheets formula. Beside the spreadsheet address sits the formula, ready to copy, in the form =IMPORTDATA("…").
4. Paste it into cell A1 of an empty tab in Google Sheets and press Enter.
5. Wait a moment. The first time, Sheets fetches every lead and fills the tab, with the column names in the first row.

Keep the link somewhere safe. It is shown once, like a password. If you lose it, make a new one: the old link stops working straight away, so anything reading it needs the new address.

What IMPORTDATA is

IMPORTDATA is a Google Sheets function that reads a file in CSV or TSV format from a web address and puts its contents into the sheet. Google's IMPORTDATA help page covers the function itself. Your leads link's spreadsheet address is a CSV file of your leads, which is exactly what the function expects.

Sheets fetches the address again on its own schedule. Google's help page for the function does not give an interval, so treat it as automatic but not instant: a new lead can take a while to show in your sheet after it lands.

What comes through

One row per company, never the same company twice, and never a phone number. The columns come from the same list as every download from Leadistry, including:

• The company: name, company number, status, date it was registered, trade codes and a line on what it does.
• Where it is: address, town and postcode.
• Who to write to: the director's name when the public record has it.
• How to reach them: the website and the email.
• Social pages: the company's LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, and the director's LinkedIn, when we could confirm they are theirs.

Anyone who has asked to be removed is left out, as they are everywhere else in Leadistry. What a B2B lead should include explains why each of these fields matters.

Keep your notes on a second tab

The imported range belongs to the formula. If you type inside it, the import breaks. So keep your own notes, such as "called", "quoted" or "not a fit", on a second tab.

Match your notes to the leads by company number, which is unique and never changes. A lookup on the company number pulls the name, email or anything else from the import into your notes tab, and your notes stay put when new leads arrive and push the rows around.

Excel, Zapier and Make

The same link works elsewhere:

• Excel. Use Data, then From Web, with the spreadsheet address, and refresh when you want the latest.
• Zapier or Make. Use the address for other tools, and add ?new=1 to the end so each lead comes through once. It serves your newest leads first, 100 at a time.
• Your own code. The same address, read as JSON.

The leads link or a webhook

Leadistry has two ways to get leads out on their own, and they suit different jobs:

• Your leads link waits to be read. Your spreadsheet or tool fetches it when it wants. Best for a sheet that keeps itself filled. Paid plans only.
• A webhook pushes each new lead, and each reply, to an address you give it the moment it happens. Best for a CRM, a Slack channel or anything that must react straight away. Works on every plan, including the trial.

Send new UK leads to your CRM covers the webhook side, and Zapier lead automation has three automations worth building. Both live on the same Apps page.

Keeping the link private

Anyone with the link can read your leads, so treat it like a password:

• Do not paste it into a sheet you share widely. Share a copy of the values instead, or a separate tab without the formula.
• Make a new link if it leaks. The old one stops working at once.
• Turn it off under Apps when you no longer need it. You can make a new one at any time.

The link also answers a limited number of requests an hour, far more than a spreadsheet needs, so a leaked link cannot be used to pull your data non-stop.

Downloading instead

If you only want a file now and then, you do not need the link at all. The Leads screen downloads exactly the rows you are looking at as a CSV, and Exports, under Set up, keeps a monthly and a weekly statement of every lead you get. Both come with any paid plan.

Start free with 25 leads and no card, then make your leads link when you move to a paid plan.