Lead Settings configures the Leads module around how your practice sells: your pipeline stages, your sources, what appears on your cards, when a lead counts as quiet, your lost reasons, and how deal values are calculated.
Go to Settings, then Lead Settings under Leads & Engage. Or use the quick link button on the Leads board, which opens Lead Settings in a new tab.
Stages, sources, and lost reasons each have two kinds of entry. Your own entries can be renamed, reordered, and removed. System entries are applied by Socket and generally cannot be changed, so that actions Socket takes automatically are still recorded.
Customising your pipeline stages
The columns on your board are set here. Stages can be added, renamed, reordered, and deleted, up to ten active stages.
Select a name to rename it in place, drag to reorder, and use the row at the bottom to add one. Names can be up to 50 characters and must be unique. Each stage shows its current lead count.
Proposal-driven stages
Four stages carry an Automatic chip: Proposal Draft, Pending Approval, Won, and Lost. Leads move into these on their own as a proposal is sent, reverted, won, or lost.
These four can be renamed but not deleted, because Socket needs a destination for a lead when its proposal changes state. Every other stage, including the Enquiry and Discovery stages supplied by default, can be changed or removed.
How that behaves on the board is covered in Working your pipeline.
Deleting a stage
Deleting a stage that contains leads prompts for a destination stage, and all its leads move together. An empty stage is deleted without a prompt.
Leads can only be moved into one of your own stages, never into a proposal-driven one, because placement in those stages is determined by the proposal.
Where new leads are created
New leads are created in the leftmost stage, whether they come from a website form, an AI assistant, Zapier, or manual entry. Leads created through Zapier can specify a different stage.
If you create a lead from an existing proposal then their record will enter the board in a system level proposal stage, depending on the status of the proposal (pending, won or lost)
Editing Lead sources
Lead Sources sets the list chosen from when a lead is created, and drives source reporting.
The default list is Ads, Event, Other, Outbound, Referral, Social Media, and Website. Sources can be renamed, removed, and added with Add a source. Changes save as they are made.
Leads already recorded against a source keep that history when the source is renamed or removed.
Each row has two controls:
The star sets the source applied when none is chosen. Other is starred by default.
The notes icon prompts for detail when that source is selected. Referral is supplied with the prompt "Who referred them?". A prompt can be set on any source.
System sources sit below, marked with a padlock. They are applied by Socket and cannot be renamed, removed, or chosen manually. A lead arriving through one of your forms is recorded as Form.
Lead card layout
Card Layout controls what appears on each card on the board, and in what order.
Last contact and proposal engagement are enabled by default, so cards show these without any change being made here. This section adjusts the layout rather than turning it on.
Drag the sections into order:
Contact and fee: always shown and cannot be removed. Name, company, fee, and owner.
Last contact: the most recent logged call, email, or meeting. Notes and stage moves do not count towards it, so it reflects contact with the client rather than activity in Socket.
Proposal engagement: whether the client has opened the proposal, and when.
Optional fields: up to four from Source, Services, Next action date, Prospect or client, Temperature, Owner name, Entity type, and Proposal number.
Dates: when the lead was created, and when it was won.
Two preview cards below show the effect on a fully populated lead and a sparse one. Select Save Changes to apply.
Optional fields are capped at four to keep kanban cards legible. The list view however, is not capped, so any field available here is also available as a column there through Manage Columns.
Ageing Leads: when a lead goes quiet
A lead ages when nothing has been logged against it for a set period, and becomes fragile after a longer one. Thresholds are set per stage.
Thresholds are per stage because stages are not comparable. Enquiry is supplied at 10 days and 21 days; Pending Approval at 3 days and 7 days.
Each stage displays your own median time in that stage, so thresholds can be set against your practice's actual pattern. A line at the bottom of the section reports the current position, such as how many open leads would be fragile or ageing today.
These thresholds drive the fresh, ageing, and fragile grouping in Leads reporting, which also records which actions reset the clock.
Editing lost reasons
Lost Reasons is the list chosen from when a lead or proposal is closed as lost.
Add your own reasons and star one to set the default. Changes save as they are made. Whoever closes the lead can add free text alongside the reason.
System reasons are applied by Socket and cannot be renamed or removed:
Declined by client: applied when a client declines a proposal. The client's own message is kept as the explanation.
Disqualified: for a lead that was never an opportunity. Disqualified leads are excluded from win rate.
Offer expired: applied when a proposal passes an expiry date.
These three are applied without anyone marking the lead, so reporting covers deals that were never closed off manually.
Deal value settings
Deal values drive the totals on the board and allow the pipeline to be sorted by size.
Set whether deal sizes represent monthly or annual revenue, and whether one-off and alignment fees are included. Save with the button at the foot of the section.
A lead's deal value is an indication used to rank the pipeline, not a quote. The figure a client sees comes from your pricing menu once a proposal exists.