Managing leads and requests

The Requests feature lets your customers submit service requests through a public form. When a request is submitted, SortScape automatically creates or links a contact and property (if needed), and you’ll receive a notification so you can follow up quickly.

What are requests?

Requests provide a simple way for potential and existing customers to ask for your services without calling or emailing. You share a form link (or embed it on your website), and customers fill it out.

Note: Request forms are for customers to submit their own details. If you are adding a client yourself, use Adding a customer instead.

Key benefits:

• Capture leads 24/7, even when you’re not available.
• Automatically create contacts and properties in SortScape.
• Get notified immediately for faster follow-up.
• Let customers attach photos so you can understand the job before calling back.
• Convert requests directly into quotes or scheduled jobs.
• Keep all customer inquiries in one place.

Setting up the form

Open Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests to configure your request form.

Your request form URL

You’ll see a unique External request URL. Share this link by email, text, social media, or as a website button that opens the form in a new page.

• Copy and share via email, text message, or social media.
• Add it to your website as a button or link.

Important: Keep this URL private. Anyone with the link can submit requests to your account. If you need to change it for security reasons, click Regenerate. Regenerating disables the old link, so you’ll need to update it everywhere you’ve shared it (including any embed code you pasted).

Embed code (recommended for websites)

To show the form on your own website (instead of sending people to a SortScape URL):

1. Open Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests.
2. Copy the Embed code.
3. Paste it into your website page where you want the form (HTML embed or custom code block in most site builders).

The embed code loads the form in place on your page and resizes to fit. After you regenerate the form URL, copy the embed code again and replace the old snippet on your site.

Conversion tracking (Facebook and Google ads)

When the form is embedded and a new request is submitted, SortScape tells your page so you can fire a Meta Pixel lead conversion (or any other tracking tag) and measure leads from your ad campaigns. Copy the ready-made snippet from the Conversion tracking area on the Requests settings page, next to the embed code. See Track request form conversions with Facebook (Meta) ads for the full setup.

Address requirement setting

Choose whether customers must provide a service address when submitting a request:

• Enabled: Customers must enter an address (recommended for most businesses).
• Disabled: Address is optional (useful if your services don’t require a location).

Toggle this setting on or off in Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests.

Photo uploads setting

Choose whether customers can attach photos when submitting a request:

• Enabled: Customers can optionally add up to 5 photos on the external request form.
• Disabled: The photo upload section is hidden on the external request form.

Toggle this in Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests using Allow photo uploads on external request form.

Photo uploads are optional for customers. Supported formats include JPEG, PNG, and HEIC. Each photo can be up to 10 MB, and the total upload size for a request is limited to 25 MB.

For existing SortScape accounts, this setting is off by default after the update. Turn it on when you’re ready to collect photos from customers. For new accounts, photo uploads are on by default and can be turned off in settings.

Contact details setting

Choose how customers must reach you back:

• Enabled: Customers must enter both an email address and a phone number.
• Disabled: Customers must enter at least one of them.

Toggle this in Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests using Require both email and phone on external request form.

Customising the button colour

You can change the colour of the submit button on your request form to match your brand.

1. Open Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests.
2. Find Brand main color.
3. Click the colour picker or type a hex code (for example, #337ab7 for blue).
4. Click Save.

The colour shows on both the standalone form page and the embedded form on your website. Pick a colour that contrasts well with white text so the button stays readable. Leave the field blank to use the default colour.

Automatic confirmation to customers

SortScape can text or email customers as soon as they submit your request form, so they know it arrived and don’t send it twice.

1. Open Settings → Quotes & requests → Requests.
2. Under Automatic confirmation, turn on Send a text message confirmation, Send an email confirmation, or both.
3. To change the wording, click Edit next to the preview, update the message (and the subject line for email), then click Save.

The message is the same for everyone. You can add your business name with the Your company name tag, and the preview shows it filled in. Customer details such as their name can’t be added, because anyone can fill in your form with any phone number or email address.

How confirmations are sent:

• Each customer gets one confirmation, not two. If text confirmations are on and the customer entered a mobile number, they get a text. With email confirmations on, they get an email instead when they didn’t enter a mobile number, when text confirmations are off, or when the text can’t be sent (for example, you’re out of text message credits).
• Confirmations go to the phone number or email address the customer typed on the form.
• Text confirmations use your text message credits. The text option only shows if SortScape can send text messages in your country.
• Each phone number or email address gets one confirmation a day at most, even if the same person submits the form several times. If your team has already texted or emailed them about a request that day, no confirmation is sent.
• Only new submissions from your request form send a confirmation. Requests you add yourself, email leads, Zapier requests, and changes a customer makes through a request link don’t. The AI Receptionist sends its own follow-up text.
• To protect you from spam, SortScape limits how many confirmations your account sends each hour.

Sharing your request form

On your website:

• Use the Embed code to place the form on a contact or quote-request page.
• Or add a “Request a Quote” or “Get Started” button that links to your External request URL.
• Include the link in your footer if you prefer a simple outbound link.

Via email or messaging:

• Include the link in your email signature.
• Send it in replies to inquiries.
• Add it to marketing emails or newsletters.

Social media:

• Post the link on your business profiles.
• Include it in your bio.
• Share it in response to customer messages.

Best practices:

• Make it easy to find: place the link or embedded form prominently.
• Use clear call-to-action text like “Request a Quote” or “Get Started.”
• Test the form yourself to ensure a smooth experience.

The request form

The form includes your business logo at the top and has up to four sections. These sections are the same for everyone who uses your link, new or existing customers. You can’t add, remove or rename fields. The settings above are the only changes you can make: whether the address is required, whether both email and phone are required, whether photo uploads show, and the button colour.

Contact details

• First name and last name (required).
• Phone number and email address. At least one is required, or both if you turn on Require both email and phone on external request form.

Service location

• Street address with Google autocomplete (required if address requirement is enabled).
• City, state, and post code.

Service details

• A text box where customers describe what they need (required).

Photos (optional)

If photo uploads are enabled on the Requests settings page, customers see a Photos (optional) section below the service description.

• Click Add photos to choose one or more images from their device.
• Attach up to 5 photos per request.
• Submit the form without photos if they aren’t needed.

Photos are useful for showing damage, access issues, lawn condition, or other details that are hard to describe in text.

When a request is submitted

When a form is submitted, SortScape:

1. Creates or finds the contact: If the email or phone matches an existing contact, it links to that contact. Otherwise, it creates a new contact.
2. Creates or finds the property: If an address is provided, SortScape checks for an existing property for that contact; if none exists, it creates a new property record.
3. Creates the request: A new request is created with status New and includes the submitted details, including any photos.
4. Sends notifications: Email notifications are sent to:
   • Administrators who have “Notify me of new requests” enabled in their user settings.
   • The address configured in your Reply to email setting (if different from admin emails).
5. Confirms with the customer: If you’ve turned on automatic confirmation, the customer gets a text, an email, or both.
6. Stores photos: Any uploaded photos are saved on the request. Administrators may see photos inline in the notification email when size limits allow, and all photos are available when you open the request in SortScape.

The request appears immediately in your Requests list. You can view it, convert it to a quote or job, or add internal notes.

Managing requests

Go to Requests in the main navigation to see all customer requests.

Who can open Requests

Administrators and employees can open the signed-in Requests list and see all requests for the company, on the web and in the mobile app. Contractors cannot open this list.

The public request form is separate. Anyone with your form link can submit a request without signing in. See Managing employee permissions for the role-by-role access list.

Viewing your requests

The list shows:

• Customer name and contact information.
• Service address (if provided).
• Request description.
• Status (New, Processed, or Archived).
• Date submitted.

Filtering and searching

Use the search box to find requests by:

• Customer name.
• Email address.
• Phone number.
• Property address.
• Request description.

Search looks through all requests, including archived ones. Archived matches still show as Archived.

Use the status filter to view:

• All: Shows New and Processed requests. Archived requests stay hidden unless you search.
• New: Requests that haven’t been converted yet.
• Processed: Requests linked to a job or quote.
• Archived: Requests you’ve archived.

Understanding request statuses

• New: The request was just submitted and hasn’t been converted to work yet.
• Processed: The request has been linked to at least one job or quote; links remain so you can track its origin.
• Archived: The request is hidden from the default view; unarchive if needed later.

Converting requests to work

Open any request to view details and use the action buttons to convert it.

Schedule a quote job

Creates a one-off job for providing a quote. The job description is pre-filled with the request details.

Steps:

1. Open the request.
2. Click Schedule quote [job type].
3. Fill in job details (date, time, staff, etc.).
4. Save the job.

The request links to the job and changes status to Processed.

The job gets the 📝 tag and isn’t invoiced. To book the same kind of quote job without a request, see Setting up an assessment job.

Create a quote directly

If you can quote without visiting first, create a quote directly from the request.

Steps:

1. Open the request.
2. Click the dropdown next to Schedule quote [job type].
3. Select Create a quote.
4. Enter quote details and items.
5. Save the quote.

If the request includes photos, they appear in the quote attachment gallery when you create a quote from the request. Select which photos to include on the quote before saving.

The request links to the quote and changes status to Processed.

Create a one-off job

For work that doesn’t need a quote first, create a one-off job.

Steps:

1. Open the request.
2. Click the dropdown next to the primary button.
3. Select Create one-off job.
4. Enter job details.
5. Save the job.

Create a repeating job

For ongoing service, create a repeating job.

Steps:

1. Open the request.
2. Click the dropdown next to the primary button.
3. Select Create repeating job.
4. Configure the repeating schedule.
5. Save the job.

Timeline tracking

Once processed, the request shows a timeline of all jobs and quotes created from it, so you can track its progression through your workflow.

Request details

Contact information

See the customer’s name, phone number, and email address. Click the customer’s name to edit their contact details. If a phone number is present, you’ll see a Call button.

Texting or emailing the customer

You can text or email a new lead straight from the request, before there’s a quote or job. For example, thank them for getting in touch and ask for a few photos so you can quote more accurately.

1. Open the request.
2. Click the text message icon or the email icon next to the contact details.
3. Choose a template. The customer’s mobile number or email address is filled in from their contact. Check it before you send.
4. Edit the message if you need to, then click Send.

The number under each icon shows how many texts or emails you’ve sent from that request.

Templates for requests live in Settings → Messaging → Request messages. Every account starts with a Request acknowledgment text and email template, which you can edit, and you can add your own. Request templates can use customer tags such as cust_first_name. See Customer notification templates.

Photos on the request can’t be attached to the email. To send photos to the customer, create a quote from the request and add them there.

These messages are separate from the automatic confirmation. The automatic confirmation goes out by itself when the form is submitted and can only include your business name. Messages you send from a request are written by your team and can be personalised with the customer’s details.

Additional contact information

If the submitted contact details differ from what you have on file, you’ll see a comparison:

• Current: Information already in SortScape.
• New: Information from the form submission.

Click Update Email or Update Phone to replace existing details with the new information.

Description

The full customer-provided description appears here.

Photos

If the customer or your team attached photos, they appear in a Photos gallery on the request.

• View thumbnails on the request detail page.
• Click a photo to open it full size.

When you create a request manually from Requests > Add request, you can attach up to 5 optional photos before saving. This is useful when taking a phone call or capturing site photos in the office. Your team can add photos manually regardless of the external form photo upload setting.

Internal notes

Add internal notes visible only to your team for follow-ups, special requirements, or other context.

Steps:

1. Open the request.
2. Click Edit.
3. Add notes in Internal notes.
4. Save.

Archiving and deleting requests

Archiving requests

Archive requests when you want to tidy your list without losing the record. Use this for leads that didn’t go ahead, spam or duplicate inquiries, or old requests you’ve already handled and no longer need in your daily view.

Archived requests are hidden from the main list but stay in SortScape. Search for them, or filter by Archived. Unarchive if you need them back. If a request is linked to jobs or quotes, archiving is usually better than deleting because it keeps that origin tracking intact.

Archive:

1. Open the request.
2. Click the More menu (three dots).
3. Select Archive.

Unarchive:

1. Filter by Archived.
2. Open the request.
3. Click More.
4. Select Unarchive.

Bulk archiving multiple requests

You can archive several requests at once to clean up your list faster:

1. Go to Requests.
2. Check the boxes next to the requests you want to archive (checkboxes appear in the first column).
3. Click Bulk archive at the top of the page.
4. Review the confirmation dialog, which shows how many requests will be archived.
5. Click Archive to confirm, or Cancel to go back.

Notes:

• You can bulk archive New and Processed requests. Already archived requests are skipped.
• Archiving runs in the background, so you can keep working while it completes.
• A progress indicator shows which requests have been archived.
• Bulk delete is not available. Archive requests to hide them from the main list, or delete them one at a time from the request’s More menu if you need to remove them completely.

Deleting requests

Delete a request only if you’re sure you won’t need the information later.

Steps:

1. Open the request.
2. Click More.
3. Select Delete.
4. Confirm deletion.

Note: If a request has been processed (linked to jobs or quotes), consider archiving instead of deleting to preserve origin tracking.

Tips for success

• Respond quickly: Faster follow-up improves win rates.
• Turn on automatic confirmation: Customers who hear back straight away are less likely to submit twice or go elsewhere.
• Enable photo uploads when helpful: For landscaping and similar work, photos often save a site job or extra back-and-forth.
• Review photos in notification emails: New request emails include photos when possible, so admins can triage quickly without logging in.
• Use internal notes: Capture conversations and context for your team.
• Convert promptly: Don’t let requests pile up; convert to quotes or jobs as soon as you can.
• Check notifications: Ensure at least one admin has “Notify me of new requests” enabled.
• Keep the form link updated: If you regenerate the form URL, update the link and any Embed code you’ve pasted on your website.