Email Parser
Turn lead emails from any source into contacts — no code, just a set of bookends that tell ClientTether where each value sits in the email.
On this page
1What a parser does
Plenty of lead sources can’t call an API, but every one of them can send an email: chatbots, marketplaces, directory sites, other CRMs, Zapier. A parser gives your ClientTether account an email address, watches what arrives, and reads the parts you point it at — first name, phone, address, notes — to create or update a contact. No code, just a set of rules per sender.
Accounts have used parsers for CraftJack, Franchise Gator, BizBuySell, Botpress, Facebook and LinkedIn lead emails, and even to pass contacts between two ClientTether accounts. For Angi Leads use the built-in integration instead — Angi changes its email format so often that a parser is a chore to maintain.
2The parser email address
Settings → Parser shows the account’s parser inbox address at the top of the tab. Forward lead emails there (or have the lead source send to it directly). You can edit the address; keep it somewhere safe, because anything sent to it is treated as a lead.
3Building a parser
Click Create and fill in the header of the parser:
- Name and Sender’s Emails — which senders this parser applies to.
- Identifier — a piece of text that appears in every email of this kind (a subject line, a footer phrase). It’s how ClientTether tells this parser’s emails apart from the rest.
- Contact Type, Lead Source, Sales Cycle, Action Plan — what every contact created by this parser gets. Attach a Connection Plan here and the follow-up starts the moment the email lands.
- Check Duplicate — update an existing contact instead of creating a second one.
Then add terms, one per piece of data. A term is a field (First Name, Last Name, Phone, Email, Address, City, State, Zip, Company, Job Title, Notes, Whiteboard, SMS OK, the UTM fields, or a Custom Field) plus two bookends: the text that comes right before the value in the email and the text that comes right after it. ClientTether takes whatever sits between them. For example, with an email that says Phone: 801-555-0100<br>, the start bookend is Phone: and the end bookend is <br>.
A few special terms cover awkward emails: Full Body Notes and Header Name / Header Email grab whole sections, Comma Separated Address splits one address line, Big Blob Type 1 handles unstructured text, and the Ver… terms (Ver First Name, Ver Phone Body, Ver Client Id…) tell the parser how to recognise an existing contact so the email updates rather than creates.
Parse into a custom field
Choose the Custom Field term, use the field’s label as the start bookend, and the text up to the end bookend lands in that custom field on the contact. See Custom Fields.
4Copying parsers between accounts
Copy Parsers lets an Enterprise account push a working parser to sub-accounts by account ID, so every location handles the same lead source the same way.
5Troubleshooting
Emails arrive but no contact appears
The identifier didn’t match, or the sender isn’t in the sender list. Open the parser and compare its identifier with the actual email; HTML emails often have hidden markup between visible words.
The wrong text lands in a field
The bookends are too loose. Make the start bookend longer and more specific, and make sure the end bookend is the first thing that follows the value.
The email is too messy to parse
Some emails need HTML knowledge to bookend correctly. ClientTether can build the parser for you for a small fee — ask your Success Manager.
6Related pages
- Web Forms — when the source can post instead of emailing.
- Lead Sources — the source every parsed contact is filed under.
- Integrations Overview — the built-in Angi, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack connections.