Why you're losing Zillow leads right now
Zillow leads are expensive. The average cost per lead ranges from $139 to $223 — and in hot ZIP codes, agents report paying over $450 per lead. You're paying for every single one of them. The question is: are you actually following up fast enough?
The problem isn't motivation — it's process. You're showing a property when the Zillow notification comes in. By the time you see it, open it, manually copy the contact info into your CRM, and draft a reply, the lead has already talked to two other agents.
Make.com solves this completely. When a new Zillow lead arrives, your automation captures the data, creates the CRM contact, and sends a personalized reply — all within 2 minutes, while you're still at the showing.
What you need (all free to start)
Step-by-step tutorial
This tutorial builds the core workflow: Zillow lead email → parse data → add to CRM → send follow-up. The whole setup takes about 15 minutes on your first attempt.
Go to make.com/en/register and sign up with your email. No credit card needed — the free plan gives you 1,000 operations per month, which is more than enough for 100–200 leads.
Once inside, you'll land on the Make dashboard. This is where you'll build your automation visually — no code, just drag and drop.
From the dashboard, click Create a new scenario. You'll see a blank canvas with a large "+" in the center — this is where you'll add your first module (trigger).
Think of a scenario as a recipe: when X happens, do Y, then Z. You're building the recipe for "when a Zillow lead arrives, do everything automatically."
Click the "+" and search for Gmail. Select the module "Watch Emails" — this tells Make to monitor your inbox for new emails.
Connect your Gmail account when prompted (Make will ask for permission to read emails). Then configure the filter:
Folder: INBOX
Filter: from:zillow.com
Mark as read: No
Max results: 1
Zillow lead emails have a consistent format with the lead's name, email, phone and the property they enquired about. You need to extract this data so you can use it in the next steps.
Click "+" after Gmail and add a Text Parser → Match Pattern module. Use these regex patterns to extract each field:
Name pattern: Name:\s*(.+)
// Pattern for email
Email pattern: Email:\s*([\w.+-]+@[\w-]+\.[\w.]+)
// Pattern for phone
Phone pattern: Phone:\s*([\d\s\(\)\-\+]+)
// Pattern for property
Property pattern: Property:\s*(.+)
Click "+" and choose your CRM. We'll show both options:
Option A: HubSpot (recommended)
Search for HubSpot → Create/Update Contact. Connect your HubSpot account and map the fields from your parser to HubSpot contact properties:
First Name: {{4.name}}
Phone: {{4.phone}}
Lead Source: Zillow
Lifecycle Stage: Lead
Option B: Google Sheets (beginner-friendly)
Search for Google Sheets → Add a Row. Connect your Google account, select your spreadsheet and map each column:
Column B (Name): {{4.name}}
Column C (Email): {{4.email}}
Column D (Phone): {{4.phone}}
Column E (Property): {{4.property}}
Column F (Source): Zillow
This is the step that wins you deals. Add a Gmail → Send an Email module and configure the follow-up that goes out within 2 minutes of every new lead:
Subject: Re: Your Zillow inquiry about {{4.property}}
// Body template
Hi {{4.name}},
Thank you for your inquiry about {{4.property}}.
I'll be in touch within the hour with more details.
In the meantime, feel free to call or text me directly:
[Your name] | [Your phone]
{{4.property}} in the subject line — emails that reference the specific property the lead enquired about get 40% higher open rates than generic "Thanks for your inquiry" subjects.Before going live, test the workflow. Click "Run once" at the bottom of the screen. Make will process one email from your inbox and show you exactly what data flows through each step.
Check that the parsed data looks correct — name, email, phone and property should all extract cleanly. If any field is empty, adjust the regex pattern in step 4.
Once the test passes, click the toggle in the bottom left to turn the scenario ON. Make will now run this workflow automatically every 15 minutes (free plan) or every minute (paid plan).
The complete Zillow automation workflow
The 7-step tutorial above covers the core. Here's the complete picture of what a production-ready Zillow automation looks like — this is what top-performing agents are running:
- Trigger: New email from zillow.com detected in Gmail
- Parse: Extract name, email, phone, property, message, budget (if available)
- Enrich: Google Maps module to validate property address
- Route: If budget over $X, assign to senior agent (via CRM owner field)
- CRM: Create contact in HubSpot or Follow Up Boss with full lead data
- Email: Send instant personalized reply from your Gmail
- SMS: Send SMS notification to your phone via Twilio (optional)
- Slack: Post lead summary to your team Slack channel (optional)
- Calendar: Create a follow-up task in Google Calendar for 1 hour later
- Sheet: Log everything in a master Google Sheet for reporting
An agent running this workflow responds to every lead in under 2 minutes, 24/7, with a personalized email. Agents without it respond in 3+ hours when they notice the notification. The conversion rate difference between these two scenarios is not 10% — it's the difference between winning and losing the deal entirely.
Upgrade your workflow (paid features worth it)
The free Make plan is enough to get started. When your lead volume grows, these upgrades are worth the $9/month:
For most solo agents, the free plan works fine for 6–12 months. Upgrade when you're regularly hitting the 1,000 operation limit or when you need the 1-minute trigger speed for hot markets.
Frequently asked questions
Can I automate Zillow leads completely for free?
Yes. Make.com's free plan includes 1,000 operations per month — enough for 100–200 Zillow leads at no cost. HubSpot CRM also has a free forever plan. The entire workflow described here can run at $0/month.
How fast will Make.com respond to a new Zillow lead?
On the free plan, Make checks for new emails every 15 minutes. On the paid Core plan ($9/month), it checks every minute. In practice, most leads get a response within 2–15 minutes — still far faster than the industry average of 3+ hours.
Does this work with Realtor.com leads too?
Yes. The same workflow works for any lead source that sends email notifications — Realtor.com, Trulia, your website contact form, Facebook Lead Ads. You just create separate Gmail filters for each source and add a routing step.
Will the automated email look robotic to leads?
Not if you personalize it correctly. Using the lead's name and the specific property they enquired about makes it feel personal. The key is to keep it short, warm and conversational — not a corporate template. The example in step 6 is designed to feel human.
What CRM works best with Make.com for real estate?
HubSpot CRM is the easiest to connect (free, great Make integration). Follow Up Boss is the best purpose-built real estate CRM but costs $69/month. Google Sheets is a great starting point — you can always migrate to a proper CRM later without rebuilding the Make workflow.
I'm not technical. Can I really set this up in 15 minutes?
Yes. Make.com is designed for non-developers. The most technical part is the regex pattern in step 4 — we've provided the exact patterns to copy-paste. If you'd rather skip regex entirely, upgrade to Make's Core plan and use the Email Parser module instead.
Start automating your Zillow leads today
Set up in 15 minutes. Free to start. Every lead gets an instant personalized response — while you focus on closing deals.