How to connect your website to ServiceM8 without losing lead details

A website lead should arrive in ServiceM8 with the details your office needs to follow up. That includes the work address, the customer's description and a clear answer to a basic question: have they asked for a call, booked a quote visit or booked the work itself?

Start with ServiceM8's built-in forms and booking options. A custom connection is worth adding when it solves a specific gap in how you collect or handle leads.

Start with the native enquiry form

ServiceM8's Simple Online Enquiry form sends submissions to the ServiceM8 Inbox. When an employee converts an enquiry into a job, the supplied details populate the Job Card; submitted attachments are added to the job diary. A form submission does not automatically mean a visit is scheduled. See ServiceM8's explanation of Simple Online Enquiry.

Use this route when the office needs to review the work before committing to it. A homeowner can describe a leaking tap or request a renovation quote, while your team checks the location, scope and next step.

Try your current form on a phone before changing the website. Follow a submission through to the office: where does it arrive, and who picks it up? A clearer button and someone responsible for the inbox may be all the existing form needs.

Should customers book a job, a quote visit or just send a request?

ServiceM8's Services add-on supports scheduling a quote, scheduling a service, or a no-schedule enquiry. Its configuration also includes service descriptions, pricing, questions and staff assignment. Some answers or pricing thresholds can require manual approval. Check which options are enabled in your account before describing them on your website. ServiceM8 documents the booking options here.

Use the customer's situation to choose the path:

• Request first: the work is unclear, service eligibility needs checking, or the office must decide what kind of visit is needed.
• Book a quote visit: someone must inspect the property before defining or pricing the work. Explain that the appointment is for an assessment, not the finished service.
• Book a defined service: the business can describe the included work, likely duration and conditions clearly enough to accept a booking.

A repeat maintenance visit may suit direct booking. An unfamiliar fault or a substantial installation may need a conversation or inspection first. Your team should decide which work it can safely accept through each route.

Check the service area, travel allowance, eligible staff, time windows and preparation requirements. If the office still has to approve a request, the confirmation should say so. Make it clear whether the customer has chosen a preferred date or secured an appointment.

When does a custom website form make sense?

A custom form may be useful if you need a different intake journey, additional routing, or information shared with another business system. For example, a commercial enquiry may need a business contact and a separate work-site contact before the office can quote.

With a custom form, someone needs to map each field to ServiceM8, handle existing customer records and recover failed submissions. Check the request in ServiceM8 itself. A success message on the website only tells you part of the story.

Ask the builder to show where a test lead lands and what record it creates. “It integrates” leaves too much unanswered. If the office needs to review an enquiry, a connection that immediately creates a job may be the wrong fit.

If the website itself needs clearer services, mobile layouts or contact paths, address those through website design. Connecting a confusing form will not make the request easier to complete.

Decide which lead details need to reach the office

Before building the connection, agree where these details will go:

• Customer: name and usable contact details, with a rule for matching existing customers.
• Work location: the service address, separate from any billing address.
• Request: selected service, original description and relevant attachments.
• Contact preferences: the requested channel and any permissions needed for the planned messages.
• Source and timing: original arrival time and the marketing source information the chosen path can preserve.
• Ownership: the person or queue responsible for reviewing the request.

Some details will fit into ServiceM8 fields; others may need a clearly labelled note or attachment. Check where each one ends up so staff can find it when they need it.

For the broader record-design questions, see our guide to connecting a website, CRM and field-service system.

What a lead handoff could look like

Here's a planning example, rather than a live Goliath installation.

A homeowner requests a quote for replacing a hot-water system. The website explains that the office will review the request before arranging a visit. The homeowner supplies the service address, contact details and a description.

Using the native enquiry route, the request reaches the ServiceM8 Inbox. The office checks the location and scope, confirms the appropriate next step, and converts the enquiry into a job when appropriate. Staff review the resulting details rather than assuming the customer entered everything correctly.

If you use a custom form instead, keep that office review in the process. Don't skip it just because creating a job is the easiest action for the builder to connect.

The acknowledgement should say “We received your request.” Save “Your installation is booked” for when the business has actually accepted and scheduled the work.

Test the awkward cases before launch

Use clearly identified test submissions and check both the customer experience and the office record:

1. Send a normal request from a phone. Confirm the description and work address arrive intact.
2. Submit twice. Check that the office can identify a repeat without losing a genuinely separate job.
3. Use an existing customer with another property. Confirm nobody assumes the billing address is the work site.
4. Leave a required detail out. The customer should receive useful guidance, not a false success message.
5. Test outside office hours. The acknowledgement and assigned follow-up should reflect real coverage.
6. Interrupt the custom connection in a controlled test. Verify an alert, a recoverable request and a safe retry process.

Agree who monitors exceptions and how the office works during an outage. Keep the first meaningful response separate from the automated receipt, as explained in our speed-to-lead guide.

Keep improving the way you handle leads

After launch, review missing details, duplicate records, unassigned requests and time to a useful response. Once capture is dependable, you can examine which ServiceM8 leads become jobs.

Need help getting website leads into ServiceM8? Start with Goliath's automation and integration services. Bring your current form and tell us what the office keeps having to chase. That's the gap the connection needs to close.