Getting started: your first campaign, end to end
lead2inbound takes leads in, has an AI voice agent call and qualify them, and warm-transfers the good ones to a buyer's phone number. This article is the whole setup in order. Every step links to a detailed article — work top to bottom and you'll end with a campaign that dials.
Before you start: what you'll need
The calls run on your own vendor accounts, not ours, so the phone numbers, the AI voice, and the recordings all belong to you and are billed to you at those vendors' prices. You'll need:
- Twilio — your phone numbers (the caller ID leads see) and text messaging. Sign up at twilio.com.
- An AI voice account — ElevenLabs or Retell. Pick one; you can connect both.
- Optional but strongly recommended: a do-not-call scrubbing account (TCPA Litigator List).
- The buyer phone number qualified callers should be transferred to — for most operators a tracking number from LeadRouter, Ringba, or Retreaver.
Creating those accounts is the only part we can't do for you. Everything below happens inside lead2inbound.
1. Connect your accounts
Settings → Integrations & API. Paste your Twilio Account SID and Auth Token, then your AI voice key, then your do-not-call key. Each one is checked live and shows a green Connected chip when it works. Only Owners and Admins can do this. Full detail of what each key unlocks: Connecting your accounts.
2. Add an AI agent
AI Agents in the sidebar. An "agent" is the AI caller — its script, its voice, and what it must confirm before transferring. Once your voice key is connected we list the agents already in that account so you can add them in one click, or you can build a new one from a template. See Your AI agent.
3. Get a phone number to call from
Phone numbers in the sidebar. Either Buy a number (bought inside your own Twilio account, roughly $1.15/month billed by Twilio) or Import from Twilio if you already own numbers there. New numbers are registered for caller-ID trust automatically. See Phone numbers.
4. Add your buyer
Destinations in the sidebar. Add the phone number qualified callers get transferred to, along with how many calls that buyer takes at once, the hours they accept calls, and what they pay per call. The payout is what makes your revenue reporting real. See Buyer destinations and call routing.
5. Build the campaign
Campaigns → New campaign. A campaign ties together the agent, the caller-ID number, the buyer, and the calling rules. You can start from a vertical template. The defaults are sensible — open Advanced settings only when you need them. See Campaign settings explained.
6. Send leads in
Two ways, and you can use both:
- Live feed — Settings → Integrations & API → Connect a lead source gives you your intake address and copy-paste recipes for a webform, a no-code tool (Zapier / Make / n8n), or plain HTTP.
- CSV import — Import in the sidebar, with a column-mapping wizard.
One rule applies to both: a lead with no consent evidence is stored but never dialed. See Getting leads in.
7. Turn it on
On the Campaigns page, click Activate. Each non-draft campaign then shows a chip that reads Ready to dial or Not ready — see why; click it for a checklist of exactly what's missing. Dialing starts on the next minute.
8. Watch it work
The Dashboard shows your funnel (leads in → dialed → connected → qualified → transferred). The Live board shows calls as they happen, with the transcript updating mid-call. Analytics gives you date-range reports and CSV exports. See Reading your numbers.
9. Get paid data flowing
Your buyer's platform is what knows the payout, so give it your postback address — it's on the Destinations page under Revenue postbacks. See Tracking revenue.
The onboarding checklist on your Dashboard tracks these same milestones and checks them off as you go. If something isn't dialing, work down Troubleshooting.
Once you're running
- Compliance — the guardrails that are always on, and the one provider you should connect.
- Why phones don't ring — do this before you scale volume, not after.
- Team and roles — bring your people in.
- Billing — your plan, and the prepaid balance that keeps calling switched on.