Routing product-qualified leads (PQLs) to sales with Default

A product-qualified lead (PQL) is a user whose product usage signals buying intent, such as signing up, inviting teammates, or reaching a usage threshold. A marketing-qualified lead (MQL) qualifies on marketing activity, such as a form fill or a content download, while a PQL qualifies on what the person does in your product. Product-led sales teams route PQLs to a rep while the usage is fresh. Default routes PQLs with 1 workflow. A product event reaches Default through the Incoming Webhook or API trigger, the workflow checks Salesforce or HubSpot for the person, enriches them, qualifies them on usage and fit, and gives them to the account owner or the next rep in a queue. The rep gets the record in the CRM and a message in Slack.

The PQL workflow at a glance

Step	Node	What it does
1. Receive the event	Incoming Webhook or API trigger	Starts a run for each product event and maps the event to a person by email.
2. Check the signal	Multi-Branch	Keeps events that meet your usage rules, from fields in the event itself.
3. Check the CRM	Match Record	Finds an existing Lead or Contact, so known people keep their owner.
4. Enrich	Enrich Data	Adds company size, industry, and title to new people.
5. Qualify on fit	Multi-Branch or AI Prompt	Keeps users whose company fits your sales motion.
6. Assign	Match Record and Round-Robin	Picks the account owner when the company exists, or the next rep in a queue.
7. Hand off	Create Record, Update Record, Send Slack Message	Writes the owner to the CRM and tells the rep. A sequencing node can follow.

How product events reach Default

Default has no native integration with product analytics tools or warehouses, and it does not pull events, users, or cohorts from them. The tool, or a sync you run, sends each event to Default.

Source	Trigger	Setup
Segment, PostHog, Mixpanel, or Amplitude	Incoming Webhook	The tool sends each event as a JSON `POST` with your webhook secret. See Product analytics.
A warehouse or reverse ETL (extract, transform, load) tool, such as Hightouch or Census	Incoming Webhook	Each synced row is 1 request. See Warehouses and reverse ETL.
Your own backend, or a sync that calls the Default API	API	Each call sends the user’s email and the fields of the trigger’s Connected Form. See Route and book through the API.
A sync that writes usage to Salesforce or HubSpot	CRM Record Updated	Add a Condition with Fields Updated contains any of the usage field. See Triggers.

The rest of this guide uses the Incoming Webhook trigger. With the API trigger, the email in each call already identifies the person, so skip the identity mapping step.

Setup for PQL routing

Requirement	Where	Why
Salesforce or HubSpot connected	Settings → Integrations. See Salesforce or HubSpot.	Match Record, Create Record, and Update Record read and write the CRM.
Enrichment providers or a waterfall	Settings → Integrations → Enrichment, and Waterfalls	Enrich Data uses them. You don’t need an account or API key with the provider. Enrichment uses credits.
A queue for PQL reps with a routing policy	Routing → Queues and Policies. See Queues and Policies.	Round-Robin picks the rep. Include Objects in the policy’s Assignment Units.
Each rep mapped to their CRM user and Slack user	Settings → Users. See Users.	Default writes the rep as the CRM owner and sends the Slack message through these mappings.
Slack connected	Settings → Integrations → Slack. See Slack.	Send Slack Message posts through it.
A CRM field for the product signal (optional)	Salesforce or HubSpot	Default writes to fields that already exist in your CRM, for example a `Product Signal` text field.

Send events Default can qualify on

The captured sample defines the fields that later nodes can pick, and their types. Before you capture it:

Send 1 event per request. A body that holds an array of events starts 1 run with the whole array.
Send running totals. Each request starts its own run, and the run sees only that request’s body. Default does not add up events across requests, so send the total, such as seats_used, or let the analytics tool or warehouse decide when the threshold is reached.
Send numbers as JSON numbers. A sample value of 6 lets a condition use comparisons such as is at least. A value of "6" is text and offers only text comparisons.
Fill every field in the sample. A key missing from the sample does not appear in the data picker, and a null value gives the field no type.
Name the email field email, or end its name in _email. Conditions then offer is work domain, and the value picker offers Domain from email.

{
  "event": "Usage Threshold Reached",
  "email": "jane@acme.com",
  "first_name": "Jane",
  "last_name": "Doe",
  "account_domain": "acme.com",
  "plan": "Free",
  "seats_used": 6,
  "projects_created": 14
}

Build a PQL routing workflow for Salesforce

This example routes free-plan users with at least 5 seats at companies with at least 50 employees. People already in Salesforce keep their owner. New PQLs at an existing Account go to the account owner, and the rest go to a queue named PQL Reps.

Add the Incoming Webhook trigger

In Workflows, create a workflow and add the Incoming Webhook trigger. Under Connected Webhook, select Create new webhook. Copy the Ingestion URL and the Bearer secret into your analytics tool or sync, and send the Authorization: Bearer <secret> header with each request.

Capture a sample and map the person

Select Listen for test event and send 1 event, or select Paste a sample, paste the example above, and select Save sample. Under Identity mapping, set Person email to email. Later nodes, including Enrich Data and Round-Robin, then know who the event is about.

Check the usage signal first

Add Multi-Branch with a branch named Product signal. Add the conditions from the event, found in the data picker under Workflow → Trigger → Incoming webhook: plan equals Free, seats_used is at least 5, and email is work domain. Leave Else empty, so other events end the run before they use enrichment credits.

Check Salesforce for the person

On Product signal, add Match Record. Set CRM to Salesforce and Record to Lead, and under Match Details, match the Lead’s Email to email from the trigger.

Update existing Leads and tell their owner

On the Match branch, add Update Record with Platform set to Salesforce and Record Type set to Lead. Set Record to update to the Lead’s ID from the Match Record step, and under Fields, set your Product Signal field to event from the trigger. Then add Send Slack Message and set Recipients to the Lead’s Owner ID from the Match Record step. The owner stays the same.

Enrich new people

On the No Match branch, add Enrich Data. Set Enrichment target to Both and Enrichment source to your waterfall. Leave Email / Domain (optional) empty, and Default uses the mapped Person email.

Qualify on fit

Add a second Multi-Branch with a branch named PQL, for example where the enriched number of employees is at least 50 and the country is any of the markets you sell to. Leave Else empty, or see Keep every signup in the CRM.

Look for the company's Account

On PQL, add Match Record with CRM set to Salesforce and Record set to Account. Under Match Details, choose Website and domain matches, and for the value pick email from the trigger and choose Domain from email. A domain field from the event, such as account_domain, works too. See Match on the domain.

Give PQLs at known Accounts to the account owner

On the Match branch, add Create Record with Platform set to Salesforce and Record Type set to Lead. In Mapped Fields, map Email, First Name, Last Name, and Company from the event or the enrichment, set Lead Source to Product, and set Owner ID to the Account’s Owner ID from the Match Record step. Add Send Slack Message with Recipients set to the same Owner ID.

Round-robin the rest

On the No Match branch, add Round-Robin and set Queue to PQL Reps. Add Create Record with the same Mapped Fields, and set Owner ID to Latest assigned user under Round robin. Add Send Slack Message with Recipients set to Latest assigned user. In Message, type {{ to insert event, seats_used, and plan, so the rep sees why the user qualified.

Test and publish

Select Test, edit the sample to use your own email, and select Run Test. Check the Lead and its owner in Salesforce and the Slack message. Then select Publish and check that the status next to the deployment switch reads Live. A new workflow goes live when you first publish it. If the status reads Paused, turn the switch on.

A test performs real actions. It creates the Lead, counts the routing assignment, and sends the Slack message. Use your own email and a test queue.

To start a sequence for the rep’s new PQLs, add a sequencing node after Create Record on the round-robin branch, with the sender set to Latest assigned user. See Send routed leads to sales sequences. To record users who do not qualify yet, add Create Record on the fit check’s Else branch with the same Mapped Fields, without setting Owner ID. When the same user sends a qualifying event later, Match Record finds the Lead and takes the Match branch, which keeps the owner. To route those Leads too, add a Multi-Branch on the Match branch whose condition matches only Leads your team treats as unassigned, then Round-Robin and Update Record.

Qualify with AI Prompt instead of fixed rules

When the signal is in text, such as a signup answer about the use case or a job title, add AI Prompt after Enrich Data in place of the fit check. In Dynamic prompt, type {{ to insert the event fields and the enriched data, list the labels the model may return, for example PQL and Not yet, and ask for the label only. Then add Multi-Branch with a branch where the AI Prompt Output equals PQL. Else catches every other reply and failed requests. See Classify free-text answers and Score with AI Prompt.

Salesforce and HubSpot differences for PQLs

	Salesforce	HubSpot
Person record	Lead. Existing customers’ users are often Contacts, so add a second Match Record on Contact on the Lead’s No Match branch.	Contact
Company record and domain field	Account, matched on Website	Company, matched on its Company Domain Name property
Owner field to write	Owner ID	Contact owner
Account owner to copy	The Account’s Owner ID	The Company’s Company owner property
Required on create	Last Name and Company on every Lead	Map Email so the next event finds the contact
Duplicate protection	A Salesforce duplicate rule that blocks a new Lead with an existing email	HubSpot keeps a contact’s email unique and rejects the second create

See Salesforce lead routing and HubSpot lead routing for the owner write-back in each CRM.

Check that PQL routing worked

Runs: open the workflow, select Runs in the top bar, and open a run. Each Multi-Branch step lists every condition with the value it found and TRUE or FALSE, and the Round-Robin step shows the rep it picked. See Run logs.
Assignments: in Routing, select Assignments, then Object assignments, to see each round-robin PQL. An owner copied from the Account does not count as a queue assignment.
The CRM record: the new Lead or contact has the rep as owner and Product as its source.

What Default does not do for PQLs

Connect natively to Segment, PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Hightouch, or Census, or show a card for them on the Integrations page.
Pull events, users, or cohorts from these tools, or query a warehouse on a schedule.
Accept webhook requests without an Authorization: Bearer header. If a tool cannot set that header, put a service that can between the tool and Default.
Split a batch of events into separate runs, or add up events across requests.

Troubleshoot PQL routing

What you see	What to check
The workflow never starts	A `401` response means a missing or wrong secret, and a `410` means the webhook’s Active switch is off. Default answers `200` even when no live workflow uses the webhook, so check that the status reads Live.
A usage field is missing from the data picker, or offers only text comparisons	Capture a new sample in which every field has a value and numbers are sent as JSON numbers.
Enrich Data finds no person	Set Person email under Identity mapping, or pick the email in Email / Domain (optional).
Domain from email or is work domain is not offered for the email	Rename the payload field to `email` or a name ending in `_email`, or use a domain field from the event.
Create Record fails on a missing field	Map Last Name and Company for a Salesforce Lead, from the event or from Enrich Data.
The owner gets a Slack message for every event	Each request starts a run. Send the threshold event once from the analytics tool, or remove Send Slack Message from the Match branch.

​The PQL workflow at a glance

​How product events reach Default

​Setup for PQL routing

​Send events Default can qualify on

​Build a PQL routing workflow for Salesforce

​Keep every signup in the CRM

​Qualify with AI Prompt instead of fixed rules

​Salesforce and HubSpot differences for PQLs

​Check that PQL routing worked

​What Default does not do for PQLs

​Troubleshoot PQL routing

The PQL workflow at a glance

How product events reach Default

Setup for PQL routing

Send events Default can qualify on

Build a PQL routing workflow for Salesforce

Keep every signup in the CRM

Qualify with AI Prompt instead of fixed rules

Salesforce and HubSpot differences for PQLs

Check that PQL routing worked

What Default does not do for PQLs

Troubleshoot PQL routing