A lead is someone who has shown interest but has not joined. DojoMesh collects them from your website, your landing page and your front desk into one list, gives you one-click follow-ups by email and SMS, and turns a lead into a member with a single button when they sign up. This guide covers the whole loop.
What a lead is
In DojoMesh a lead is not a separate kind of record — it is a member whose status is New Lead. That is worth knowing because it explains almost everything about how leads behave:
- A lead has a full member record from day one: name, email, phone, and any notes you add. Nothing has to be re-entered when they join.
- A lead is not counted in your active numbers, is not billed, and does not appear on the members list. They live on the Leads page instead.
- Converting a lead is just changing that status to Active Member. That is all the Convert to Member button does.
- A lead cannot sign in to the member portal until they have a password — and leads created from your website or a trial booking do not have one.
Where leads come from
| Source | How it arrives | Set up under |
|---|---|---|
| Your website form | Someone fills in the sign-up form you embedded on your own site. A lead is created and you are emailed. | Settings Website Form |
| A trial class booking | Someone clicks Book Trial Class on a class on your DojoMesh landing page. A lead is created — or an existing record with that email is reused — and the booking is logged. See Trial class bookings. | Settings Landing Page |
| The API | A connected system — a third-party website builder, a CRM — creates the lead for you. | Settings API Integration |
| You, at the desk | Someone enquires in person or by phone. Click Add Lead at the top of the Leads page — it opens the Add Member form with the status already set to New Lead. | Members Add Member — see Adding a member |
The Leads page
Members Leads lists every lead, newest first. Three filters narrow it — All Leads, Recent (7 days), This Month — and Export downloads the current list.
Each row carries the lead's name and contact details, when they came in, and five actions:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Opens the full member record. Add notes, fix a phone number, fill in what the web form did not ask for. |
| Send Follow-up | Emails the lead using your Lead Follow-Up Email Template. One click, no composing. |
| Send SMS Follow-up | Texts the lead using your Lead Follow-Up SMS Template. Needs a phone number on the record and SMS enabled for your academy. |
| Convert to Member | Sets their status to Active Member. They leave this page and appear on Manage Members. |
| Delete Lead | Removes the record. For spam, duplicates, and people who asked to be removed. |
Follow up
Both follow-up buttons send a template, not a blank message, so the first thing to do — before your first lead, ideally — is write the templates. They live under Settings Message Templates, on the Lead Follow-Up tab: an email template with a subject and body, and an SMS template capped at 160 characters. Put your real voice in them. "Hi {first name}, it's Mark from the club — did you want to come and try a class this week?" gets replies; a form letter does not.
Then the routine is simple. Open the Leads page, use Recent (7 days), and work down the list. Email first, SMS if you have a number. Write a note on the record (Edit) saying what you sent and when, because the page does not track that for you.
A lead who filled in a form at 9pm is thinking about joining right then. A reply the same evening, even a one-liner, converts far better than a beautifully written one two days later. Check the page daily, or have your inbox tell you — every website sign-up and trial booking emails your academy's contact address.
Convert them — or let them go
When a lead signs up, click Convert to Member. That is the whole conversion: their status becomes Active Member, they move to Manage Members, and everything already on their record comes with them.
Two things it does not do, which you will usually want to do next from their profile:
- Assign a membership plan. Leads do not have one. Until you assign one, they are an active member with nothing to be billed for.
- Set a password. A lead who came in through the website has no portal login. Set one on their profile, or have them use the forgot-password link on the portal — that only works for active members, so do the conversion first.
If a lead has gone quiet after a few follow-ups, leave them. They cost nothing to keep, and the record is there if they come back next January. Delete only spam, duplicates and people who asked.
The numbers at the top
| Counter | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Total Leads | Everyone currently in New Lead status, however old. |
| Recent Leads | Leads created in the last seven days. |
| This Month | Leads created this calendar month. |
| Conversion Rate | Of the people who came in this month, the share who are now active members rather than still leads. It resets on the first of each month. |
Read Conversion Rate as a rough month-to-date pulse rather than a precise funnel metric — it compares this month's new active members against this month's still-open leads, so a member you added by hand as Active counts towards it too.
Troubleshooting
Send Follow-up did nothing, or said it failed
Almost always a template problem: the Lead Follow-Up email template has not been written yet, or email sending is not configured for your academy. Check Settings Message Templates first, then Email Settings.
Send SMS Follow-up is missing or fails
The lead has no phone number on their record, or SMS is not set up for your academy. Open the record with Edit and check Primary Phone.
A lead is not on the list but I know they signed up
Check Manage Members. The most common cause is that they were entered by hand with the status left on Active Member. Changing the status on their profile moves them back here.
The same person appears twice
They came in through two routes — a web form and a trial booking with different email addresses, say, or a manual entry on top of a web sign-up. Keep the record with the most information, copy anything useful across, and delete the other. If both are leads, nothing else is affected.
Common questions
Can I see how a lead heard about us?
If they came through your website form, yes — it asks How did you hear about us?, and the answer shows on the Leads page under their status badge (via Google Search, via Friend/Family) as well as in the notification email you receive. Leads from trial bookings, the API and the front desk do not carry a source; add a note when you first speak to them.
Does converting a lead email them?
No. Conversion changes their status and nothing else. Send a welcome message yourself, or from their profile, once you have set them up with a plan and a password.
Does a lead get counted in my member numbers or billing?
No. Leads sit outside the active roster entirely until converted.
What is the difference between a lead and a trial booking?
A trial booking is one specific thing a lead did: reserved a place in a particular class on a particular day. Every trial booking creates or reuses a lead, but not every lead has booked a trial. The Trial class bookings page tracks the bookings; this page tracks the people.