Send qualified leads to Google Sheets

Embers can keep a Google Sheets spreadsheet in step with your LinkedIn pipeline. When a lead qualifies, Embers adds a row for that person, and when they engage again or change status it updates the same row. Let Embers create the spreadsheet with its columns ready, or map its fields to the columns of a sheet you already use.

Connect Google Sheets

1. Connect Google Sheets

   Open Integrations in the sidebar (/integrations) and choose Google Sheets (/integrations/google-sheets). On the Setup card, choose Connect Google Sheets.

   Google’s own screen opens. Pick the Google account the spreadsheet should live in, and allow Embers to see and edit only the files you use with it. If you cancel there, nothing is connected. When you allow it, you return to the Google Sheets page in Embers.

   Once connected, the page opens on one sentence that says what is left, such as “Not sending yet: create a spreadsheet”, and Needs attention carries the button for the next step. The line under it names the Google account, “as you@company.com”.

2. Create or choose a spreadsheet

   The Spreadsheet card reads “No spreadsheet yet”. Choose Create a spreadsheet, there or under Needs attention, and Embers makes “Embers leads” with your workspace name in brackets, in your Google Drive, with one tab called Leads and a bold, frozen header row. Every column is mapped already, so delivery starts with no further setup and the status reads “Writing leads to” the spreadsheet and tab.

   When the card also offers Choose from Google Drive, it opens Google’s file picker, which lists your spreadsheets. The one you choose is the one file Embers gains access to. A spreadsheet with more than one tab shows a Tab menu, “Pick the tab for your leads”, and the status reads “Not sending yet: pick a tab” until you do.

   Change spreadsheet, on the same card, offers Create a new spreadsheet and, when available, Choose from Google Drive. Another spreadsheet starts with a fresh mapping; choosing the same one keeps it.

3. Map your columns

   For a spreadsheet Embers did not create, the Column mapping card opens next. Each Embers field sits under From Embers, with a menu of the column names in row 1 of your tab. Choose the column each field fills, leave it on Not sent, or choose Add a column named the field’s name: Embers writes that name into row 1 after your last column and maps it. Columns whose name matches a field are pre-selected, and nothing is sent until you choose Save mapping.

   Use suggestions restores the pre-selected matches, and Edit columns reopens the card later. The menus are read from your sheet each time the card opens, so a column you just added in Google Sheets is there.

4. Choose what to send

   The What to send card has two switches:

   • New leads (on): a lead qualified, so Embers adds the row.
   • Everything else (off): a known lead engaged again or changed pipeline status, which updates the same row. Report-ready events are included in that switch but write nothing to the sheet.

   Enable delivery, on the same card, switches Google Sheets off and on without losing the spreadsheet or the mapping.

5. Test the connection

   Choose Send test beside the status at the top of the page (in the … menu on a phone). It checks the connection, that the spreadsheet is not in the trash, the tab, and every mapped column, and writes nothing. On the Activity card it reads Connection test, Passed, because no row was written. If it fails, Needs attention shows “The last test did not reach Google Sheets” with the reason.

What lands in each column

A spreadsheet Embers creates has these columns, in this order: Full name, Job title, Company, Company size, Country, LinkedIn URL, Embers score, ICP match, Why now, Status, Last engaged, Found by, Email, Phone, Link in Embers, and Embers ID. A sheet of your own can map any of them, plus First name, Last name, LinkedIn headline, Location, Industry, Company employees, Company industry, Company LinkedIn URL, Company website, Company domain, About, ICP reason, and Watching. Country and company values are blank until Embers knows them.

Why now is the lead’s strongest signal as one sentence, and Watching is the profile or competitor whose content they engaged with. Values are written as they are: a company name that starts with = stays text and never runs as a formula.

A few rules keep your sheet safe:

• A column you did not map is never touched, so keep notes, owners, and formulas in their own columns.
• Only cells Embers has a value for are written. An empty value never clears what is in a cell.
• Embers never deletes a row, and adds a column only when you ask or when it creates the spreadsheet.
• Email and Phone carry an After reveal badge. They fill only once you reveal the lead’s contact details on a paid plan, which the free trial does not include.

The match key

Two fields carry a Match key badge: LinkedIn profile URL and Embers ID. Map at least one, or Embers does not save the mapping. It is how Embers finds a person already in your sheet: LinkedIn addresses match whatever their https://, www, capitals, or trailing slash, and the Embers ID matches as written.

Embers looks for the lead’s row before every write, so sorting, filtering, or moving rows is safe. A lead who is found has their mapped cells updated. A lead who is not is added as a new row under the last row of your list, inserting space rather than writing over anything. A lead with no value for the only key you mapped fails that delivery on its own.

Who gets delivered

The Who gets delivered card holds Google Sheets’ own delivery rules: a minimum lead score, ICP matches only, the sources that count, and titles and industries to exclude. A lead the rules hold back writes nothing and is listed on the Activity card as Held back, with the reason. To send it anyway, choose Send anyway on its row, or push it with Send to. A lead already in the sheet is skipped as already synced to Google Sheets unless you tick ignore rules, which updates its row.

Activity, retries, and pauses

The Activity card lists the last 30 days of deliveries, newest first: the lead, with a link to their row once there is one, the status (Delivered, Failed, Held back, Blocked, or Sending, and Passed for a test), the reason, and when. Retry re-sends a failed or blocked row. A lead in the sheet also carries a “Sent to Google Sheets” chip on its lead page that opens the row.

Embers paces itself under Google’s limits, so a burst of leads waits its turn rather than failing. Outages and rate limits are retried: the first attempt plus seven retries, from 30 seconds out to about 6.3 days. A lead Google refuses fails on its own, and five refused in a row pause the install.

These pause the install at once. The status reads “Delivery to Google Sheets is paused”, and Needs attention shows the reason with the fix and Resume:

• Reconnect Google Sheets: Google no longer accepts the connection, or your Google Workspace administrator blocked Embers.
• Create a spreadsheet: it was deleted, can no longer be opened with this account, or reached Google’s limit of 10 million cells. A spreadsheet in the trash can also be restored in Google Drive instead, then Resume.
• Pick a tab: the tab was deleted. Renaming a tab or the spreadsheet is fine.
• Re-map columns: a mapped column was renamed or removed in row 1. Moving a column is fine.

Reconnecting, choosing a spreadsheet, or picking a tab clears the pause, and saving the mapping clears a “Re-map” pause. Google Sheets delivery is paused walks through each reason.

Disconnect Google Sheets, in the … menu beside the status, asks you to confirm, then stops Embers writing and gives up its access at Google. The spreadsheet and its rows stay in your Drive. Reconnecting the same Google account keeps the spreadsheet and mapping; another account starts fresh.

Troubleshooting

The column I want is not in the menu. Another field already uses it, or two columns in row 1 share that name. Rename one in Google Sheets, then choose Edit columns.

Row 1 has no column names. Type names into row 1, or choose Add a column named for each field you want.

New rows appear in the middle of the sheet. There is an empty row inside your list, and Embers adds rows where the list under row 1 ends. Delete the empty row.

A lead never appeared. Check the Activity card. Held back means a rule held it back, and Failed names the reason.

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