Learn how to integrate Outlook with your real estate workflow to automatically respond to leads, track conversations, and route inquiries to the right team members.
Real estate teams using Microsoft 365 and Outlook need a way to handle leads that doesn't require switching between multiple tools. The solution? Integrate Outlook with your lead management system to automatically respond to inquiries, track conversations, and route leads to the right team members. For a broader guide on automating rental inquiries, see our comprehensive automation guide.
Here's how to set up Outlook integration for real estate teams, from initial setup to advanced routing rules.
Many real estate teams use Microsoft 365 for email, calendar, and collaboration. But when it comes to handling leads, they often use separate tools that don't integrate with Outlook:
The problem: Leads come into Outlook, but you have to manually copy information to other systems, respond from different tools, and track conversations across multiple platforms.
Integrating Outlook with your lead management system provides:
What you need:
How to connect:
Security note: OAuth is more secure than password sharing. It uses tokens that can be revoked, and you control exactly what permissions are granted.
What to monitor:
Configuration options:
Monitor: Inbox + "Leads" folder
From: Contains "zillow.com" OR "apartments.com" OR "facebook.com"
Subject: Contains "lead" OR "inquiry" OR "property"
Action: Parse email, extract lead info, send response
Best practice: Start with monitoring your main inbox, then add specific folders or patterns as needed.
What parsing does: Extracts lead information from emails automatically.
Common email formats to parse:
Zillow lead email:
Subject: New Lead: John Smith
You have a new lead from Zillow.
Name: John Smith
Email: john.smith@email.com
Phone: (555) 123-4567
Property: 123 Main St, Apt 2B
Message: I'm interested in viewing this property.
Apartments.com lead email:
Subject: New Inquiry - 123 Main St
New lead inquiry received.
Contact: John Smith
Email: john.smith@email.com
Phone: 555-123-4567
Interested in: 123 Main St, Apt 2B
Move-in date: February 2025
Facebook lead email:
Subject: New Lead: John Smith
You have a new lead from your Facebook ad campaign.
Name: John Smith
Email: john.smith@email.com
Phone: (555) 123-4567
Question: Which property are you interested in?
Answer: 123 Main St, Apt 2B
Question: When are you looking to move in?
Answer: February 2025
Parsing configuration:
What auto-responses do: Send personalized replies to leads automatically.
Response configuration:
Example auto-response:
Hi John,
Thanks for your interest in 123 Main St, Apt 2B! I'd be happy to help you learn more about this property.
The unit is a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment with:
- Updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances
- In-unit laundry
- Pet-friendly (with deposit)
- Rent: $1,800/month
- Available: February 1, 2025
I'd love to show you the property. Are you available for a tour this week? I have availability:
- Tuesday, Jan 23 at 2:00 PM
- Wednesday, Jan 24 at 10:00 AM or 3:00 PM
- Thursday, Jan 25 at 1:00 PM
Would any of these times work for you? Just reply with your preference, and I'll send you the calendar invite.
Looking forward to showing you the property!
Best,
[Team Member Name]
[Phone Number]
[Email]
A shared mailbox is a Microsoft 365 mailbox that multiple people can access. Common use cases:
Step 1: Create or identify shared mailbox
In Microsoft 365 Admin Center:
Step 2: Connect shared mailbox to automation
Step 3: Configure routing rules
Routing options:
Example routing rule:
If lead property is in "Downtown" area:
Assign to: Sarah (downtown specialist)
Else if lead property is in "Suburbs" area:
Assign to: Mike (suburbs specialist)
Else:
Assign round-robin to all team members
Use case: Assign leads based on property location or geographic area.
Configuration:
Territory: Downtown
Properties: 100 Main St, 200 Main St, 300 Main St
Assigned to: Sarah
SLA: Respond within 5 minutes
Territory: Suburbs
Properties: 400 Oak Ave, 500 Oak Ave, 600 Oak Ave
Assigned to: Mike
SLA: Respond within 5 minutes
Use case: Assign leads based on property type (residential, commercial, student housing).
Configuration:
Property Type: Residential
Assigned to: Residential team
Response template: Residential template
Property Type: Commercial
Assigned to: Commercial team
Response template: Commercial template
Property Type: Student Housing
Assigned to: Student housing team
Response template: Student housing template
Use case: Assign leads based on where they came from (Zillow, Apartments.com, Facebook).
Configuration:
Lead Source: Zillow
Assigned to: Zillow specialist
Priority: High
SLA: Respond within 5 minutes
Lead Source: Facebook
Assigned to: Social media specialist
Priority: Medium
SLA: Respond within 10 minutes
Lead Source: Website
Assigned to: General team
Priority: High
SLA: Respond within 5 minutes
Use case: Assign leads to team members based on their current availability.
Configuration:
Check calendar availability for next 48 hours
If team member has < 2 hours of availability:
Skip assignment
Else:
Assign to team member with most availability
Use case: Assign leads based on estimated deal size or property value.
Configuration:
If property value > $500,000:
Assign to: Senior team member
Escalation: Notify manager
Else:
Assign to: General team member
When you integrate Outlook with your lead management system, everything gets logged:
What it does: Automatically sync Outlook conversations to your CRM.
Sync options:
Data synced:
What it does: Book tours directly from email responses.
How it works:
What it does: Sync tour bookings between Outlook and your lead management system.
Sync options:
What it does: Use Outlook calendar to determine availability for tours.
Configuration:
What it does: Add private notes to leads that only your team can see.
Use cases:
What it does: Mention team members in notes or assign tasks.
Use cases:
What it does: Show all team activity in one feed.
Activities shown:
Begin by connecting your main Outlook inbox, then expand to shared mailboxes and specific folders.
Send yourself test emails from different lead sources to verify parsing works correctly.
Review automated responses for the first week to ensure they're working as expected.
Define routing rules based on your team structure and property portfolio.
Make sure team members know how to use the integrated system and where to find logged conversations.
Track response times, conversion rates, and team performance to identify areas for improvement.
Problem: Microsoft 365 requires specific permissions that may need admin approval.
Solution: Work with your IT admin to grant necessary permissions, or use app-specific passwords if OAuth isn't available.
Problem: Automation system can't access shared mailboxes without proper permissions.
Solution: Grant the automation system "Send As" and "Read" permissions on the shared mailbox.
Problem: Different lead sources send emails in different formats.
Solution: Configure parsing rules for each email format, and test with sample emails from each source.
Problem: Multiple team members responding to the same lead.
Solution: Use routing rules to assign leads to specific team members, and log all responses to prevent duplicates.
Problem: Tour bookings conflict with existing calendar events.
Solution: Use calendar integration to check availability before offering time slots, and sync bookings in real-time.
Track these metrics to measure the impact of Outlook integration:
Ready to integrate Outlook with your lead management? Here's how to start:
Outlook integration for real estate teams enables automatic responses, centralized tracking, and efficient routing. By connecting Outlook with your lead management system, you can handle leads from your existing email workflow, respond faster, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
The key is starting with a solid setup: connect your Outlook accounts, configure parsing rules, set up routing, and integrate with your calendar. Then monitor performance and adjust based on what you learn.
See how Propel integrates with Microsoft 365 and Outlook to automatically respond to leads, track conversations, and route inquiries to the right team members, all from your existing Outlook workflow.
Ready to integrate Outlook with your lead management? Propel connects to Microsoft 365 and Outlook, monitors your inbox for leads, sends automatic responses, and routes inquiries to the right team members, so you can handle everything from Outlook without switching tools.
See how Propel integrates with Outlook. For commercial real estate teams, see our guide on automated lead routing by territory, asset type, or deal size.
See how Propel can help you convert more inquiries and book more tours automatically.
Learn why real estate CRM and lead generation work better together, and how automation-first systems can handle both seamlessly without manual data entry or ongoing maintenance.
Use our free calculator to see how faster response times impact your conversion rates and revenue. Model different scenarios and see the ROI of responding within 5 minutes.
Learn how to automate Trulia lead responses for property managers. Understand Trulia lead format, email parsing, response automation, and how it compares to Zillow and Realtor.com.