Automate Typeform to Pipedrive Contacts with n8n

Opening Problem Statement

Meet Sarah, a sales operations manager at a growing SaaS company. Every day, she receives dozens of Typeform submissions from potential clients enquiring about their services. Each submission contains vital information, including the company name, the contact person’s name, email address, company size, and specific questions. Currently, Sarah manually transfers each submission into her company’s Pipedrive CRM system to create organizations, contacts, and leads. This repetitive process takes hours weekly, is prone to manual entry errors, and causes delays for the sales team to follow up effectively.

Sarah knows there must be a better way to handle this repetitive data entry. Enter n8n, a workflow automation tool that can integrate Typeform input directly with Pipedrive, saving hours, reducing errors, and giving the sales team immediate access to qualified leads.

What This Automation Does

This n8n workflow automates the process of ingesting Typeform responses and mapping them into Pipedrive CRM with the following key outcomes:

• Automatically triggers when a new Typeform response is submitted.
• Extracts and maps form fields such as company name, contact name, email, company size, familiarity with n8n, and specific questions.
• Translates company size from Typeform’s string values to Pipedrive’s unique organization size identifiers using a Code node.
• Creates a new Organization in Pipedrive with the correct company size custom property.
• Creates a Person linked to the newly created Organization with the submitted contact details.
• Generates a new Lead associated with this Person and Organization, ensuring the sales team has a clear next step.
• Adds a detailed Note to the Lead capturing the original question and company size from the form submission.

By automating these steps, this workflow saves Sarah and her team hours each week, eliminates manual entry errors, and ensures leads are tracked consistently and efficiently.

Prerequisites ⚙️

• n8n account with access to create workflows.
• Typeform account with an active form and access to API credentials.
  Note: You will need the form ID and webhook setup in n8n.
• Pipedrive account with API access and permissions to create Organizations, Persons, Leads, and Notes.
• Connection credentials configured in n8n for Typeform and Pipedrive.
• Optional: Self-hosted n8n instance for enhanced control and privacy. For easy self-hosting, platforms like Hostinger provide reliable setups.

Step-by-Step Guide to Build This Automation

Step 1: Set Up Typeform Trigger

Navigate to the n8n dashboard, click + New Workflow. Add the Typeform Trigger node by clicking Add Node → Trigger → Typeform Trigger. Enter your Typeform form ID and select your Typeform API credentials.
You should configure webhook settings, so n8n listens for new submissions. After setup, this node will wait for form completions to trigger the workflow.

Common mistake: Forgetting to update the webhook URL in Typeform’s webhook integration settings will prevent triggers.

Step 2: Use Set Node to Extract and Rename Form Data

Add a Set node next to the Typeform node. In Values, map form fields by creating string fields:

• company: map to “What *company* are you contacting us from?”
• name: map to “Let’s start with your *first and last name.*”
• email: map to “What *email address* can we reach you at?”
• n8nFamiliar: map to “How familiar are you with* n8n*?”
• questions: map to “Do you have any *specific questions* about embedding n8n at this stage?”
• employees: map to “How many employees?”

This step keeps only these fields for downstream usage.
After running, you should see these properties nicely structured.
Common mistake: Misspelling field keys or incorrect mapping can cause empty outputs later.

Step 3: Map Company Size to Pipedrive Identifiers Using Code Node

Add a Code node (JavaScript mode) called “Map company size” after the Set node.
Insert this code snippet:

switch ($input.item.json.employees) {
  case '< 20':
    $input.item.json.pipedriveemployees='59';
    break;
  case '20 - 100':
    $input.item.json.pipedriveemployees='60';
    break;
  case '101 - 500':
    $input.item.json.pipedriveemployees='73';
    break;
  case '501 - 1000':
    $input.item.json.pipedriveemployees='74';
    break;
  case '1000+':
    $input.item.json.pipedriveemployees='61';
    break;
}
return $input.item;

This translates the textual employee count to a Pipedrive custom property ID.
Common mistake: Forgetting to add return statement or incorrect property IDs will fail Pipedrive updates.

Step 4: Create Organization in Pipedrive

Add a Pipedrive node, configure it to Create Organization. Map the organization name from the "company" output of the previous node, and under Additional Fields > customProperties, set the employee count using the mapped ID from the Code node.
Use your Pipedrive API credentials.
After execution, a new Organization with the correct company size will be created in Pipedrive.
Common mistake: Ensure the correct custom property ID matches your Pipedrive setup; otherwise, the value won’t save.

Step 5: Create a Person Linked to the Organization

Add another Pipedrive node, set to Create Person. Map the person’s name and email fields, and link it to the Organization using the Organization ID from the previous node.
Check your credentials again.
Expect a new contact linked under the correct Organization.
Common mistake: Mapping org_id incorrectly can create persons unlinked to organizations.

Step 6: Create a Lead for the New Person and Organization

Add next a Pipedrive node, set to Create Lead. Title the lead with company name plus "lead" for clarity, and assign it to the correct organization and person IDs.
This generates an actionable sales lead in Pipedrive attached to the contact.
Common mistake: Mixing up person_id and organization_id causes orphaned leads.

Step 7: Add a Note to the Lead with Questions and Company Size

Finally, add a Pipedrive node set to Create Note. Use the note content to include the original question from the form and the company size for sales reference. Link the note to the lead created in the prior step.
This gives sales reps full context at a glance.
Common mistake: Incorrect lead_id mapping results in notes attached to wrong records.

Customizations ✏️

• Expand Question Mapping: Add more form fields to the Set node by copying and creating new fields. Use these in the Note node for more detailed lead context.
• Change Company Size Buckets: Modify the Code node’s employee ranges or add new cases to fit your business’s classification.
• Add Email Notifications: Insert an Email node after lead creation to notify the sales team instantly.
• Attach Files: If your Typeform collects attachments, add logic nodes to process and link files in Pipedrive notes.
• Integrate Slack Alerts: Add a Slack node to notify your team about new leads as they come in.

Troubleshooting 🔧

• Problem: "Pipedrive create organization failed"
  Cause: Incorrect custom property ID for company size.
  Solution: Verify property ID in Pipedrive settings matches node configuration.
• Problem: "Typeform trigger never fires"
  Cause: Webhook URL not registered with Typeform.
  Solution: Ensure webhook URL from n8n node is set in Typeform’s webhook integration.
• Problem: Missing email or person not linked
  Cause: Incorrect field mapping or JSON path.
  Solution: Double-check JSON expressions in Set and Create Person nodes.

Pre-Production Checklist ✅

• Confirm Typeform webhook is active and test submissions appear in n8n.
• Validate Pipedrive API credentials and permissions for Organizations, Persons, Leads, and Notes.
• Run test Typeform submission to ensure all nodes execute without errors.
• Verify custom property IDs in Pipedrive match those used in the Code node.
• Backup workflow configuration for quick rollback if needed.

Deployment Guide

Activate the workflow by toggling it live in n8n after completing all tests. Monitor the executions for the first few days via the n8n execution log to catch any unexpected errors or skipped triggers.

You can modify triggers and nodes as your form or Pipedrive setup changes. This workflow needs no complex infrastructure changes and can run reliably in either n8n.cloud or a self-hosted environment.

FAQs

• Can I use Google Forms instead of Typeform? Not directly with this workflow. You would need to replace the trigger with a Google Forms trigger or webhook listener configured for Google Forms.
• Does this consume Pipedrive API credits? Yes, each creation of organization, person, lead, and note uses API calls as per your Pipedrive plan limits.
• Is my data secure moving between Typeform and Pipedrive? Yes, data transfers are done through secure APIs and n8n's encrypted credential storage.
• Can this scale for hundreds of form submissions daily? Yes, n8n can handle such loads, though self-hosting might be recommended for very high volume.

Conclusion

By implementing this n8n workflow, you have automated Sarah's exact challenge: transferring detailed Typeform submissions into Pipedrive CRM efficiently and accurately. This automation saves multiple hours per week and improves sales follow-up speed and accuracy.

Next, consider automating follow-up email sequences for new leads, integrating bonus CRM tools like Slack notifications for sales teams, or adding enriched contact data through third-party APIs to enhance your pipeline further.

With this solid foundation, managing incoming leads becomes smooth and error-free—giving your sales team more time to close deals instead of chasing data.