Send an Email Alert from the Associated Email of a Contact in a Lead Record

Prerequisites

Before building the automation, you must create a custom Email field on the Lead object to store the Contact's email address. This field is used by the email alert to identify the recipient.

Step 1: Create an Email Field on the Lead Object

1. Navigate to:
   1. In Lightning Experience: Setup | Object Manager | Lead | Fields & Relationships
   2. In Salesforce Classic: Setup | Customize | Leads | Fields
2. Click New
3. Select Email as the field data type
4. Enter the field label as: Contact Email (API name: Contact_Email__c)
5. Complete the remaining steps and click Save
   
   

Step 2: Create a Workflow Rule with a Field Update

This Workflow Rule populates the Contact Email field on the Lead with the related Contact's email address whenever the Contact Email field is changed.

1. Navigate to:
   1. In Lightning Experience: Setup | Platform Tools | Process Automation | Workflow Rules
   2. In Salesforce Classic: Setup | Create | Workflow & Approvals | Workflow Rules
2. Click New Rule
3. Select the object: Leads
4. Enter the rule name: Email alert for related contact
5. Set Evaluation Criteria to: Evaluate the rule when a record is created, and every time it's edited
6. Set Rule Criteria to: Formula evaluates to true
7. Enter the formula: AND(NOT(ISBLANK(Contact_Email__c)), ISCHANGED(Contact_Email__c))
8. Click Save & Next
9. Under Immediate Workflow Actions, click Add Workflow Action and select Field Update
10. Enter unique name: Update Contact Email
11. Object: Lead
12. Field to Update: Lead: Contact Email
13. Under "Specify New Field Value", select Use a Formula to Set the New Value
14. Click Show Formula Editor and enter the formula: Contact__r.Email
15. Click Save
    
    

Step 3: Add an Email Alert to the Same Workflow Rule

After saving the field update, add an Email Alert action to the same workflow:

1. Click Add Workflow Action again
2. Select Email Alert
3. Enter a description, for example: Email Alert to Contact
4. Select the desired Email Template (only Classic Email Templates are supported)
5. In Recipient Type, select Email Field. The Contact Email field appears in the Available Recipients section.
6. Add it to the Selected Recipients list
7. Click Save, then Done, then Activate

The Workflow Rule now sends an email alert to the Contact's email address from the Lead record whenever the Contact Email field is populated or changed.