Connecting Gmail to ReferralPulse
Gmail is where most referrals first land in your day. A partner sends you an intro, a client gets forwarded your way, a CPA you met last quarter routes a question through email. Connecting Gmail lets your assistant keep your partner history current and surface the things worth acting on, so you don't have to retype anything or dig through your inbox to know what's new.
There are two ways to connect, and they're for different needs. Connecting your Google account is the full experience and the recommended path. Forwarding is the lighter-touch option for people who'd rather not link their account, and it's also how Apple Mail works today. If you use Outlook, it connects directly the same way Gmail does. See Connecting Outlook to ReferralPulse.
Connect your Google account (recommended)
Where to find it: Top-right avatar menu → Settings → Integrations tab → the Email section → Gmail row → Connect.
Click Connect and you'll be sent to Google to sign in and approve access. When you come back, the Gmail row shows a green Connected badge with the address you linked. That's it, you're set.
Once connected, your assistant works in the background. You don't have to forward anything or set up a filter.
Right after connecting, use Choose folders & scan on the Gmail row to pull in recent history. You pick which folders to scan, so you can include your main inbox and a referrals label while leaving everything else out. The button reads Re-scan afterward if you ever want to run it again.
What to expect once connected
Connecting changes how much the app can do for you without being asked. Here's what fills in on its own.
- Your partner history stays current. Every email you exchange with a partner becomes part of their timeline, and the app keeps track of when you last talked and how often. Partners you've gone quiet on rise to the top of your follow-up reminders on their own.
- Partner activity turns into suggestions. New intros, referrals, and people worth adding as partners are pulled out of your mail and land on your Review page for a quick yes or no. Nothing is filed without you. See What shows up on the Review page.
- Reciprocity at a glance. Each partner's detail page shows your email give-and-take (how many you've sent versus received) right next to your referral history, so you can see the whole relationship, not just referrals.
- Re-engagement nudges. If you reached out to a partner and heard nothing back for a while, or a long-quiet partner suddenly emails you, the app surfaces it so you can pick the thread back up at the right moment.
- Introductions track their own outcome. An intro you send shows when the other person has replied, and if it sits unanswered for about a month it surfaces a gentle "close it out?" nudge. You decide what happens; nothing changes on its own.
- Birthdays come ready to send. A few days before a partner's birthday, your assistant drafts a short, personal note you can review and send in one click.
- Sharper drafts. When your assistant drafts a note to a partner, it reflects what the two of you last discussed, so the message picks up where your real conversation left off.
Every email your assistant drafts is still yours to review and edit before it sends. The app never sends a message to a partner on its own. See Every email is a draft until you approve it.
Your privacy
Connecting reads your mail to do the work above, but the app keeps the takeaways (a short summary, who the message was with, and when), not a permanent copy of your message text. You stay in control:
- Disconnect anytime. The Disconnect button on the Gmail row ends access immediately.
- You choose what gets scanned. The first-time scan only looks at the folders you pick.
- Nothing goes out without you. Every partner-facing email is a draft until you approve it.
Forwarding (no account access, and the path for Apple Mail)
If you'd rather not link your Google account, you can forward just the messages that matter instead. You set up a one-time filter in your mail that forwards messages matching a short list of intro and referral keywords to a special address at ReferralPulse. Anything matching the filter is turned into a partner, an introduction, or a referral. Anything not matching stays in your inbox and never leaves your account.
This is also the path for Apple Mail / iCloud today, and it's there for anyone who'd rather not link an account. Outlook can connect directly instead, the same way Gmail does. See Connecting Outlook to ReferralPulse.
The privacy promise
With forwarding, your inbox stays yours. The app can only read messages your filter forwards to it. If the filter doesn't match, the message never leaves your account. Inside the setup page, the same promise shows up as a banner at the top of the wizard:
We only read what you forward. ReferralPulse never has access to your inbox. Set up a filter that forwards only the emails matching the keywords below, and a copy stays in your inbox.
If you ever want to stop, deleting the filter ends the forwarding immediately.
Setting up forwarding in Gmail
Where to find it: Top-right avatar menu → Settings → Integrations tab. During onboarding, the Build Out Your Network step also has a Set up email auto-forwarding card that opens the same wizard. Or go straight to Profile → Auto-forward setup at /dashboard/profile/auto-forward-setup.
The wizard has tabs for Gmail, Outlook 365, and Apple Mail / iCloud. Pick Gmail.
The four steps:
- In Gmail, click the gear icon → See all settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses → Create a new filter.
- In the Has the words field, paste the keyword rule shown in the wizard. It's a single line of OR-joined phrases that match intros and referrals.
- Click Create filter, then check Forward it to: and choose
docs@referralpulse.ai. If it isn't in the list yet, add it as a forwarding address first under Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address. Gmail will email a confirmation to that address, and your assistant auto-approves it within 30 seconds so you can finish without copy-pasting a code. - Leave Skip the inbox unchecked. A copy of the message stays in your Gmail so your normal inbox flow isn't disrupted.
The wizard has a Copy button next to the keyword rule so you can paste it into Gmail without retyping.
The keyword rule is conservative on purpose. It catches most of the phrasings people use for intros and referrals, but it misses a few unusual ones (like "looping in" or "connecting you with"). If you want to catch more, you can add to the rule in Gmail. Any forwarded message that doesn't recognize as an intro or referral is dropped quietly.
Adding more forwarding addresses
Your account email is recognized as a valid sender automatically. If you forward referrals from another address (a work email, a separate inbox, an alias), add it to your forwarding list so messages from that address are recognized.
In the wizard, scroll to the Your Forwarding Addresses card. The card shows your primary address tagged Primary, plus a list of any additional addresses you've added. Type a new address into the field and click Add. To remove an address, click the trash icon next to it.
Messages arriving at docs@referralpulse.ai from an address not on your list are ignored. This is what keeps a stranger from injecting a fake referral by guessing the forwarding address.
Testing it
Before you walk away, prove it's wired up. Forward any message with the word intro or referral in the subject to docs@referralpulse.ai. In the wizard, click I've sent a test email, start watching. The page polls for the next 90 seconds and confirms when the forward arrives, with the timestamp, the address it came from, and the subject line.
If nothing arrives in 90 seconds, double check that:
- The Gmail filter is saved (Gmail sometimes drops a filter if you click away from the create dialog without confirming).
- The forwarding address
docs@referralpulse.aiis verified in Gmail → Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP. If Gmail shows it as pending, the auto-approval may have been rate limited. Resending the verification fixes it. - The address you forwarded from is on your forwarding list, or it's the same as your account email.
Outlook and Apple Mail forwarding
If you'd rather forward than link an account, the same wizard has tabs for Outlook 365 and Apple Mail / iCloud, with the right filter steps for each. The forwarding address (docs@referralpulse.ai), the privacy promise, and the keyword rule are the same. iCloud server rules and Outlook 365 server rules forward server-side, so the filter still runs when your Mac is closed; Mac Mail rules only run while the app is open, so for always-on forwarding the iCloud web rule is the better choice.
If you use Outlook and want the full experience instead of forwarding, connect it directly. See Connecting Outlook to ReferralPulse.
On the iOS app
Connecting your account (the Google sign-in) needs the web app, since Gmail's filter editor and Google's approval screen aren't built for iPhone. Once you've connected on the web, everything works the same regardless of which device you read or send email on. A referral that lands in Gmail at 9am while you're driving shows up on your Referrals page by the time you check the iOS app at the next stop.
Ask your assistant by voice "did anyone send me a referral this morning," and it reads the day's received referrals straight from your account, including the ones that came in by email. You don't have to scroll your inbox to know what's new.