If your sales process involves calling prospects, switching between tools can slow you down. With lemlist in-app calling, you can call leads, track conversations, sync outcomes to your CRM, and analyze performance—all from lemlist.

Learning Objective

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to set up lemlist in-app calling (connect or buy a number), configure call settings, place and log calls, review recordings/transcripts, and use reporting and CRM sync to improve follow-ups.

Why This Matters

Calling works best when it’s tightly connected to your outreach and CRM. Keeping calls, notes, call outcomes, recordings, and reporting in one place reduces admin work and helps you follow up faster and more consistently—without losing context across tools.

Prerequisites

You have access to lemlist Settings and Call settings (team permissions may apply).
Your leads have valid phone numbers (otherwise the call button won’t be available).
You have enough calling minutes/credits to place calls (explained below).
If you want CRM sync, your CRM integration is connected (HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive).

Core Lesson: Step-by-Step Workflow

Phase 1: Set up a phone number

You can manage phone numbers from Settings → Call settings (or from Settings → Sending settings → Phone numbers).

Option A — Connect your own phone number

Go to Settings → Call settings, then click + Add a number. This links your existing number to lemlist so you can call from inside the app.
Select Connect phone numbers.
Select your country, enter your phone number, then click Next.
Copy the 6-digit code shown on screen.
Answer the verification call and enter the 6-digit code using your phone keypad.
When verification completes, you’ll see a confirmation message.

Option B — Buy a phone number from lemlist

If you want a dedicated number for outreach, you can purchase a local number through lemlist. This can help improve trust and pickup rates when you’re calling specific regions.

Supported Countries & Rules (Buying numbers)

Country	Available Numbers	Special Requirements
🇺🇸 United States	Landline only	No restrictions
🇫🇷 France	Mobile & Landline	Must provide company registration details
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Mobile & Landline	Must provide business documents
🇩🇪 Germany	Landline only	Must have a company in Germany
🇧🇪 Belgium	Landline only	Must have a company in Belgium
🇨🇦 Canada	Mobile & Landline	No specific local residency or business documentation required

Go to Settings → Call settings, click + Add a number, then select Buy phone numbers.
Select the country and the type of line (for example, Landline).
Pick the number you want, then click Buy.
Confirm the purchase (for example, click Buy 1 number).

Note: Depending on the country, you may be prompted to provide additional business information/documents due to local telecom regulations.

Phase 2: Configure number settings (recommended)

After you connect or buy a number, configure how it behaves so calls are consistent across your team (labeling, recording defaults, forwarding rules).

In Settings → Call settings, click the settings (gear) icon next to the number you want to configure.
Update the Number label, optionally set Forward incoming calls to, and enable/disable Automatic outgoing call recording (and other toggles, depending on your plan and configuration).

Phase 3: Understand minutes & credits (so calls don’t stop)

lemlist in-app calling uses a credit-based system to measure call time. Every call deducts minutes from your available balance.

Monthly call allowance by plan

Multichannel Expert plan: 100 calling minutes per user/month
Enterprise plan: 300 calling minutes per user/month

How credits work

1 call minute = 4 credits

10 minutes = 40 credits
50 minutes = 200 credits

Check minutes and buy more

In Call settings, review your remaining calling minutes and click Buy additional minutes when needed.
If you have enough credits, confirm the purchase.

If you don’t have enough credits, you’ll be prompted to buy more credits first.

Phase 4: Place calls and log outcomes

Option A — Plan calls inside campaigns (Tasks)

Use call steps to turn calling into a structured workflow (especially helpful for SDR/BDR sequences).

Go to Tasks, then click the Calls tab to view your call tasks.
Open a call task from the list.
Click Call to start the call.
During the call, use the call bar to manage your call (for example: recording, mute, keypad, transfer, and end call).

Option B — Call directly from Contacts

Open a contact with a phone number, then click the Call button.
In the dialer, enter/confirm the number (if needed), then click the Call button.

Phase 5: Speed up daily calling (call outcome + notes)

After or during your call, capture the outcome and key context so follow-ups are easy and consistent.

Select a Call status, then add a Note.
Type your notes during or right after the call.
Use the End call button when you’re done.
After the call ends, you can still review/update Note & status, or go Back to dialer to continue calling.

Phase 6: Improve call quality (call from your phone)

If you enable Call from my phone to improve call quality, lemlist calls you first and then your prospect, creating a phone-to-phone connection (often higher audio quality than browser-based calling). This option uses 2x the credits per minute compared to standard in-app calls.

Phase 7: Review recordings, transcripts, and share calls

Find call history

Go to Calls from the main navigation, then click a contact to open a call record.

Open a call to review details

When you open a call record, you can listen to the recording, view the transcript, and open more details.

Use the player controls to listen to the call.
Review the transcript (when available).
Use Summarize this call to generate an AI summary (when available).
Switch to Call Information to view call date/time, owner, call status, and add a note.
Switch to Lead Information to view lead and company context tied to the call.

Download the transcript

Click Download Transcript to export the transcript.

Share a call

Click Share, then enable Share this call details to generate a shareable link (you can disable sharing anytime).

Call a lead back from the call record

From the call record, click Call lead to start a new call to that lead.

Phase 8: Use reporting widgets to improve performance

Call reports help you coach reps, spot trends, and identify the best times and patterns for reaching prospects.

Go to Reports and locate the in-app calling widgets.
Use filters to analyze performance by date, call status, team member, or company.

Common widgets you’ll see:

Call activity volume (calls over time)
Call performance by BDR (compare users)
Total call duration (time spent on calls)
Best time to call (heatmap of answer likelihood)
Call activity analysis (detailed outcomes table)

Phase 9: Sync calls to your CRM

With CRM integration enabled, call activities (including notes and outcomes) are automatically logged, reducing manual data entry and keeping your pipeline accurate.

Supported CRMs

lemlist in-app calling integrates with:

📌 HubSpot

📌 Salesforce

📌 Pipedrive

What gets synced (depending on your configuration):

Notes taken during/after calls

Practical Application (Try This Workflow)

If you want a simple way to apply this immediately, run this mini workflow for today’s call block:

Pick one campaign segment (or a list in Contacts) and plan a Call step with a short call objective.
Make 10 calls from Tasks using the Calls tab.
For each call, set the call status and write a one-line note you can use for follow-up.
Review 1–2 recordings/transcripts and copy the key takeaway into your next follow-up message.

Troubleshooting & Pitfalls

Issue: Calling is unavailable or calls fail

Root cause: Provider incident or outage.
Fix: Check Twilio's public status page for ongoing incidents that may impact call availability. Extended scenarios include:
Calls Hanging Up Immediately: During significant service incidents, inbound and outbound calls may fail to connect.
Calls Dial but Do Not Ring: In cases of widespread outages, calls may appear to start but never ring.
Call Feature Unavailable (Greyed Out): Telephony service outages can temporarily disable the calling section in lemlist.

Issue: I can’t click the phone icon to call a lead

Root cause: The lead doesn’t have a phone number, or you don’t have a connected/bought number set up.
Fix: Add a phone number to the lead, and confirm your calling setup in Settings → Call settings.

Issue: I run out of minutes mid-day

Root cause: Your plan allowance is used up.
Fix: Buy additional minutes in Call settings using credits.

Knowledge Check

Did you choose the right setup for your use case (connect vs. buy a number)? Why?
Do your call statuses and notes make it easy to follow up without re-listening to the call?
Which report widget will you use weekly to track progress (volume, performance by BDR, best time to call, or duration)?