Form → lead alert (Telegram + email)

What you get

A Telegram alert (private chat or group) every time someone submits your web form. Optionally, the same alert also goes out by email.

Something has to sit in the middle and connect one to the other, and here that something is Make (opens in a new tab): a web tool where you chain services together without writing code, by dragging blocks around. Each chain is called a scenario and each block a module. The one in this piece has two: one that watches the form and one that sends the message.

Flow

If you do not have a bot yet: Alerts with a Telegram bot.

Requirements

A Make account — the free plan is enough to build and test this
A web form Make can read: Tally and Typeform are the usual picks and both have free plans
A Telegram bot with its token and your chat_id — if you do not have one, the guide linked below sets it up in 10 minutes
Optional, only if you also want the alert by email: an email account you can connect to Make

Launch checklist

Bot created with @BotFather (opens in a new tab), Start in the chat, chat_id noted.
Test form with minimum fields: name, email or phone, message.
New Make scenario (steps below).
Test submit → message visible in Telegram.
(Optional) Email module in the same scenario and a second test.
The token and passwords stay inside Make — never in screenshots or anywhere shared.

Build it in Make

1. Trigger: new form response

In Make: Create a new scenario.
Add your form module (e.g. Tally → Watch New Responses or Typeform → Watch Responses).
Connect the account and pick the test form.
Hit Run once and, with that running, fill in the form yourself and submit it.

That last step is not optional even though it looks like it: Make does not know which fields your form has until it sees a real response. Until then you cannot map anything in the next step, because the field list will be empty.

2. Destination: Telegram

Add Telegram Bot → Send a Text Message (or Send a Message).
Create/choose the connection with the BotFather token.
Set the chat_id (a number; groups are often negative).
In the text, map fields from the trigger. Example:
Language: text
```
New lead
Name: {{name}}
Contact: {{email}}
Message: {{message}}
```
Do not type those braces by hand
When you click into the text field, Make opens a side panel with the fields it captured during Run once. Click the one you want and it inserts the reference in its own format. If you type {{name}} yourself, the literal text {{name}} is what arrives instead of the lead's name.
That is also why the labels you see will not match these exactly: they depend on what your form calls its fields.
Save and Run once again + submit a test. You should see the message in Telegram.

3. Optional: email

Add one more email module, Gmail → Send an Email or another provider. You can hang it after the Telegram one, or on a separate branch off the same trigger: for two independent alerts either works.
To: your ops inbox.
Subject: e.g. New lead — {{name}}.
Body: the same fields as Telegram.
Test again.

Scenario notes (reference)

Step	Role	What to check
1	The module watching the form	That it is the right form and the fields are mapped
2	The one sending to Telegram	Token, `chat_id`, and the text with fields inserted
3	The email one (optional)	That the recipient is you, not the lead — unless you want to send them a receipt

Do not go looking for a scenario file to import: these steps build it by hand, and that way you understand what each block does.

Cost ballpark

Make charges by operations: every time a module runs, that counts as one. This scenario spends two per lead (watching the form and sending the message), or three if you add the email.

Piece	Order of magnitude
Make	The free plan includes plenty of operations to start: it is only a few per lead
Form	The free plan on Tally or Typeform is enough to test
Telegram	Free

If you expect high volume, check how many operations your plan includes before relying on this.

Security

An alerts-only bot for leads limits blast radius.
Do not post sensitive lead data into public chats without consent.
If the form collects GDPR consent, honour it in your process (outside this how-to).

Common mistakes

What you see	Likely cause	What to do
The field panel comes up empty	Make has not seen a response yet	Run once and actually fill in the form; then map again
`{{name}}` arrives instead of the name	You typed the braces by hand	Delete it and pick the field from the side panel
Telegram `Unauthorized`	Bad or revoked token	New token from BotFather
`chat not found`	The `chat_id` is wrong, or nobody has talked to the bot	Open the bot chat, tap Start, and get the `chat_id` again as the Telegram guide explains
Silent scenario “OK”	Wrong chat	Confirm the bot chat
Form never fires	Different form connected	Pick the correct form in the module

Alternatives

Email only: Skip Telegram; use the mail module in Make.
Zapier / n8n: Same idea, different platform.
Discord alert: Incoming Webhook instead of a Telegram bot.

Resources

Make — Scenarios Telegram — sendMessage Alerts with a Telegram bot Capture and close leads collection Make scenario notes