--- title: "How to Use FirstSales as a Lightweight CRM | FirstSales" description: "Run a pipeline from Contacts, Lists, Tags, and journey status — track stages and replies without a deal board, and know when to reach for a full CRM." canonical: "https://firstsales.io/tutorial/using-firstsales-as-crm/" --- [Home](/)/[Tutorials](/tutorial/)/How to Use FirstSales as a Lightweight CRM CRM & Pipeline # How to Use FirstSales as a Lightweight CRM Run a pipeline from Contacts, Lists, Tags, and journey status — track stages and replies without a deal board, and know when to reach for a full CRM. 8 min read·Beginner·7 steps 1. 1 ## How FirstSales thinks about pipeline FirstSales is a **campaign-first** outreach tool, not a full deal-stage CRM. There's no kanban of opportunities or dollar-value pipeline. Instead you track leads with three primitives — **Contacts**, **Lists**, and **Tags** — plus each contact's **journey status** in a campaign. That's enough to run a clean, lightweight pipeline without leaving the app. 2. 2 ## Contacts are your records Every lead is a **Contact** with a lifecycle status — **active**, **bounced**, or **unsubscribed** — and a verification state (**clean / risky / dirty / unknown**). Bounced and unsubscribed contacts are auto-excluded from sends, so your working set stays healthy without manual pruning. ![Contacts are your records](/tutorials/crm-01-contacts.webp) 3. 3 ## Segment with Lists Use **Lists** as your pipeline stages or segments — "Prospects", "Contacted", "Warm", "Client". A contact can move between lists as it progresses, and a campaign sends to a chosen list. This is the closest thing to columns on a board: which list a contact sits in tells you where it is. 4. 4 ## Label with Tags **Tags** are cross-cutting labels for anything Lists don't capture — source, persona, priority, objection. A contact carries many tags at once, so you can filter "founders" who are also "replied" without duplicating records. Tags plus Lists give you a two-axis pipeline. 5. 5 ## Track engagement in the Inbox The **Inbox (Unibox)** is your activity view. Each contact's **journey status** in a campaign — **active**, **paused**, **completed**, **unsubscribed**, or **bounced** — tells you exactly where they are in the sequence. Replies land here, so you work live conversations without a separate deal record. 6. 6 ## A practical pipeline workflow Put it together: source into a "Prospects" list → run a campaign → when someone replies, tag them "replied" and move them to a "Warm" list → advance to "Client" when they convert. The journey status shows sequence progress; Lists show your stage; Tags carry the nuance. It's a real pipeline built from primitives. 7. 7 ## When you need a full CRM For deal stages, revenue forecasting, and two-way sync, FirstSales lists **CRM connectors** — Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive — under Integrations, currently marked **coming soon**. Until those ship, keep your system of record in your CRM and use FirstSales for the outreach layer, exporting contacts when you need them elsewhere. ## Pro tips Hard-won shortcuts that keep warm-up on track. 1 ### Lists = stages, Tags = attributes Give each pipeline stage a List and move contacts forward as they progress. Reserve Tags for cross-cutting facts (source, persona, objection) so you can filter within any stage. 2 ### Let status do the pruning Bounced and unsubscribed contacts auto-exclude from sends. Don't hand-delete them — the lifecycle status already keeps your active pipeline clean. 3 ### Work replies from the Unibox The Inbox is your live conversation view. Journey status tells you who's mid-sequence vs. completed, so you can prioritize warm replies without a separate deal board. 4 ### CRM connectors aren't live yet Salesforce/HubSpot/Zoho/Pipedrive show as coming soon. If you need two-way sync today, keep the CRM as system of record and export FirstSales contacts into it. ## Frequently asked questions Does FirstSales have a deal pipeline or opportunities? Not as a dedicated object — there's no kanban or revenue pipeline. You build a lightweight pipeline from **Contacts**, **Lists**, **Tags**, and each contact's campaign **journey status**. How do I track lead stages? Use **Lists** as stages (Prospects → Contacted → Warm → Client) and move contacts between them. Layer **Tags** for attributes like source or priority that cut across stages. Where do I see replies and engagement? In the **Inbox (Unibox)**. Each contact's journey status — active, paused, completed, unsubscribed, or bounced — shows where they are in the sequence, and replies land there. What happens to bounced or unsubscribed leads? Their contact status marks them **bounced** or **unsubscribed**, and they're auto-excluded from future sends. No manual cleanup needed. Can I connect Salesforce or HubSpot? Those CRM connectors (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive) are listed under Integrations as **coming soon**. Until they ship there's no two-way sync — export contacts to move data into your CRM. Should I use FirstSales as my only CRM? For outreach and a lightweight pipeline, yes. For deal-stage management, forecasting, and two-way sync, keep a dedicated CRM as your system of record and use FirstSales for the sending layer. ## Ready to put this into practice? Start your FirstSales trial and launch a warmed, authenticated mailbox in minutes. [Start for $1](https://app.firstsales.io) [All tutorials](/tutorial/)