WP Lead Intake Manager

WP Lead Intake Manager is a lightweight WordPress plugin for collecting service inquiries from a public page and managing those leads inside the WordPress admin.

It provides a shortcode-based intake form, stores submissions in a custom database table, and gives site administrators a simple lead review screen with status tracking. The project is intentionally small and practical: it focuses on the kind of plugin architecture, security practices, and WordPress APIs used in real client work.

Why I Built This

Many small business WordPress sites need more than a contact form, but less than a full CRM. This plugin demonstrates how I would build that middle layer: a maintainable custom plugin that captures structured lead data, validates submissions, and gives admins a clear workflow for follow-up.

The goal was to show practical WordPress development beyond theme edits, while keeping the codebase easy to explain, extend, and review.

Features

• Frontend lead intake form via [lead_intake_form]
• Fields for name, email, phone, service needed, and notes
• Required-field validation and email validation
• Nonce-protected form submission through admin-post.php
• Sanitized input and escaped output
• Custom leads table created on activation
• Admin menu page for reviewing submitted leads
• Lead statuses: new, contacted, and closed
• Minimal public and admin CSS
• Uninstall cleanup for plugin-owned data

WordPress Concepts Demonstrated

• Plugin bootstrap file and WordPress plugin headers
• Activation hook with register_activation_hook()
• Uninstall cleanup with uninstall.php
• Shortcode registration with add_shortcode()
• Frontend form handling with admin_post_* actions
• Nonce generation and verification
• Capability checks with current_user_can()
• Custom database table creation with dbDelta()
• Database reads and writes with $wpdb
• Input sanitization with WordPress sanitization helpers
• Output escaping with esc_html(), esc_attr(), and esc_url()
• Modular class-based plugin organization

Installation

1. Copy this folder into your local WordPress install:

   wp-content/plugins/wordpress-lead-intake-plugin

2. Activate WP Lead Intake Manager from the WordPress Plugins screen.

3. Add the shortcode to any page:

   [lead_intake_form]

4. Submit a test lead from the frontend page.

5. Open Lead Intake in the WordPress admin to view and update lead statuses.

Project Structure

lead-intake-manager.php
uninstall.php
includes/
  class-lim-activator.php
  class-lim-admin.php
  class-lim-db.php
  class-lim-form-handler.php
  class-lim-shortcode.php
assets/
  css/admin.css
  css/public.css
README.md

Roadmap

• Add pagination and search to the admin lead table
• Add optional email notifications for new leads
• Add CSV export for submitted leads
• Add a settings screen for service options
• Add custom capabilities for non-admin staff users