Why are some appointments routing to Leads and others to Contacts?

Routing Is Configurable, Not Fixed

Acuity Scheduling Pro does not use a single hardcoded rule to decide Leads vs. Contacts. Where a booking lands is controlled by settings on the Settings screen, applied in this order.

1. Primary Sync Target

In the CRM Routing Targets card, Primary Sync Target sets the default module — Contacts Module or Leads Module — that every booking uses unless overridden below.

2. Appointment Type → Module Routing

In the Lead Routing & Automation card, you can add rules that send specific services to a different module — for example, routing consultation bookings to Leads while everything else stays in Contacts. Each rule matches on a text fragment in the Acuity appointment type name; unmatched types fall back to the Primary Sync Target.

3. Matching an Existing Record

Once the target module is resolved, the extension searches only that module for a record whose email matches the client's Acuity email — it does not check Contacts and then fall back to Leads, or vice versa. What happens next depends on Duplicate Handling:

• Update the existing record — refreshes name and phone on the match and links the new Meeting to it.
• Keep existing, don't modify — leaves the existing record untouched and just links the new Meeting to it.
• Always create a new record — ignores any match and creates a fresh Lead or Contact for every booking.

If no match is found in the target module, a new record is always created.

Owner Assignment

New or updated records can be assigned to a single fixed owner, distributed round-robin across a team, or assigned based on which Acuity calendar or practitioner took the booking. See the dedicated article on Owner Routing Modes for details.

Lead Status

For new Leads, Initial Lead Status (if set) is applied on creation, and Status on Cancellation (if set) is applied when the appointment is later canceled.