Looking for Zapier examples? You'll get them. We've searched the whole (yes, the whole) internet to capture the myriad possibilities of Zapier in one bundled post. If you're still missing something, you can simply browse here to see what Zapier has to offer for your apps and their integration.
Here we go.
What is Zapier anyway? Here's an explanation or go to the official website here.
In a nutshell: Zapier is a powerful automation tool that makes it possible to connect countless applications (over 2,000 in number) without in-depth programming knowledge and thus create fully automated workflows. This saves time, increases productivity and relieves you of tedious, repetitive workflows. As Zapier experts in Germany, we do the whole thing with in-depth programming knowledge to exploit Zapier's full potential.
First of all, some definitions of terms in the world of Zapier:
Zap: Zapier calls a Zap an automated workflow between at least two apps.
Trigger: Actually self-explanatory: The entire workflow is started by a trigger. This is also defined and Zapier monitors the app for this event.
Action: The action is the event which then completes the Zap.
Automation with Zapier can help in countless places, there is only one limitation: Cloud is key, because only cloud software and apps are supported by the automation platform (bye SAP).
When you enter the depths of the Zapier community and cloud automation, it can be quite overwhelming at first. While Gmail, Facebook and Twitter are certainly not unknown apps, Netlify, Miro and Coda are somewhat less familiar names. And this is exactly where Zapier scores: over 2,000 apps (you read that right) are supported and can be linked together. Since Zapier comes from the USA, many US apps and providers are supported. Many of these are either not known in Germany or are simply not represented on the German market. However, this also means that the possibilities with Zapier are all the greater, especially when it comes to lesser-known applications.
Let's start light:
Are you so organised that you even create to-do lists? Using simple zaps, you can transfer incoming emails, whether from Gmail, Microsoft 365 or other mail providers, directly into your to-dos or tasks.
Simply connect your emails with Trello, Asana, GitHub or Todoist and have new tasks automatically taken over.
Next Step: Automatically save attachments.
Here too, the same game: regardless of whether it's Gmail, Microsoft 365 or other mail providers: with just a few clicks, you can easily save email attachments in Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, without having to manually download and upload them again.
You've sent numerous emails back and forth with clients and are starting to lose track of where exactly that one important task was? Just track your conversation and transfer what's important to Slack, Evernote or a Google Sheet. Create search filters and have a Slack message sent to you as soon as a new email with the relevant criteria arrives. Or save emails that meet certain criteria in your Google Spreadsheet.
Updates are important, especially in a team, but they tend to be forgotten or simply annoying after a while. Let Zapier take care of that, too, and save yourself the time. A Google Sheet is updated? Connected to the mail account, an automated mail is sent out without further intervention. This works just as well with Airtable.
Have you won a new Facebook lead? Get an automated update and simply receive an email about it. Or there's a new SurveyMonkey answer - here, too, you'll receive an easy update by email.
You share a Google Drive folder? Let Slack update you when a new document has been uploaded there. Or (same principle) have an email sent to you when files have been uploaded to the Dropbox folder. Attention, this is where it gets crazy: You can also have a mail sent to you when a new document has been uploaded to the Google Drive folder. This example shows that the individual applications are easily interchangeable in almost all workflows with Zapier, especially if they perform almost the same function.
A new project is starting and the kick-off is approaching? Simply have a new folder created where all relevant files and documents are stored. Whether Dropbox or Google Drive, connect it to Trello, Harvest or other project management and collaboration tools to simplify the project kick-off.
Probably the most superfluous task since the invention of superfluous tasks: Moving files via copy & paste or via download and upload. Just connect Google Drive and Dropbox, or Google Drive and OneDrive, or even OneDrive and Dropbox (get creative) and let files be moved back and forth automatically. If you only implement one example from this blog post, please implement this one. Because as the great Mahatma Gandhi said, "Life is too short to move files manually." (Wall tattoo coming soon in our shop)
By the way, you can also print files automatically from Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive (via Google Cloud Print).
Instead of simply managing your online shop, you should focus on clever automations and thus gain more time for new product innovations and market expansion. Here's how:
There's a new product in your shop? Post it on Facebook or Twitter - automatically, of course. Simply connect social media with Shopify, WooCommerce or similar apps and let Zapier take care of sharing the information.
It is equally important to receive information about a new order. Just let yourself be notified automatically, for example by receiving the notification about a new order automatically in Slack.
"After the purchase is before the next sale", to quote Sepp Herberger at this point. In order to maintain an overview of customers and orders, it is important to store the relevant information in a suitable place. That's why shop systems can be easily integrated with Google Sheets or Salesforce, for example. Shopify orders are transferred directly to the Google Sheet spreadsheet or created as a lead in Salesforce. Again, this saves you a few clicks per day.
Email marketing can also be connected to sales and, you guessed it, automated. If you use mailing tools such as Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, they can be easily connected to your shop system, such as Shopify, and thus automatically run in your mailings.
Human resource management can be quite time-consuming. Especially recurring, daily tasks eat up time that should rather be spent on strategic tasks. Here are a few examples of successful HR management with Zapier:
Recruiting is probably one of the most time-consuming tasks of the HR department, whether active or passive. Simply let yourself be informed about new applicants in Slack, automatically send confirmation emails to new candidates, create new Asana tasks when applications are received or have appointments for job interviews automatically saved in Google Calendar.
You're thinking: "Recruiting is time-consuming? Hold my Excel file, administration is the real time eater" and here too there are useful automations that make the life of the recruiter easier.
Google Sheets is excellently suited for numerous integrations and can thus be absolutely helpful especially in the administration of large amounts of data.
"I love accounting, there's just nothing like correct accounting, bookkeeping records and tax returns" - doesn't sound like you at all? We thought so. We have already written a separate blog post about the successful automation of Lexoffice and, by the way, we are also an official integration partner of Lexoffice, so here is just the short version of what is possible:
E-mail attachments: Important accounting documents, such as invoices, are sent by e-mail as attachments. Automate Lexoffice and have these attachments sent to Lexoffice and uploaded to your account all by themselves.
Upload receipts: By connecting to Dropbox or GoogleDrive, documents can be easily uploaded to Lexoffice and used as a new receipt.
Transfer files from OneDrive: Link selected folders of your OneDrive and have new files always appear automatically in your Lexoffice account.
Manage contacts: It is possible to manage your contacts, for example customers or suppliers, via the Lexoffice API interface. Addresses, phone numbers or email addresses can be bundled in a contact collection and automatically created, retrieved or updated.
Create credit notes: Different types of credit notes, such as net, gross or tax-free, can be created automatically with or without reference to an invoice. Both the partial and the total amount of an invoice will be refunded to your customers.
Changes of data in Lexoffice: Via a so-called event subscription it is possible that you are informed about changes of your resources, for example when a contact changes in Lexoffice. This makes manual data retrieval superfluous and you always have all the necessary information at your fingertips. Best of all, these changes are automatically passed on to all linked programs.
Automatic replies to messages and mentions: It's natural to set up automatic replies to your email inbox or change your status in Slack or Teams while you're on leave. But Zapier goes even further: If you are mentioned or directly contacted, an automatic reply can also be set up in these chat tools. By the way, this is not only possible during holidays, but also if you want to minimize distractions during work and don't want to be constantly interrupted.
Assign an agenda automatically: Meetings without an agenda - the modern definition of unproductivity. A meeting is scheduled and in order for it to somehow run reasonably effectively, it needs at least an agenda. This is easy with Zapier: a meeting is scheduled in Google Calendar, for example, and then a person is selected who is given a task in Asana. Of course, this person can also be yourself. This way you will never again sit in a meeting without knowing why you are meeting in the first place (at least it is not the lack of an agenda that is to blame).
Create social media posts: Blog posts in WordPress can be automatically posted to all your relevant social media channels, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, with a simple workflow. The same works if you want to automatically create a Pinterest pin from an Instagram post, for example, without spending a lot of time creating it again. This way you keep all your social media activities in sync.
Publish your tweets automatically to instagram: You are very active on Twitter and want your Instagram followers to be part of it? Most of the time, this is done via screenshots that are first taken manually and then uploaded to Instagram manually - two times "manually" is too much for our taste. With the help of a screenshot service (yes, there is such a thing) and Zapier, this can be done automatically. Admittedly, APIs also come into play here, but the step-by-step instructions should still make it possible for you.
Not necessarily important for the company, but still worth mentioning:
Create your own Spotify playlist with Zapier: With a Spotify account and the specified playlists to be searched, you're more or less ready to go. Admittedly, it's not quite that simple. But if you select a desired playlist as a trigger, you can create the perfect individualized playlist that Spotify's algorithm always successfully steers past ("Your mix of the week" - of course). The detailed instructions can be found here.
A final tip: the automation community is extremely helpful. If you ever have problems with a workflow or Zap, there are many helping hands on Facebook or Zapier.com who will be happy to advise you and suggest solutions. Give it a try.
If, after reading this post, you decide to leave Zapier to the professionals, we're here to help. We'll be happy to help you uncover potential, highlight opportunities and implement automation. Simply make a free appointment for automation & IT consulting today.
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