What are integrations? Why do I need them?
One of the things I love doing most is integration.
But often, people don't even know what I mean. They don't know what they need to integrate. Or even that they can integrate. Which means they don't know how easy life can be for them.
Today, a client called and asked if I could help them with a Google form they created. They said: "I've climbed Mount Everest. I'm on top of the world. I've managed to get Gmail to send a notification to my users when they fill out a Google form. The only problem is that it's not really sending to the right email address."
She had hours trying to set up this automated email via Gmail to integrate with her Google form.I know that feeling of accomplishment. The feeling you get when you've tried to figure something out that was puzzling you for so long.
However, I also felt bad for her. She has spent so much time, managed to make progress but was still stuck. And the tool she chose wasn't suitable for her needs.
We opened a Zoom call and within 30 minutes I had her set up with a new Zapier account and a flexible, easy to edit and manage Zap integration.
The Zap enabled us to read all the fields of her Google form, including the user name and email.
We then used these fields to write an email to her users, with the details she wanted to send, including an attachment.
Editing is a snap, and there are almost limitless additions we can make to her Zap to make her life easier.
It's not just email sending and data collection.
An integration connects two or more apps based on triggers and actions — whenever the trigger event occurs, the integration tool automatically completes the action for you.
Integration (with tools such as Zapier) is for every business, big or small.
From reporting, to financing, to user engagement, to setting reminders and sending notifications. It can help you utilize your time more efficiently, and ensure you're constantly updated and interacting with your users, teammates and employees.
For example, you can set up a Zap to send a message to new followers on Twitter, or even to someone who mentions you, via Hootsuite. Since the data is transferred to Zapier from Twitter, you can integrate this data into your message and make it sound more personal.
Imagine how much time you'd have to spend to send each new follower a message. Even if it's just copying and pasting a pre-existing text and changing the name. Zapier integration saves you this time.
You can also save user data to a Google or Excel sheet, and of course to your CRM (if you have one) and later send your users offers or manage their progression in the pipeline.
If you're using an email automation system or a chat bot on your site, you can update your user's information based on data they enter on your website, on a survey (such as SurveyMonkey), or data from a table you update manually. This in turn, can activate sending an email, or a chat conversation. You can also tag users and then automate based on these tags.
Zapier enables you to use set delays, send notifications based on events (such as signing a contract) or dates and to split your Zaps into paths, that basically function as an if/then clause. Thus, ensuring you have the most relevant information at your fingertips.
Applications are constantly added to the service and their development team is always improving the UI and UX for the Zaps.
Yes, I love the application. I love that you can start to use it for free, and I love that their pricing is low. I love that it's pretty simple to understand you that it's not complicated to set up or maintain.Having said that, I also understand that not everyone can see how the tool can help them.
I highly recommend you check it out, and if it seems too complicated to build on your own, give me a call. We can walk through it together. You'll be up and running in no time.
