As a business, if one of your values isn’t “work smarter, not harder,” you’re bound to burn out.
Luckily, agencies have some tricks up their sleeves with automation tools and web apps like Zapier.
Since most agencies are run by a small team of hardworking individuals, using Zapier to organize and streamline repetitive tasks can take some of the load off the team and let them focus on the bigger issues at hand.
Of course, you can get carried away with all the Zapier integrations available — over 5000, to be exact.
So, let’s focus on just eight of the most helpful Zapier integrations, or “zaps,” you can use to improve your agency.
Contents:
1. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that is very popular, thanks to its core features.
These include an at-a-glance sales process, customizable pipeline, and segmentation. It has won multiple awards for being one of the top CRM software on the market.
Pipedrive also has more than 350 integrations, with Zapier being just one.
So, how can a web agency use automation for Pipedrive through Zapier to improve its success?
The most obvious way, of course, is to transform leads into customers.
This zap is more of a chain of integrations that are all set in motion when you first get a lead.
When a customer fills out a form on your landing page, you can use a zap to transfer their info automatically to your email list.
In Zapier, link your web form service to your email marketing service.
For example, use Typeform entries to create a new subscriber in Mailchimp. Another zap would be to use the information from Wufoo entries to create a new contact on a mailing list in Gmail.
You then take it a step further to add these leads to Pipedrive and use their tools to increase your chances of success.
Markus Clarke from Searchant uses a zap that goes a little something like this:
Send a pre-sell email to remind a discovery call about their booked appointment. Add them to Pipedrive, then create a message in Slack to notify team members.
It’s a great way to manage opportunities to secure a new customer. Feel free to steal this workflow to see the sales reeling in on autopilot!
2. BugHerd
It’s hard to believe that our bug tracking tool can be even more useful, but hold onto your seats: we're about to share how Zapier can take premium apps like BugHerd and make them even more golden.
Many of our clients use task management apps, such as Trello, Asana, and Teamwork, to organize their bug tracking. These are great for managing projects, but the magic of automation can really bring out their strengths.
Instead of manually entering new tasks from BugHerd feedback or bug reports, use Zapier to automate a new task on your behalf.
Here’s how to set that up:
First, connect your BugHerd account to your Zapier account. You’ll need to copy and paste your BugHerd API key into the prompted form when it asks to connect.
For a more visual explanation of this process, check out our full article.
Here are some of the most popular zaps used to automate the tools in BugHerd:
- You can ask Zapier to create a new spreadsheet row in Google Sheets with every bug you find.
- You can create a new Slack message for each BugHerd task triggered.
- You can transfer BugHerd tasks into Asana tasks.
3. Slack
Good communication is essential to keep your team on the same page. Unfortunately, it can be easy to let some information slip through the cracks, even with a fantastic business messaging app like Slack.
If only you had a system that could keep everyone on the team in the know without having to lift a finger.
It’s your lucky day, because Zapier is an automation platform that can solidify internal communication by way of Slack notifications.
Every agency will have its own unique set of needs for pushing a message through Slack. But with so many Zapier apps, there is little chance that yours can’t be met.
The most common zap for internal communication is to send a Slack message to your team members when a new task is due.
However, if you widen your scope just a little, you’ll see that this only scratches the surface of how the Slack-Zapier partner program can improve how your team communicates.
Suppose you create a scheduled Slack message with reminders for employees to complete periodic assessments, updates, or training.
That’s exactly how one manufacturing tech company uses this zap. Mathieu Marcotte from Poka uses this to keep his employees in SOC 2 compliance.
He created a recurring event in Google Calendar, which is linked through Zapier to create tasks in Jira. Jira is also linked through Zapier to send out a Slack message to all employees included in his list.
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4. WordPress
WordPress, or what we like to call The Mighty WP, is one of the most widely used content management systems in the world.
You can create a zap to import content to WordPress and extract content from WordPress to other channels.
For example, write your WP posts on Google Drive first and save them in a special folder. Create a zap that automatically creates posts on WordPress from the docs saved to that Google Drive folder.
You can also repurpose podcasts or Youtube videos by linking to a transcription app that is also linked to your WP.
Zapier can trigger a transcription app like Otter.ai to automatically transcribe your video or audio. You may need to tweak a bit of the wording, but it can still save you tons of time.
To extract your content, Zapier can blast new WP posts to your socials. Posting to every social media channel is exhausting and time-consuming, but not with Zapier doing half the work!
Here are a few ways to connect WordPress to your social channels:
- Automate a preview of your posts to Twitter.
- Link your blog to Facebook.
- Make an Instagram post from your blog images.
You can even take this one step further by linking your various channels together. For example:
- Share Twitter posts on LinkedIn.
- Tweet Instagram Pics.
- Share Facebook posts on LinkedIn.
Zapier shares a starter list of Zapier integrations that you can implement to streamline your content management like a pro.
5. Google Forms
Sometimes, data organization can seem never-ending — and become mind-numbing as a result.
Yet again, Zapier can save the day.
Install a quick Zapier setup to aggregate form responses from Google Forms and transfer them to Google Sheets. Nobody wants to painstakingly fill spreadsheets with names, phone numbers, and other necessary identifiers to track clients or projects — so let this integration do all the hard work instead.
These benefits aren’t limited to Google, either. Other programs like Jotform, Typeform, and Gravity Forms can all be integrated with Zapier.
You can link Zoho forms to Airtable, and Gmail to Google Sheets. There really is no end to the amount of Zapier automations you can use to manage your team’s data collection.
6. Calendly
Hey, all you busy, busy bees. We know the struggle. Keeping up with your schedule can be tough, especially when you wear many hats.
It might explain why Calendly is such a popular scheduling tool. The software allows your clients, with a simple click of the mouse, to book a meeting with you.
When you integrate Calendly through Zapier, magical things can happen.
That’s because Zapier already makes scheduling easier by allowing you to sync all your calendars, Calendly appointments, and to-do lists into one place.
You’ll never miss a special event or task again! (Unless you didn’t really want to go in the first place.)
To keep everything connected, Zapier can trigger the creation of a new event in Google Calendar every time someone books a meeting in Calendly, and vice versa.
You can turn Calendly bookings into Trello cards. To keep your team updated, have Zapier message a Slack channel when a new meeting populates in Calendly.
You can also connect your Calendly to create a task on Todoist, or make a note on Notion, to keep you on point.
Check Out: A Critical Comparison of the Best of the Best Website Feedback Tools
7. ChatGPT and AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now everywhere, and people are learning how to use it to do amazing things.
Consider automating your various AI tools through Zapier to get every last drop from AI.
ChatGPT and OpenAI are two of the most-used AI apps. Both can integrate with Zapier.
If you have researched the possibilities of AI, you can only imagine how many more doors Zapier can open when you bring it into the mix.
Let’s start with ChatGPT. When you get a new email in Gmail, Zapier can trigger ChatGPT to create a response to the email. You can then have ChatGPT write a summary of the discussion in Gmail and send it as a message to your team in Slack.
You can also automate OpenAI through Zapier to analyze Google Forms responses and send the data to Google Sheets.
Dall-E, OpenAI’s image generator, can also be used to begin a new design project from notes discussed in a Slack channel.
8. Jira
Are you always searching for new ways to speed up your web development?
Zapier’s many Jira integrations can help — just take a look at the fourth template on the list.
In addition, Zapier can add new Jira issues to Asana, ClickUp, or Monday.com to disperse the issues among your team.
How about the other direction? Can you create new Jira issues automatically? You bet.
Our favorite is to automate the creation of new Jira issues from BugHerd bugs. You can also trigger the creation of Jira issues from new entries in Google Sheets, Slack messages, or GitHub.
Skip the need to read through Typeform or Google Forms responses. Zapier can automatically create a new issue in Jira.
Check out some of the other web development automations that Zapier can bring to your agency.
9. Build Your Own
One of the great things about Zapier is that you can tailor it to suit your personal style and needs.
Create your own “zap” that cares for a task you’re tired of repeating.
You can save hours of precious time, then spend it on tasks that bring far more value to your agency. Imagine the possibilities!
If you still haven’t nailed down the “zapping” process, this short video tutorial can teach you how. Likewise, if you’re still having problems or you somehow found an app that Zapier has yet to integrate, contact Zapier support.
They will be more than happy to assist. Zapier may even be able to integrate their services with your unicorn app, making it possible to automate your use of the app in the future.
Agencies big and small should consider using the above Zapier integrations for better, smoother business operations that improve across-the-board productivity.
Once you’ve seen the benefits of Zapier’s automation processes for your own personal workflow, you may find yourself creating zaps much more often. It can get a little addicting.
But, hey, that’s okay. We won’t judge!
BugHerd is all about making your job easier. That’s why we created our user-friendly visual feedback tool.
Sign up today to start a 14-day free trial of BugHerd premium — it takes less than a minute, and doesn’t require a credit card.
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