Zapier Comprehensive Guide
In the following article, we will get to know the automation platform – Zapier. This guide will explain the basic concepts that will help you start working with Zapier. We have prepared a Zapier guide explaining what is automation? What is Zapier? And how can this system help us manage our paid campaigns? Improve processes and more. Beyond that, we will explain how opening an account in Zapier looks and of course how to work with Zapier – and we’ll provide an example of how to build a Zap.
What is Zapier?
Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your apps and services. You can connect two or more apps to automate repetitive tasks without coding or relying on developers to build the integration between them. Each Zap consists of a trigger and one or more actions. When you turn your Zap on, it will run the action steps every time the trigger occurs.
Unique Advantages of Zapier
Zapier has unique advantages that can take the quality of your work up several levels, here are some of them:
- Connect leads from advertising platforms directly to CRM systems / Google Sheets
- Send automated emails
- Send personalized links to checkout pages
- Perform automated satisfaction surveys
- Send automated SMS and email
- Send personalized, designed price quotes locked in PDF
- Manage tasks automatically
- Add people to mailing lists
- Register people for webinars
- And most importantly – save time!
Zapier Guide
Opening an Account on Zapier
Upon opening an account with Zapier, Zapier gives us a one-week free trial; before we begin, let’s open an account using a Google, Facebook, Microsoft, or any other email account.
We recommend signing up with your Gmail (Google) account. Click on Sign up with Google and accept the terms:
We will arrive at the main screen, and we have an active Zapier account.
Please note – the trial period is limited as well as the free plan; if you wish to connect multiple apps and integrations, we strongly recommend upgrading to a paid plan.
In terms of pricing – Zapier offers several plans, let’s go over each one and explain the pros and cons:
Free Account – What do we get?
- 5 Zaps only
- 100 tasks per month
- 15-minute update time (the time Zapier runs the Zap and pulls data). For example: every 15 minutes the Zap will run and check for leads from the landing page lead form
Starter Account – $17.49 – Annual
- 20 Zaps only
- 750 tasks per month
- 15-minute update time (the time Zapier runs the Zap and pulls data). For example: every 15 minutes the Zap will run and check for leads from the landing page lead form
- Use of 3 Premium apps
- Use of Webhooks
Professional Account – $42.88 – Annual
- Unlimited Zaps
- 2,000 tasks per month
- 2-minute update time (the time Zapier runs the Zap and pulls data). For example: every 2 minutes the Zap will run and check for leads from the landing page lead form
- Unlimited Premium apps usage
Team Account – $261.33 – Annual
- Unlimited Zaps
- 50,000 tasks per month
- 1-minute update time (the time Zapier runs the Zap and pulls data). For example: every 1 minute the Zap will run and check for leads from the landing page lead form
- Unlimited Premium apps usage
Types of Zaps Available to Us
- Send leads from Facebook to the client’s / our private email
- Send leads from Facebook straight to CRM / Google Sheets
- Send an SMS upon receiving a customer lead
- Send an email with an attached syllabus upon registration / lead on the site
- Automatically add a lead to a mailing list
- New posts from Facebook groups/pages straight to WordPress
- Send a “Welcome” message to new mailing list subscribers
- Consolidate WooCommerce orders into Google Sheets
- Automatically save documents from Gmail to Dropbox
We can customize the types of Zaps for our business. For example, if we run an ecommerce website, we would want to implement the following Zaps and save a lot of time:
- Send a “Welcome” email to new mailing list subscribers with all promotions and top catalog items on the site.
- Send order details to Google Sheets
- Import mailing list into Google Sheets
- Automatically import mailing list into a Facebook Custom Audience
- Cart abandonment email
Creating Marketing Funnels and Customer Journeys
We need to understand which funnel our business operates through and how we can streamline the funnel and automation process using Zapier.
For example – if we are an architecture and interior design business targeting an audience that recently moved / is interested in home renovation / is interested in interior design, we would want to run the following marketing funnel:
Downloaded a home renovation guide > Received a thank-you email with a link to download the guide > After 3 days an email offering additional info from the site > After a week receives outreach via email and SMS to leave details on the landing page
Awareness / Attention – Brand Awareness
Interest – Interest
Desire – Desire
Action – Action
So how can Zapier be integrated into our funnel?
- Awareness / Attention – Raising brand awareness – Publishing an ad on media networks / Google. A person leaves details. Receives lead confirmation via SMS / email and a “gift” of a free guide.
- Interest – Interest – Directs to a landing page to receive a free Ebook: “How to properly design your home?”. Sends an automated email with a PDF of the Ebook.
- Desire – Desire – After 3 days, schedules sending an email to everyone who received the Ebook with the goal of nurturing desire and offering promotions on home design.
- Action – Action – Customer leaves details again and closes a deal.
Example - Connecting a Zap to a Facebook Lead Form
As we mentioned, Zapier provides us with advantages across a considerable number of platforms; we will now dive into a Zap for Facebook lead forms.
You can connect your lead forms from Facebook and send them to email / enter into CRM / send them to Google Sheets and much more.. Here is how it looks:
First, go to Zaps from the main page
- If you created folders, choose the folder in which you want to create the Zap.
- Finally, click on Create Zap
Let’s give the Zap a name. It’s important to give a name through which we can understand exactly what the Zap does and what it is about.
For example, a women’s shoes campaign, a Facebook lead form that sends leads to email + Sheets. We will name the Zap: Women Shoes | FB Leads – Sheets – Mail
Let’s start here:
In the Search apps field, enter Facebook Lead Ads
In the Trigger Event field, select New Lead
Next, select the user: Choose create a new user if you haven’t connected one yet
After selecting the user, click on Continue and then select the page and form from which we want to pull the leads
Click on Test Trigger and we will immediately see the last lead received in the form, and then click on Continue
From here, we’ll move to the second step where we want to set up the action.nt to perform an additional automation with the lead we received. Select Google Sheets
Now we will choose the action we want Zapier to perform, usually it will be adding a new row to the spreadsheet. We’ll select Create Spreadsheet Row and click Continue.
After that, we’ll select an account just like we selected for Facebook; if there is no Google account connected to Zapier, of course, we will click on create a new account, log in, and then Zapier will sync the entire account and all available sheets to Zapier.
Next, we will reach the Set Up Action: step
Spreadsheet – the file in which we want to update a new row
Worksheet – sheet
After choosing where we want to send the new row, all fields + columns within the sheet will open up
Enter the appropriate values for each column, and continue filling everything out
After entering everything, click on Test & Review and check in Google Sheets whether the lead came through:
In the end, we get:
Summary
In this article, we covered how to use Zapier, including its advantages and why you must use it for digital automation in your business; we also gave an excellent example of connecting a Zap to a Facebook lead form. We highly recommend using this tool and taking advantage of it; it streamlines your workflows and makes them run smoothly and automatically. Automation is the future, remember, you are trading money for time, and repetitive processes become automated, saving you both time and money.
If you are interested in hearing more about Zapier and how to work with it, you are invited to learn about our AI Consulting and Implementation.
About the Author
Or Fialkov is the CEO and owner of Fialkov Digital, a digital marketing and advertising agency. He runs paid campaigns on Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok, and builds websites and landing pages. He also implements AI in businesses, including AI agents, agentic marketing automation, AI reporting systems, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and AI video for campaigns.
