5 Zapier automations that will save hours for your business

Chances are, if you’re running a growing business, you’re working more than the average person. In fact, 50% of business-owners actually work more than 50 hours per week, citing fear of failure as a prime motivator for keeping them at their desks well after 6pm. 

But working longer hours doesn’t necessarily mean you get more done. Quite the opposite: long days result in sluggish productivity, costing your business money in the long-run. 

Instead, the secret lies in achieving more by doing less.

This is why so many companies choose to automate tasks and streamline processes wherever possible, leveraging the latest technologies to boost their overall efficiency. And Zapier is an incredible option for businesses of all sizes, across all markets.

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What is Zapier?

Zapier is an online automation platform connecting more than 2,000 apps, from productivity and project management tools to email platforms (such as WordPress, Gmail, MailChimp, Slack, and hundreds more).

Getting started with Zapier means you’ll reduce the amount of manual input required to take actions, freeing up company time to focus on more valuable activities. Businesses can create their own workflows, or ‘Zaps’, and select a ‘Trigger’ which kicks them off when certain tasks are performed. 

If you’re thinking it sounds complicated, it’s not! 

Zapier is designed in such a way that even the less tech-savvy amongst us can pick it up in no time. Whether you’re automating minor or major processes, the set-up is simple and user friendly — entire teams can get up and running with minimal training or supervision. 

Keen to learn more?

These super simple beginner Zaps could save you hours each week, across different aspects of your business...

1. Share New Content Across Social Networks Automatically

It’s no secret that social media success requires frequent — even daily! — posting. Problem is, very few entrepreneurs or business owners have time to dedicate to Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook during working hours. 

So rather than letting social and content marketing fall to the bottom of your ‘to do’ list, you can automate it instead.

After all, content marketing is an essential element of building brand awareness and engaging your audience. It generates around three times the number of leads as traditional marketing per dollar spent, and costs 62% less, too. 

Put simply: it’s worth getting it right.

So that’s where Zapier comes in. You can create a Zap to share any new content uploaded to your site across your preferred social networks automatically. Relax and enjoy total peace of mind that fresh content reaches your followers as soon as it goes live.

You can create this Zap with a publicly-accessible RSS feed, which is available from most blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogger. 

2. Create Trello Tasks from Calendar Events, Typeform Responses and Emails

Trello is just one project management app available today (alongside Asana, Basecamp, etc.). Its drag-and-drop, card-based structure means tasks can be assigned, monitored, and managed with amazing simplicity. 

But you can integrate Trello (or Asana, for example) with Zapier to make it even easier to boost productivity. 

Multiple Zaps are available by connecting several apps you already use. Linking Trello and Typeform, for example, allows you to create Trello cards based on new Typeform responses, so you can follow up whenever a user submits data via one of your forms. This helps identify new leads and puts follow-up tasks into your Trello automatically. 

Have a Business Gmail account? Zapier can connect it to Trello so cards are set-up from new emails with certain labels. This is ideal when you receive an email requesting a certain action; Zapier will export the necessary information from Gmail to Trello, creating a task card automatically. 

Zapier can also connect your Google Calendar and build cards from scheduled events, too. 

These three use cases are just the tip of the iceberg on how the right Zapier integrations can prevent oversights and cut manual processes down significantly.

You can take a look at the most common Trello integrations here to get started.

3. Advertise New Products in Your Store on Twitter

Want to get your latest products out there to your audience in a fast, simple way? Create a Zap that publishes a Tweet with an image and essential information about it automatically. It’s an effective way to promote new items and drive traffic without going to the effort of manual posting.

You might choose to announce new releases in a blog post (which can be shared to your Facebook or LinkedIn account automatically, as per our earlier point) and publish a mini campaign of social posts to increase awareness further. 

Using Zapier automations saves time and engages your audience with minimal input. Note: this Zap applies whenever you post a new product in Shopify, but not with existing items. 

Head to the Shopify integrations page to get started.

4. Capture Email Addresses from PayPal Transactions to Grow Your Marketing List

Make it easy on yourself and your team to stay in touch with customers with the next of our Zaps for beginners. With this Zap, the details of any user making a purchase via PayPal will be added to a mailing list in MailChimp automatically whenever a sale is completed. 

Zapier monitors your PayPal account for new transactions, and copies the buyer’s information to be pasted into any MailChimp list you specify. You can use these details to send follow-up emails to customers, to gather their feedback on their experience, suggest other products they might be interested in, or just to thank them. 

These emails can, of course, be automated too by creating automations with your email provider. Simply select your email tool from this list to see what’s possible.

Work with another payment platform? No stress, Zapier can support a wide range of tools such as Stripe and Chargebee. Here’s a link to the full list of supported payment processors.

5. Reach Out to Prospects Who Abandon Carts Before Purchasing

You may think a few abandoned carts here and there is no big deal, but think again. Cart abandonment results in $4.6 trillion of lost ecommerce sales each year.

Worse still, you may lose that customer forever if you don’t win them back. The buyer may have simply got distracted and then forgot to complete the transaction later in the day. Or, a little more seriously, they may have been turned off by one or more elements of your site.

In any case, you can reach out to customers who abandon their carts quickly with Zapier, via ExpressPigeon. Create a Trigger to send an email as soon as the prospect clicks away from your site, and Zapier will start monitoring for abandoned carts. 

With this Zap in place, you’re now able to re-engage lost customers and drive them back to your store, ready to complete the transaction. If they’ve changed their mind, a quick email can find out why (cost, poor usability, shipping rates/times, etc.), and help you improve the customer experience in the future.

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