Say you have data in your workspace that you’d like to pass to an external app, such as Excel, Google Sheets, or MailChimp, among others. You can do this via Zapier.
Setting Up Your Zap
Let’s see how to create a zap to send collected data from a flow over to a Google Sheets spreadsheet.
Create a Flow
First, you need to create a flow in which you collect results. In our example, we’ve asked our contacts to rate their recent customer service experience. We’ll send their response over to a Google Sheet via a zap.
Keep reading to see how to configure the ‘Call Zapier’ action.
Create a Flow Event
Without this, your zap cannot be created. Go to your workspace settings page, then scroll down to the flow events section:
Click on the section and create your event in the dialogue box at the bottom. You must separate each word with a hyphen or underscore:
Add a ‘Call Zapier’ Action to Your Flow
Add this action to the flow after collecting the data you want. Choose your already created flow event from the drop down menu. Give the result a name.
Create Your Google Sheets Spreadsheet
After completing all the above steps in your flow, you’ll need a Google Sheet where you’ll pass the data. In this example, we’re going to pass name, telephone number, rating, and the time that the contact passed through the flow. So, we named our column headers accordingly:
Creating Your Zap
Once you’ve followed the above steps, you’re ready to create the zap in Zapier. Remember, all the components above must already be completed!
First, enter your Zapier account and click ‘Make a Zap’ at the top of the browser:
Choose Textconnect as your trigger app and choose “New Flow Event” as your event.
You’ll need to follow Zapier’s instructions on integrating your Textconnect account if this is your first ever zap.
On the following page, you’ll be asked to choose a Textconnect Flow Event. This is the event you created and added to your flow in the steps outlined above!
Generate Sample Data
You need to generate sample data that Zapier will use to pull variables from your flow. To do this, either use the simulator in your flow’s editor or send out a real flow run. Note that the simulator will generate data for an empty contact, so some data like Name will be empty. You must do this step in order for Zapier to pull in data.
If the test is successful, you’ll see sample data:
Choose an Action Step
Add Google Sheets as your action step and choose one the event options. In this example, we want to create a new spreadsheet row every time a contact passes through this flow:
You’ll then need to connect a Google account to your Zapier account:
Fill in Your Template
The first fields you’ll be prompted to complete are ‘Drive’, ‘Spreadsheet’, and ‘Worksheet’.
Choose the name of the spreadsheet you created. The worksheet is usually ‘Sheet 1’.
After you’ve selected the spreadsheet, you’ll automatically see the column headers you created. Click on each field to populate with data.
You’ll notice in the dropdown that there may be several options for a single field. The rule value is generally the right choice! Reach out if you’re unsure.
Send Test Data to Your Spreadsheet
The following page will ask you to send a test spreadsheet row to Google Sheets. Click the blue button to continue.
If successful, you can now go over to your spreadsheet where you should see the test data in a new row. Remember that our sample used data collected from the simulator, so our contact has no name!
Name your zap and set it live. That’s it!
You can then reference external values passed from Zapier in your flows by using @trigger.params.[value_name]. In our example above, the external variable would be @trigger.params.rating
While this example is specific to creating a new spreadsheet row in Google Sheets, the set up steps with all other zaps for TextIt are much the same.
Have a workflow you need to automate, but aren’t sure how? We’re happy to help. Click the support widget at the bottom right of the screen to start a conversation.