By combining ActiveCampaign's email marketing capabilities with Zapier, you can create powerful workflows—called Zaps—to automatically manage your incoming leads, nurture and engage new customers, get notified of changes in real-time, and keep important data up to date.
You'll need a Zapier account to use the workflows in this piece. If you don't have an account yet, it's free to get started.
Table of contents
To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button, and we'll guide you through customizing it. It only takes a few minutes. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.
Create and manage your incoming leads
We're all in agreement when it comes to leads: your chances of converting them into paying customers are much higher if you reach out to them as soon as they've expressed interest.
That's why whenever a prospective customer clicks on your online ad or fills out a form, you should add those contacts straight into ActiveCampaign. But if you carry out this process manually, you risk of wasting time and making mistakes. And that limited window you have to reach out? It tends to slam shut.
Think of it this way: Every minute you spend downloading information from your lead generation tools, reformatting it, or typing contact details out one by one into ActiveCampaign is a lead you risk losing.
Save time by using Zapier to automate this entire process. Your leads will be on the receiving end of your nurture efforts much faster, even if they came from a separate platform like Facebook Lead Ads.
Nurture and engage your leads
From appointments and events
Whenever someone—say a fresh lead or a paying customer—books an appointment with you, you'll want to stay in touch with them afterward. It's good manners, yes, but it's also good marketing.
The same rule also applies to events like webinars or in-person conferences. People who sign up for your events are likely very receptive to hearing more about what you have to offer.
That's why automatically adding these contacts to your email lists the moment they book an appointment (or sign up for an event) makes sense from a marketing standpoint. You'll be able to send them things like automatic follow-ups, nurture campaigns, special offers, and even product updates to keep them engaged and invested in your brand.
From payments and orders
Your newest customer has just bought their first product off your snazzy eCommerce store, and their payment went through—congrats! Whatever you do now, you shouldn't leave them dangling in a virtual abyss.
After all, your newest customers might need help getting started with your products, or they might want to discover new ways of using your services.
By setting up the following workflows, you can send them helpful emails or even a whole onboarding series the moment they've completed a purchase. Keeping up regular communications can increase the potential for their return to your store—and foster customer loyalty in the long run.
Keep your contact records up to date across platforms
The key to good follow-up with your leads and customers is to have all their contact information collected in a single place. But if you use multiple marketing apps, you'll want to make sure your contacts are always up-to-date.
When your customer records and lead information is consistent across all sources, nothing is missed at any stage of the sales funnel. This allows you to deliver the most relevant messaging and personalized service at all touchpoints.
You can use Zapier to update user records across your different email lists, ensuring your sales and customer service teams are on the same page with up-to-date information for your customers in real time.
Track and log your contacts
Sometimes, things might break unexpectedly. To avoid losing any important data, it's a good idea to have a backup plan in place.
Spreadsheets make for flexible repositories and can take care of all your contacts' safe-keeping. Avoid the hassle of copying and pasting your ActiveCampaign information into your spreadsheet (you'll be caught in an endless loop of updates). Instead, set up the following Zaps to do the heavy lifting for you:
Get notifications in real time
Successfully managing leads and customers is often synonymous with getting the right information to the right people at the right time. Whether you're in sales, customer service, or marketing, you may want to receive notifications on the go every time something important happens in ActiveCampaign. That way, you'll know in real-time how to respond.
Keep yourself—and your team—updated on important milestones with these automation ideas:
Filters can help you refine automation
As we've established, you can use ActiveCampaign with Zapier in many ways. But you may sometimes want to fine-tune your automation to make sure it only continues when you want it to.
Zapier's filters allow you to set conditions for your Zaps, preventing automation from going too far and triggering actions you don't want.
For example, you can set up a filter to only add customers to your email list if they purchase a specific product. Or you could set up a filter to ensure only new contacts are added to ActiveCampaign.
Capturing a lead is just the first step
Automation at all touchpoints of the digital sales funnel is important. It's crucial to remember that even once you capture lead information, your job isn't over.
Using automation to sync up user records, proactively follow up with contacts, and keep new customers engaged via email can help your business. Zapier allows you to better connect with, nurture, and serve your leads, which essentially translates into more loyal customers in the long run.
This article was originally published in Feb 2021, written by Ana Gotter. It was substantially updated in August 2022 by Elena Alston.