20 Best Zapier Apps to Reduce Data Entry and Admin Chores: Zap Your Way to Automation for Increased Productivity and More

Let’s face it. Data entry and administrative tasks are just no fun. They might be mission-critical, but they’re boring, time-consuming, and frustrating. That’s why they’re among the most outsourced tasks within any business and have been for decades. Business owners and decision-makers must be able to focus on what they do best, rather than the humdrum tasks that keep a business running on a day-to-day basis.

That includes things like:

·       Updating databases

·       Entering customer information

·       Setting appointments

·       Sending reminders

·       Invoicing clients

·       Handling accounting matters

While you’re certainly still able to outsource administrative tasks and data entry-related chores, that usually comes at a cost. What’s more, that’s calculated in both financial terms and in loss of control over key business processes. It might be a better decision to automate what you can, where you can. That’s where Zapier and Zap-friendly apps enter the picture.

Zapier is one of the world’s most popular productivity tools. It also integrates with over 6,000 apps, software platforms, and digital tools to help you automate just about anything. It’s even possible to build your own automation and workflows ensuring that you can spend less time handling the minutia of daily business and more time focused on what matters most: serving your customers.

Zapier makes it easy to connect your everyday apps and will handle all of your busy work with tools like Gmail, Slack, Dropbox, QuickBooks, Google Sheets and Docs, Mailchimp, Google Calendar, Facebook, Typeform, Trello, HubSpot, Salesforce, Asana, Gravity Forms, Calendly, and so many, many others.

Essentially, all that you have to do is:

1.     Pick an app and a trigger.

2.     Set the task to be completed.

3.     Start your new workflows.

Here’s an example, taken from Zapier:

Triggers are where your automations begin. Let’s say that you set Facebook as a trigger. When you get a new lead through Facebook, that trigger automatically alerts your team through Slack. It can then also add that new lead right to Mailchimp. With thousands of apps to choose from, you have almost limitless automation opportunities. These allow you to take the load off your team and allow them to do what they do best, without having to outsource the tasks.

And, while you can certainly create your own integrations and Zaps, there are hundreds of pre-built workflows designed to make things even easier. Just choose your integrations and workflows, set your parameters, and let Zapier and your apps do everything else.

Which apps should you use? With thousands to choose from, it can be tough to decide. We’ve ranked the 20 best Zapier apps to help you reduce data entry and admin chores, free up your team’s time, and do more.

Schedule by Zapier

Zapier’s own Schedule tool makes it easy to schedule recurring tasks, right down to the hour of the day. Plus, you can connect it to things like Google Drive, Slack, and even OneSign or DocuSign to schedule paperwork signings and more. You can create so many different scheduling integrations that you’ll never have to worry about forgetting anything again.

Google Forms

Google Forms makes it easy to create forms that people can fill out in just minutes, whether you're recruiting for jobs, taking surveys from employees, or even updating customer contact information. You can even connect your Forms with Gmail, Slack, Trello, and other tools to notify you when action items have been completed or new forms have been submitted. Or, set a calendar reminder with Calendly to tell MailChimp to send the survey via Google Forms, and then to have Forms notify you via Gmail that the task is done.

Gravity Forms

While Google Forms is great for Google power users, there are tons of other form-filling tools out there, including Gravity Forms. It's got the same automation capabilities as other forms programs and integrates with tons of apps through Zapier to automate and streamline so much information collection and data entry. You can integrate with your CRM to collect information, create Zaps with Constant Contact or other email marketing tools, and more.

Typeform

Typeform is more than just a form app. It's got a robust interface that makes it easy to run surveys, contests, questionnaires, and more. You can create beautiful forms and get the information out, or get whatever information you need, and it works across all devices thanks to its next-gen platform. Integrate it with your other tools through Zapier to automate mail blasts, survey delivery, and more.

Squarespace

When you are in the world of e-commerce, or even if you just use the Square payments platform, you can find integrations available through Zapier with the Squarespace app. This is a blogging platform, commerce tool, and more, and can pair with the likes of HubSpot, MailChimp, Slack, Google Sheets, Gmail, and more. It includes more than 100 guided workflows already, or you can create your own.

Mailchimp

When you use Mailchimp and Zapier, you can use the email landing page builders, and other resources to create great campaigns and then take it further by creating Zaps to automate different tasks like replies, form sends, and more. You can even add new Mailchimp subscribers to a Google Sheet or update ClickFunnels subscribers, and even create calendar events to trigger campaigns and newsletters via Mailchimp.

Airtable

Airtable is the modern database tool that every business needs. This fast, flexible app makes it easy to create tables to track everything from inventory to leads to timesheets and more. For one example, you can create Zaps with Gmail and Slack to add all contact information from emails to Airtable and notify you on Slack when it’s done. This gets rid of tons of data entry and eliminates human error, too.

Calendly

Calendly is one of our favorite scheduling tools (we use it ourselves, as a matter of fact!), and for good reason. it eliminates all the email exchanges and saves time while improving scheduling, reducing no-shows and cancellations, and more. Plus, it can integrate with mail apps, marketing apps, and even your social media, such as if you want to schedule Instagram posts for a certain time of day or day of the week.

Trello

Trello is a great communication tool that plenty of people use to collaborate. You can ensure that projects are always on task and people are on the same page, thanks to the handy cards that can be moved, categorized, and organized any way that you like. Create Trello cards from Google Sheets, Typeform, and more. Plus, you can even create your own custom Zaps if you want.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar makes it easy for you to organize events and keep your schedule on track. The free online tool is easy to use and when you upgrade to the business Google Workspace, you get a lot more. Add Zapier, and you’ve got an automated way to schedule emails, send event reminders, add items to your to-do list with Todoist, and so much more. Google Calendar integrates with so many apps that the Zaps are nearly endless.

Todoist

If you want to automate your daily schedule and mile-long to-do list, you’ll love Todoist. This task management app is available on all platforms and servers and can integrate with Trello, Evernote, Slack, and other tools that you use every day to create Zaps to automate so many mundane and routine tasks.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online and Zapier work together to automate so much of your accounting, billing, invoicing, and financial reporting. You can create Zaps with spreadsheets, your CRMs, invoicing tools, and even your e-commerce platform. It’s the easiest way to handle money electronically and to get the chores off your to-do list.

Evernote

Evernote makes note-taking a breeze and when you integrate with Zapier, you’re going to be able to do so much more. Make yourself a note to set an appointment for your business meeting, and then have Gmail remind you that Evernote has notes for you to review. You can integrate it with plenty of other apps, too, such as Trello, Asana, Dropbox, and more.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is an email marketing tool that offers powerful, easy-to-use solutions for keeping in touch with your customers and more. When you combine it with Zapier, you can create apps to automate event notifications and emails, newsletters from new Facebook and email signups, and more. You can even send new Google or Gravity Forms to your address book or subscriber list, create contacts from Facebook leads, and more.

ActiveCampaign

When you automate with ActiveCampaign and Zapier, you will find tons of pre-built automations that will help you with marketing, CRM, and more. The machine learning features give you the chance to provide a totally personalized experience and the Zaps mean that you don’t have to do all the work.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is great for marketing automation. The app lets you create impressive landing pages and create marketing funnels, add ClickFunnels contacts to your CRM or Google Sheets, update Mailchimp subscribers from ClickFunnels leads, and more. These Zaps will automate a lot of your lead generation and conversion with this app, and help you streamline the customer journey within your organization.

Facebook Pages

While you might not immediately think of social media posting as a “chore”, there are some things that you can automate through Zapier with this app that will free up your time. You can link it to your other social media, your calendar apps, message boards & email, and more. From there, you can create Zaps for all kinds of things, from notifying you via Slack when you get a Facebook message.

Stripe

Stripe is one of the easiest payment processors to use today. It’s one of the many payment processing options Zapier integrates with, but it has a lot of different features. It’s got a powerful suite of APIs that makes it easy to automate e-commerce, thanks to integrations with CRMs, message boards, mail servers, and more. Stripe also integrates with most billing and invoicing software for simple accounting in one place.

Wix Automations

Wix Automations makes it simple to take advantage of what your customers are doing on your website and use those actions to trigger other actions. For example, when someone submits a form, you can trigger it to send them an email and then also request push notifications, or even forward the form information to your CRM or contact management tool.

DocuSign

With DocuSign and Zapier, you can create automated workflows to take the hassles out of signing important documents. Now, clients and employees alike can sign documents electronically and when they’re completed, you can create a Zap to email you the notification, or even add reviewing the paperwork to your Google Calendar. DocuSign is one of the most popular and secure digital document signing tools available today.

Cast off even more chores when you partner with Smith.ai

In case all of these great integrations aren’t enough to get you pumped about saving time and hassle, how about adding the assistance of our experienced, dedicated virtual receptionists to your repertoire? At Smith.ai, we know what it takes to deliver superior service as the face of your brand for live website chat, SMS message answering, overflow call answering, and more.

Looking for more than just customer service and administrative support? Ask how our team can help you with sales development, lead intake, and so much more. We’re all about automation and integration and can work with almost all the tools on this list, along with several others in your tech stack, to help you streamline your call answering and other solutions and free up even more of your time.

Between our assistance and all of these great integrations from Zapier, you’ll never have to worry about any of the “housekeeping” of your business again. When your tasks are automated, your apps are streamlined, and your business is running like a well-oiled machine, you’ll find the true benefit of automation and AI as you find yourself capable of dedicating more time to your customers, your employees, and most importantly, your life outside of work.

Schedule a live chat consultation now to discuss your needs and find out how many chores we can take off your list so that you can spend more time doing what you love. You’ll also find us at (650) 727-6484 or hello@smith.ai.

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