Making your Gravity Forms Work for You – Part Two

This is part two of a two part series… if you need to catch up with the earlier instalment… head over here to Making your Gravity Forms Work for You – Part One … I’ll wait for you to get back…

OK, for those who just need a quick reminder, I’ve got my forms built and connected to each other so they’re sharing data, and I’m ready to connect these forms up to my two external services.  My CRM (Zoho CRM) and my Project Manager (Asana).

Now, if I was really committed (read, nuts) I could probably connect up these services to my WordPress site by writing plugins that would deal directly with those service’s APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), but let’s face it, ain’t nobody got time fo dat. So I did what any good steward of their own time would do and sourced a tool that makes connectors for web services. Enter Zapier a web service, that in their own words “lets you easily connect the web apps you use, making it easy to automate tedious tasks.”  Zapier will send my data from my contact form, direct to Zoho CRM and Asana.

Zapier has connectors in its library that build bridges between so many different web services it’s totally worth checking out their explore page and browsing what’s available, you might get completely inspired to…

When you select the apps you want to use,  you can browse different ‘zaps’ available to connect those services, and the hoops they’re making them jump through to automate ordinary business tasks.

You can see at the top of the image above that I’ve got three apps selected… predictably, Asana, Gravity Forms and Zoho CRM, but you could surf any of their supported services and find zaps that connect the apps you use.  Above are a few examples of zaps that are made for my chosen services.  I imagine you may be able to guess from this list which of the zaps I’m using. Basically, two of them, Gravity Forms to Zoho CRM lead, and Gravity Forms Submission to Create Project in Asana.

Mapping Gravity forms to Zoho CRM

Ok, that’s what it does, here’s how you make it do it…

Step One – Activate Zapier with Gravity Forms

The first thing we’re going to have to do is to activate the Zapier add on for Gravity Forms

Access to this add-on requires the Developer Version of Gravity forms, which, if it’s enabled will show you a grid of Add-ons from the Forms » Add-Ons

Step Two – Set up the Trigger and Actions in Zapier

Head over to Zapier (I’m presuming you’ve created an account already) and go to ‘Make a Zap’.

1. In step one of this process Choose a Trigger app, and an Action app. We’re using Gravity Forms as our trigger app, and Zoho CRM as our action app. Scan the list of prebuilt zaps while you’re there, you may find the one you want already created by someone else.
2. From the dropdowns below the app selections, set the trigger and the action. In our case the trigger is a New Form Submission, and the action is to Create a Lead.

Step Three – Connect the Gravity form to Zapier

The next part of the process is to connect your Gravity Form to Zapier via a webhook.

1. Once you’ve set up your action and trigger the Zapier application will display a web hook; copy the webhook

2.  Go back to your site and open the form that you’re wanting to connect to Zoho CRM. In the form settings for your Contact Form choose the Zapier option and paste in the web hook you copied from the Zapier site.

Step Four – Complete the process of matching form data to actions

1. Filter the Gravity Forms trigger…  this is essentially where you set the conditionals for the triggers. It’s optional, you may not need to conditionally trigger the form, I did, the data only goes to Zoho CRM if the client’s completed the I’m Interested in form field.

2. Map the Gravity Forms fields to the form fields in the Zoho CRM Lead form – this shouldn’t need too much explanation.  Note the Duplicate behaviour field and set how you want that handled… if you get an existing client leaving you contact messages you may just want to update the existing lead or item in Zoho rather than create a new one.

3 & 4. Finally, test your zap (you’ll probably be asked to submit a test submission on your Gravity Form to give Zapier some data) and if it’s all working, save it by Turning the Zap on!

You should find, when you log into Zoho CRM that your lead (or test data) is now showing up in Zoho’s lead panel!

Mapping Gravity forms to Asana

I’m sure you won’t be surprised that setting up Asana with Gravity forms follows much the same process, though where it differs is that it’s mapped to the second form, the proposal request, rather than the first (because project information is generally only relevant when someone chooses a website project).

1. So, like the first, begin your zap, choosing Gravity Forms as your trigger, and this time, Asana as your Action.

2. Apply the generated web hook to the proposal request form (it will be a different hook from the one you created for Zoho).

3 – 7, follow the fields on the form to complete the connection with Asana, test it and turn the zap on!

When that’s done and working, whenever your user submits the form, you’ll find a new project, with some of that initial data in your Asana workspace. SCORE!!

Cool, huh?  There are so many more things you can do, there are a bunch of services in Zapier, many of which I’ve never even heard of… and a bunch that connect with not just Gravity Forms, but other site tools like WordPress itself, WooCommerce, MailChimp, Xero, Paypal, Freshbooks,  (just found that one… it would totally work with my Maintenance Clients form…) frankly, the list seems endless… So, what are you waiting for? Put your Contact Form to WORK!

Conclusion

We’re already using our site to connect with customers through our contact forms, but using great connector tools like Zapier to connect to other services our business relies on, takes our contact form, and by extension our business to a whole new level.  Zapier easily integrates with our WordPress site, and to the other online tools I’m using to run my business.  Check them out, for sure there’ll be connectors for the tools you’re using that will help your business automation.  I’m sure there are other ways of making your gravity forms work for you, any ideas? I’m on a roll here, what else can we do? Chime in down there in the comments.

This page is littered with affiliate or referrer links. Don’t let that bother you… I’m only referring stuff I use and love… and it isn’t a paid endorsement by any of the services I’m referring.