Zapier AI Tutorial for Beginners: Automation Made Simple 🟧

Do you ever feel like you're drowning in repetitive tasks? You copy data from one app over to another. Wouldn't it be nice to automate all of those time-consuming chores? In this video, we'll learn how to use an automation tool called Zapier. Zapier is the ultimate tool that connects over 7,000 of your

favorite apps, even if they weren't designed to talk with each other. And it makes automation dead simple with no coding, and now it even comes with AI. I partnered with Zapier to show you how we can create a very basic Zap with the help of AI. At the Kevin Cookie Company, we receive user feedback

and I have to manually respond to all of that feedback. We'll use Zapier to read the feedback and then respond via email to that feedback and it'll do it all automatically without needing to involve me. This will help me save so much time every single week and I'm sure you can too. Let's

involve me. This will help me save so much time every single week and I'm sure you can too. Let's

dive in. First off, head to the following website. You can click on the card in the top right-hand corner, and I've also included a link in the description below. It's completely free to set up a Zapier account, which gives you much of the core functionality. For even more features, Zapier offers a number of premium plans. Click on sign up. When you finish signing up and also signing

in, you'll land here on the main Zapier dashboard. Right at the very top, you can prompt the AI to automate something for you. You just describe what you need and then Zapier will generate a workflow suggestion. It works really fast and we'll do this in a moment. If we look down just a little bit,

suggestion. It works really fast and we'll do this in a moment. If we look down just a little bit, we also have the option to start from scratch. This gives you full control to build a custom, what's called Zap, tailored specifically to your needs. You also have a few other options, like you could set up a table, an interface, a chat bot, or a canvas. In this video,

we're focusing on automated workflows or zaps. If we scroll down a little bit more, the homepage also makes it really easy to get back to any recent projects. For example, you could jump back to Zaps or tables or canvases all right here. And if we go down to the very bottom, we can also see some of the popular templates. Let's have a quick look at some of the things that you can do with

Zapier by clicking on browse all templates. Here we are on the templates page and this gives you a really good sense for all of the different types of apps that you can connect to using Zapier. As

an example, here at the top, we see one of the most popular integrations. Let's say that you're running an ad on Facebook and you get a new lead, and maybe you'd like to take all of the lead’s details and bring them over to Google Sheets. Now, these two apps don't natively talk to one another.

However, with Zapier, you can make a connection between these two apps and you can connect all sorts of different apps. Here we see Gmail. If I scroll down, you have things like Stripe, Calendly, Slack, Instagram. Here we have YouTube and Discord and the list goes on and on. In fact,

they support over 7,000 different connections between apps. So, chances are if you want to connect different apps together, you'll be able to do it. If you find a workflow that meets your needs, you simply click on it, make a few tweaks, and then you've automated one of your tasks. It's

really a perfect way to start automating without feeling overwhelmed. However, I'd like to set up a workflow using AI, so let's go back to the homepage by clicking on back. At the Kevin Cookie Company, we love hearing from customers, which is why we have a customer feedback form hosted in Google Forms. The customer can type in their name, their email address, if they want to hear back

from us, and then at the very bottom, they can send us their feedback. Then in Gmail, I compose a personalized response to the customer, and as you can imagine, this takes up quite a bit of time.

Back here in the Zapier homepage, I'd like to see if I could automate that workflow by connecting Google Forms together with Gmail. So, what's the best way to do that? Right up here on the top, we have this text field where we can prompt the Zapier AI to help us with this workflow. So here

I'll type in my prompt, just use natural language. When someone submits a response in Google Forms, send them a thank you email via Gmail, and over here, let's send that to the AI. Right down below, the AI proposes a new Zap or a workflow automation. Let's take a quick look. Right here,

it looks like step one, a new form response is submitted via Google Forms. And then step two is to send an email via Gmail. Now, this is just a really simple example, but you could also use more complex prompts up above. Now, I think this all looks good, so over here, let's click on

try it. This now drops us into a canvas where we can continue building and also refining our Zap.

try it. This now drops us into a canvas where we can continue building and also refining our Zap.

Right here in the center, you'll see a visual of the current workflow. So right up on top, we have step number one, someone submits a new form response. This is also referred to as the trigger. This is what triggers this Zap when someone submits a new form. Then we have step

trigger. This is what triggers this Zap when someone submits a new form. Then we have step number two, and this is referred to as the action. So once someone submits a new form, we take some type of action, and in this case, we're sending a new email message. If we look right up above at the trigger, you'll notice that there's this yellow exclamation mark. I'll click

on this. We need to provide Zapier with a little bit of additional information for this Zap to be able to work. When I click on the trigger, over on the right-hand side, here too, we also see the yellow exclamation mark under configure. So right down here, we have to tell Zapier what Google Form we want to use. So here I could click on this dropdown and it'll look at my Google account and

find all the different forms that I have. Here, I have one called customer feedback and that's the form I would like to use. So, I'll select that and over here, let's click on continue. On this

next screen, we need to test it to ensure that it's working properly. So down here, let's click on test trigger. Zapier found three different form responses. Let's click into form response B and here I can see all of the data that Zapier gets back from Google Forms. Right over here, I can see the customer email address. I can see their feedback. Tasty cookies, bruh.

That's the feedback we like to hear. And I could also see the customer's name. That looks good, so let's continue with the selected record. On the main canvas next to Google Forms, you'll now see that there's a green check mark, meaning that we've configured Google Forms successfully. Down

below, you'll notice that there's now a yellow exclamation mark next to Gmail. We haven't yet configured that. If you run into issues with any one of these steps, over on the left-hand side,

configured that. If you run into issues with any one of these steps, over on the left-hand side, we have the Copilot or the AI, and this will assist you with setting up your Zap. So, feel

free to type in a prompt down below and it can help you. Now, right here, I see that I still need to configure Gmail. So, with this step selected, over on the right-hand side, make sure that you're in the configure view. Down below, we need to fill in some of these details. For example, who are we sending this email to? Where is it coming from? What's the subject? What's the body? Now,

one thing you might've noticed is every time someone submits a form, we'd like to send it to the person who submitted the form. So, the email address is going to vary every single time. So,

if I click in here, I don't want to just type in a fixed value. I need it to be based on the form submission. When I click into the to field, over on the right-hand side, you'll see this helpful

submission. When I click into the to field, over on the right-hand side, you'll see this helpful hint that says forward slash for field mapping. Let's press the forward slash key. This opens up a screen over on the left-hand side that allows us to insert dynamic values that will change with every single submission. Right at the top, we have some of the AI Copilot suggestions, and

down below, we can see all the different data that we get back from the Google Form. Now, of course I want to send this to the person who submitted the form and right up here under Copilot suggestions, we can see one of the Google Form questions, which is what is your email address, and then we see the value of the email address. I'd like to respond to that email address. So, I'll click

on this. Then we could close out of this, and here we see that the email will be sent to the

on this. Then we could close out of this, and here we see that the email will be sent to the person who submitted the form. The beautiful thing here is Zapier will use whatever email address is included on the form, and then it'll use this email address and send the email there. Next,

let's go down to the from field, and I would like this to come from my email address. Over here,

I'll select my email address and that fills it in. Let's now scroll down a little bit more. And

right here, I need to enter in the subject. I'm going to keep this simple. I'll type in thanks for your feedback. Then let's look down at the body. I'd like to type in a personalized message. So,

your feedback. Then let's look down at the body. I'd like to type in a personalized message. So,

let's start by saying hi, and here I'd like to insert the person's name. So, this is another dynamic value. Now, if you remember from earlier, we entered in the forward slash key to expose

dynamic value. Now, if you remember from earlier, we entered in the forward slash key to expose all of the different dynamic values. And when I enter in the forward slash, here I see all of the different suggestions again. So, I'd like to refer to their name, and here I see in the Google Form, we collect the customer's name. So here I'll select this and there it's inserted

that dynamic value. Then I'll insert a comma and let me type in something like we appreciate your feedback. Now that I've entered that and maybe it makes sense to actually show what their feedback

feedback. Now that I've entered that and maybe it makes sense to actually show what their feedback was. So here too, I could also insert another dynamic value. Here I see everything that I get

was. So here too, I could also insert another dynamic value. Here I see everything that I get back from Google Forms, and right up on top, we have the option that says what's your feedback, and then we see what the feedback was. I'll click on this and that again inserts another dynamic value. Let's close out of this by clicking on the X. I think all of this now looks good,

value. Let's close out of this by clicking on the X. I think all of this now looks good, so in the bottom right-hand corner, let's click on continue. On the last step, I can preview all the data that will be included in the email. So here I see the to field, the from field, the subject and the body, including all of those dynamic values filled in. This all looks good, so down here,

I'll click on test step. Here in my inbox, I now received an email and it filled in all of those different dynamic values. Back in Zapier, now that we confirmed that it worked successfully, in the bottom right-hand corner, let's click on publish. This now opens up a prompt and it tells us that the Zap is on. Congratulations. You've created your very first Zap. Over here, we have a

few different options. We can run the Zap against all the previous submissions on Google Forms, or we could simply run it on new data coming in. I'm fine running it just on new data coming in. So

over here, I'll click on go to my Zaps and now you could go to Google Forms, submit an entry, and you'll see an email automatically go out. I'll click on go to my Zaps. Over on the left-hand side, we're now in a view that shows us all of the different Zaps that we've created, and right here, we can see that new Zap. And right here, we can see that it's currently turned on. This is a super

simple automation, but hopefully it shows you how powerful Zapier can be. In just a few clicks, we set up a workflow that runs automatically in the background. That way you'll save time and effort every single day. Of course, this is just the beginning. The Zap that we set up is pretty

basic. It doesn't really send out personalized messages, which is what I had been doing. So,

basic. It doesn't really send out personalized messages, which is what I had been doing. So,

let's see if we could take this Zap to the next level. To edit one of your Zaps, simply hover over the name and then click on it. This opens up the canvas with my Zap. To edit it, in the top right-hand corner, let's click on edit Zap. When I sent that email to the customer, I used their full name. I said, hi Calvin Biggs, but instead I think it would be a little nicer to just

refer to them by their first name. So, let's see if we can add another step to change that. Right

over here, I can click on this plus icon to add another step. This opens up a prompt where we can see all the different apps that we could add into our workflow. Right up on top, you can also search across the 7,000 plus apps and tools. Now, I would like to take that name, but I only want to use a portion of it and Zapier offers a tool called the formatter. Now what's really neat about this

tool is it helps you manipulate, format, and also transform data between different apps in your Zaps or your automated workflows. It's kind of like a bridge to make sure that the data fits the correct format. So right over here, let's click on the formatter. Just like we did with Google Forms and

format. So right over here, let's click on the formatter. Just like we did with Google Forms and Gmail, we need to configure the formatter. Over on the right-hand side, first off, we have to choose the action event. I'm working with text, so right here, let's select text and down below, let's click on continue. Now that we've told it that we're working with text, we need to tell it how we

want it to change the text or transform the text. I'll click on this dropdown and here we have all sorts of different options. For example, you could capitalize text. Right over here, if we go down a little bit more, you could trim the white space and let's continue going down to see if we could find an option for splitting text. Right here, we have an option to split. I'll select that. Next,

we need to tell it what we would like to split. So over here, we can tell it what the input is. I'll

click on this and we want to split some text from the Google Form. So, let's enter in the forward slash and this opens up all the different fields from the Google Form. And if we look right here, let's see if we could find the user's name. If I go down just a little bit, here we see what's your

name. I want to split this. So, let's select that. Right up on top. Let's close out of that view. In

name. I want to split this. So, let's select that. Right up on top. Let's close out of that view. In

the next field, I can define what the separator is. Is it a character? Is it a word? In my case, I have a space between the first name and the last name. So, I want to separate based on a space.

Now, if I click on separator, I get some helpful information. Here, it tells me that the default is a space, so I don't have to do anything. I'll simply leave it like this and it'll separate on a space. Down below, let's click on continue. On this next screen, here I can see the input is the

a space. Down below, let's click on continue. On this next screen, here I can see the input is the name and let's test it to see if it successfully splits it. Right up above, I can see the output.

It looks like it just gives me the first name Calvin. That's great. In the bottom right, let's click on continue. Now that we've separated out the first name using the formatter, we can now use that first name in the email message. So here on the Gmail step, let's go back to configure. In

configure, let's go down to the body. So right here, I say hi, and then currently I'm including the full name, but I just want the first name. So over here, I'll delete that. Then let's enter in the forward slash, and here I see all the different dynamic values and right down at the bottom, here I see a value that I get back from the formatter. I'll click on this and here we

see the output with just the first name. I'll select this. Let's close out of this. And now

when we look at the email message, it'll say hi, and then it'll just include the first name. That's

exactly what I want. This is a little bit more personal, but let's actually see if we could take this to the next level by using AI to respond to the feedback. Right over here on the canvas, let's again add another step, click on this plus icon. And over on the right-hand side, we have all the different popular built in tools. And at the very top, we have an option called

AI by Zapier. Let's click on this one. Over on the right-hand side, let's now configure it by clicking on initiate prompt assistant. Over on the left-hand side, let's describe the desired action.

I'd like to read the customer feedback and then respond via email to the feedback. I'd like to address the customer by their first name and then include my response. Let's now have AI generate a prompt. It now generates a prompt over on the right-hand side. Let's have a quick look. You are

a prompt. It now generates a prompt over on the right-hand side. Let's have a quick look. You are

a master of customer service and you were asked to respond to customer feedback. And here it wants to reference the customer feedback, but we need to tell it where to look for that feedback. Over on

the left-hand side, we have different input fields and here there's one for customer feedback. So,

let's click into this and then press the forward slash for all those different dynamic values.

Let's now scroll down, and right here we see what's your feedback along with the feedback.

I'll click on this. Now, if we look over at the prompt, it'll feed in the actual customer feedback directly from that Google Form. Next, it also says address the customer by their first name, but it needs to know what the customer's first name is. So, let's scroll over back to the input fields, and here we see one for customer first name. Let's enter in the forward slash. And here

we see all those different dynamic values, but remember we don't have the first name directly on the Google Form. We set up that additional step using the formatter and that splits out the first name from the last name, so let's use the output from that. I'll click on this and here we see the output with just the first name. I'll select that and we'll now feed in the first name to

the prompt. Let's scroll back up and here we can review the rest of the prompt. I think this all

the prompt. Let's scroll back up and here we can review the rest of the prompt. I think this all looks pretty good. I don't think we need to make any other changes. Down at the bottom, we also see the output field name. It'll be email underscore response. This all looks good, so at the bottom, let's click on continue. Right up above, we see all the different instructions with all of

those dynamic values filled in. Here we see the feedback and here we see the first name. Let's

now test this step. Right up above, we can see the output. So here it addresses the customer by their first name and then here it reads the customer's feedback and it writes a response. Now this was positive feedback, so here it responds: thank you for your enthusiastic feedback about our cookies.

Down below, it also asks us to fill in the name. Of course, we could probably go back and modify the prompt to make sure that's filled in, but I think for now this is good enough, so let's click on continue. On this screen, let's now configure Gmail to use this response. Right up on top, let's

on continue. On this screen, let's now configure Gmail to use this response. Right up on top, let's click on configure. Then let's scroll down until we get down to the body. Right here, let's select all the previous texts in the body and then let's remove that. Now let's enter in the forward slash because we want to insert a dynamic value and here we see all the different dynamic values. If we go

all the way down to the bottom, we see this option for analyze and return data in AI by Zapier. Let's

click on that and that expands this category, and here we see that email response that includes all of the output from the AI. Let's select that and here that inserts it into the body of the email message. This is now all good, so at the bottom, let's click on continue. And over here, we can now

message. This is now all good, so at the bottom, let's click on continue. And over here, we can now test this step and there it's been sent. I think this all looks good, so let's click on publish.

Right up above, I could give it a new version. So here I'll call it V2 and then click on publish.

And look at that. It's now been published. Let's now test this out. I have a Google Form and I filled out all the details with some feedback. Let's click on submit. And here I immediately receive a personalized response to that feedback. And honestly, this is really high quality. Now,

that's pretty impressive, right? Who would have thought you could create an automation that responds to emails and hey, we just did it. But of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Zapier offers so much more. For example, when I click on this plus icon to add another step, we have all these different apps and you also have all these different built-in tools. As an example, you could add paths. That way you could have conditional logic or over here, you could set up web hooks for advanced integrations. You can even add custom code. You could set up loops

and there's so much more to explore. Now, today we just focused on connecting Google Forms with Gmail, but again, you could apply this exact same process to thousands of other apps like HubSpot, Trello, and so many more. And there you have it. With just a few clicks, we've set up an automation that saves time and also hopefully makes life easier, and we've just

scratched the surface of what Zapier can do. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see any other videos on Zapier. Also, please consider subscribing and I'll see you in the next video.