Reliable automation of routine work: Zapier + mobile proxies

Automation of routine and monotonous work is one of the fundamental points in running any modern business that aspires to work successfully in the market. Thanks to it, it becomes possible to significantly save the working time and resources of employees, redirect their efforts to solving more important strategic tasks. At the same time, routine tasks will be solved automatically after preliminary settings. And the main thing here is navigate the market offers and choose the service that will be the most effective and convenient for your work.

In today's review, we will consider one of the best solutions that is presented today in this market segment - Zapier. This is an extremely powerful tool that can combine the work of various web applications, CRM and CMS systems, and ensure effective interaction between them without the need to program a number of works. If you work in the field of digital marketing, sales, then you should definitely pay attention to Zapier. With its help, you can significantly increase the productivity of your actions, minimize labor intensity in solving daily tasks.

In particular, we will get acquainted with the tool itself and how it works in practice. We will highlight a number of market niches where the use of Zapier can rightfully be called the norm of our time. We will highlight the advantages and disadvantages of this service. We will consider in detail its functionality, and dwell on the current tariffs. We will tell you why it is worth using proxy servers together with Zapier, we will describe possible ways to connect them. We will tell you where to get the best mobile proxies for working with this platform. The information provided will allow you to evaluate the advantages of the service and the need for its practical use in your business, as well as perform the necessary settings as correctly and quickly as possible.

What is the Zapier service?

Modern businesses in their daily work are faced with a fairly large number of routine and similar processes. Those, the implementation of which involves following an elementary scheme. In most cases, you have to wait until a certain event occurs in one of the processes, for example, new leads arrive, an order gets into the basket, a message arrives. The next step here is also predictable - respond to this action: copying new leads to another service for further work, sending the buyer's contact information and their order to the parcel assembly department, a template response to a received message, etc. The company's employees perform these works every day, spending a lot of their own time, effort, and along with this, your money, since any work must be paid.

The Zapier service is designed to solve these problems, as well as optimize similar business processes. It is an online platform that allows you to automate simple tasks. All that is required from you to launch the service is to connect the task and set up a suitable scenario. Thanks to this, you create an interaction between the event and the consequences. It is convenient that to perform these works you do not need to have even basic knowledge and skills in the field of programming. Also, you will not need to perform complex settings. The service is so thought out that all actions are performed literally on an intuitive level by clicking on the appropriate buttons. Additionally, there are tips here that will be a great help for many in the early stages of working with Zapier.

Now let's take a closer look at how automation works using this service.

Automation in Zapier: Key Features

Let's first get acquainted with the basic terminology that is used when working with this application. The first word you need to know is Zap. In particular, with the help of such zaps, absolutely any interaction in the service will be configured. Now we are talking about an automated workflow that will begin with an event that has occurred and end with an action that must be performed. And this very event that will launch the interaction process is called a trigger.

Zapier can support thousands of different applications, and also offer its own sets of triggers for each of them. That is, initially the system will identify the event itself and, based on it, select the action that needs to be performed in accordance with the parameters you specified earlier. That is, you yourself set how the service will react to a particular moment that has occurred. As an option, in the case of sending emails, you can select the recipient, the content of the letter itself and its subject. After you complete the preliminary settings, you can test the work of the zap before launching it to make sure that the solution to the problem is correct.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that today the Zapier service offers several types of actions depending on the required scenario:

1. Application action. Such a trigger occurs as a result of an event that was previously provided for in the connected offer. As an option, a new task can be created in Trello, a new contact can be added to the mailing list using MailChimp, etc.
2. Filter. With its help, you can set up a number of restrictions on the execution of commands when certain conditions arise. Alternatively, a particular action will be launched automatically after you receive a letter with certain content.
3. Path. Implies several options for subsequent actions. A certain solution will be selected automatically by the system after the incoming conditions are assessed. Alternatively, the system will initially determine on whose behalf the letter was sent, and then send the most relevant response to it.
4. Deferred execution. Involves adding a delay between different actions. You yourself set the time interval after which the system will respond to the received trigger.
5. Formatting. This option involves processing the received information by the service with the subsequent issuance of a response in a different format, either in full or in part. For example, the system can extract only the contents of an incoming message and transform the date into the most appropriate format.

Zapier is remarkably flexible in its settings, allowing users to set incoming conditions for the system and the subsequent action scenario with high precision, adapting them to their own business specifics.

Business options that should use Zapier

Zapier is a service that will be useful in practice for a fairly wide segment of both individuals and organizations. In particular, its use will be a godsend for:

• Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. Here, with its help, you can automate many routine tasks, as well as integrate specialized software independently and without any particular difficulties. Thanks to this, you can significantly improve the quality and speed of work, optimize internal business processes, including by eliminating the need to organize work with a large number of tools.
• Freelancers, business representatives. Thanks to the automation of similar processes, specialists will be able to focus their attention on solving more important tasks. Agree, the head of the enterprise needs to think more about solving strategic tasks than monitoring the receipt of new applications, entering information about clients into the CRM system. Automated tools will cope with such work without problems.
• Marketing teams, sales departments. This service allows you to automate many processes typical for such specialists. They will have one software product at their disposal that connects all the tools that they previously used to send emails, collect leads, and manage contacts. Zapier can improve coordination within the team, minimize time and resource costs for similar work.
• IT specialists. We have already mentioned that Zapier has many specialized tools that will help staff connect various systems, applications, and automate their work.
• Customer support departments. Here you can automate such work as creating tasks, sending notifications about new requests. If necessary, you can integrate chatbots based on artificial intelligence. Thanks to this, customer support will be more efficient and effective.

If we analyze the practical application of the Zapier service, its most frequent users today are companies that develop and supply software to the market, system integrators, IT specialists, digital, advertising and marketing agencies, businesses that specialize in real estate. Also today there are many non-profit organizations that have adopted this service, having assessed its high efficiency and prospects for practical application.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Zapier service

Today, the Zapier service is in high demand among consumers. It can rightfully be called a leader in the niche of products designed to automate business processes. There are several reasons for such popularity. Here are just the main ones:

1. The presence of a fairly impressive base of applications. Today, the ecosystem of this service provides the ability to integrate more than 7,000 software products designed to automate marketing tasks, productivity, technical customer support, sales.
2. Variety and flexibility of settings. You can easily adapt this service to the specifics of your business, as well as the needs of the audience with whom you will work. There are many fairly functional solutions here that can be used in practice by both fairly advanced developers and those who are just starting to work in this direction. By the way, experienced specialists can get access to a powerful API.
3. The presence of a linear interface, which implements the drag-and-drop mechanism. Thanks to this, even not very prepared and experienced users will be able to create quite complex scenarios of various configurations and scales, as well as keep full control of the traffic between all sites.
4. The ability to use artificial intelligence technologies in practice. This is one of the latest innovations in the Zapier service. It is already seamlessly integrated into all platform products and allows you to significantly expand the capabilities in the field of administration. This is ensured by optimizing the speed and increasing the accuracy of decisions.
5. The presence of tools that visualize work processes. You can also organize shared access here. Users get a clear picture of all work processes that are active at a given time, which greatly simplifies understanding current work and which specialists are responsible for solving which tasks.
6. A reasonable and justified pricing model. We will talk about this in more detail later, but now I would like to note that a gradual increase in payment is provided here depending on how many tasks the user will solve using this service. Also, ready-made packages of functions are provided here for both enterprises and individuals.

What are the disadvantages worth highlighting? First of all, Zapier does not currently support a large number of services used by professionals and businesses in Russia and the CIS countries. This means that in some cases you will have to choose a replacement for the usual solutions. Another point that you also need to know is the presence of restrictions in the free tariff. But we will also talk about this later.

Services and systems for integration in Zapier

To make the use of the Zapier service in your practice truly functional and effective, you need to be well versed in its capabilities. We have already said that they are quite broad here. In particular, you can connect here:

1. CRM systems.
2. Mailing list services.
3. Spreadsheets.
4. Social networks.
5. Cloud storage.

Let's consider these integrations in more detail.

Integration of Zapier with CRM systems

Thanks to the combination of such tools, you will be able to automate many tasks that your company's specialists face in their daily work. This includes adding a client base, information about new contacts, sales, moving a deal through the sales funnel. In addition to everything, it is important to understand that automation is one of the best solutions for minimizing errors that often occur in practice when manually processing information. It also significantly reduces the time it takes to complete such tasks.

In particular, using the Zapier service, you can automate the following types of scenarios:

• Closing a sale in the CRM system. As soon as the process is completed, the system will automatically generate the corresponding invoice in Google Docs.
• Adding a new client to the CRM system. After that, Zapier will automatically add the account to the general email distribution list provided by your company.
• Transfer data on all completed purchases directly to Google Analytics, which will allow you to literally immediately generate analytical reports, analyze traffic sources and perform a number of related tasks.

Integration of Zapier with mailing list services

If you use a CRM system, feedback forms, various mailing lists, social networks and many other services in practice, then you can automatically add all the contacts that are in them to Zapier. Thanks to this, the workload on managers is minimized, more time is available to solve more important business tasks.

If necessary, it will also be quite easy to pull up lists of user data from Shopify, WooCommerce, Facebook or Twitter work pages, as well as any other open sources. Thanks to this, your existing customer base will be rapidly expanding, which will allow you to significantly increase your target audience reach and increase its engagement.

Zapier integration with spreadsheets

Zapier provides the ability to add information in real time to Google Sheets or any other spreadsheets from various sources. That is, as soon as you launch an advertising campaign, the system will automatically begin to collect all the information on it and add it to the same Google tables. At the same time, you can also configure the addition of new contacts here. At the same time, the program itself will distribute the client's name, phone number, email, and any other information into separate columns.

If you work with social networks, then you probably know how labor-intensive the process of obtaining new leads will be when launching targeted advertising. Such work involves obtaining user data. This can only be implemented by connecting to a personal account. In practice, this is quite inconvenient, it takes a lot of time, especially if you have to process a large number of leads. With Zapier, all relevant information about new requests will be sent to Google Sheets in real time.

Integration of Zapier with social networks

Today, almost every business has its own representation in social networks. This is quite justified, since on such platforms you can get access to an extremely wide and diverse target audience, thereby developing your business, increasing the number of orders. In such conditions, the capabilities of Zapier can rightfully be called unlimited. In particular, with its help you can automate most of all routine and similar tasks that an SMM specialist faces daily in his work. This is a universal product for working with any platforms, be it Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other social network.

Alternatively, you can automatically duplicate content from your own RSS feeds, set up automatic tracking of brand mentions and even respond to them. You can also directly add information about new subscribers or contacts directly from social networks to the database or CRM system. You can also automate the process of tracking activity on competitors' pages so as not to miss key points in your profiles.

Here you can also automatically repost articles from a blog hosted on a WordPress platform to your page. In this case, your materials will quickly gain social traffic, which will also extend to promoting the blog in search results – the organic flood of users will go up.

Integration of Zapier with cloud storage

Zapier can be integrated with any cloud storage, including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, literally with a couple of clicks. Thanks to this, you will be able to automatically upload files, save various backup copies here. If desired, you can redirect absolutely all attachments that will come to you from incoming Outlook or Gmail messages to the cloud environment. In the same way, Zapier will be able to pull invoices and new documents from services such as Hubspot, Salesforce into virtual storage, upload videos and photos from social networks.

Current Zapier rates

At its core, Zapier is a subscription platform. Today, it offers quite a lot of different tariff plans for functionality, which will allow users to choose the most suitable solution for themselves. This is relevant for both large companies and individual users who are looking to simplify work processes, automate routine tasks, and minimize manual work.

By and large, you can use this service absolutely free of charge, and for an unlimited period of time. In this case, all the basic functions will be available to you. But if you still need more advanced features, then you will need to use paid tariffs. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that each of the options that we will indicate below has a 14-day trial. In addition, they directly depend on the number of users and the number of tasks that are planned to be integrated into work processes.

So, Zapier tariffs:

1. Free. Assumes the work of one user who will perform up to 100 tasks per month and use up to 5 orders. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that here we are talking exclusively about one-stage smells.
2. Starter. It is also designed for one user, allowing him to solve up to 750 tasks per month and complete up to 20 orders. The latter can be either single-step or multi-step. The price for this tariff is from $19.99 per month of use.
3. Professional. Suitable for one user. With its help, you can solve up to 2000 tasks per month, and the number and type of orders are unlimited. The price for this tariff starts at $49 per month of use.
4. Team. Assumes the joint work of an unlimited number of users, who will be able to solve up to 50,000 tasks per month. As in the previous version, the number and type of orders are not limited here. For this tariff, you will need to pay from $69 per month of use.
5. Company. This tariff has no restrictions on the number of users, nor on the number of orders and their types. The only thing that is limited here is this is the number of tasks: up to 100,000 per month.

Let us repeat that tariffs are quite flexible. This means that each of you can easily choose solutions that will meet your needs and the specifics of the upcoming work, both in functionality and cost.

Why it is worth using mobile proxies together with Zapier

Almost any automated actions, including work through Zapier, involve certain difficulties. This is due to restrictions and blocking on target resources. It turns out that if the system identifies such an action, you risk simply getting banned. Mobile proxies will help prevent this and ensure maximum functionality not only with this service, but also on the Internet as a whole. These are special intermediary servers that provide the substitution of real technical parameters of the user's device for their own data, thereby bypassing such blocking and avoiding the risk of being detected by the system.

By connecting reliable mobile proxies to the Zapier service, you can perform the following tasks without any risks:

• Monitoring prices in online stores linked to a particular geolocation. This applies even to those sites that are closed in your country at the regional level. You've probably already noticed that the system can display different prices depending on the user's IP address.
• Ensuring functional and convenient work with absolutely any platforms or services with which you want to integrate Zapier. Your actions will really be as flexible as possible, which will have a positive effect on the overall quality of work.
• Convenient interaction with social networks, including in multi-threaded mode. You will be able to organize work with different accounts from different IP addresses, keeping it a secret from the system itself. It will also be possible to automate the posting of publications in social networks depending on the target region, which will increase the effectiveness of the launched marketing campaigns.
• Automatic collection of information from competitors' websites and any other sites, as well as subsequent processing of the received data, their structuring, the formation of visual and easy-to-understand reports.

That is, thanks to the use of mobile proxies, you will be able to automate absolutely any processes using the Zapier service, without fear of running into restrictions from the system. You will have full control over the management of all work processes even in the conditions of a constantly changing landscape of the digital environment. In parallel with this, you are guaranteed high levels of privacy and security of work on the Internet, effective protection against unauthorized access.

To implement such an idea, you will need to purchase reliable proxies and perform simple settings. In order not to waste time getting acquainted with available solutions, as well as searching for the most suitable option for yourself, we recommend that you initially pay attention to the solution offered by the MobileProxy.Space service. Here you will be presented with a huge variety of IP addresses, which can be changed automatically by a timer in a specified interval or forcibly via a special link every time the need arises.

You will also be able to use GEO from different countries of the world in your work, bypassing regional restrictions and gaining access to local offers. The stability and efficiency of the work is largely due to the simultaneous operation on the HTTP(S) and Socks5 protocols, which was implemented by connecting to parallel ports. Before purchasing a proxy, you can use a free 2-hour test, which will allow you to verify the high functionality and convenience of this solution, including when working with the Zapier service.

Now a few words about how to connect a proxy to this service.

Features of connecting a proxy to the Zapier service

Zapier is presented as a browser extension, but it does not initially provide the ability to connect proxy servers. This means that you will have to use other integration methods. We would like to draw your attention to 2 of the easiest to implement solutions:

1. Configuring a proxy server at the system level. In practice, this option should be used by those who plan to integrate Zapier with applications installed on the user's device. Thanks to such actions, you can make absolutely all traffic that will come from your computer confidential. It turns out that all your requests will be passed through a proxy. To perform such work, it is recommended to pay attention to the material «How to set up mobile proxies on windows 10?» Also in the «Articles» section of the site you will find detailed instructions on how to connect proxy servers on devices running the macOS operating system.
2. Configuring a proxy server in a browser. This work can be done without problems if you use such Internet browsers as Google Chrome, Opera, FireFox and many others. The corresponding instructions can also be found on our website. By connecting a proxy to a browser, you can unblock any sites, applications that you will need in subsequent work with Zapier and more. The advantages of this solution are that you can configure it directly or through a special extension, depending on which browser you use in your work. Moreover, this method of configuration is suitable even for users for whom the Zapier service is blocked at the legislative level.

Do not risk the stability of automation, since without a reliable proxy server, the sequence of all chains in the work of this service will be disrupted. Let us repeat that only private intermediary servers can provide all this. And the optimal solution here will be mobile proxies from MobileProxy.Space.

Analogs of Zapier, worthy of attention

Modern users are accustomed to the fact that they should have a choice. In the case of applications that automate actions, this is also not a problem. Along with Zapier, to which we dedicated today's review, you can also use the following solutions in practice:

• IFTTT. This service was one of the first to appear in this market niche. It is initially focused not on business representatives, but on a fairly wide user audience. That is, you will not find specialized services for enterprises here. But with its help, you will be able to automate a number of Android and iOS options that are currently unavailable to the same Zapier, mobile applications and a number of other integrators. Alternatively, through this service you can put your phone into sleep mode, as well as solve many other simple daily tasks. We won't say that IFTTT can be used as a worthy replacement for Zapier in business tasks, because it is not. But it can be used as an addition.
• Integromat. Against the general background of products designed to automate actions, this service is distinguished by the ability to create fairly complex non-linear scenarios for various applications and products. By the way, in Zapier you can add only one branch, and here your capabilities will be unlimited, and at each stage of integration. That is, you can set the most complex conditions and specify under which scenarios this or that option should work. To simplify the creation of integration systems, the developers have provided users with a good visual editor. Here, each service will be displayed as a round icon, and the relationship between them will be shown by lines. You will be able to drag these elements with the mouse button, thereby ensuring their interaction. But still, despite the well-thought-out and easy-to-use interface, mastering the work of Integromat will not be as easy as it seems at first glance. And the main problem here is the extremely wide functionality, the presence of a huge number of tools. That is, mastering all this will require a certain amount of time and effort from you. In practice, it is worth using this service in cases where you have to create really complex and extraordinary integration schemes, while to solve simple problems in the field of automation, you can get by with other simpler analogs.
• ApiX-Drive. This service can rightfully be called a full-fledged alternative to Zapier. The automation process here is almost identical. That is, you will need to connect to the site all those systems that you need in your work, and then configure their interaction, specify triggers, and reactions to them. No programming work is required here either. This solution will be optimal when working with local services, including those that are actively used in the CIS countries today.

Let's sum it up

We hope that the information we have provided in today's review will be more than enough for you to decide whether you need to use the Zapier service in your work. This is a truly functional and convenient product that can provide the automation you need at the moment.

But, regardless of which service you choose for your work, you will still need to use mobile proxies with it. This is a prerequisite for stable and functional automation. Do not neglect your own functionality and security - choose the best proxies from what the modern market offers. And these are mobile proxies from the MobileProxy.Space service. You can find out more information about this product here. Pay attention to the affordable rates, simple and well-thought-out interface, high reliability and stability rates. If you encounter any difficulties during work, you can always contact the technical support service, which operates 24/7.

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