You've successfully integrated Feathr and another 3rd party app using Zapier, and now you're ready to set up a Zap to get data communication flowing between them. Let's get started.
Note: this article uses Zapier's terminology. We define it when it is presented, but it may be helpful to familiarize yourself with the Zapier glossary, especially the first four entries.
What is a Zap?
A Zap is an individual automated workflow in Zapier. Each Zap consists of a trigger and one or more actions. When you turn your Zap on, it will run the action steps every time the trigger event occurs. So when you set up a workflow to communicate one category of data, such as email address, from one app to Feathr, or from Feathr to another app, that is a Zap.
Note: when a Zap fires, any data it writes will overwrite, and not append, data that was previously stored in the field.
Creating a Zap
First, besides this help resource, we recommend referring to Zapier's own help documentation, which can be kept updated and is able to provide specific guidance related to Zapier. You can always reach Zapier's support at contact@zapier.com and Feathr's support team at support@feathr.co.
Start by going to Zapier and logging in to your account. Next, from your Zapier dashboard, click Zaps in the left menu, then + Create Zap.
Choose App & Event
Note: This is a general guild to building Zaps, but we also offer a variety of articles for building Zaps for specific apps that are commonly used by Feathr customers. Check them out in our Integrations section.
Feathr's Zapier integration currently only supports data exchange consisting of new or updated person records, usually called contacts in other apps. This still offers a wide array of possibilities, as each person record can contain a wealth of data.
The most common use case is to update a person's contact information, specifically their email address. But you can extrapolate the instructions in this article to use Zapier to update any category of data within a person record in Feathr. You can even create your own custom data category.
The first step will bring up the trigger. A trigger is the event that triggers the Zap to work. Zapier begins by asking for an app event, which is the app that will be communicating with Feathr.
If you have followed the integration instructions in [this article], Feathr and your other intended app will be selectable on this step. Select that app in Zapier.
The next step will ask you to choose an event. An event is what starts the Zap. Use the dropdown menu to select an event. For this purpose, choose Contact Recently Created or Updated.
Note: each app may have a different way of saying "Contact Recently Created or Updated." Find the event that most closely resembles that phrasing.
Choose Account
Zapier will then prompt you to choose and log in to the app you are using as the trigger. This is to verify that you have access to the account for which you are accessing data. Follow the prompts to log in.
Set Up Trigger
This step may ask you to verify which properties of the contact you want to include in your Zap. Browse through the properties Zapier displays and be sure the one you wish to use in your Zap is included. If not, choose it from the dropdown of additional properties Zapier provides.
Test Trigger
In this step, Zapier searches your app's database for random contact records to use as an example for you to verify. They will be labeled as Person/Contact A, B, C, and so on. Choose one of them from the dropdown. The contact record you choose does not matter, as this step is merely a test to verify that there is communication between Zapier and your trigger app. You will see a list of fields pertaining to your test contact's data. If it looks like the kind of data you keep in your trigger app, Zapier has successfully pulled it, and you can click continue.
Note: the test trigger loads real data from your Feathr account, so you will see an actual person record appear for the test. It does not notify or affect that person whatsoever, it is merely a random example pulled to ensure there is communication between Zapier and your Feathr account. If your Feathr account does not yet have any person records containing an email address, a "dummy" person record will appear instead.
Action
Next, you will choose the action. An action is the change Zapier makes in a second app when the trigger event occurs in the first app. Choose the app where you want the action to occur. For most purposes, this will be where you choose Feathr.
Next, just like selecting the trigger event, select the action event. This should match the trigger event, though the wording might be a little different. If using Feathr as your action, it will be called Create/Update Person.
You will then be asked to sign in to Feathr, in order to validate that you are an approved user for your account. Depending on how you've set up your initial integration, you may also be asked for an API key here. [Refer to this article] for instructions on generating an API key, if necessary.
Mapping the Action
Once you've selected Create/Update Person, you will see a list of individual data fields that all pertain to a person record in Feathr. These will be default fields, such as name and email, and also any custom fields you've created in Feathr. Click on all the fields you've decided to pull data from your trigger app and map them to the corresponding data. This should be as simple as selecting the "name" field and choosing "name." Then selecting the "email" field and choosing "email," and so on. Repeat this for every field you intend to use.
Testing the Action
Zapier will next prompt you to test your action to ensure it works correctly. Testing is optional, but we highly recommend it.
Click on test and review to make sure no errors occur. If the test is successful, in the response data for the test you will see a key called 0_person_url. Its value is the url of the person that has been created/ updated by this test action. Copy and paste this into your browser to view the person. Your breadcrumbs should have a new crumb called ‘Zapier update’ which provides the payload that was used to update the person record, as you can see on the right below:
Publishing your Zap
If the test was successful, you can publish your Zap.
After the Zap is successfully published, you will see it in read only mode. Notice the top left will have changed from draft to published. From the top right you can share your new Zap, toggle it on and off, and re-enter edit mode. The tab on the right displays an outline view, provides help and tutorials, and information about your zap, such as usage and history. While in read-only mode, for each step in the Zap you see the App, the event used from the app and any step details.
Renaming Zaps and Events
Zapier will create default names for you trigger, action/s and zap. You can rename them by clicking on the pencil icon next to their titles. An example of a naming scheme could be ‘When [trigger event] in [app1], [action] in [app2]’. For example, ‘When a person is created or updated in Feathr, create or update a new person in Salesforce’.