If you use a form on your website for visitors to contact you then you will usually get their details emailed to you so that you can then respond. Whilst this works adequately as a lead notification system, what would be more useful is to save contact form submissions in a spreadsheet, database, or CRM. This avoids them getting lost in your email inbox and reduces the risk of human error if you need to transfer them manually to your lead management system (even if that ‘system’ is just a spreadsheet!). It’s a simple way of streamlining your business which will save you time and improve productivity.
Whilst some webform apps can do all of this for you, many don’t have Zapier integrations or their Zapier hooks form part of a premium version of the plugin so you have to pay extra to save the form data automatically.
We have a great solution, a simple single-step zap that uses an email parser to record form submission entries and then store them in a spreadsheet. Although our example uses Google Sheets, you can also use Microsoft Excel or Airtable. You could also send your leads to a CRM such as Hubspot, Pipedrive, or Dubsado.
All you need to do is set up an inbox filter to send web form submissions to a Zapier email address and the automation will do the rest! The zap extracts the form data according to the rules you have set up, and stores it in the relevant columns in your Google Sheet.
The great news is that this simple zap can be created using the free version of Zapier, so there’s nothing to stop you giving it a try!
Our video demonstrates how to use an email parser to save contact form submissions in a spreadsheet
Our new video shows how to save contact form submissions in a spreadsheet using Zapier’s email parser.
The steps to save web form submission entries are :
- Create a trigger event using the Email Parser by Zapier
- We show how an email parser account manages the template for mapping data from the email to the spreadsheet
- Create a spreadsheet row in Google Sheets which is populated with the mapped, parsed data
As we explain in the video, the data in your email needs to be formatted consistently for the parser to be able to send it to the right columns in the spreadsheet. If you have more than one form then you could either set up separate zaps for each one, or could add a filter step to process the data correctly for each one.
Find out more
If you’d love to learn more about Zapier, including a deep dive into the email parser, then we are launching a course soon! You can join the course waitlist here to be kept in the loop.
You can also get our free quick-reference cheatsheet to Zapier built-in functionality just below:
Watch the video and subscribe to our YouTube channel
Save some time and download the Zap template
If you liked the video and can use process in your business, go ahead and download the ready-made template below. Once you have the template, just open it up in your Zapier account and customise it to your needs.
Save time and grab our pre-built Zap template
More Youtube tutorials
We have other Youtube video tutorials which will help you work smarter, not harder.
- How to automate a 7 day sales cadence
- How to use Zapier to send a simple drip email sequence
- How to create and send a bespoke sales proposal PDF from your CRM
- How to automatically add contacts to ActiveCampaign from Pipedrive
- How to calculate lead to customer conversion time
- How to automate the creation of a Trello checklist for handling Twitter engagements
Our other resources
We also have plenty of free resources:
- Our free e-book is the perfect introduction to business automation.
- Our Zapier functions cheat sheet delves into the powerful inbuilt helper apps which can supercharge your automations.
- A free checklist to help you justify an automation budget.
And finally, our founder / chief problem solver / chief automator Kelly Goss’ new book, Automate It with Zapier, is out now and is the most comprehensive Zapier guide on the market. It will get you up and running and to the stage where you can build and debug advanced automations. Buy your own copy today directly from publisher Packt using this link. Or here are links to Amazon (.co.uk) and Amazon (.com) if you prefer.
Solvaa: Strategy, Solutions, Support, Education
UK-based Solvaa® is a systems, process and automation consultancy specialising in improving business workflows. Solvaa® works with SMEs worldwide to implement digital tools, better processes, use business process automation and generative AI to boost productivity, enhance lead management, and remove unnecessary time, costs and hassles from stretched business owners’ days.
We help you simplify and streamline existing processes, integrate your business tools to make data transfer more efficient, and automate manual tasks. Our business process automation specialists have extensive experience using multiple cloud-based business tools, including Zapier, Pipedrive CRM, SmartSuite, Xero, Google Suite, ClickUp, Asana, Airtable, Hubspot, Active Campaign, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Quickbooks and many more. We are Zapier Certified Experts, SmartSuite Certified Partners, Pipedrive Certified Partners and Xero Certified Advisors. We also educate teams about using AI in their daily roles, mindset, governance and strategy in our Solvaa AI Academy.
Solvaa® was founded in 2016 by Kelly Goss, a no-code solutions architect, business process automation specialist and author of Automate It with Zapier (first edition) and Automate It with Zapier and Generative AI (second edition).
A thought leader on business process automation and digital adoption, Kelly attended an invite-only Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the UK government at No.10 Downing Street, providing insights and recommendations on how SMEs can benefit from productivity gains by using digital technologies, automation and AI. She has also been invited to speak at the House of Lords and at many other events.
Contact us today to find out how Solvaa can help your business make big savings on operational costs and time, and significantly increase productivity.
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