If you’re running an online membership, then you know there are a lot of moving parts. From managing content to processing payments, it can be a lot to keep track of. But what if there was a way to put some of those repeat tasks on autopilot? That’s where Zapier comes in.
Zapier is an automation tool that allows you to connect different apps and create “zaps” that automate tasks between them. For example, you could create a zap that automatically adds new members to your mailing list when they sign up for your course.
In this post, we’ll show you how to use Zapier like a boss so you can run your online membership on autopilot.
Which membership platforms have Zapier integrations?
Zapier connects over 6,000 apps and these include many of the popular membership management platforms, making it easy to automate many common tasks. These include:
If your membership platform has a pre-built integration with Zapier then you can connect it to ANY of the other apps. These include email management, communications apps, CRMs, finance software, spreadsheets, databases and many more!
We’ve also written an article about why online course providers should learn Zapier, which could be useful for membership owners as the two often go hand in hand. Many online courses include a membership element and many memberships operate as a course!
Examples of course management software platforms which integrate with Zapier include AccessAlly, Notion, Circle, LearnWorlds and Searchie.
If you are just starting your membership and selecting which software to use, then it makes sense to choose one which can integrate with Zapier as you’ll be able to connect it with your other apps.
The benefits of automation are enormous, including saving time, doing things more efficiently and eliminating the human error you get when copying and pasting data from one app to another.
What types of tasks can Zapier automate?
Typically, there will be triggers for many different kinds of membership admin tasks, such as:
- New member signed up
- Subscription expired
- Subscription resumed
- Subscription paused
- Subscription stopped
You can combine these with analytics, CRMs, spreadsheets, automatic emails, SMS, Zoom – the list is endless!
For example,
- Invite new members to an orientation Zoom call automatically by email.
- Add new member data to a CRM or spreadsheet.
- When a member cancels their subscription email them an online form to collect feedback.
- Send a new member drip sequence of emails.
- Send a notification to your team using Slack if a member pauses or stops their membership.
How to automate your membership community using Zapier and Circle
Circle is a community platform which many membership owners are adopting as a benefit for their members. Members can share news and crowdsource ideas, and owners can even host live video training and events.
Circle has many of the features available in Facebook but the big difference is that your content is not hosted on a platform owned by Meta! You have much more control and flexibility for your community in Circle and it’s more user-friendly than a typical online forum.
One of the other advantages of Circle is that it has an array of integrations with Zapier, so you can automate many aspects of community management. For example, unlike Facebook, you can add or remove members using Zapier, so that when they sign up you can invite them to Circle, and when they leave the membership you can remove them.
Using Zapier you can also send direct messages to members or start a group chat. Sending a DM is a nice way to welcome a member to your Circle community, and you can explain how they can use the platform.
You can also create posts or comments automatically. If you use Circle like a social media platform then you may want to schedule posts and announcements, like you would do when posting on Facebook or Instagram. However, the popular social media scheduling platforms like Publer and Hootsuite don’t have integrations with Circle, but that’s not a problem as you can do it yourself using Zapier. Simply add your posts to a Google Sheet with a column for the date you want them to be published. Then use Schedule By Zapier to check the spreadsheet daily for pending content and then post automatically into Circle using the action step of ‘Create Post’ within the Circle integration.
For more ideas about automating Circle using Zapier, check out their community post here – it’s within the public Circle community which acts as a gold standard for how you can use their platform.
Real-life examples of how memberships use Zapier to automate their business
We asked some membership businesses how they use Zapier to streamline their manual tasks and hope these examples will inspire you to get started with automation!
Kimi Kinsey
Kimi Kinsey’s membership helps business owners with strategy and maximising income streams. Kimi is a huge fan of Zapier and has a ton of Zaps running the back end of her membership.
Examples include automations from ThriveCart to Airtable, ThriveCart to ConvertKit to add new members to her mailing list and Paperform to Airtable.
My Podcast Reviews
Daniel J Lewis runs the My Podcast Reviews service/membership for podcasters. He created a really cool automation which links Memberpress and ActiveCampaign together to generates unique coupons with unique expiration dates for subscribers. This enables fully automated, timed sales, so he can create marketing around ‘expires this Friday’ but for any timeframe.
Maddy Shine
Maddy Jones is a Visibility Coach who founded Maddy Shine to help businesses become more visible using branding, content and SEO. Maddy uses Zapier to connect Kartra with ActiveCampaign to welcome new members with an email sequence. She also sends a sequence to anyone who cancels and also inactive members.
Maddy also uses automation for her launches and finds Zapier incredibly useful to manage those who sign up for her free webinars and challenges using Zoom and ActiveCampaign.
ActiveCampaign Academy
Kay Peacey is an automation pro and runs the ActiveCampaign Academy via her business, Slick Business. Kay uses Zapier to bring leads from her free Facebook group into ActiveCampaign with a tag, sending them automatic emails with answers to their joining questions. This alone saves a lot of daily admin time and means she knows they’re in the group and where they’re at with ActiveCampaign.
Being able to send relevant, timely automated emails from ActiveCampaign deals with many of her membership needs and she passes her Zapier knowledge on to her membership.
Find out more
So, if you’re a membership owner looking for ways to automate your business and reduce the time you spend on admin tasks, Zapier is definitely worth checking out. We’ve seen some amazing things done with it by owners just like you, and we know you can make it work for your own membership.
Ready to get started? We have plenty of free stuff you can grab now, or buy our founder Kelly Goss’ book for the best way to learn how to use Zapier.
Free e-books
Our free Introduction to Zapier e-book explains the benefits of business process automation, how Zapier fits in and examples of automations for each department within your business.
We have a free cheat sheet with a checklist of Zapier’s inbuilt function which can supercharge your automations.
Kelly Goss’ book, Automate It With Zapier
If you’d like to find out more, with examples of finance and operations automations which can really streamline your business then Kelly’s book, Automate It with Zapier, is available on Amazon. It includes some ready-made templates for various examples so you can get started really quickly.
The book is perfect for new Zapier users as well as seasoned pros. Here are links to Amazon (.co.uk) and Amazon (.com) to get yours now.
Check out our automation training programme
And finally, if you’re really keen to transform your business using automation, then visit the Solvaa Automation Academy. Our signature training programme, ‘Simple Automation Blueprint: Zero to Hero’ is aimed at anyone who wants to learn the fundamentals of business process automation from the experts – a sure-fire way to recession-proof your business.
It’s an 8-week blended learning course with on-demand videos, templates, resources and weekly group coaching sessions. And it’s more than just a Zapier course (although we do show you how to use Zapier like a pro) as you’ll learn about Process Mapping, Business Process Improvement and Business Process Management too – principles that can be applied to other areas of business too!
Whether you are a complete novice or have been using Zapier for a while, our programme is for you. It’s perfect for individuals and teams in micro, small and medium-sized businesses, including solopreneurs, consultants and freelancers. You’ll have access to our experts and can participate in live calls where you can ask all your burning questions, as well as hands-on workshops to keep you on track with implementing your new skills. We run regular cohorts so there will be an opportunity for everyone to participate.
Our head trainer, Kelly Goss, is a specialist in business systems, process improvement and automation, and one of less than 100 Zapier Certified Experts in the world. Kelly has many years’ experience in optimising systems and processes, and implementing automations for clients and is now passing on her knowledge to students through our trademarked ‘4-Step Solvaa Automation Methodology®‘.
Find out more via our dedicated Solvaa Automation Academy website.
Solvaa is a process and automation consultancy specialising in improving sales, operations and financial administration workflows. We help you to simplify and streamline existing processes, integrate your business tools to make data transfer more efficient and automate manual tasks to increase productivity. We are Zapier Certified Experts, Pipedrive Certified Experts and Xero Certified Advisors.
Contact us today to discuss how Solvaa can help you simplify, improve and automate all aspects of your business with Zapier to save you time, reduce costs and keep you agile as you grow.
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