Automate Formidable Forms with Zapier for Streamlined Workflows

Formidable Forms is one of the most popular drag-and-drop form builders for WordPress sites. With its user-friendly interface and flexibility, it makes collecting information through web forms easy.

But what happens after someone submits a form? Oftentimes, additional manual work is required to route the data where it needs to go. For example, saving submissions as new leads in your CRM, sending email notifications, integrating with other apps, and more.

This is where Zapier comes in handy!

Zapier is an automation platform with pre-built integrations to thousands of apps. You can connect Formidable Forms to other business and productivity tools to instantly trigger actions on form submissions. By automating tedious tasks, you save huge amounts of time and effort.

Let‘s explore some of the most popular ways to utilize Zapier for supercharging your Formidable Forms.

Automate Lead Collection from Form Submissions

One of the most common uses of web forms is capturing leads and conversions. But sorting through submissions and manually entering new leads is extremely labor-intensive.

With Zapier, you can automatically create a new lead in your CRM or marketing platform every time someone fills out your Formidable Form:

The Manual Process:

1. Visitor fills out contact form on your website
2. You receive email notification of new submission
3. Open email and extract lead information
4. Log in to CRM platform
5. Navigate to lead section
6. Manually enter details to create new lead

With Zapier:

1. Visitor fills out contact form
2. New lead instantly added to CRM platform

It really is that simple! By using a pre-made Zap template, you can build this automation in minutes with no coding required.

Let‘s go through an example using Salesforce CRM:

Creating New Salesforce Leads from Form Submissions

1. Install the Zapier app in Formidable Forms
2. Browse Zaps and find the "Create Salesforce Lead" template
3. Connect your Formidable and Salesforce accounts
4. Select the specific form you want to use
5. Choose which form fields to map to Salesforce
6. Set up filters if needed (like lead source or rating)
7. Activate Zap & test form submission!

As soon as someone now fills in your contact form, a new Lead will automatically be added to your Salesforce CRM with all the details pre-populated.

No more wasting hours entering submissions manually. This automation frees you up to focus on more important things!

Save Form Submissions as Salesforce Records

Another great way to put your form data to work is by saving it directly in Salesforce for later reference. For example, service request forms, event or webinar registrations, inquiry submissions etc.

The usual process would be:

The Manual Process:

1. Download CSV file of form entries from Formidable
2. Upload and import data into Salesforce
3. Match up fields correctly
4. Classify record types

With Zaps, you can create Salesforce records on-the-fly automatically:

With Zapier:

1. Visitor submits form
2. New Salesforce record generated

Let‘s break this down step-by-step:

1. Install Zapier app in Formidable and connect accounts
2. Use "Create Salesforce Record" Zap template
3. Select Formidable form and Salesforce object type
4. Map form fields to Salesforce fields
5. Set record type and other parameters
6. Activate Zap & test!

Now your customers, support agents and sales team always have access to up-to-date submissions without manual data entry.

Send Form Data to Email Marketing Platforms

Expanding your email list should be easy. With a connected form, you can grow your audience automatically every time someone signs up.

But getting those sign-ups actually into your email platform is still manual. You might have a workflow like:

The Manual Process:

1. Download CSV file of email signups
2. Upload to email platform
3. Match fields
4. Tag based on source form

Why not skip the busywork?

With Zapier:

1. Visitor submits email signup
2. Added to email platform automatically

You can build automations to add Mailchimp subscribers, create Constant Contact lists, upload to Klaviyo, add contacts to Customer.io and all popular email platforms.

Here is an example for Mailchimp:

1. Connect your Formidable Forms and Mailchimp accounts in Zapier
2. Find the "Add Subscribers to Mailchimp" template
3. Select your list and the form to use
4. Map form fields like First Name, Last Name, and Email to Mailchimp
5. Activate the Zap

From now on, any time a visitor signs up through your form, their data will be automatically sent to the correct Mailchimp list as a new subscriber. Segment and organize these leads as needed within Mailchimp with tags or custom fields for a streamlined process.

As a data analyst, I would also advise setting up tracking on your form to measure conversion rate. By adding an automation to append form submissions to a Google Sheet or database on top of Mailchimp, you can analyze sign up metrics over time. This will help optimize the lead generation form for higher conversions.

Save File Uploads & Attachments to Cloud Storage

When collecting file uploads or attachments via forms, where should they go? Finding a central location to access them again often means dumping them somewhere on your computer for manual sorting later.

Adding cloud storage to the mix makes accessing those files way easier for everyone who needs them. Especially when it‘s automated!

The Manual Way:

1. Download all files submitted via forms
2. Upload one by one to cloud storage
3. Organize into folders

With a Zap:

1. File uploaded via form
2. Saved automatically to cloud storage location

For example, you can auto-save Google Drive or Dropbox links of resumes from job applications. Or forward receipts and invoices to your accounting folder structure.

Here‘s how simple it is:

1. Install cloud storage app like Dropbox/Google Drive in Zapier
2. Connect Formidable Forms account
3. Use "Upload File" template Zap
4. Select file upload field from form
5. Pick folder to save files to
6. Activate Zap

Now, any forms that support file fields will have those uploads automatically delivered to your connected cloud storage. Think automated resume collection, invoice archiving, image portfolios, and much more!

From a data perspective, this also allows you to tap into analyzing file submission trends over time. For resume collection, you could run visualizations on key skills and qualifications. For images, you can audit metadata or labels. By routing files to cloud storage via Zapier first, you open up more analytics capabilities.

Trigger Actions Based on Form Submissions

This is where things get really interesting! With Zapier, you can connect Formidable Forms to not just destinations to send data, but also activate conditional workflows.

Some examples:

• Send appointment confirmations only for selected business hours
• Email notifications for form submissions over $1000
• Text alerts to sales for inquiries from specific regions
• Create helpdesk tickets from low customer satisfaction scores
• Schedule social media posts for event signups over 500

The options are endless when you make your other apps and automations "form submission-aware".

You can base conditional workflows on:

• Field values
• Number of submissions
• Text entered
• Dropdown selections
• Conditional logic
• Date/time submitted

Customer Support Alert for Negative Feedback

1. Install Zapier app + connect Formidable
2. Create new Zap: Formidable > Filters > Webhook
3. Filter for 1-star rating in satisfaction field
4. Set up webhook to post alert in Slack

Now your support team will automatically be notified of unhappy customers!

Call Center Alert for High Value Form

1. Create Zap: Formidable > Filters > Twilio SMS
2. Filter submissions when Total field > $2,000
3. Send SMS alert to sales team via Zapier & Twilio
4. Customize messaging in SMS body

Get real-time alerts on form submissions that need quick follow-up!

When you start thinking outside of just moving form data from Point A to Point B, things get creative! Conditional logic is where Zaps become truly powerful for advanced workflows.

As a data pro, I especially appreciate the ability to filter and segment form submissions based on key fields. With some JavaScript manipulation, you can parse components of a form entry to trigger very custom workflows.

For example, extracting a number from a text field to check if it falls above a high-priority threshold. Or routing regional inquiries to account managers specifically assigned to those territories. Segmentation gets advanced when you can leverage submission data itself as workflow triggers.

Further Applications of Zapier for Form Management

We‘ve really only scratched the surface here of what you can build. Forms facilitated by Zapier can integrate with hundreds of different apps via thousands of templates.

What are some other ways to extend Formidable functionality from a data perspective?

Webhooks for Custom Code

For advanced custom coding and APIs, Zapier includes webhooks to integrate with any custom platform. You provide the URL, Zapier pings it for each form submission for customized handling and analytics.

Parse & Manipulate Data

Reformat submitted info by:

• Splitting/combining fields
• Extracting parts of text
• Calculating values
• Applying search/replace

Don‘t rely only on your form‘s processing capability. Manipulate entries further with JavaScript to capture new metrics.

Filter & Segment Submissions

Route different types of submissions in unique ways based on:

• Conditional logic
• Date ranges
• Text strings
• Numerical values
• Dropdown selections

Send sales inquiries 1 place and support tickets elsewhere. High value leads to your CRM, newsletter signups to email tool, etc. Advanced segmentation opens up more analytics.

Enrichment & Augmentation

Append extra data lookups to form submission via Zapier. Example:

1. Submit address via form
2. Zapier geo-encodes address into lat/long
3. Submits enriched lead into Salesforce

Data Warehouse & Analytics

Route all form data copies into a database or warehouse like Redshift. Conduct analysis on submissions over time – geographic trends, text sentiment analysis, conversion optimization etc.

Chain Multiple Actions

Set up several steps that trigger every time someone submits your form:

1. Send confirmation email
2. Add row to Google Sheets
3. Create Asana task
4. Store submission in Airtable
5. Text team via Slack

Extreme flexibility to fire off workflows in parallel!

Nested Workflows

Trigger multi-step automations from a single form submission:

1. Form submitted
2. Save to Salesforce
3. New SF record triggers another Zap
4. That Zap calls a custom API…etc

Workflows within workflows within workflows!

Key Takeaways for Automating Forms with Zapier

Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to enhance your Formidable Forms with integrations.

Here are my main pieces of advice as you build your own automations between Formidable and various apps:

Plan Out Your Goal First

Think through exactly what you want to happen after a form submission. Identify pain points and manual steps to eliminate.

Use Pre-Made Templates if Possible

No need to reinvent the wheel! Zapier has done a lot of the heavy lifting already with pre-made options.

Mind Your Field Mapping

Associate form fields carefully to corresponding app fields when setting up your Zaps. Mismatched data causes issues.

Check for Successful Test Runs

Be sure to test end-to-end before launching to confirm your Zaps are configured correctly.

Monitor for Continued Functionality

Periodically check that your automations keep working over time. Apps change features/fields occasionally.

Analyze for Optimization

Use appended databases to analyze performance over time. Audit for bottlenecks. Optimization opportunities.

Ready to get started? Sign up for a free Zapier account and integrate away!

I hope this guide gives you plenty of ideas on how to enhance your Formidable Forms while eliminating repetitive data tasks. By pairing forms with workflows triggered by Zapier, you can sit back while submissions process themselves automatically under defined rules.

What use cases are you most interested in building? Any questions as you design your own automated Formidable Forms pipelines? Let me know in the comments!