So far we’ve learned about using Zapier to integrate leads from your Instabot into your CRM and Slack!

The last thing I want to show you in this series is how and why you might want to integrate Instabot with Gmail.

A.      Use cases

One of the more obvious ways you may think of using Instabot with Gmail is to receive real time alerts when anyone interacts with your bot. While we offer out-of-the-box functionality to do this in Instabot, the Zapier integration allows you to add in helpful filters (e.g., Only email me if the user included their email address OR Don’t email me if it’s from someone who works at my company).

However, as I wrote in my previous post, I prefer to receive my notifications through Slack rather than receiving an email following each interaction. Instead, I use the Gmail integration to draft emails to sales leads who meet certain criteria.

Many sales teams have some kind of inbound lead management workflow, and if one of your steps is drafting a “Welcome” email, our Zapier integration can make this process a breeze!

B.      Writing your email template

There are a few limitations to be aware of when setting up your Zap into Gmail. Because you draft the actual content of the message in Zapier, you won’t be able to include hyperlinks unless you build the message in HTML. You also won’t be able to include the user’s name, so I recommend using something bold and easy to spot like “XXXXX” in place of the user’s name, which you can manually replace before sending.

C.      Other tips

Although there is an option for the email to Autosend, I’d recommend setting it up to simply create a draft. That way you can take a few minutes to personalize each message before sending to leads.

Don’t forget to take advantage of all of the cool features Zapier allows you to use in this Zap! For example, you can: include attachments, BCC your sales team, or filter out all leads that don’t include an email address.

Need help setting it up? Talk to our team anytime, at [email protected]!