Copper CRM clone using Zapier

Today I’m going to answer the question, “can I build a CRM with Zapier’s Tables and Interfaces?” This experiment holds a secret at the end which I honestly didn’t uncover right away but got me real excited.

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But let me not get ahead of myself.

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Getting leads and converting them to customers is mission-critical for small businesses. I want to see how Zapier fares with their new products Tables and Interfaces. Can they compete with other CRMs in the market?

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Let’s see what’s possible. 

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I’ll take Copper, a simple CRM, for comparison. We’ll attempt to create a CRM for a small, fictional fitness business who has a handful of online workout programs and the ability to schedule 1-on-1 workout consultations. 

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We’ll name it Hard Rock Fitness.

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Away we go.

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Copper CRM Built in Zapier Tables and Interfaces

At first glance, Copper is pretty simple. I’ll quickly replicate its main functionality and go from there. 

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Taking a look under the hood, there are three main objects in Copper:

1. People
2. Companies
3. Pipelines

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In Zapier, I’ll set up a Table that mimics Copper’s People tab: 

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Next, I need to mimic “Pipelines” which looks like a KanBan board in Copper:

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To do this, I’ll need to create an Interface in Zapier. I can create a new interface from scratch and choose Kanban board. Connect it to the Table I just created, and I’ve got a Pipeline in Zapier:

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At the moment, Zapier doesn’t support relationships between items in different tables. So, instead of creating a separate People and Opportunities table, I simply used People to represent Opportunities as well as individual People.

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If Hard Rock Fitness needs to close companies that had multiple contacts, Zapier would fall a bit short since I couldn’t house multiple People under each Opportunity. 

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In fact, a relational database is probably the biggest hold-up as we try to recreate Copper in Zapier. We’ll see that limitation again in the next section.

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Logging Opportunity Activities and Tasks

In Copper, I can log a Meeting, SMS, or Phone Call and add a note to an Opportunity. I can also create Tasks to complete for each Opportunity. 

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Zapier can’t do something like this, yet, because they can’t make relationships between two sets of data. So, a list of activities or tasks couldn’t be connected to an Opportunity or Person.

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At this point, Zapier is starting to break down as a Copper CRM clone. Without object relationships, we’re looking at a list of names which isn’t all that impressive.

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BUT. There’s a surprise up Zapier’s sleeve. We have to dig just a little deeper to see it. 

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Let’s dig.

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Marketing Tools and Automation

I noticed that when you get down to a section called “Marketing Tools” in Copper, they’ve outsourced functionality to a tool called “Outfunnel”:

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Why is this interesting?

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Because Outfunnel integrates and automates sales and marketing. Sounds an awful lot like Zapier, eh?

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They even mention why they are different than Zapier on their homepage:

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What’s happening here? Let me break it down for you (and explain why this is great news for Zapier).

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Copper doesn’t have powerful integrations and doesn’t plan to create them in-house. So, they use Outfunnel which integrates with a handful of sales and marketing apps and focuses on a specific use case which is Lead Scoring.

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This is where Zapier can win big—as soon as their CRM capabilities catch-up, they’ll have 5,000 app integrations already built-in.

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All that’s left for Zapier to do is give us a way to create a specific application for a targeted use-case like Lead Scoring. Maybe that looks like piecing together Tables, Interfaces, and Zaps under one connected application. They’d probably call these “Applications” :) 

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When this happens, leaving Copper and Outfunnel for a “Zapier CRM” might make a whole lot of sense. 

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Predictions for the Zapier Future

Zapier is going to beef up their current products and then add another layer called “Applications.” They will create a marketplace where builders will build and monetize these Applications powered by Tables, Interfaces, and Zaps. Each of these Applications will be able to boast integrative power with 5,000+ different apps. 

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Want a niche Fitness Coaching CRM that has the connective power of a HubSpot? Done. 

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A builder with power for every niche.

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Who’s ready?

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To recap:

• Zapier can mimic Copper CRM to a point… but isn’t there yet
• Zapier’s advantage is its integrations. Copper had to outsource this.
• The future is Zapier Applications where any builder can create powerful apps for every niche

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That’s all for this week!

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Happy Building,

Bryce