Zapier’s future: Zaps as page sources

Zapier is the new iPhone. 

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What brought bite-sized chunks of the internet into your pocket? The iPhone and its App Store.

What will bring bite-sized chunks of apps into your interface? Zapier and Zaps as page sources. 

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Zaps as page sources is a feature being discussed at Zapier that will change the way you work. You’ll be able to use Zaps to change text, images, and anything else in Zapier Interfaces.

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Are you shocked? Do you see how game-changing this will be? Are you texting your friends?

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By the end of this post, you might be. That’s my goal :)

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BUT FIRST a picture of our new puppy, Rosie:

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Let that soak in. Enjoy the warmth you feel in your chest and heart. Take a deep breath. 

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Okay, onward.

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Today I’m going to dive into the idea of Zaps as page sources. You’ll learn why it will be a creativity bomb on what you build.   

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Let’s hit 88 miles-per-hour and step into the future.

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The idea of Zaps as page sources explained

A Zapier app that updates, adjusts, and moves (as an app should) needs Zaps to help make those moves. Zaps can pull from 6,000+ different apps and they will power apps you build within Zapier Interfaces.

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TL;DR Zaps will update specific components like text and images within a Zapier interface.

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The Zaps will look like this:

• Trigger - Button pressed next to dropdown or search field in Zapier Interfaces
• Action - Find an object in Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc. 
• Action - Find messages in Gmail, Slack, etc.
• etc.
• Action - Update Zapier Interfaces text, image, and other components with data from all the apps

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Out pops a Zapier app that combines data from your apps, all on Zapier. It’s like a fantasy team but with apps. You decide the winning combinations.    

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Let’s look at some examples.

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Examples of future apps built on Zapier

Here’s a shortlist of ideas using Zaps as page sources:

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• Customized Sales Dashboard: pull in real-time data from your CRM and social media to quickly show sales metrics, recent customer conversations, and social mentions all on Zapier.
• Employee Onboarding Portal: pull in everything HR wants to show a new employee and give them the ability to schedule meetings with teammates, access personalized HR documents, find updated schedule information, and everything else.
• Project Management Dashboard: pull together project data, related JIRA tickets, display deadlines, and document uploads.
• Support Hub: grab all customer interactions and put them in one convenient place.
• Marketing Campaign Tracker: combine social, project management, and analytics into one place.

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Alexandre Kantjas had a great LinkedIn post about how no-code is ripe for building internal tools on top of large systems of records like Salesforce. Salesforce is mega-powerful but clunky. Enter Salesloft. An app built on top of Salesforce. It’s not a no-code app but it shows you the opportunity: clunky and powerful systems of record like Salesforce provide an opportunity to create simplified tools on top.

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Imagine what happens when Zapier Chatbots get powered by Zaps, too. You’d be able to tack on a chatbot to any of the apps you build and have a conversation about the data you’re seeing. 

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Where we’re going, we don’t need roads… Do you see the future, yet?

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Better start thinking about what you’ll build.

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To recap:

• Zaps as page sources (only in idea stage at the moment) will pull from apps and update text, images, and other components in Zapier Interfaces
• With this power, you’ll build apps on top of clunky systems of records like Salesforce
• Countless use cases will be at your fingertips

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Happy building,

Bryce