Zapier and Make are no-code automation tools that connect separate apps so information moves between them automatically. When something happens in one app, such as a new lead arriving from a Facebook form, they carry out actions in others, such as adding the lead to a CRM and sending a message to the sales team.
How Zapier and Make work
Both tools are built on the same idea: a trigger starts the automation and one or more actions follow. Zapier calls each automation a Zap and works in a straight, step-by-step list, which makes it quick to learn. Make, previously called Integromat, calls them scenarios and shows them as a visual map, which handles branching logic, loops and data reshaping more easily.
Under the surface, each connection uses the other app’s API. Triggers arrive in one of two ways. Some apps push data instantly through a webhook; others are checked at intervals, and how often depends on your plan. That difference explains why one automation responds in seconds and another takes several minutes.
Typical marketing uses include:
- Sending Facebook lead ads entries to a CRM, a spreadsheet and the sales inbox within moments.
- Adding new shop customers to an email list, with the right tags, once they have opted in.
- Posting a message to Slack or Teams when a high-value quote request comes in.
- Copying offline sales back into ad platforms as conversions.
Both charge by usage, with pricing tied to how many steps or operations run each month. Check the current plans before building, because heavy automations can become expensive.
Why it matters
Speed of response wins enquiries. A plumber in Bristol who gets a lead into their phone within a minute is more likely to win the job than one who checks a Facebook inbox at the end of the day. These tools let small businesses build that kind of process without a developer.
They also carry data protection duties. Every automation that moves names, emails or phone numbers is processing personal data, and Zapier and Make act as your processors under UK GDPR. You should have their data processing terms in place, know where the data is stored and how it is transferred out of the UK, and mention such processors in your privacy notice.
Common mistakes
- Building business-critical automations on a staff member’s personal account, which fails the day they leave.
- No error alerts, so an expired login quietly stops leads arriving for weeks.
- Adding people to marketing emails without checking they consented, which breaches PECR.
- Copying more personal data than the next app needs.
- Duplicating records because the automation has no check for existing contacts.
How to act on it
List the manual copying your team does each week and pick the one that delays customers most, usually getting new leads to the right person. Build that first, on a company-owned account, with error notifications going to a shared inbox.
Document each automation: what triggers it, what it sends where and who owns it. Test it with a real submission, then check it again after any change to the connected apps. Map only the fields each step needs.
Connecting Facebook lead ads to a CRM so every enquiry is followed up quickly is part of the lead generation work I do for UK businesses, because a lead that sits unseen is ad spend already wasted.