Skip to main content
All CollectionsIntegrationsZapierZapier Tutorials
Zapier Tutorial: Reactive Process Workflows - Jotform
Zapier Tutorial: Reactive Process Workflows - Jotform

Trigger a stage change in a process based on an answer in an email, and more!

Aimee avatar
Written by Aimee
Updated over a year ago

Have you ever wished that you could email an owner asking them if they want to renew, and if they select "yes" or "no," those answers would power the process in LeadSimple?

This (and similar use cases) are possible through Zapier! Watch the video below to learn more and see below for a detailed tutorial walkthrough to build your own with Jotform.

Zapier Tutorial

First, what is Zapier?

Zapier is a third-party tool that allows you to integrate softwares together, without any development needed. Create zaps, or defined sets of triggers and actions, to customize your own integrations between softwares.

Here's an overview of the steps required to create this Zap:

  • Step 1: Create the form in Jotform

  • Step 2: Create custom pre-filled form links

  • Step 3: Add the links to your email template in your LeadSimple process

  • Step 4: Create some tests before building the Zap

  • Step 5: Build the Zap

  • Step 6: Build conditional logic into your process

Note that this Zap is pretty involved, so please follow the instructions below very carefully. Let's get started!

Step 1: Create the form in Jotform

The first step is to create your form in Jotform. (If using Google Forms, follow these instructions.)

  • Include any multiple choice questions that you need and be sure to make them all required.

  • Important: make sure that the multiple choice options match the options for your corresponding custom field in LeadSimple.

  • Be sure to add an Internal ID field and hide it in the form. This will allow the zap to identify the correct process to update without a "Find" step.

  • You may also want to include a property address field that can be pre-populated. Make sure this is a view-only field.

Step 2: Create custom pre-filled form links

The next step is to create your custom pre-filled form links to send to your owners or tenants in the process. (If using Google Forms, follow these instructions.)

This involves formatting the link, so follow these instructions carefully.

First, open Jotform's Field Prepopulator. Click "Populate Fields".

Select the form you created in Step 1, then click "continue".

Click the blue "Show All" button to show your hidden Internal ID field you added in Step 1.

Put this value in your Property/Unit field: {{property.address}}

And put this value in your Internal ID field: {{process.id}}

We'll start by generating a link for the YES option in our email template. To do this, we'll select "YES" and "One Year Lease" as the pre-populated options.

Now let's generate the link! Click "Generate URL" at the top of the page.

This will create a unique link for this form that will pre-populate the fields.

Copy this link and paste it into a text editor. It still needs a tiny bit of editing before it can be plugged into LeadSimple. We'll come back to it shortly.

Here's our link for the YES option:

Let's grab our link for the NO option now.

Here's our link for the NO option:

Here's our link for the YES option again:

Formatting the Links:

Now we need to reformat our links slightly.

The first thing is to replace the portions of the URL to {{ and }} respectively.

  • %7B%7B = {{

  • %&D%7D = }}

For both options, we'll change this section from:

to:

{{property.address}}

We'll do the same with the process ID, from:

to:

{{process.id}}

That gives us this for the YES option:

https://form.jotform.com/232047809407053?propertyunit={{property.address}}&wouldYou=Yes&typeA6=One Year Lease&internalRenewal={{process.id}}

And this for the NO option:

https://form.jotform.com/232047809407053?propertyunit={{property.address}}&wouldYou=No&typeA6=None&internalRenewal={{process.id}}

Finally, we need to replace any and all spaces in the url with + .

In our YES option, the Jotform generated link includes spaces between the One Year Lease section:

typeA6=One Year Lease

We need to replace those spaces with + .

typeA6=One+Year+Lease

Do this with any spaces you see in your generated links.

Now that we've done that we have our completed links!

Yes:

https://form.jotform.com/232047809407053?propertyunit={{property.address}}&wouldYou=Yes&typeA6=One+Year+Lease&internalRenewal={{process.id}}

No:

https://form.jotform.com/232047809407053?propertyunit={{property.address}}&wouldYou=No&typeA6=None&internalRenewal={{process.id}}

Be sure to check your links over to be sure they are formatted correctly and don't include any spaces, then test them to be sure that they are pre-filling as expected.

Step 3: Add your custom links to your LeadSimple process

Now, you need to add your custom links to your email templates in your process.

Step 4: Send an example email and form submission

Now, we need to send an example email and form submission that will be used in building the Zap.

First, start a process with your own contact info, and send the email template through the process, to pull in the process ID and the property address. Then, click into the form, be sure all the answers are filled out, and submit it.

Step 5: Build the Zap!

Now that we've done all the work to create the form and build our custom links, the final step is to the build the Zap. It is a simple two step Zap, since we don't need to include a "find process" step. (Since we already have the process ID in the form submission.)

First, login to Zapier. Go to your dashboard and click "Create Zap."

Choose "Jotform" as your trigger app, and "New Submission" as your trigger event.

Then, connect your Jotform account, and select the form you want to connect to the Zap. In our case: "Owner Lease Renewal Choice".

Then, test your trigger. It should pull in your test form submission from Step 4.

Then click "continue with selected record".

Next, we need to set up the action in LeadSimple. Choose "LeadSimple", and then "Update Process".

Next, connect your LeadSimple account. To do this, you need to grab your API key from the LeadSimple Integrations page.

Copy the API key there.

Paste it into Zapier, then click "Yes, Continue".

Next, we need to set up our action.

First, choose the process type you want to the Zap to look in. In our case, it's Lease Renewals.

Then, we need to fill out the fields we want to update. Note that you don't have to fill out all the fields visible in the zap, only the ones you want to update. We'll ignore most of the fields except for the following:

  • Process Type

  • Process

  • Owner's Renewal Choice (may be worded differently in your process)

  • Offered Lease Length (may be worded different in your process)

In this case, we don't want to choose one specific process to update every time - we want the zap to use the process ID from the form submission, since it will be a different process every time.

To do this, click the "Custom" tab, and look for your "Internal ID" (or whatever you called it in the form). Click on that.

Then, in our example, we want to fill out the Owner's Renewal Choice field, and the Offered Lease Length field, also using custom data from the form submission.

And then, the final step is to the test the Zap to make sure we configured everything correctly.

Run the test, then check in LeadSimple to be sure your process updated as expected.

Then, publish your Zap!

You may want to test the whole process again (with a new test process) to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Step 6: Build conditional logic into your process

Now that your custom fields are updating automatically when an owner or tenant fills out a form, you can build conditional logic into your process to move the process forward once they respond!

In our example, we would have the email step with the form links go out to the owner, and then have another reminder email go out a couple days later if they haven't submitted their reply. (This is done by having conditional logic based on the Owner Renewing field being empty. If they reply before the reminder goes out, the field will be updated automatically and the step skipped.)

If they reply that they do not want to renew, the process can automatically switch to the "Owner Not Renewing" stage, again with conditional logic powering the process.

And there you have it! That's how to build a Zap that will automatically update a process based on a form submission.

If you have any questions about this tutorial, you can reach our support team by chatting us via the chat icon in your LeadSimple account or emailing support@leadsimple.com.

Did this answer your question?