My 10 Favorite Slack and Zapier Automations

Unlock Slack and Zapier's potential with 10 automations, from tracking Stripe payments to real-time Hotjar feedback, enhancing communication and productivity.

John Siciliano

I love Slack. I love Zapier.

Both are incredible platforms that have revolutionized how we use technology. Not just at work but in many areas of our lives. When I’m running a project, you know I’ve got a Slack channel running the show behind the scenes.

Communication is one of the biggest issues in modern companies.

That’s why 86% of employees and executives cite a lack of communication and effective collaboration as the leading causes of failures within the workplace.

Businesses need to improve communication if they want to succeed in their ventures. What better way to do this than by introducing a little automation?

You can create some incredible, and I mean incredible, Slack Zaps and automations between these two tools.

It’s breathtaking how many ways you can bridge these two platforms and what can be achieved from it.

In this article, I’m sharing 10 of my favorite Slack and Zapier automations. These are incredibly useful for saving you time and improving your productivity.

Let’s get started!

1 – Stripe failed payments

In Slack, I’ve created an ‘Activity’ channel (this is something I’ll refer to throughout this guide) where I send a bunch of different messages from various integrations to one place.

This helps me keep up-to-date with everything in my business, and I only have to look at one channel.

I use the Stripe Zaps in my workflow all the time.

When I use Zapier, I can see both my successful and failed charges in the Slack app, enabling me to stay on top of subscription payments and chase up the failed payments.

This means that with nothing more than a quick glance, I can see all my transactions of the day.

Of course, if you have a lot of transactions coming and going, you can customize the integration only to send notifications of the failed ones.

Not using Stripe? Don’t worry; there are plenty of Zapier integrations for your preferred payment platform.

Try the Stripe Failed Payment Slack Zap

2 – Google Sheets updated row

There are probably 10 million plus (give or take) use cases for how you could use Google Sheets within your business. A simple yet highly customizable platform, there are few better ways to stay on top of the data workflows within your company.

Whatever you’re using Sheets for, there’s a Zapier trigger you can use. A personal favorite of mine is to receive a Slack notification whenever information in a row is updated.

It’s almost effortless. Just access the Sheets file and drop some data in the row, and you’ll receive Slack messages detailing exactly what’s happening. All set up with just a click in your Zapier account.

Try the Google Sheets Update Row Slack Zap

3 – Gmail email contains

Send Slack notifications for new emails matching Gmail search queries

One of the best productive management tips I can give you is to put all your notifications and event and user updates in one place.

I spent a lot of time trying to organize communication with clients, but emails didn’t always make it to the right people (resulting in communication issues).

It’s too much and will only leave you feeling burned out by lunch.

Instead, Zapier automates your email sorting by sending your emails to specified channels in Slack. Get all emails directly to a Slack channel or filter your emails based on their message content to individual channels.

For example, if you have emails coming in from various clients and projects, you can filter them all directly into channels dedicated to each project to pop up as a simple message. What’s more, filtering is as simple as choosing a keyword from your Zapier account.

Believe me, using this Zap is far more productive than manually trying to get everyone looped in on email threads.

Try the Gmail Slack Zap

4 – Hotjar new survey response

I’m a sucker for getting feedback from my audience. So much so, that I love getting feedback delivered to me in real time.

Hotjar is a fantastic way to survey an audience with one-click responses.

Asking questions on my website really helps me understand who my blog audience is.

For example, I write articles featuring website examples in various industries. It helps me to know whether my visitors have an existing website or not.

I often ask easy “yes” or “no” questions that get around a 4% conversion.

With the Hotjar and Slack Zap, it’s possible to get the feedback responses directly in Slack (I send this right to my activity channel).

Nice and simple.

Whether you collect customer feedback, are running surveys, or some other use, it’s great to receive your form submission notifications right in Slack.

Try the Hotjar Slack Zap

5 – Twitter mentions

This is huge.

Social monitoring is hard work and can end up being very expensive, but this Zap automation makes it easy.

Just set up notifications whenever anyone mentions your Twitter handle or hashtag (you can customize this as you please), so you can join the conversation quickly and respond in real time.

If you want to get really juicy with your approach, you can connect the Twitter account of a competitor and receive messages whenever they get mentioned as Slack messages.

This kind of data keeps you in the loop and gives you all the tools you need to stay a step ahead of the markets.

Try the Twitter Mentions Slack Zap

6 – Update Slack status based on Google Calendar

Update Slack status during new Google Calendar events

Take your Google calendar and integrate it into Slack using Zapier integrations. It will save you so much time and energy, and your productivity will go through the roof.

Knowing what your team is up to or why they aren’t responding to you will help out with communication endlessly.

You can see all the events of what is happening, search based on keywords within Slack, see when the team is free, and see what other users are planning on spending their time on.

I spoke about using Slack and Zapier to connect and integrate your team to communicate better and help merge everyone’s workflows onto the same page.

This Zap is precisely how you do that!

Try the Google Calendar Slack Zap

7 – New YouTube video

Send new YouTube videos in a channel to Slack

Whether your business is using YouTube or other platforms, video engagement is huge.

I’m referring to YouTube specifically, but when you have watch time and interaction, this is where the algorithms will push your content out to the masses.

You have a company of people there to provide the initial engagement. It’s just a case of communicating it properly at the right times.

Of course, all social media platforms work similarly, so get your teams connected and on the same page when it comes to making your content successful.

For example, use a Zap to send a link to a YouTube video whenever it’s published to a companywide channel like #general or #announcements, and you’ll boost that content’s engagement tenfold.

Make this part of your standard content workflow for the best results!

Try the New Youtube Slack Zap

8 – New Mailchimp subscribers

Email timing can be everything in making a sale. For some B2B companies, noticing when a large company signs up for your newsletter or lead magnet can be the breaking point. But it’s easy to miss these opportunities when receiving the message far too late.

This Slack integration changes the game by allowing you to receive a Slack channel message based on a MailChimp trigger that someone has signed up.

By having a dedicated channel for these messages, your teams can browse them periodically with ease, taking their time to select the best candidates for further sales opportunities.

Try the Mailchimp Slack Zap

9 – New Slack channel

Notify your team whenever a new Slack channel is added

Sometimes I’ll add a new channel and don’t want to force people in my teams into it.

If you’re using many of these Zaps, you’re going to get a lot of new channels springing up all over the place.

But don’t manually send channel messages. Instead, create a hub that allows others to know it’s available automatically.

Everyone will thank you for this.

Try the New Slack Channel Zap

10 – New Slack custom emoji

To finish off this list, I’m sharing my favorite Zaps.

Forget your workflow. Forget sorting tasks and trying to connect Gmail and other Google tools. Throw away your calendar apps, data trigger messages, note channels, and social media posts.

I’m talking about new emojis in the chat!

Conga Parrot, anyone?

I felt behind the times when my team added these and I didn’t know.

When used properly, emojis are the heart of a functioning Slack channel.

Emojis make everything lighter and the platform more pleasurable to use, so choose wisely and make the most of them! They’ll certainly make the most boring workflow a little more colorful.