Automating SMS messages with Google Forms using Zapier
Zapier is a great “no code” product for integrating activities among multiple application platforms. Zapier has many Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce integrations, just to name a few of their bigger players. In fact Zapier has integration connections with over 5,200 tools and applications! In this article we will be focusing on connecting Google Forms and RingCentral SMS. Using Zapier we can either send a message to a set number (for example, an alert to yourself to let you know there has been a new submission) or to a number collected in the form to confirm receipt or respond to customer inquiries.
If you haven’t used Zapier before, read this article for an introduction and steps to set up your Zapier account.
Connecting Google Forms to Zapier
In order to have Zapier interact with Google Forms we have to authenticate a Google account within Zapier. To do that you can create a connection in the “My Apps” section of Zapier or you can authenticate the account at the same time you create your first Zap that will be using Google Forms. We will do it here as part of an initial step in creating a workflow Zap that makes use of a Google Form.
Step 1: create your zap
Click on “Create Zap” to start the process. You should see a screen like the following.
Initially you should name your Zap [1]. So, in our case we will call it “Google Form Submission ==> RingCentral SMS”. Next, [2] we select the app that we want to interact with. You will be shown a list of applications that are popular and some that you may already be connected to. You can also search for new applications, remember there are over 5,200 available to you! In our case we want to locate and use Google Forms. So, if that is not on the offered list, simply search for it. Once found, you should see an update to the screen in figure 1 with Google Forms selected, be sure to select the event as “New Form Response”. You will then be asked to sign into your Google Forms account to authenticate your Google account.
Step 2: select the Google form to monitor
After that is done you will be asked to set up the actual triggering event / form. Zapier searches through your authenticated access and lists all your forms for you on the “Form” drop down list. Figure 2 shows this for an account I own.
On this screen you can see that I have selected “Zapier form test update 1” as the form to be watched for triggering submissions. The form will already have to be created in your Google account in order for it to show up on this list of offerings. Once you select the form to react to click continue to test your newly created trigger and then move on to the next step.
Step 3: set up the RingCentral SMS action
As an action to the trigger of a Google Form being submitted we will connect to the RingCentral app and use it to generate an SMS message. This can be useful, for example, if someone is traveling and wants to be notified of form submissions when they are away from their main email account.
So select the RingCentral app as the application that we want to be part of the triggered action. As before, if it is not on the list you can search for it. If you are not already authenticated within Zapier you will have to take that detour here as well. Since I am already authenticated, I simply have to select the event once I have selected the app. The event will be “Send SMS” and you can find it on the drop-down list. Click continue. Select the account that you want to use and click continue again.
Take a look at figure 3. Following the choice of action and desired account, you need to select one of the valid phone numbers [1] associated with the account to act as the outgoing SMS phone number.
Each account can use one or more actual phone numbers. Naturally, you also need to inform Zapier where you want the SMS message to go to, so you need to provide that as well [2]. The target phone number can be taken from a list of recent numbers used by your RingCentral account, one of your Google Form fields, or you can enter a custom number.
The actual text that you want to send out when there is a submitted form should be provided next [3]. It is important to note that Google Forms keeps track of a lot of data points on submitted forms so a list of these data items are offered to you when crafting the text of the SMS [4]. You can also combine your own text with this data. Click continue when you are ready. You will be asked to test your newly crafted action, so do that and continue. The target phone number (phone number to) should now get an actual test text message that looks similar to figure 4.
Step 4: publish your Zap
The last step to take is to publish your “Zap”. Once that is done you should now have a new “Zap” on your dashboard that looks like figure 5.
Now the next time you happen to have a Google Form submission you will get an SMS message to that effect.
Keep in mind that the free version of Zapier only processes its active Zaps every 15 minutes so there will likely be a lag between the submitted form and delivery of the generated SMS. Be sure to play with the many combos that could save you time and grief and put Zapier to work for you.
Please let us know what you think by leaving your questions and comments below. To learn about RingCentral features make sure to visit our developer site and if you’re ever stuck make sure to go to our developer forum.
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