an automation, a Zapier workflow or a Zap workflow
A Zap is an automated workflow in Zapier: one trigger in one app, then one or more actions in other apps, running in the background without anyone touching it.
A Zap is Zapier's name for an automation. Something happens in one app, and Zapier does something about it in another. No copying, no pasting, no one remembering to do it on a Friday afternoon.
Every Zap has two parts. The trigger is the event that starts it, like a new website enquiry or a deal moving to Won. The actions are what happens next, like creating the contact in your CRM, setting up a task in ClickUp and pinging the team in Slack.
Once a Zap is switched on, it runs on Zapier's servers in the background. Your laptop can be shut. You can be on the beach. It just keeps going until you switch it off.
A Zap with one trigger and one action is a two-step Zap, and that's what the Free plan runs. Anything longer is a multi-step Zap, which needs a paid plan.
I build Zaps inside my client's own Zapier account wherever I can, so they own them from day one. Then I name each step in plain English, so anyone opening it can read it top to bottom like a recipe.
For Ground Tech, I built Zaps to sit alongside their ClickUp workspace: one to find or create the contact for each new deal, one to move deals that go quiet for 14 days to Cold, and one to work out the deal's reporting value when it's won. The aim is that nobody has to remember any of it.
The goal is always to hand over the keys. When I hand over, every client gets a workflow diagram of their automations and a step-by-step guide to running them. I want the person I train to open their Zaps and think, yeah, I could build the next one of these.
3 tasks each time it runs. 100 enquiries a month uses 300 tasks.
No. A Zap is the whole workflow. A task is one successful action inside it. The Zap above uses three tasks every time it runs, because it has three actions.
As many as you like. Zapier's pricing page lists unlimited Zaps on every plan, including Free. What you pay for is tasks, and on Free you're limited to two-step Zaps.
No. Every Zap has exactly one trigger. If two different events need the same steps, I build two small Zaps. Inside a Zap, I use Paths and Filters to handle different cases, because they don't use tasks.
Yes. Zaps run on Zapier's servers, not on your computer, so they keep going until you switch them off, or until you hit your task limit with pay-per-task off.
I set these up and train your team, in your own ClickUp or Zapier account.
Book a callContact Jack - jack@withtoki.co.uk