Zapier - Forward Membership Questions' answers to your choice of CRM
For this type of Zapier integration, we're going to connect Skool to popular CRM app Hubspot to create new contacts using the current data outputs from Skool. The caveat here is your "Action" app (the one that receives the data from Skool and takes an action) must be searchable in Zapier which means it's a supported integration:
For more uniformity, let's jump over to the work flow as if had you started from the "Zaps" page as both paths are identical from this point. Starting a new Zap will look like this:
Search for "Skool" for your Trigger app. Then click in the "event" dropdown menu and select "Answered Membership Questions":
Click "continue" and you'll be asked to select your Skool account (typically you have to do this once and then your info is saved for future zaps). Click on "connect new account" which brings up the account access modal:
This is where you'll need to copy that API key from your Zapier settings modal in Skool as well as the back half of your Skool group URL. For the example below, for my Skool group URL "https://skool.com/als-referrals-2732" I just need to copy and paste "als-referrals-2732" in the second box below the API key:
Click "continue" and this modal should disappear (it will display an error if there is something off with your API key or group URL), now you'll see that your Skool account is connected:
Click "continue" to get to the "test trigger" phase.
Important note: to test the trigger, you will need to have had your membership questions answered at least once with that member now in a pending state. This provides Zapier with an outgoing data set to help set up the "action" portion.
Click "test trigger" and Zapier will take a few moments to pull-in the trigger data from the membership question answers. They'll look like this:
Don't worry about the dropdown menu that shows "Answers A" for now. When you have multiple data sets to use as your test, they will be available as options B and C in the dropdown but make no difference to this setup. You can see Skool is sending the create date, member first and last name, a unique transaction ID, and then questions and answers one through three. Here is the corresponding info the admin sees in their members list:
Click continue one last time and you're done setting up Skool as your trigger app! Next, we're going to setup Hubspot as our action. Setup steps are almost identical for setting your action by first looking up and selecting your action app:
After selecting Hubspot I need to choose one of the preset events, and for the purpose of these instructions I want to "create contact":
Clicking continue brings up the account selection menu which works the same as setting up your Skool account. Note that every third party app verifies their accounts differently, so in the case of Hubspot I simply had to provide my login email and password to connect the account:
Important note: at least for the case of Hubspot setup, I needed the fields/categories of my contact list in Hubspot set up in advance for the option to populate those fields to show in the "set up action" section of Zapier. A Hubspot contact list typically defaults to name, email address, and a few other standard fields. Before moving to the next step, I adjusted the fields in my list to mirror the data I'd be receiving from Skool. You can add fields in Hubspot by clicking on "edit columns" on the contacts page, then "create a property," and once that new property is created, you'll need to go to "edit columns" again and select that new property to add to your contact list. More from Hubspot here:
Note that if you get to this step and realize you need to reformat something in the third party app, it's super easy to make your adjustments and go back and re-link your account.
Click "continue" to assign which elements of Skool data you want to populate where:
Because I added "first name," "last name," "first question," "first answer," and so on in my Hubspot list ahead of time, those fields all show as options to populate here. I simply find that field in the list and click into it to see all the data options coming from Skool:
In this case, I click "1. First Name" to populate this field. You can choose multiple items to populate a single field and add punctuation or spacing between them (not necessary in this application but part of the Zapier magic!).
After selecting the appropriate item and closing the dropdown menu, my selection looks like this:
Here is what the rest of the populated fields look like once all completed (and remember it's fine to leave fields blank unless the third party app explicitly requires any - these will show was blockers when trying to publish if not filled out correctly):
When all set I click "continue" to bring up my final test before publishing the zap. There's also a convenient button to "refresh fields" if you made changes in your third party action app and want Zapier to bring up new fields to populate:
When I click "test action," Zapier processes for a bit and then lets me know it sent a test Zap to my Hubspot account moments ago:
Now I want to check my Hubspot contact list to see if it got the goods. Give it a minute or two, but shortly you should see the contact name, question, and answer info port over to your list!
Yay - success! Now I know the connection is set up correctly and I'm ready to set this on autopilot. Now all I need to do is click "publish zap" and name it in the top left corner:
You also see your published zap is "on" but you can toggle it off at any time:
Boom - you are set! Now anytime a potential member filles out and submits my group's membership questions, their name, questions, and answers all port over to my CRM contact list. Zapier typically checks for new data every 10-15 minutes so you'll notice your list refreshes with new info at that cadence.
For troubleshooting any issues that come up during your Zap build, the most important info to confirm from the Skool side is that your API key and group URL are correct. Typically other issues will stem from the Zapier or third party app side with biggest culprits being:
- Required fields in Zapier not populated (or populated with an incorrect data format)
- Third party app account or list not initially set up to accept all incoming data fields
- General formatting (Skool data did not arrive in your third party app as expected) and requires a little tinkering within the "action" setup portion
Some great resources to help you get the most out of Zapier are Zapier University, the Zapier Help Center, and my personal favorite (duh) - the Zapier Community.
Here are a few helpful use cases for this particular Zapier function:
- Create contacts in MailChimp, Sendgrid, or a plethora of other email clients
- Add membership answers to update contacts in your CRM (or create new ones)
- Get an email to your Gmail box whenever someone is accepted into your group (and see their membership answers to learn a bit about them)