Question

Carry out different actions based on response to questions via email

  • 26 November 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 104 views

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Hello, I'm looking for solution recommendations.  Currently I'm using Zapier with Airtable, Gmail, and webhooks.  In short, I'd like to automate an interaction with customers through email.

Specifically I'd like to support the Airtable base collaborators who are managing the outreach to several clients at a time.  They would select a client to contact, and would trigger sending the email.  What I'm looking for help with is the following steps:  
1. send a "yes or no?" question to a single client
2. get the response back into my base
3. depending on the answer, automate further action.

I've mocked up a simple solution using Zapier actions to send the email with a webhook to catch the response.

The webhook's url is appended with html query parameters that are embedded into yes/no hyperlinks in the email body.  The query params contain the triggering record's ID and the client's response.

When the webhook catches the ping, the triggering record is found and the record updated with the response.  The response then triggers another action.

The challenges I'm hoping to address are:

1. user experience: when the webhook link is clicked by the client, it opens a webpage which can be blank (silent mode) or is the text of a small json object.  Not a great user experience.  Are there platforms which can redirect to a thank you page?  I tried embedding the hyperlinks with the <a> anchor tag's "ping" attribute, but email apps (gmail, etc) strip the attribute out.

2. Is there a way to put a time limit on the yes/no hyperlink (or deactivate it after an initial reply)?  

3. The client base is small and the CSM team responsive so they can handle direct support, but to scale up part of me is concerned about people changing their answer, clicking the wrong link, and wonder if there's a better confirmation flow I could integrate.

4. is there a better package which can handle this kind of individual polling transaction?  I have access to Mailchimp but have just scratched the surface... possibly the Mailchimp api has a solution?

Thanks for your time and consideration reading this.  Happy holidays!


1 reply

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @mixelpix 

Try miniExtensions for Airtable: https://miniextensions.com/

 

Allow people to update some parts of existing records without giving them full access to Airtable

 

Reply