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Question

How can I transform data and send it back to the user?

  • 8 December 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 107 views
K
Userlevel 2

I’m using zapier to integrate with a few tools to collect data from my users and then transform that data and spit it back to the user. So, user inputs data with a google form or chat bot (google forms, collect.chat, whatever) and my zap does things using cloud tools, and then at the end of the zap i have some (text) data that i really want to share back with the end user.

The data ends up being 4/5 paragraphs in size.

This is happening on a wordpress site, if that helps matters. At the moment it’s a chat link our user clicks to open that up and give it data, but it could be anything like a google form embedded, a ninja form, whatever. Just trying to brainstorm ways to get the data BACK to them.

I’m trying to come up with something other than “send them an email with the info”, although that will work and it’s my fall back. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas?

One thing that occurred to me was creating a google doc, adding the user as an editor, and giving them the link to said doc -- but then I was a bit back where I started, emailing them said link? Any better ideas?

 

This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

4 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @kevinhtre 

Good question.

You’ll probably want to email the user or send and SMS to the user

Both with a link to the generated GDoc

Why?

Because what if the chat ends, you still want some way to communicate the info back to the user

You can do that if you have collected their email and/or phone number

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
K
Userlevel 2

Hi @kevinhtre 

Good question.

You’ll probably want to email the user or send and SMS to the user

Both with a link to the generated GDoc

Why?

Because what if the chat ends, you still want some way to communicate the info back to the user

You can do that if you have collected their email and/or phone number

Thanks so much for answering! Any thoughts of a good way to get them the info back that is NOT an email or a generated GDoc? I was hoping someone might say “hey you know you could….” with some app I hadn’t thought of or method :) Thanks again!!!

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@kevinhtre 

Really depends on the nature of the info, but regardless, you’re likely going to be sending them some sort of link to say “hey, go here to get your info”, whether that is a link to a GDoc, a link to an app, a link to a webpage, etc.

That is unless you are going to physically mail them their info.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
nicksimard
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hey @kevinhtre!

Something hacky I’ve built before uses any form that allows you to display a custom response after submission that can use data from the form itself, then WordPress as the mechanism to display the thing.

Simplified explanation of how it works:

I used Paperform as the trigger, the form gets filled out, I then use one of the fields to construct a URL that I display to the user after submission.

For example, if I ask first name I might end up with something like this after they submit.

Thanks, Nick! In a few moments, you’ll see your result here: https://theurl.com/Nick.

The Zap triggers on the form submission, runs data through the other actions, then creates a post on the WordPress site with the slug that matches what I display to the user.

It’s not 100% instant, but with Paperform you can add an image to the post-submission page so you could make it an animated gif that simulates “processing”.

Then not long after the person has submitted the form they can go to the URL that I knew I was creating, to find whatever I’ve added there. 

Again, it’s pretty hacky but outside of building a web app that can return data right there on the page, this is one relatively easy way to tackle it.

NOTE: I’m currently chatting with Softr’s support team to see about doing this in Softr using one of their forms, running it through a Zap, then displaying a custom image back on the Softr site. If I get this working I’ll let you know, as that would be another approach.

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