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  • Zap request: Alert by e-mail when contact submits the same form twice in a short span of time

Dear Zapier community

 

I’m attempting to create a Zap flow, which alerts me by e-mail, when one contact submits the same form within an interval of 30 minutes.

I’ve tried working with the Zapier platform, but I cannot identify a solution which allows me to condition based on a double submission within the interval.

 

Any ideas on how to work around this issue would gladly be accepted.

 

Best regards,

Frederik

Hi @Frederik Flodgaard 

I believe this is possible with a bit of a workaround.

My idea would be to take the form submission data and place it into a google sheet.

You would need at least a unique column for something like their email address and a column for the timestamp of when the form was filled out.

The flow would look something like this:

Trigger: Hubspot (New Form Submitted)

Action: Find Google Sheet Row (based on email) 

Action: Paths by Zapier

Path 1

Action: Filter: Timestamp Exists

Action: Zapier Formatter Utility Step: Compare Dates

Action: Update Google sheet row with new timestamp

Action: Filter: Time difference less than 30 minutes

Action: Send email

Path 2

Action: Filter - Timestamp Does NOT Exist

Action: Create Google sheet row with email and timestamp

 

 

If the timestamp is not coming in the trigger step you could use the time that the zap runs.

Hi @GetUWired 

 

Thank you for reaching back to me. 

It seems like you crafted a smart flow, though I see an issue due to the lack of real-time detection when using a Google Sheet. Having to manually export submissions from time to time to a Google Sheet won’t work, as this is too time consuming and something that won’t be archievable on a regular time schedule. 

 

Basically, I need to be able to identify double submissions ASAP, which I’m afraid cannot be automated using a Google Sheet. Or maybe it’s possible with an additional Zapier flow, which exports submission data to a Google Sheet? 

 

Please feel free to let me know if I’m in the wrong.

 

Best regards,

Frederik

Hi @Frederik Flodgaard 

You wouldn’t be updating the Google sheet manually.  Zapier would be updating/creating the columns when someone submits a form.

Exporting submission data to the sheet is part of the workflow that I laid out.

Hope that helps!

Hi again @GetUWired 

 

Okay, thanks for the response. Though I cannot locate any timestamp field on the records, and thus I cannot export any timestamp data to the sheet. The form only collects basic properties such as name, phone, number, email, but no ID’s on timestamps.

 

Best regards,

Frederik

Hi again @Frederik Flodgaard 

 

Since you can’t get any timestamps from the trigger, I recommend using something like {zap_meta_human_now} for the timestamp field.

Basically, you would be using the time that the zap runs as the timestamp.  

Please check out this article for more information.

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