How to ask a great question in the Zapier Community (and get a great answer)

  • 9 February 2021
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If you’re going to ask a question, give yourself the best shot of getting replies and resolving your issue as quickly as possible.

Be descriptive and include helpful details

If all you write is “My filter step isn’t working” you will inevitably have someone respond asking you for more details. Imagine what someone might ask you based on what you wrote. If there are unanswered questions that you could be proactive about, please include that information.

For example, with the filter step above you could include a screenshot of the Zap, or of the Zap History, explain when it works and when it doesn’t, explain what you’ve tried so far, when the problem started, etc.

If you’re seeing a particular error message, please include it

Instead of: “My Quickbooks Zap is broken- HELP!”
Try providing some context so that you receive better, more timely assistance: When I test my QuickBooks step in the Zap Editor I get this error message:”

Make it easy for others to help you

Ask yourself:

What would I want to see in someone else’s question that would encourage me to help them? 

It’s good to add some important details, but if you have long blocks of text or tons of screenshots it’s possible that people will get overwhelmed and not be able to get the most important information from your post.

Include screenshots (but only if they’ll be useful)

If there’s a particular set of a Zap that you’re stuck on, or you’re seeing a long error message, including a screenshot will give others a better chance of helping you with your issue. As mentioned above, be careful not to include too many screenshots. 

NOTE: Please do not include personally identifiable information! This include things like email addresses, names, credit card numbers, etc. 

The Bottom Line 

Give everyone the best possible chance of being able to answer your question without having to go back and forth a bunch of times. That will end up taking longer and it’s easy for people to lose track of replies, in which case you may miss out on someone’s amazing answer. If someone is responding to multiple Community posts, it’s possible that yours can be missed. So do your best to provide the necessary details from the start :)


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