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Best answer

Zapier Paths Performing Only One of the Two Actions

When Jess Zaps

Hi Everyone! I have some conditional actions that should be working like this:

 

  1. Lead fills out a form and gets added to our Google Sheet
  2. A Google Sheet “Lookup” of the phone number is performed to see if the lead has previously contacted us before
    1. If they have not contacted us before they get an initial welcome text (new lead text)
    2. If they have contacted us before, they get a follow up text about the new thing they’ve inquired about (existing customer text)

SEE BELOW

 

WHAT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING

Everyone is getting the “existing customer” message and I’m not sure why. I’m wondering if I’ve accidentally created a loop of some kind.

Anyone know how I can fix this?

I wonder if it has anything to do with what I have selected below:

 

Best answer by shalgrim

Hey Jess,

Just switching to top-down won’t fix the problem alone. You’ll need to change how your paths are determined. The real problem is that you’re triggering off of a lead being added to a sheet, then checking the very same sheet for that same data. But by definition it will always be there.

Ideally you’d be triggering on a sheet (or some other source) that’s different from the source before the sheet, and then you’d add it to the sheet only if it’s not in the sheet. 

But, in the way it’s set up, if you want to change it so you’re comparing Step 1 ID to Step 2 ID you have to click on the fields on both sides of the comparison and set one of them to ID from Step 1 and the other to ID from Step 2. Making that change plus the change to top-down from bottom-up should fix it. The last thing to note is that the New Lead path is where the IDs are equal. The Existing Lead path is where they’re different.

https://cdn.zappy.app/213065d2b942e70e0900a1c62df39f16.png

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4 replies

Troy Tessalone
Forum|alt.badge.img+14

Hi @When Jess Zaps 

Good question.

We’d need to see detailed screenshots with how your Filter steps in each Path are configured, thanks.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
shalgrim
Forum|alt.badge.img+8
  • shalgrimZapier Staff
  • Zapier Staff
  • 406 replies
  • March 21, 2023

Hey @When Jess Zaps ,

It looks like Step 1 triggers off of a new row in a worksheet, and then Step 2 looks for that user in the same worksheet. But by definition, that user will always be there since Step 1 put that data there.

One way I can think to fix this would be to search from the top down and then in Step 3 you should compare the row id from both step 1 and step 2. If they’re the same, then you’ve got a new lead. If they’re different then you’ve already seen this person before.

Let me know how that goes!

When Jess Zaps
shalgrim wrote:

Hey @When Jess Zaps ,

It looks like Step 1 triggers off of a new row in a worksheet, and then Step 2 looks for that user in the same worksheet. But by definition, that user will always be there since Step 1 put that data there.

One way I can think to fix this would be to search from the top down and then in Step 3 you should compare the row id from both step 1 and step 2. If they’re the same, then you’ve got a new lead. If they’re different then you’ve already seen this person before.

Let me know how that goes!

I knew I was creating a problem for myself in that last screenshot! I’ve changed it to search from the top up. Is there an article I can use to read up on how to compare row ids? I’m terrible with search steps. That’s kind of how we ended up here, haha!

shalgrim
Forum|alt.badge.img+8
  • shalgrimZapier Staff
  • Zapier Staff
  • 406 replies
  • Answer
  • March 22, 2023

Hey Jess,

Just switching to top-down won’t fix the problem alone. You’ll need to change how your paths are determined. The real problem is that you’re triggering off of a lead being added to a sheet, then checking the very same sheet for that same data. But by definition it will always be there.

Ideally you’d be triggering on a sheet (or some other source) that’s different from the source before the sheet, and then you’d add it to the sheet only if it’s not in the sheet. 

But, in the way it’s set up, if you want to change it so you’re comparing Step 1 ID to Step 2 ID you have to click on the fields on both sides of the comparison and set one of them to ID from Step 1 and the other to ID from Step 2. Making that change plus the change to top-down from bottom-up should fix it. The last thing to note is that the New Lead path is where the IDs are equal. The Existing Lead path is where they’re different.

https://cdn.zappy.app/213065d2b942e70e0900a1c62df39f16.png

When Jess Zaps
1 person likes this
  • When Jess Zaps
    When Jess Zaps
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