Automate your CRM in Gmail

Managing a business or team can pull you in a lot of different directions. One way to save time and avoid being spread too thin is to find efficiencies in your daily processes. For example, where are you losing momentum from context switching? What tasks or behaviors are repetitive and manual?

Streak eliminates context switching by putting your CRM in Gmail, where you already spend much of your day. This allows you to track details about sales, hiring, fundraising, and your other opportunities in a pipeline that’s right inside your inbox. 
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Once people start tracking opportunities in Streak, a natural next step is to connect to the other tools and systems they use to automate their process end to end. Native integrations offer a way to string together your workflow and transfer data from one tool to another without additional time or effort, and without leaving Streak.

For apps that aren't currently offered as a native integration in Streak, Zapier helps our customers do this with time-saving and error-reducing automations.

<a href="#how-to-use-native-integrations" class="anchor-link">How to use native integrations and automation to automate your CRM in Gmail</a>
<a href="#zapier-automate-crm-gmail" class="anchor-link">Using Zapier to automate your CRM in Gmail</a>
<a href="#benefits-of-automating-crm" class="anchor-link">Benefits of automating your CRM</a>

• <a href="#save-time-on-repetitive-tasks" class="anchor-link">Saving time on repetitive tasks</a>
• <a href="#increase-accuracy-in-your-crm" class"anchor-link">Increasing accuracy in your CRM</a>
• <a href="#add-structure-to-your-teams-workflow" class="anchor-link">Adding structure to your team's workflow</a>
• <a href="#a-more-consistent-experience" class="anchor-link">A more consistent experience for your customers and contacts</a>

<a href="#resources-and-templates" class="anchor-link">Resources and templates to automate your workflow in Streak</a>

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How can you use native integrations and automation to automate your CRM in Gmail

A native integration or automation means that you can set it up directly in Streak, rather than relying on a third party tool like Zapier to connect applications.

Every automation requires a "trigger", or an event that cues the beginning of the automation, and one or more "actions," which are events that happen when the trigger occurs.

Native integrations mean that you can use triggers that occur in other apps, like Calendly and Typeform, to kick off your automation. You can also use the data in the trigger event - like the date that somebody booked an event in Calendly or a form response in Typeform - in your action steps.

In this example, we have an automation set up with a trigger in Typeform. We're using the lead's form responses to fill in our Streak pipeline and the lead's contact details.

You can also create automations within your Streak workflow, like adding a task or set of tasks to a box when it moves into a new stage.

With native integrations and automation in Streak, you can automate the most repetitive tasks in your workflow without leaving Gmail.

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How can you use Zapier to automate your CRM in Gmail?

Zapier allows you to create automations called Zaps. While the most common integrations and automation are available within Streak, Zapier is a handy tool that allows you to automate a handful of other scenarios in your workflow.

There are two main ways that Zapier can automate your processes and data entry in Streak: 

1. Integrate with thousands of third party applications like Mailchimp, Facebook Lead Ads, or 9,000+ other apps. This allows you to pass information from one app to another and perform an action in Streak, like c a box or adding a contact, when you have new data. 
   

2. Create automations that aren't natively available (yet) in Streak to set your workflow on autopilot. For example, add a recipient to a mail merge when a lead moves to a new stage in your pipeline. 

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Benefits of automating your CRM

Automating your CRM not only saves time day-to-day, but it improves the accuracy of your data and provides a better experience for both your customers and your team. 

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Save time on repetitive tasks

Automating basic tasks and data entry keeps your team focused on important things, like building relationships with your contacts, closing deals, and working on more strategic projects.

Streak's simple method of setting up triggers and actions doesn’t require any coding, so you can automate tasks in minutes and end up saving hours of time. 

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Increase accuracy in your CRM

There’s more room for error when things are done manually. Although we value a human touch in many elements of our work like making a phone call or listening to a customer’s questions, there is an area where automations usually win: data accuracy. 

Automating your data entry helps you eliminate human error and ensures that your CRM is always up to date. Zapier adds new leads while you’re sleeping, creates contacts when you’re getting snacks in the kitchen, and even updates fields in your CRM while you’re on vacation. It also reduces typos and mistakes since it pulls and passes data to your pipelines straight from the source. 

More automation means less errors and less data slipping through the cracks.

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Add structure to your team’s workflow

Imagine creating a workflow that guides you through a process in real time, building consistency and leaving little room for error. Zapier can help you achieve this by automating steps of a process for you and your team, teeing you up for the next task or action at any given point. 

With more of your process automated, you can rely on your memory less and keep your team on the same page - and headed toward success. 

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A more consistent experience for your customers and contacts

Zapier helps your team stay on top of processes and complete tasks in a more streamlined manner. Add new information to your pipelines and respond to updates even if you’re not sitting at your desk. With automated workflows, both the contacts in your pipeline and the team managing your CRM have a more consistent – and better – experience. 

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Resources and templates to automate your workflow in Streak

With thousands of integrations and ways to automate actions within Streak, you can set entire portions of your process on autopilot. The possibilities are endless.

Imagine that a customer is browsing your website outside of business hours and requests more information or a demo. With automation, you can: 

1. Add the new lead to your pipeline and create a contact as soon as you get the request.
2. Add information collected in the form, like team size or use case, to the lead in your pipeline.
3. Assign the new lead to one of your sales reps with a round-robin automation.
4. Send an automated email to the new lead introducing the sales rep and with a link to their calendar to book the demo.
   

Without any manual effort, you’ve replied to the lead while you have their attention and set your sales rep up for success. The data entry and leg-work has been taken care of, so they can focus on preparing for the demo and winning the lead. 

That’s the magic of automations ✨

Looking for more? 

Learn how to build popular automations, get your API key, and more in our Knowledge Base.