Make Surveys Simple

Name Your Busy Work

One of my favorite things is helping people identify tasks they wish they didn't have to do. Recently, I worked with someone who had to survey 20-25 volunteers each month. This involved sending forms, gathering data, and sending reminders - a lot of manual work across different systems!

Core Values

These are easy but here is how it stacks up.

Time is Precious: This automation saves a significant amount of time by eliminating manual tasks and streamlining the survey process.

Always On Support: The automation runs consistently, ensuring surveys are sent out on time, even if the person in charge is unavailable.

Quality and Consistency: The automation ensures consistent messaging and accurate data collection, improving the quality of the survey process.

People First: By automating tedious tasks, this solution frees up time for staff to focus on more meaningful work and provide better support to volunteers..

This Month’s Highlight: Volunteer Surveys

Process

Volunteers take a survey once a year, starting six months into the program. Each month, the automation queries Salesforce to identify who needs to receive the survey. Then, it sends out automated texts and emails, with reminders sent up to three more times or until the survey is completed. The data is then compiled into a Zapier Table for analysis.

The Automation

A couple of key features in this automation are worth highlighting:

(1) Looping.

This is a feature in Zapier called "looping" that allows me to repeat steps of a process for individual items. So, this automation runs each day, looking for who needs to receive the survey. Once it returns that list, a loop starts for each record that needs to receive the surveys and reminders. This is one of those things that feels like magic. Truly...it's simple but it makes all of these automations where you query data possible.

(2) Code Step.

I'll be the first to admit: I can't code. At all. However, Zapier has this fantastic "code step" that makes even complex tasks super easy. For instance, one of the surveys goes to volunteers who are leaving the program. We track their reason for leaving in Salesforce, and there are different messages based on that reason. There are about 20 different reasons, and creating filters for each one would be incredibly time-consuming. This is where the code step comes in. Zapier even has AI that helps you set it up! I briefly explain what I want, add the data, and 30 seconds later, I have a fully functional JavaScript that saves me a ton of work. I love when I can automate the automating!

The Data

Have I mentioned I am a big fan of Zapier? For this automation, I am using Zaps, Tables, and Agents to get the job done. Not only does it automate the process, but it also helps analyze the data for me.

All the surveys dump into a Zapier Table, and I've created an AI Agent that analyzes the data. Right now, it sends monthly summaries with key insights and any concerns to my email. It also provides quarterly data summaries to the person who reviews the data for leadership team meetings. As we build this out more, they will be able to get exactly the data they need for their notes.

Tools Used

Zapier (Zaps, Tables, Agents, Generate Code with AI)

Dialpad

Salesforce

Outlook (Email)

Excel

Form Assembly

Want to learn more about automating your workflow? Contact me for a free consultation!

Also, just because I think it is fun, a picture of the full automation is below. Note, just because an automation is super long, does not mean it is better or more complicated. Some of my most powerful automations run in just a few steps. Still, I think these look cool.