JDCS
The quick summary Your first automations, in one page.
An automation is "when this happens, do these things in order." The trigger is the when (a form, an email, a schedule). The actions are the things (save a contact, send an email, add a row). Data flows down the chain, so each step uses what came before. A filter gates the flow where needed.
Build with Make (visual, easy to see) or Zapier (the close alternative), plus an OpenAI or Claude step and your everyday apps: a form, Gmail, Google Sheets, a CRM. Start on free or low-cost plans. When cost or complexity outgrow them, graduate to n8n.
- Sketch it: write the flow as one plain sentence first. That's your blueprint.
- Connect each app: authorise the form, email, sheet and CRM, once each.
- Map the data: point each field from the trigger into the right box on every action. Never retype.
- Test one record: run a single test enquiry and follow it through every app. Fix the mapping, rerun.
- Give it a role: "You sort incoming enquiries."
- Give it the text: map the message in.
- Pin the format: "Reply with one word: sales, support or other." A fixed output is safe to route on.
- Human check on anything customer-facing, factual or money-related. Draft, then a person approves.
- Add a retry and turn on failure alerts, so a flow never fails silently.
- Test the awkward cases, then watch the run history for the first week.
- Costs are by volume: Make counts operations, Zapier counts tasks, AI is cents per run. Start small.
- 1. ......................................................
- 2. ......................................................
- 3. ......................................................
Ship one reliable flow (usually lead follow-up), prove it against the old way, then add the next. Three solid automations beat ten half-finished ones.