10 Prompts for Automating Workflows with Make, n8n, and Zapier
Automation is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity for modern businesses. Platforms like Make (formerly Integromat), n8n, and Zapier have democratized workflow automation, allowing anyone to connect apps, transform data, and trigger actions without writing a line of code. But even with these powerful tools, knowing what to automate and how to structure it can be challenging. This article provides 10 ready-to-use prompts for common automation scenarios, covering data sync, notifications, CRM updates, and more. Each prompt is designed to be copy-pasted into your automation platform's configuration, with explanations and examples to help you adapt them to your needs.
1. Sync New Form Submissions to a Database
Task: Capture new entries from Google Forms (or Typeform) and add them to a Google Sheets or Airtable database. This is essential for lead generation, survey collection, or event registrations.
Prompt (for Zapier/Make/n8n):
Trigger: New form submission (Google Forms / Typeform)
Action: Add row to spreadsheet (Google Sheets / Airtable)
Mapping:
- Timestamp -> Column A
- Full Name -> Column B
- Email -> Column C
- Phone -> Column D
- Message -> Column E
Example: A marketing team collects webinar signups via Typeform. Each submission automatically populates a Google Sheet, which becomes the source for email campaign tools. This eliminates manual data entry and reduces errors.
2. Send Custom Slack Notifications for High-Priority Emails
Task: Monitor a shared email inbox (Gmail or Outlook) and send a Slack message only when an email contains specific keywords like "urgent" or "complaint."
Prompt (for Make/n8n):
Trigger: New email in inbox (filter: subject or body contains 'urgent' OR 'complaint')
Check: Email body includes keyword → proceed
Action: Send message to Slack channel #support-alerts with:
- Subject: [email subject]
- From: [sender email]
- Preview: [first 100 chars]
- Link to email
Example: A customer support team reduces response time by instantly notifying agents about critical issues. They avoid noise by filtering out routine messages.
3. Automatically Create Tasks from Incoming Invoices
Task: When a new invoice PDF arrives via email (Gmail/Outlook), extract the invoice number and amount, then create a task in Asana or Trello for the finance team.
Prompt (for n8n with AI parsing or Make with Text Parser):
Trigger: Email with attachment (PDF, label 'invoice')
Step 1: Download attachment
Step 2: Extract text from PDF (use OCR or Text Parser)
Step 3: Parse invoice number using regex /Invoice #:\s*([A-Z0-9]+)/
Step 4: Parse total amount /Total:\s*\$?(\d+\.\d{2})/
Action: Create task in Asana with:
- Name: 'Process Invoice [invoice number]'
- Description: 'Amount: [amount]. Review and approve.'
- Assignee: Finance Team
Example: A small accounting firm processes dozens of invoices weekly. This automation saves hours by eliminating manual task creation.
4. Backup New WordPress Posts to a Secondary Platform
Task: Whenever a new post is published on WordPress, automatically create a copy on Medium or LinkedIn Articles (or save as a Google Doc).
Prompt (for Zapier):
Trigger: New post in WordPress (status = published)
Action: Create document in Google Docs (or article on Medium)
Mapping:
- Title -> Document Title
- Content -> Body (convert to Markdown)
- Categories -> Tags
- Featured Image -> Insert image at top
Example: A content team maintains a blog on WordPress but wants cross-posting to Medium for broader reach. This automation ensures consistency without manual copying.
5. Enrich Leads with Company Data
Task: When a new lead enters your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce), use an API (Clearbit or Hunter.io) to enrich the record with company size, industry, and social links.
Prompt (for Make/n8n with HTTP module):
Trigger: New contact in CRM (HubSpot / Salesforce)
Step 1: Extract company domain from email (e.g., user@company.com -> company.com)
Step 2: Call Clearbit API: GET https://company.clearbit.com/v2/companies/find?domain=[domain]
Step 3: Parse response: industry, employees, linkedin_url
Action: Update CRM contact with:
- custom field 'Industry' -> [industry]
- custom field 'Company Size' -> [employees]
- custom field 'LinkedIn' -> [linkedin_url]
Example: A sales team in B2B uses enriched data to prioritize leads from high-growth industries, increasing conversion rates.
6. Daily Digest of Key Metrics
Task: Every morning at 8 AM, pull data from Google Analytics, Stripe, and Salesforce, then compile a summary email or Slack message.
Prompt (for n8n with schedule trigger):
Trigger: Cron schedule – Every day at 08:00
Step 1: Fetch Google Analytics data – sessions, users, bounce rate for yesterday
Step 2: Fetch Stripe data – revenue, new subscriptions for yesterday
Step 3: Fetch Salesforce data – new leads, opportunities closed for yesterday
Step 4: Compose message:
- '📊 Daily Report for [yesterday]:'
- 'GA: [sessions] sessions, [users] users'
- 'Stripe: $[revenue] revenue'
- 'Salesforce: [new_leads] leads, [closed] closed deals'
Action: Send email to team@company.com
Example: A CEO gets a bird’s-eye view of business performance without logging into multiple dashboards.
7. Auto-Assign Support Tickets Based on Language
Task: When a new ticket arrives in Zendesk or Freshdesk, detect the language of the message (using Google Translate or a simple keyword check) and assign it to the appropriate support team.
Prompt (for Make with Language Detector):
Trigger: New ticket in Zendesk
Step 1: Get ticket description
Step 2: Detect language using Google Cloud Translation API
Step 3: If language == 'es' → assign to Spanish team; if 'fr' → French team; else → English team
Action: Update ticket with group assignment
Example: A global SaaS company improved first-response time by 40% by routing tickets to native-speaking agents automatically.
8. Send Personalized Birthday Emails
Task: Check a Google Sheet of contacts with birth dates daily. If today matches any date, send a personalized email via Gmail or SendGrid.
Prompt (for Zapier):
Trigger: Daily schedule
Step 1: Look up rows in Google Sheet where birthday = today
Step 2: For each match:
- Compose email: 'Happy Birthday [Name]! Enjoy 20% off your next purchase with code BDAY20.'
Action: Send email via Gmail
Example: An e-commerce store increases customer loyalty by automating birthday offers, resulting in a 15% lift in repeat purchases.
9. Cross-Post Social Media Content
Task: When a new post is published on Instagram (via a trigger like webhook or RSS), automatically share it to Twitter and LinkedIn with a shortened link.
Prompt (for n8n with Twitter and LinkedIn nodes):
Trigger: New Instagram post (via RSS feed of Instagram account)
Step 1: Extract image URL and caption
Step 2: Shorten URL using Bitly
Step 3: Compose tweet: '[caption] [short_link]'
Step 4: Compose LinkedIn post: '[caption] [short_link]'
Action: Post to Twitter and LinkedIn
Example: A social media manager saves 2 hours per week by automating cross-posting without sacrificing platform-specific formatting.
10. Create Invoices from Stripe Payments
Task: When a Stripe payment succeeds, generate a PDF invoice and send it to the customer via email, then store a copy in Google Drive.
Prompt (for Make/n8n):
Trigger: New payment in Stripe (status = succeeded)
Step 1: Get payment details – amount, currency, customer email, description
Step 2: Generate invoice PDF using a template (e.g., PDF Generator by Make or custom HTML to PDF)
Step 3: Upload PDF to Google Drive folder 'Invoices'
Step 4: Send email to [customer email] with PDF attachment
- Subject: 'Your invoice for [description]'
- Body: 'Thank you for your payment. Your invoice is attached.'
Example: A freelance developer automatically sends professional invoices to clients, reducing administrative overhead.
Conclusion
Automation platforms like Make, n8n, and Zapier empower you to build workflows that save time, reduce errors, and scale your operations. The prompts above are starting points—adapt them to your specific apps, add conditional logic, or chain multiple actions. Whether you're syncing data, sending notifications, or enriching records, the key is to start small and iterate. Begin with one automation this week, and you'll wonder how you ever worked without it.
ASI Biont supports integration with many of these platforms and CRMs via API—learn more at asibiont.com/courses.
Comments