The 5 Simplest Ways to Automate Everyday Processes Using Make.com or Zapier

Running a small to medium-sized business means juggling countless tasks on a daily basis. While these tasks are essential, many of them are repetitive and time-consuming. That’s where automation tools like Make.com and Zapier come in. With just a few clicks, you can automate many of your everyday processes, saving time and allowing you to focus on what really matters—growing your business.

Here are five of the simplest, most effective ways to automate everyday tasks using these platforms:

1. Automate Your Email Follow-Ups Sending follow-up emails manually is tedious, and it’s easy to forget to follow up with important contacts. With Make.com or Zapier, you can automate email follow-ups. For instance, after someone fills in a form on your website or signs up for a newsletter, you can set up a workflow to automatically send them a personalised follow-up email a few days later. This not only saves you time but ensures no lead or customer falls through the cracks.

2. Sync Your Contacts Between Apps If you’re using different tools to manage your business, such as a CRM, email marketing platform, and invoicing software, keeping your contacts up to date across all systems can be a headache. Automating this process ensures that when you add or update a contact in one app, it’s instantly updated across all your other platforms. Whether you use Google Contacts, HubSpot, or Mailchimp, automation helps keep everything in sync without the manual data entry.

3. Automate Social Media Posting Keeping your social media active and engaging is key for any business, but posting manually can be time-consuming. By setting up automations with Zapier or Make.com, you can connect your blog or content management system (CMS) to your social media channels. For example, when you publish a new blog post on your website, you can automatically share it across your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts. This saves you the hassle of logging into each platform to post.

4. Automatically Create Invoices For businesses that send invoices regularly, automating this process can be a game-changer. With Make.com or Zapier, you can connect your CRM or e-commerce platform to your invoicing software (like Xero or QuickBooks). Whenever a new sale is made or a project is completed, an invoice can be automatically generated and sent to your customer, removing the need to manually create and send invoices.

5. Track and Organise Your To-Do Lists Many businesses rely on to-do lists to stay organised. However, manually updating these lists can slow you down. By using automation, you can set up workflows to create tasks in your favourite project management tools (like Trello or Asana) based on triggers from other apps. For example, when you receive an email marked as important, a task can automatically be created in your project management tool with the details from the email, ensuring you never miss important actions.

Automation doesn’t have to be complicated, especially with user-friendly tools like Make.com and Zapier. These simple automations can streamline your day-to-day processes, freeing up time for the bigger picture. Whether it’s syncing contacts, automating follow-ups, or keeping your to-do lists in check, small businesses can greatly benefit from these small but impactful automations.