The first version of Zapier integrated with just 34 apps. Now, just a decade later, we've scaled our partner ecosystem to 5,000 apps—the most integrations of any automation tool on the market.
This is a massive celebration for Zapier—and for our customers, who are able to use Zapier regardless of their tech stack—so we wanted to share how we got here. The short answer: automation. We walked the walk and used Zapier and other automation tools to help us onboard new partners, manage partner development, and support partner launches. That way, our team is able to focus on the work that matters most: developing relationships with our amazing partners and making sure our integrations allow our customers to succeed on Zapier.
Here's a peek into the journey a Zapier partner goes through once they've built their Zapier integration.
The journey of a Zapier partner
Once a partner has built their integration, someone from our team approves it, and the app enters our public beta phase. This stage involves a few steps that a partner needs to complete to be fully launched on the platform.
In the past, we sent a generic email to each partner at the beginning of their launch journey. Partners would progress at different paces, and unsurprisingly, things would slip through the cracks. When I started at Zapier just over two years ago, we had 1,500 partners. As our partner pool grew rapidly, we knew we needed to rely on automation to remove human error and allow our small (but mighty!) team to manage such a large scale of integrations.
Here's what we set up.
Automation checks
The first step in the automation overhaul was building out a system that would check each partner's individual progress—daily.
With Webhooks by Zapier and our integration with Copper (the CRM our team uses), our system is able to monitor which steps a partner is missing before they can graduate out of public beta and launch on Zapier.
Dynamic email campaigns
With automation checks in place, we know exactly where different partners are in their beta journey. Using Copper and Email by Zapier, we're able to trigger dynamic emails, depending on which qualifications partners have left to meet.
This simple automation had a multiplier effect on our ability to connect with and respond to partners as they progressed through their launch journey.
Notifications for launch
Once partners have completed the launch checklist, they're ready to leave beta. We set up a Zap that automatically notifies us on Slack when an app has officially qualified—from there, we remove the beta tags, and the partner officially becomes a member of our Partner Program.
Marketing content
We love sharing in our partners' successes, so we want to make a splash about the partner in our marketing campaigns. When the beta tag gets removed, Zapier triggers an email to the partner, letting them know when they can expect their announcement to go live. The same trigger also sends a digest to our content team to refer to when they're writing the blog article announcing launches each month.
Build for the future
Scaling is a challenge for any organization, but automation can bear the brunt of these growing pains. Setting up thoughtful processes ahead of time has allowed us to grow quickly without sacrificing the quality of our relationships or integrations.
The robots did the busywork, but it was our team—and our incredible partners—that allowed us to get to this milestone of 5,000 partner apps. A big thanks to our brilliant Partner Operations and Partner Marketing teams, our amazing PMs and engineers, and our collaborative Partnerships team. And of course, thank you to each and every one of our 5,000 partner apps who've been part of this journey.
Want to join 5,000 other apps on the Zapier platform? We'd love to have you. Start here!
