6 ways to automate Google Contacts with Zapier

As a business owner, it's wise to have multiple customer acquisition channels—phone calls, website inquiries, social media platforms, referrals—the list goes on. But with customers coming in from different sources, you need a way to store, organize, and manage their contact information. With its ability to sync across devices, Google Contacts is a popular choice for seamless contact management.

But manually updating your address book every time you encounter a potential customer isn't sustainable when you're looking to scale your business. Plus, keeping that customer data in sync with other business-critical tools you use daily might be impossible when managing contacts manually. Instead of wasting time and allowing important customer information to slip through the cracks, consider using automation to streamline your contact management. 

With Zapier, you can create fully automated workflows (we call them Zaps) that connect Google Contacts to other tools in your tech stack to ensure customers' contact data is always where you need it. Here are a few popular ways to automate Google Contacts with Zapier. 

Table of contents 

• Save contacts from appointments

• Create Google Contacts from a spreadsheet

• Back up your contacts

• Turn form submissions into Google Contacts

• Add contacts from leads

• Use webhooks with Google Contacts

Save contacts from appointments

Automatically importing contacts from appointment bookings is a great way to organize your contact list and streamline customer relationship management. For instance, let's say you're providing appointment-based services or booking individual sales demos with Calendly or Acuity Scheduling. Whenever a new appointment is made, you can automatically save their details—like name, email, and phone number—in Google Contacts so the right team member can quickly follow up with a text or email.

Additionally, you can use automation to categorize invitees into specified groups in your Google Contacts based on the appointment type. This way, you can improve segmentation and ensure more targeted communication with contacts.

Create Google Contacts from a spreadsheet

If your business is like most, you probably use a master spreadsheet to store and organize customer information. But what happens when you need to transfer those customer details into a contact management app for outreach? 

Do you spend time copying and pasting each person's details into Google Contacts, wasting valuable time and exposing your data to errors? Why not automate the process instead? 

With these Zaps, you can automatically generate a new contact in Google Contacts whenever a specified Google Sheet or Airtable database is updated with new contact data. 

Back up your contacts

Even though Google Contacts is great for storing contact information, it's not the most flexible when it comes to accessing and organizing that data. Fortunately, you can work around this by backing up your contacts with a spreadsheet app like Airtable or Google Sheets. 

Spreadsheets allow you to bulk edit, sort, and filter contact information more efficiently. But, manually exporting contacts to a spreadsheet is inefficient. Instead, cut the administrative task by using a Zap to automatically import your contact list into a specified spreadsheet. That way, your contacts are always backed up and secure in case of accidental deletion or data loss. Plus, you can easily manipulate large volumes of customer information and migrate your data if you switch to a different contact management tool.

Turn form submissions into Google Contacts

Having potential customers fill out your online form isn't enough. You still need to save their contact information so you can have the most up-to-date information for follow-ups and personalized communication. Instead of manually exporting form submissions as they come in, automate the process so you can have more time to focus on important follow-ups. 

For instance, you can create an automated workflow that instantly converts new submissions from Google Forms or Typeform into new contacts in Google Contacts. If the contact already exists, the record can also be updated with new information from the form.

Add contacts from leads

When leads and customers come from multiple sources—like social ads, eCommerce platforms, and CRM systems—staying on top of them can be challenging. While each platform might give you ways to store and manage your contacts, maintaining a unified personal record ensures you have access to important customer details no matter where the lead originated. 

But, manually transferring those leads to your Google Contacts account gets tricky if they come in in dozens or hundreds. Plus, when you have too much on your hands, it's easy to overlook a lead or make mistakes. That's where automation comes in. 

With these Zaps, you can automatically create a record in Google Contacts when you get a new lead or customer in your lead generation or CRM platform. That way, you can keep accurate records of every contact and stay organized without relying on third-party platforms to find your customer data. Plus, you'll also have the flexibility of communicating with customers any way you want.

Use webhooks with Google Contacts

Zapier provides lots of ways to automate Google Contacts. But if you're looking for a specific use case that isn't covered by any of the available workflows, you can still create a Zap that connects almost any app to Google Contacts using webhooks. 

Use this Zap to get started:

Simplify contact management with Zapier

Google Contacts is a powerful tool for storing and organizing contact information. But when you connect it to your other business-critical apps with Zapier, you can streamline contact management, sync your data across systems, and make customer information more accessible to various teams. 

And this is just the start of what you can do with Google Contacts and Zapier. What will you automate first?

This article was originally published in July 2023, written by Daniel Kenitz. It was most recently updated in December 2024 by Juliet John.