How to Use QuickBooks and Zapier to Automate Your Business

You’re a business builder. Not an accountant, and not a developer. The thought of automating the transfer of credit card swipes, online payments, and other transactions to and from your QuickBooks account seems like wishful thinking.

Enter, Zapier.

Zapier automatically connects web apps and transfers data between such apps through APIs—but without the need for code. Each connection is called a Zap and Zapier features more than 100 pre-built Zaps between QuickBooks and apps like Stripe, PayPal, Salesforce, and many more. From automatic transaction data transfer to new customer and vendor setup, QuickBooks Zaps remove manual data transfer between business apps. The Zaps eliminate massive time sinks, and remove the chance of human error.

QuickBooks includes a number of entry points ripe for automated data transfer with other business apps. Any time a new transaction initiates, a new customer is created, or a contact is added, that data is needed by both QuickBooks and other apps used to run your business. Zaps eliminate the need to replicate data creation across different apps.

Zapier uses “triggers” and “actions” as the underlying if/then logic driving Zaps. For instance, a new customer added to a QuickBooks account is a “trigger”. When this “trigger” initiates, a corresponding “action” completes the Zap. A potential “action” that follows a new QuickBooks customer is a new contact created in Base CRM.

QuickBooks can also operate on the “action” side of the Zap. For example, a new Wufoo form submission can act as a “trigger” to create a new contact in your QuickBooks account.

The majority of QuickBooks Zaps fall within three categories: receipt and invoice generation, account setup, and contacts.

Send Receipts and Invoices to and from QuickBooks

There are a number of ways to  automatically generate invoices and sales receipts within a QuickBooks account when a transaction completes inside a third party app.

For example, when a payment is collected through Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, and many other payment solution apps, the payment data can be programmatically transferred, via Zapier, to QuickBooks for sales receipt or invoice generation.

The converse capability is also available. When a new QuickBooks invoice is generated, the invoice data can be sent to a Google Sheets spreadsheet as a new row.

Zapping your way to automatic invoice generation certainly saves time. However, perhaps the more powerful benefit is the removal of human error.Consider the traditional method a populating a QuickBooks invoice with Stripe transaction data, or populating a spreadsheet with a QuickBooks generated invoice. What is involved? Copy and paste? Manual data entry? If the data is transferred by a human process, the process is subject to human error. It’s not a matter of whether an error will occur, but when that error will occur.Automating the transfer of invoice and receipt data between apps removes the error-prone human element. Business owners need to focus on building products and closing sales, not fixing accounting errors.

Additional Zaps that transfer invoices and receipts to and from QuickBooks include:

Create Customers and Vendors in Multiple Accounts at Once

Beyond capturing transaction data between apps, QuickBooks and Zapier can also automate account setup and management.

For instance, new clients and vendors set up in apps like Artichoke, Salesforce and Avaza are automatically set up as new customers or vendors in QuickBooks. Any time you set up a new account in one app, the account is mirrored in the other.

While Zapier made a name for itself by creating Zaps between two apps, Multi-Step Zaps are also available. This allows new accounts to be set up across multiple apps all at once.

Additionally, new accounts can also be automatically added to QuickBooks from web form apps like Wufoo or Gravity Forms. After a user populates a web form with contact information, that information is Zapped to QuickBooks as a new vendor, customer, or other account designation.

Additional Zaps that automate account setup between QuickBooks and third party apps include:

Manage One Customer Database in Every Application

How many different places do you store contact information? Email, phone, CRM, task managers, accounting software—the list goes on. Zapier offers many Zaps that transfer contact information directly to and from QuickBooks. For example, when a new customer is added to QuickBooks, that customer is Zapped into Base CRM as a new contact.

• Connecting contacts from across the business app ecosystem with QuickBooks ensures that your QuickBooks account remains in sync with the most up to date contact information. Other Zaps that share contact setup and data with QuickBooks include Google Contacts, Zoho CRM, Automational, AdctiveDEMAND, and Zoho Recruit.While most of the QuickBooks Zaps automate the sharing of transactional data, customer setup, and contact information, Zapier has paired some apps with QuickBooks in a manner that delivers a truly unique user experience. For instance, the QuickBooks-RightSignature Zap embeds RightSignature templates directly within a QuickBooks invoice. In turn, any QuickBooks generated invoice is ready for signature. The QuickBooks-Thankster Zap automatically sends a handwritten card to a customer when a new sale is logged in QuickBooks.

Wondering how to Set up Zaps?

Creating a new Zap is simple. To start, you must provide your app account information to Zapier to “connect the account”:

Next, explore the plethora of Zaps that connect QuickBooks to third party apps. Zapier currently supports around 100 Zaps that connect QuickBooks with business apps. Once a Zap is created, and named, you can track your current Zaps and turn them on and off under the Zaps tab:

For those ready to dive into the pool of QuickBooks Zaps, check out Zapier’s QuickBooks integration page.