Integration overview

Zapier gives you the ability to connect Lob to thousands of other business tools - like Slack, MailChimp, Gmail, and Trello - to automate your tedious workflows. In just minutes, you can set up automated Zaps to correct, standardize, and enrich addresses, as well as send automated letters or postcards using Triggers from pre-built integrations.

• Zapier integrates Lob with thousands of other business applications
• Set up automations, called 'Zaps', to automate repetitive tasks
• No coding required
• Sign up for a free Zapier account to create automated workflows
• Zapier integrations are great for sending mail at small scale, instead of manually, but are not a replacement for a proper integration when sending mail in large batches (hundreds/thousands).
• If you are passing in links to image files for your content, use a high availability service like S3 to avoid issues with timeouts. If we are unable to access your content it will not render properly.

Integration directions

Integrate with Zapier in 4 simple steps:

1. Sign up for Lob and Zapier accounts
2. Connect Lob to Zapier, within the Zapier interface
3. Connect any other apps/services (for example, where you store customer data) to Zapier, in order to then connect them with Lob
4. Create custom workflows or leverage popular automations with pre-existing Zaps 

Every Zap requires one connected app to be used as the Trigger, which is where your information comes from, and this causes one or more Action steps to occur in other apps, which is where your data gets sent to.

Getting started with Lob & Zapier

Sign up for a free Lob account. You can send Test API requests for free to start, or instantly begin sending real mail by simply adding a payment method to your account.

Sign up for a free Zapier account, where you will begin building the automation. 

Connecting Lob to Zapier

• Log in to your Lob Account
• Log in to your Zapier account
• Navigate to "Connected Accounts" from the top menu bar in Zapier
• Now click on "Connect new account" and search for "Lob"
• Use your Test Lob API Key to connect your Lob account to Zapier
  • Start with your Test API Key so that you can set up and test your Zap without sending live mail initially.
• Once connected, you can start creating an Automation! Use a pre-made Zap, or create your own with the Zap Editor.
• Need inspiration? See everything that's possible with Lob and Zapier
• Once you've tested your first Zap, all that is needed is switch your Lob API key to the Live Key to begin sending actual mail!
  
  

Getting started with Zapier

To help you hit the ground running, you can choose from one of many popular pre-made Zaps:

Other popular workflows

Sending postcards with Google Sheets & Zapier

Use Lob’s Zapier integration to automatically send postcards whenever new users are added to your mailing list.

Before starting, make sure to open accounts with Lob + Google + Zapier before starting to create this automation. Here, we will be using a Google Sheets file as our existing mailing list. This kind of setup significantly reduces the amount of manual work needed to send out mail and can be generalized for a number of different situations.

Stage 1: Setting up Google Sheets as your Trigger event in Zapier

1. From the Zapier home screen, click on a “Make a Zap!” button to get started
2. Select Google Sheets in the dropdown of available Trigger Apps, then Choose Trigger: “New Spreadsheet Row” 
   • This means whenever a new row is created in our Google Sheet, Zapier will take an action on your behalf
3. Connect your Google account to Zapier and give Zapier access to the account
4. Once your account is connected, test out the connection using the “Test” option. If the connection works you will see the grey “Test” box turn into a green “Success!” box.
5. Pick a spreadsheet + worksheet to pull information from
   • As this is the starting point for your automation, make sure that the correct information is being pulled
6. Once a spreadsheet and a worksheet are selected, Zapier will pick a sample row. If the information accurately reflects what is found on the sheet, select the “Continue” option.
7. In the next stage, you will configure the action you want Zapier to take after your trigger is initiated.

Stage 2: Setting up your Action

1. Continue to build your Zap by clicking on the blue “Your Zap currently lacks an Action step. Add one now!” text. Alternatively, you can also click on the “+ Add a Step” button on the left side of your screen.
2. Select Lob to be your Action App.
3. Select “Send Postcard” as the action Lob will take after the Zap is initiated by the Trigger.
4. Connect your Lob account to Zapier and give Zapier access to the account, so it can take action on your behalf.
5. Once connected, you may receive a pop-up instructing you to verify this request by entering your Lob API key. 
   • Use your Lob Test API Key; any requests sent with your Test API key will not cause mail to be sent or charges to be incurred. Once the integration is working, you can return to this step and swap in your Live API Key.
6. Once the API key is passed, you will have the option to test the connection. If you click the “Test” button on the right and everything is valid, then you will see a green “Success!” button.
7. Fill in the appropriate information needed to complete your mail. Note that some fields are optional and others are required.
   • A) The green “Setup Preview” icon allows you to see an example of what your named variable would look like in your Zap. If you do not enable it you will not see an example.
   • B) Be sure to you prepare your content images correctly. For this example, we are inserting HTML of the artwork directly into Zapier for both front and back sides of the postcard.
     • For more information on how to properly set your mail content for Zapier/Lob, see here. Example HTML templates can be found in our Template Gallery. 
     • Alternatively, provide a link to a hosted PDF, PNG, or JPG file
   • C) Add the address that will receive this postcard.
     • We’re going to use Zapier’s named variables function here; this time on the Address.
     • By using the named variable function, Zapier will pull the corresponding information for me every time a new entry is added to the Google Sheet.
   • D) Lob defaults to USPS First Class Mail (a faster option), but standard mail is also an option.

Stage 3: Test the Zap to Confirm

1. Test the entire Zap (From Trigger to Action) by clicking on the "Send Test to Lob" button.
2. Zapier will run a test, and once it runs through successfully you will be notified at the top of the page. An additional alert will tell you how long it’s been since the test was successful.
3. Formally name your Zap and turn it on. If the Zap is not on, then Zapier will not execute against the workflow you set up in Stages 1 + 2).

Setting up webhooks

Use the Zapier integration to automatically set up webhook notifications:

• Lob sends out a webhook when a mailing gets created
• Zapier "catches" the webhook notification
• Zapier notifies you that the mailer was created, scanned, delivered etc.

Support information

Feel free to email contact@zapier.com for issues on the Zapier side, or support@lob.com for Lob-specific debugging!