Zapier falls under the category of a iPaaS (Integration-Platform-as-a-Service), or in simpler terms, Zapier is an online automation tool that allows users to connect different online platforms and web applications and automate workflows between them. It has over 6,000 integrations with popular apps, including CRMs, email marketing platforms, marketing automation tools, project management software, social media platforms and more.

To use Zapier, users create "Zaps," which are automated workflows that consist of a trigger and one or more actions. A trigger is an event that starts the Zap, such as a new lead being generated in a CRM or a new social media post being published. An action is what Zapier does in the second app when the trigger is met, such as sending an email notification, creating a new task in a project management tool, or adding a new contact to a CRM.

Zapier is a powerful tool that can save users a lot of time and hassle by automating repetitive tasks. It is also relatively easy to use, even for users with no coding experience.

With a WeatherAds & Zapier integration, you can use WeatherAds rules to trigger actions inside other Zapier-supported apps. Some of the most popular 3rd party apps include:

And More!

A trigger in Zapier is an event that happens in the first app (in this case WeatherAds) that triggers an action in the connected app (e.g. Slack). Supported WeatherAds triggers are listed below.

WeatherAds does not support any actions in Zapier currently.

To connect WeatherAds with Zapier, you’ll need to log in to the Zapier app and go to your My Apps page. Click Add Connection.

Next, search for and select the WeatherAds app connection:

On the following page, you will need to enter your WeatherAds account’s API key (found here), and then click Yes, Continue:

If your authentication with your WeatherAds account is successful, you will see “New connection added”. This means that your WeatherAds account is synced with Zapier and you’re all ready to create your first zap.

Now that you’ve connected your WeatherAds account with Zapier, the next step is to create a Zap. In this example we will create a Zap that automatically posts WeatherAds true/ false updates (payload) for each location within our automation to a Slack channel.

1. To get started, first log into your WeatherAds account and create a new automation.

2. Give your automation a name, and select ‘Zapier’ as the channel

3. Now select the locations that you want to include within your automation (you can select as many locations as you like).

4. Create your WeatherAds rule. In this instance, we only need to create the trigger, since the action will be created in Zapier. Once the automation is set live, WeatherAds will update every hour, checking each location in your automation against your weather rule, and will return a true/ false response.

5. Go through the remaining steps and set your automation live. You will see a notification confirming that the automation has been launched successfully.

6. Now navigate back to Zapier, and click the Make a Zap button from your Zapier dashboard:

7. Select ‘WeatherAds Powered by AccuWeather’ as the trigger app.

8. Now choose ‘automation processed’ as the trigger event.

9. Next, Zapier will conduct a test trigger. In this example, you will see several recent automation runs you can pick from. Select one as your test. Please note – for the tests, each location within your automation is shown as a separate record. However, when your Zap goes live, all your automation’s locations will appear within a single record.

10. Now, it’s time to select the action you want the Zap to take in Slack. For this example, we’re going to search for and select ‘Slack’ as the app, and choose ‘Send channel message’ as the action.

6. We’ll select the channel and write the message. We will use the WeatherAds ‘address’ (the location name) and ‘response’ (the ‘true/false’ hourly update for whether that location meets our weather parameters)

7. Finally we can go ahead and test our automation – we see that the Zap works as we wanted – publishing a true/ false value for our location (in the test it’s just a single location, but the actual live zap will be every location in our automation).

8. Now that we’re happy that our Zap is working correctly, we can set it live!

You’ve done it! You’ve created your first Zap with WeatherAds. If you want to learn more about creating a custom Zap on Zapier, check out this guide. Or, if you need support with the integration, you can visit Zapier’s help center or contact customer service here!