New Contact
A contact is added to your ConnectMachine account, whether you scanned a card, typed it in, or imported it.
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Zapier integration guide
Connect ConnectMachine to Zapier
Send every new and updated contact from ConnectMachine straight into the apps you already use, and write contacts back from those apps. This guide walks through connecting your account, the triggers and actions you get, the fields you can map, and how to fix the problems people run into most.
Before you start
The ConnectMachine app on Zapier gives you three triggers and two actions for your contacts. Triggers are instant, so a Zap runs within seconds of a contact changing instead of waiting for a polling interval.
- Triggers
- New, Updated, and Deleted Contact
- Actions
- Create Contact and Update Contact
- Trigger speed
- Instant. No polling delay
- Sign-in
- No password or API key needed
You will need
- A ConnectMachine account with onboarding finished.
- Zapier access on your ConnectMachine plan: a paid subscription, a seat on an organization license, or an active Premium trial.
- A Zapier account. Zapier’s free tier includes 100 tasks per month, which is enough for most single-step Zaps.
Connect your account
You connect ConnectMachine to Zapier once. After that, every Zap you build can reuse the same connection.
- In Zapier, create a Zap and search for ConnectMachine.
- Pick a ConnectMachine trigger or action, then click Sign in.
- ConnectMachine opens a consent page. Sign in with Google or with a code sent to your email. You are never asked for a password.
- Review the permissions you are granting, then click Approve and continue.
- Zapier returns to the Zap editor with your ConnectMachine account connected and ready to use.
What you are approving
Read your account details Labels the connection in Zapier so you can tell multiple accounts apart.
Read contacts and networks Loads sample records for testing and fills the contact and network dropdowns.
Create and update contacts Used only when a Zap runs the Create Contact or Update Contact action.
Manage its own trigger subscriptions Lets Zapier turn your triggers on and off. Zapier can only touch subscriptions it created.
Disconnecting
To revoke access, open My Apps in Zapier, find ConnectMachine, and remove the connection. Zaps that use it stop running until you connect again. Reconnect the same way if your plan changes or a security check closes the connection.
Triggers and actions
Triggers start a Zap when something happens in ConnectMachine. Actions let another app write into ConnectMachine.
Triggers
Updated Contact
Any detail on an existing contact changes. Zapier receives the contact’s current values, not just the changed field.
Deleted Contact
A contact is removed. Single deletes, bulk deletes, delete all, and merges can all fire it. Zapier receives one item per deleted contact, including the details captured just before deletion so you can find the matching row in another app.
Actions
Create Contact
Adds a person or business contact to ConnectMachine from another app. Person contacts need a first name; business contacts need a company. If you leave Network blank, the contact goes to your default network.
Update Contact
Changes fields on a contact that already exists. Contact ID is required: pick a recent contact from the dropdown, or choose Custom to map an ID from an earlier Zap step.
Good to know
Deleted Contact is a trigger only. There is no Delete Contact action, so a Zap can never delete a ConnectMachine contact on your behalf.
Build your first Zap
This walkthrough keeps a Google Sheet and ConnectMachine in step with each other. The same pattern works for any of the apps Zapier connects to.
Choose your trigger
Add ConnectMachine as the first step and pick a trigger event. This example uses Updated Contact, so the Zap runs every time a contact’s details change.
Pull a sample record
Click Test to load a sample contact. Samples let you map fields before a real event arrives. If nothing loads, add or edit a contact in ConnectMachine and test again.
Check what the trigger gives you
Expand the sample to see every field you can map into later steps: names, company, job title, primary email and phone, labeled values, locations, tags, and timestamps.
Map fields into the next app
Add your second app and drag ConnectMachine fields into it. Here a Google Sheets row feeds the Update Contact action, so edits made in the sheet flow back into ConnectMachine.
Handle deletions
Use the Deleted Contact trigger to keep other systems tidy. Look the contact up by ID or email in the destination app, then clear or archive the matching record.
Looking for ideas? The ConnectMachine on Zapier page lists popular Zaps for Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Gmail, and Airtable.
Fields you can map
What a trigger gives you
Every trigger hands Zapier the full contact record, so you can map any of these into a later step.
Field What it holds
Zapier Item ID A stable ID for the event, so your Zap never runs twice for the same change.
Contact ID The ConnectMachine contact ID. Map this into Update Contact or store it in your other app.
Event Type Whether the contact was created, updated, or deleted.
Source Where the change came from. A value of zapier means one of your own Zaps made it.
Contact Type Person or business.
First Name, Last Name, Company, Job Title The core identity fields.
Label, Notes, Bio Your ConnectMachine label, private notes, and contact bio.
Primary Email, Primary Phone, Website The main contact values, ready to map straight into most apps.
Emails, Phones, Websites, Socials, Custom Labeled lists. Each entry has a label and a value.
Address, Where We Met Street, city, state, postcode, country, and coordinates.
Tags Tags on the contact, including event tags.
Created At, Updated At, Deleted At Timestamps in UTC.
What the actions accept
Create Contact and Update Contact take the same set of fields. Fill in only the ones you want to set.
Field Required Notes
Contact ID Update only Pick a recent contact from the dropdown, or choose Custom to map an ID from an earlier step.
Contact Type Optional Person or business. Defaults to person.
First Name Person contacts Required when creating a person contact.
Company Business contacts Required when creating a business contact. Optional on person contacts.
Last Name, Job Title, Label Optional Plain text fields.
Notes, Bio Optional Notes stay private to your account.
Network Optional Leave blank to use your default network.
Primary Email, Primary Phone, Website Optional Updates the current primary value, or creates one if there is none.
Emails, Phones, Websites, Socials, Custom Optional Up to five entries each. Every entry needs a label and a value.
Address, Where We Met Optional Street, city, state, postcode, country, and coordinates. Where We Met also takes a place name.
Validation rules
- Email values must be valid email addresses.
- Website, social, and map links must start with http:// or https://.
- Latitude must be between -90 and 90. Longitude must be between -180 and 180.
- Blank fields are ignored. Update Contact never clears a value by leaving the field empty.
- The contact and network you pick must belong to the connected ConnectMachine account.
Prevent recursive Zaps
When a Zap creates or updates a ConnectMachine contact, that change fires the New Contact or Updated Contact trigger like any other change. If the same Zap listens for those triggers, it can set itself off again in a loop.
Every trigger record carries a Source field. Changes made by your own
Zaps arrive with a source of zapier, so you can filter them out.
Add this filter right after your trigger
Source does not exactly match zapier
You only need this on Zaps that write back into ConnectMachine. A Zap that just sends contacts out to another app cannot loop.
Troubleshooting
Most problems come down to the connection, your plan, or a value that failed validation. Find the symptom below.
Zapier says your plan does not include Zapier access
Your ConnectMachine plan no longer covers Zapier. Renew your paid subscription, get a seat on your organization license, or start a Premium trial, then switch the Zap back on.
A step fails asking you to reconnect, or says a permission is missing
The connection is missing a permission it needs. In Zapier, go to My Apps, reconnect ConnectMachine, and approve every permission on the consent page.
The trigger stopped firing and Zapier reports a 410 Gone
The trigger subscription is gone. Switch the Zap off and on again so Zapier creates a fresh one.
An action reports that the contact could not be found
The Contact ID does not exist in the connected account, or the contact was deleted. Check the ID you mapped and confirm you are on the right ConnectMachine account.
An action rejects an email address or a URL
The mapped value failed validation. Fix it at the source, or add a Zapier Formatter step to trim whitespace and add the https:// prefix before the ConnectMachine step.
You hit the limit for active ConnectMachine Zaps
Turn off a ConnectMachine Zap you no longer use, then try again. Zapier also retries on its own after 60 seconds.
Testing the trigger returns no records
Add or edit a contact in ConnectMachine, then click Find new records again.
Sign-in keeps failing
Remove the ConnectMachine connection from My Apps in Zapier and connect again from scratch.
Still stuck?
Send us the name of your Zap and the error Zapier showed you, and we will take a look.
