Zapier Tutorial: Build Your First Zap Step by Step

What you will build

A Zap that saves every new Typeform or Google Forms response to a Google Sheet and sends you a Slack message. It takes about 10 minutes and works on the Free plan (two steps) if you skip the Slack step, or on a paid plan with both.

You will need:

• A Zapier account (free).
• A Google account with a Google Form and a Google Sheet.
• Optional: a Slack workspace.

Step 1: Prepare your sheet

Create a Google Sheet with a header row that matches your form fields, for example: Name, Email, Message, Submitted at. Zapier reads the header row to know which columns exist.

Step 2: Create a new Zap

1. Log in to Zapier and click Create, then Zaps.
2. Name the Zap something clear, such as "Form leads → Sheet + Slack". Naming matters once you have 30 Zaps.

Step 3: Set up the trigger

1. Click the Trigger step and search for Google Forms.
2. Choose the event New Form Response.
3. Connect your Google account when prompted.
4. Select your form.
5. Click Test trigger. Zapier pulls a recent response so you can use it as sample data. If there is none, submit a test response first.

Step 4: Add the Google Sheets action

1. Click + and choose Google Sheets.
2. Choose the event Create Spreadsheet Row.
3. Select the spreadsheet and the worksheet.
4. Map each column: click into Name and choose the name answer from the trigger data, and so on. For Submitted at, map the response timestamp.
5. Click Test step. Check the sheet: a new row should appear.

Step 5: Add a Slack notification (paid plans)

1. Click +, choose Slack, then Send Channel Message.
2. Pick a channel and write the message, inserting fields from the trigger: New lead: {{Name}} ({{Email}}).
3. Test the step.

Step 6: Add a filter (optional)

Only want alerts for real leads? Add a Filter step between the trigger and Slack, for example "Email does not contain test". Filtered runs do not use tasks.

Step 7: Publish

Click Publish. The Zap is now live. On the Free plan Zapier checks for new responses every 15 minutes; on Professional, every 2 minutes.

How many tasks will this use?

Each form response that reaches the end uses 2 tasks (Sheets row + Slack message). 100 responses a month = 200 tasks. The Free plan's 100 tasks covers about 100 responses if you only use the Sheets step.

Common problems

Problem	Fix
Trigger finds no data	Submit a fresh test response, then test again
Columns missing in Sheets step	Make sure the header row is in row 1 and reload the fields
Zap runs late	Polling interval; upgrade or use an app with an instant trigger
Duplicate rows	Check you do not have two Zaps on the same form

Next steps

• Build the same automation in Make or n8n and compare.
• More ideas: 10 Google Sheets workflows.