What’s Zapier Central and How Does It Work? [Review]

Sheryl Soo, Zapier’s SVP of New Products and Head of Strategy, emphasized the significance of the launch of Zapier Central in March 2024:

“With Zapier Central, we are democratizing AI and automation, putting powerful tools into the hands of everyone—from builders to non-technical employees.”

As organizations increasingly rely on automation to manage their workflows, Zapier Central represents a significant advancement, merging AI with automation to create bots that function more like collaborative teammates rather than traditional software programs. 

This article will explore the features and potential applications of Zapier Central, how to get started with the platform, and its best alternatives such as Voiceflow. 

What Is Zapier Central?

Zapier Central is an AI workspace designed to allow users to create AI bots that can operate across more than 6,000 apps. It combines the intelligence of AI with Zapier's automation platform, which is used by over 2.2 million businesses to automate billions of tasks monthly. 

These AI assistants are customizable, allowing you to teach them specific behaviors and connect them to your live data sources, such as Google Sheets, Notion, or HubSpot. By doing so, these assistants can perform tasks ranging from drafting emails to analyzing customer sentiment, all with the ability to sync automatically with the latest data.

What Can You Do with Zapier Central?

Zapier Central can automate a wide range of tasks, making it a versatile tool for businesses of all sizes. Here’s how you can use it:

• Lead Qualification: You can automate the process of lead management by teaching AI assistants to gather background information on new leads, enrich lead data, and prioritize them based on their likelihood to convert. For instance, you could set up triggers and actions using database apps like Google Sheets, CRM tools like HubSpot, and email apps like Gmail to ensure that your sales team focuses on the most promising leads. The assistant can also enhance CRM records by pulling additional company information from the web.
• Customer Support: AI assistants can be used to respond to customer queries by analyzing customer sentiment, sorting customers by value, and tapping into feedback. Triggers and actions can be set for forms apps like Typeform and eCommerce tools like Shopify, with data sources uploaded from Google Sheets or Zapier Tables to ensure accurate responses.
• Expense Tracking: You can keep your financial records up to date by having conversations with your AI assistant about tracking expenses, checking invoices, and logging sales. This can be done by setting up triggers and actions in accounting apps like QuickBooks, payment processing apps like Stripe, or spreadsheet apps like Google Sheets.
• Content Generation: AI assistants in Zapier Central can help you create content for your blog or newsletters by conducting web research and storing the information in a database. For example, a Zapier Central AI assistant could perform online searches for the latest articles on a particular topic and then create a record in Zapier Tables for future reference.

Zapier Central: Key Features

How to Get Started with Zapier Central (Step by Step)

1. Sign Up: Join Zapier if you haven’t already, and access Zapier Central from your dashboard.

2. Create an AI Assistant: Choose the apps you need (like Gmail, Google Sheets) and define tasks you want automated, such as lead management or email sorting.

​​

3. Customize Actions: Set up triggers and actions to teach your assistant how to handle specific tasks, like updating CRM records or drafting emails.

4. Connect Live Data: Link your assistant to data sources (e.g., Google Sheets) to ensure it works with the latest information.

5. Install the Chrome Extension: Use the Zapier Central Chrome extension for easy access and control directly from your browser.

How to Use Zapier Central’s Chrome Extension

With Zapier Central’s Chrome Extension, you can “dispatch your AI assistants on any webpage”. Here’s how to get started: 

1. Install the Extension: First, add the Zapier Central Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store to your browser.
2. Activate AI Assistants: Once installed, you can activate your AI assistants directly on any webpage. For example, you can ask your assistant to summarize a webpage, translate content, or analyze visual elements without leaving your current tab.
3. Integrate with Apps: The extension allows you to interact with over 6,000 apps, such as Gmail, Google Sheets, and more. You can set up instant actions, like creating a draft email based on a contact’s profile from LinkedIn or adding new information directly to a CRM from your browser.
4. Perform Tasks On-the-Go: With the extension, you can perform tasks like generating meeting agendas, responding to emails, or creating Jira issues, all while navigating the web. The extension streamlines your workflow by reducing the need for context-switching.

What Are Zapier Central’s Best Alternatives?

While Zapier Central is an excellent tool for broad workflow automation, Voiceflow stands out as the superior choice for automating customer service with human-like AI agents. Voiceflow’s specialized focus on building conversational AI allows it to effectively manage complex customer interactions, ensuring that your automated service is as responsive and nuanced as possible.

Whether your customers are engaging through web chat, mobile apps, or voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Voiceflow provides a consistent and personalized customer service experience across all these channels. Get started today—it’s free!