If you’re using Payable and Google Forms to take orders and get paid quickly, you may also be trying to ship your goods or alert your team of dog walkers to their next assignment. Or maybe, you just want to know exactly when a new sale comes in. Enter Form Notifications, an easy to use add-on that makes it simple to keep track of your Payable orders and keep your team on the same page.
Form Notifications from the Google Marketplace is a free add-on from Google that can be set up to automatically email collaborators or yourself whenever certain options are submitted. How can you use it?
- Send yourself notifications whenever you make a sale (ideal if you don’t check your Sheet regularly and you want to make sure you’re aware of every sale that comes in)
- Send your colleague notifications whenever a certain box is checked (for instance, if you’re selling mugs and homemade teas, you may ping your ceramicist every time a mug is ordered so he could fire up the pottery wheel)
- Send your clients a thank you, or a link to a digital bonus download. While your customers wait for you to ship their purchase, why not automate a thank you note that includes a fun digital extra?
- Send your clients instructions. If you’re shipping something that has complicated build instructions or they’re purchasing tickets that have a specific way of being redeemed, you can automate an email that lists out the details of the purchase.
What limitations does Form Notifications have?
While this is a great add-on to use in conjunction with Google Forms and Payable, it’s important to remember that the Form Notifications are based on Form submissions, not on Payable’s check out page. Some people will fill out your Form, then change their minds and not actually pay for your product. This means you may not want to include a download link for your digital product or a link to that Zoom webinar you’re hosting in your automated email, since it’s not guaranteed that the user has actually paid via your checkout when that email is triggered.
We primarily like Form Notifications for communicating within a team as submissions come in and are routed to the correct person. It can be a great way to touch base with your potential clients, but again, we recommend only creating Thank You emails or free extras rather than using Form Notifications as your product delivery method.