Helpie WP

Uncanny Automator – Zapier for WordPress

Introduction:

Uncanny Automator is a unique WordPress automation plugin that automates complex admin tasks and integrations. In other words, Uncanny Automator is like Zapier or IFTTT for WordPress. Just like you would use Zapier or IFTTT to automate connections between apps, you can use Uncanny Automator to automate connections and integrations between different WordPress plugins. It an powerful WordPress tool that can be best used by advacned WordPress users but they have created it to be as simple as possible so that even a WordPress beginnner is able to make use of this plugin.

Here’s how Uncanny Automator works:

You install and setup Uncanny Automator
Choose a Trigger
Choose an Action to be performed when that Trigger occurs

As simple as that, hence the popular term If This, Then That.

Triggers + Actions = Automation is the basic formula.

Important Ideas behind Uncanny Automator plugin:

Trigger: A event that triggers the action.
Action: An action that you can define to be executed on a particular trigger.
Recipe: A combination of Triggers + Actions used to automate a single workflow or multiple similar workflows. A single recipe can have multiple triggers or actions.

An example of a recipe:

When a product is purchased, add the user to a LearnDash group. There are 2 parts to this recipe: a) When a product is purchased – Trigger (Woocommerce) b) add the user to a LearnDash group – Action (LearnDash) Both together is called a recipe.

Triggers

As we saw, a trigger in Uncanny Automator is an event that we can use to execute another action of our choice. There are 2 mainly different types of triggers: the Plugin triggers and Webhook triggers.

Plugin Triggers:

Plugin Triggers are the triggers from the most common WordPress plugins that are integrated by Uncanny Automator. Uncanny Automator has around 70 triggers from around 23 plugins. These could be used with the various actions available.

Webhook Triggers:

Webhook triggers is a feature from Uncanny Automator v2.0. With Webhook trigger, you can use any web service that uses PUT, GET, POST to send data to your WordPress website. With Uncanny Automator Pro, you can send and receive information from your WordPress website to any external service. This means a 2-way communication between your WordPress website and any API based external application.

Magic Button

The Magic Button is as magical as it sounds. The magic button is a simple way to create custom triggers. Basically, instead of choosing one of the available triggers from the list, you can create a button, place it in a page using a shortcode and when a user interacts with it, it triggers the action. Here’s how it works:

Create a Magic Button and assign an Action to it
Display it on any post using a shortcode
When a user clicks on that button, the mentioned action will be executed

Example:

Create a button and add the “Leave Group” action from BuddyPress
Place the button in your BuddyPress group template using a shortcode
When a user clicks the button, then it automatically triggers the “Leave Group” action

That’s just a simple example, you can do all kinds of different actions using the Magic Button.

Actions

As mentioned above, an action in Uncanny Automator plugin is any task you assign to be executed when an trigger event occurs. Just like triggers, we can classify actions as Plugin Actions and Webhook actions.

Plugin Actions:

Plugin actions are common actions that can be executed from most popular WordPress plugins. There are around 50 actions from 23 plugins that this WordPress automation plugin can perform.

Webhook Actions:

Webhook actions just like Webhook triggers is a way to connect with external apps and services from your WordPress website. Webhook actions can be executed using triggers. These actions send data to external services.

Zapier Actions:

The Zapier Action is a powerful one, because Zapier is a powerful tool to connect thousands of other apps. This is why this action has the potential to be very useful if you use a lot of external apps like CRMs, Email Services, etc.

The important difference here is that you create a trigger in your WordPress website and catch the event in Zapier and use it to execute a Zap which is a Zapier term for trigger + action. A Zap can be anything you want.

Uncanny Automator + Zapier is a powerful combo.

Recipes

Recipes are a combination of Triggers and Actions as discussed.

Anonymous Recipes:

Anonymous Recipes are a feature released in Uncanny Automator v2.0.

This makes it possible to create Trigger → Action scenarios (aka recipes) that don’t need the user to be signed-in. Hence, the name Anonymous Recipes.

Anonymous Recipes can even be used to create a user or delete a user. You can use a form plugin and trigger Create User WordPress Core Action.

Of course, you can do much more, just look into the documentation for more things to do.

Popular Recipes:

Learndash Woocommerce Integration Recipe:

When a product is purchased → add the user to a LearnDash group.

Gravity Forms BuddyPress Recipe:

When a user fills out a specific form → add them to a BuddyPress Group.

Woocommerce automatic discount coupon using Formidable Forms

When a user submits a form with a specific value → email them a WooCommerce coupon code

Woocommerce Zapier Integration Recipe:

When users complete purchase → trigger a Zapier webhook.

Contact Form 7 Zapier Recipe:

When users submit a form → trigger a Zapier recipe with a webhook.

LifterLMS Zapier Recipe:

When users complete a course → send data to an HR system.

WordPress Email Marketing Automation Recipes:

When users complete the first lesson of a course → notify the Group Leader by email (WordPress Core/LearnDash)
When users view the first lesson of a course → send them a welcome email.(WordPress Core/LearnDash) When users complete any lesson → send an onboarding email (WordPress Core/LearnPress)
When users complete a lesson → send them a check-in email (WordPress Core/LifterLMS)
When users complete an H5P activity → send them an email (WordPress Core/H5P)

Integrations

Here’s the list of integrations available with the Uncanny Automator plugin.

BBPress Integration
BuddyPress Integration
Caldera Forms Integration
Contact Form 7 Integration
Easy Digital Downloads Integration
Formidable Forms Integration
GamiPress Integration
Gravity Forms Integration
H5P Integration
Learndash Integration
LearnPress Integration
LifterLMS Integration
WP Fusion Integration
MemberPress Integration
WP Forms Integration
Ninja Forms Integration
Popup Maker Integration
WP Courseware Integration
The Events Calendar Integration
WP LMS Integration
Woocommerce Integration
WordPress Core Integration
Zapier Integration

Awesome Use Cases:

Ecommerce:

Using Uncanny Automator, you can put your WordPress eCommerce website on autopilot. Here’s what you could do:

Automate low-level admin tasks related to eCommerce like sending emails, creating user profiles and such
Better Buyer Profiling: The better and more information you have on your buyers, the better you can make your marketing to acquire new customers and improve products and services for your existing customers.
Improved Lead Generation: Using the buyer’s profile, you could automate Lead Generation in so many ways.
Integration of other services like LMS plugins, membership plugins and so on is easier with this awesome WordPress automator plugin.

Also see: Best Free Ecommerce WordPress themes

eLearning:

eLearning comes with a lot of interactions of students, teachers and others. This is a perfect utility for the Uncanny Automator. You can use it to:

Build Better courses by improving course workflows. An example would be, when the user completes a course, he is shown the quiz or enrolled in another course and so on. Better course workflows can help students in gaining a better understanding of the content and also improves their learning experience.
Improve Course Completion rates by sending emails if they are not active. You can setup remedial actions or interventions for students who are struggling. Advanced students can be encouraged to proceed to more challenging courses or lessons or quiz.
Make More Revenue by course recommendations based on your students’ activities and engagement. Automate your lead generation, email marketing and even offer coupons.
Engage Students better by using various workflows that provide a personalised learning experience for your students. You can even use the hundreds of external services like CRMs and connect them with Uncanny Automator to provide better personalised, streamlined learning experience.

Also see: best eLearnning WordPress themes

Pricing:

The Uncanny Automator is good value for money considering the time and energy it saves you. It comes in 3 different plans:

Pro – 2 sites for 1-year support & updates
Agency- 10 sites for 1-year support & updates
Unlimited plan – Unlimited sites for 1-year support & updates

Conclusion

Uncanny Automator is the ultimate IFTTT WordPress plugin. If you run a complex WordPress website and try installing multiple plugins to integrate your main plugins, then you need to try out Uncanny Automator!

If you are already a user of this plugin, please share your experience in the comments section.

Justin Kumar

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