It’s no big secret that here at Collect, we love Zapier as much as Buffer does.

Why?

We are, after all, a bunch of nerds obsessing over automation.

That too without a single line of code?

Count us in!

When we first started to work on this article, 9 out of 10 articles were all centered around big and famous apps like Hubspot, Gmail, and Google Sheets.

Now don’t get us wrong, we love these apps. We love these apps so much that Collect can be easily connected with these apps.

But there are more than 3800 apps in Zapier’s directory.

It’s time we shed some spotlight on them.

Trust us when we say that we have found some whacky and uncommon zaps worth trying.

We did. You’ll see that in a moment.

So here’s our take on the ten most uncommon zaps that you can use to boost your business.

1. Design as you go with Bannerbear.

We know how frustrating it is to create an image from scratch for each of your needs. This is where Bannerbear comes to your rescue, as it allows you to create images on the fly using variables that come from other apps. The possibilities are endless with Bannerbear. The only limit you will probably face would be your creativity.

What we liked about Bannerbear is that you can customize not only the text but also the images.

So, the next time you post an article on your blog, a beautiful thumbnail will be generated and posted automatically on your social media accounts as it has been automated with Zapier.

Thanks to Bannerbear, now you don’t have to spend hours figuring out what thumbnail you should create for your blog post promotion ever again.

If you’re looking for another alternative, then try out the solution from our friends at Abbysale. They are doing a great job too, especially for ads creation.

2. Grow your relationship with your customers by sending a personalized video with the help of Bonjoro.

Thanks to Bonjoro, now you can send personalized welcome and thank-you videos that will improve your customers’ satisfaction.

What’s excellent about Bonjoro is that it allows you to create authentic human interactions with your clients, and because Bonjoro do all the time-consuming work for you, you can do this at scale.

All you need to do is connect Bonjoro to a source of contacts like a CRM, using Zapier, and every time a new contact is created, Bonjoro will add it to a “to do” of videos that you have to shoot.

Don’t fret. Shooting the video will be as easy as creating an Instagram story, and Bonjoro will handle the hosting, the preparation of the email, and everything else for you.

3. Stand out from the crowd with handwritten letters made by Handwrytten.

You can’t deny that sometimes that’s increasingly harder to stand out from the crowd and reach your ideal clients.

One great way to stand out is by sending a handwritten letter to your prospect just like Jon Buchan from charming copy did.

You might drop this plan thinking handwritten letters are time consuming than sending a batch of emails.

However, with Handwrytten you need not worry. Now you can “write” letters at scale with Handwrytten. Simply connect Handwrytten with Zapier, and it will write the letters for you using their smart robots.

4. Easily automate your document collection with Collect.

Obviously, we have to include our brand in this list.

We all have experienced how tedious the customer onboarding process is, especially when it involves collecting data and documents from them.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s for all kinds of organizations, law firms, banks, real estate agencies, and very often, it requires manual processes.

Well, we’ve got good news for you!

The long and tedious process of collecting data and documents is now over!

Our Zapier integration will help you automate creating a client portal that’s on brand and functional, where your clients can connect to fill the required data or upload the documents needed.

Save a lot of your time, keep your data secure and offer a great experience to your clients with Collect.

5. Automate your direct mails using Lob.

Yes, you heard us right.

We are talking about automating and scaling your direct mail, just like how you would do for your emails.

If you find yourself wasting much time on your direct mail handling, then Lob should be a perfect fit for you.

Simply connect Lob with Zapier and customize the flow according to your preference.

You can go wild by printing and sending postcards for every lead you have been contacted or mailing a physical thank you card to each new client.

6. Give away a digital gift card on autopilot with Tango Card

Rewarding your customers for their loyalty, referrals, and reviews of your product on a platform is the key to retain them.

It can be tedious when you have to purchase the gift cards and send them manually every time.

However, with a Tango card, you can fully automate this process with the help of Zapier.

So the next time someone posts a review of your product or services, an e-gift card will be automatically sent to them.

7. Hunt down your potential leads and their email address with hunter.

That was a bad pun.

We admit.

We could do better.

But that’s a case for another day.

We’re sure many of you might be at least slightly aware of hunter and what it does.

Basically, hunter is a tool used to find the email address of your potential leads.

Combined with Zapier, it’s a lead generation and nurturing powerhouse that helps to manage your leads and convert them into your clients with emails that are automatically personalized.

8. Create an “on-air” sign with Philips Hue and Livestorm.

No, we won’t bore you with the typical switching on lights zap. This zap is going to be useful for you.

So it’s no big secret that videos are here to stay, and webinars are part of it.

But, how many times have you been disturbed by a coworker (or your family) while you were animating a webinar?

To avoid these problems later on, simply create an “on-air” sign using Philips Hue and control it automatically using Zapier.

Next time when your Livestorm webinar starts, turn your Philips Hue light in Red to notify your mates not to disturb you. And do the opposite when the meeting is over!

They’ll get the idea.

9. Fill in your PDF automatically.

How many times have you detested printing out a form and filling it out?

We have.

That’s why we made a priority to feature pdfFiller on this list.

Integrating pdfFiller with Zapier allows you to fill your pdf forms using the data you have collected.

To get more out of this, combine pdfFiller with any CRM of your choice like Salesforce and enjoy having new leads and customers data in Salesforce to be automatically filled in the PDF forms that you need to be filled.

This saves you both your time and effort as you don’t need to manually cross-check the details as the PDF is filled with the information you needed in the first place.

10. Celebrate your win while saving the earth with Ecologi.

Have you ever felt that you could do more to help out in conserving nature?

Then you’ll love Ecologi.

Ecologi helps you to celebrate your win by planting a tree for each of your successes.

Give back to the earth by integrating Ecologi and Zapier.

Since you have automated this process, each time you have a win like acquiring a new client, Ecologi will plant a tree for you.

How exciting is that?

That was the end of the list, guys.

So, what are the wackiest zaps you can’t live without?

Tweet it on Twitter while tagging us at @usecollect!

We’ll tweet back to you!

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