Guide: Using Zapier with Databox

You’re able to connect to hundreds of apps and services via Zapier, and send data right into Databox.

If there is a source of data out there that is meaningful to you, our mission is to make it as easy as possible to pull it into Databox.

In this article:

Zapier acts as a universal data connector that will bridge the gap between Databox and other products. You can send various metrics and events to Databox via Zapier and register them as datapoints that will show up on any visualization you choose.

Here is short video tutorial showing you how to connect Zapier with Databox:

If you prefer text and pictures, follow the directions below.

1. Create a new token

To get started, you’ll first need to get your token in Databox.

1
 You can do that by  creating a new Zapier connection in our  web application. This will generate a unique push token that will allow Zapier to send data to your Databox account.

Zapier Connect 1

2
 Once you created an access token, you can start right away with one of our preconfigured Zaps:

2. Create a new Zap

If you didn’t use one of our templates, you can create your own Zap by switching over to Zapier.

1
 For a demo trigger, we’ll be using  Test Email by Zapier, a built-in service from Zapier that will trigger every time an email is sent to a custom  @zapiermail.com address.

Zap - email (example)

In a real-life scenario, your trigger can be any event you want to observe and keep track of in Databox. For example: every time you get a new user in Intercom, a new email subscriber in Campaign Monitor, a new transaction in Stripe, or maybe when a row in Google Sheets has been added or updated (read more about  converting Google Sheets into a live Mobile Dashboard via Zapier).

2

 Define the action that follows that trigger. Databox has a pretty straightforward logic with Zapier. Every action that is triggered in a Zap can:

  • count as one event and will increment the current daily value, stored under that key in Databox (‘Increase counter action‘) or
  • push any custom data to Databox (‘Push Custom Data‘).

The difference between those actions is pretty straightforward. The ‘ Increase counter action‘ increments a specified metric by 1 every time this action happens, where the ‘Push Custom Data‘ option let’s you store custom values to a metric in Databox.

Zapier Select Action Option

3

 Select an existing Databox account in Zapier or create a new one. To create a new one just use the push token that you generated earlier in the Databox platform.

Zapier Enter Databox Token

4

 Choose a name for your metric, e.g. ‘Incoming email count’ and test the action you’ve just set up.

Zapier Define Metric

5

 Turn your Zap on and the data will be pushed to Databox!

3. Visualize data pushed from Zapier

To display the data that will be pushed from Zapier you’ll need to create a visualization (called ‘Datablock’ –  click here to read more about adding and modifying Datablocks).

Zapier in Databox

Here are the steps to do so:

1
 log in to the Databox web application
2
 create a new databoard (or just use an existing one)
3
 in the left panel select the second tab (‘Datablocks’),
4
 choose the visualization that will fit best and drag & drop it (e.g. Number) to the canvas,
5
 in the right panel select the Data source (Name of the created push token) where Zapier data is being pushed to (e.g. ‘My Zapier Connection’),
6
 choose the Metric you would like to display (e.g. ‘Incoming Email Count’),
7
 choose the date range for which you would like to display the data.
But remember: if you just created your Zap, date ranges ‘Last 7 days’, ‘Last 14 days’, etc. is the previous 7 (or 14) days not including today. To test drive your Zap with data pushed today, try the interval ‘Today’. After a few days, historical data will be gathered and your Weekly and Monthly charts will look awesome.

And that’s it! To play more with the data gathered from Zapier, just check out the Advanced settings popup where you’ll have all the options you need (changing the granulation, aggregation, format, scaling, etc.). Click here to read more about that.

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