Playbook
Capture leads in a sheet with a two-step Zap
Direct answer
Send a short enquiry form into a Google Sheet with a two-step Zapier automation, which fits the free plan. Reply yourself the same day. Add people to a marketing list only if they ticked a box that was not pre-selected. This has not been live-tested.
- Time to set up
- 45–75 minutes
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Monthly cost, USD
- $0 on the free plan
- Monthly cost, GBP
- about £0, or about £15 if you need multi-step Zaps
- Last tested
- Not yet tested
- Updated
- 24 October 2026
Zapier's published free plan allows two-step Zaps and a small task allowance, which is enough for form-to-sheet. Professional, required for multi-step Zaps, was listed from $19.99 a month, about £15. A form tool such as Google Forms is free. Confirm Zapier's pricing page.
GBP figures are a budgeting conversion at £1 = $1.33 and €1 = £0.86, rounded to the nearest pound, fixed for this edition on 24 October 2026. They are not a live rate and not a quote. Vendor list prices are usually quoted before tax.
Primary tool: Zapier · Also uses Google Sheets
TradespeopleCoachesAgenciesConsultants
Who it is for
A sole trader whose enquiries arrive by web form, Google Business messages, or a link in an email signature, and who does not yet need a paid CRM.
If you are choosing between automation tools, read Zapier, Make, and n8n. For this one job, Zapier's limit is also its advantage: two steps is exactly the form and the sheet, and the free plan matches that shape.
The privacy notice can be a page on your site. It does not need to be long. It needs to name you, say you reply to enquiries, name the sheet and the form tool, and link to a contact address. The privacy page on AgentShed is about this website, not a template for your customers, so write your own.
What you need
- A form. Google Forms is enough. Tally or a similar tool is fine if you prefer it.
- A Google Sheet you will open.
- A Zapier account on the free plan.
Step by step
01
Write a short form and a real consent tick
Ask for a name, a phone or email, what they need, and the area. Add one checkbox that is not pre-ticked: you may email me about similar work later. Above the button, say who you are and that you will use the details to reply to this enquiry. Link to your privacy notice. Do not ask for date of birth, or anything else you will not use.
02
Connect a two-step Zap
Trigger: a new form response. Action: a new row in the sheet, including a Replied column you leave blank. That is two steps, which is the shape of Zapier's free plan. A draft email would be a third step and needs a paid plan. Do not add it until the sheet has worked for a week. Submit a test response and check the row arrived, with the checkbox recorded as no if you left it empty.
03
Reply from the sheet the same day
The sheet is the CRM until you cannot see the week's enquiries on one screen. When you reply, type the date in Replied. The first reply about the enquiry they just sent is ordinary service. Later marketing email goes only to people who ticked the box, kept on a separate tab. Do not paste the whole sheet into an agent and ask it to write a newsletter.
04
Put the form where the work already comes from
Link it from your Google Business Profile, your email signature, and the contact line on your site. A quiet Zap is not a failure if the phone is how people reach you. The form is for the enquiry that arrives when you are under a floorboard, not a replacement for answering.
05
Delete what you no longer need
Once a month, remove rows you will not contact. An old just-looking enquiry is personal data you do not need to keep for years. If someone asks you to delete their details, the sheet is where you do it, and you tell them you have. Do not keep a second hidden copy in Zapier's history if the product lets you clear the test data.
What can go wrong
A pre-ticked marketing box
A pre-ticked box is not consent. In the UK, marketing email to individuals needs a proper opt-in, with narrow exceptions such as the soft opt-in for existing customers in some cases. If you are unsure, leave the box blank and only email the people who tick it.
The third step that ends the free plan
Adding a Slack message or a draft email turns a free Zap into a paid one. Decide that on purpose, after the sheet is the habit, not during the first evening.
Two forms, one forgotten
An old form still embedded on the site will keep collecting names into a Zap you do not watch. One form. One sheet. Turn the old one off.
UK notes
Costs, including VAT
The free path is £0. If you later need Professional, budget about £15 a month before VAT at the planning rate on a $19.99 list price, and check whether the checkout adds tax. Task packs run out if the form is busy. Watch the usage screen in the first month rather than assuming the free allowance is plenty.
Data flow
Names and contact details are personal data. They sit in Google, pass through Zapier, and should be described in your privacy notice, including that US companies may process them. You need a lawful basis for the enquiry itself, which is usually the step you take before a contract, and consent for marketing email. PECR sits alongside UK GDPR for electronic mail. The ICO's PECR guide is the document to read before you build a newsletter from this sheet.
HMRC and Making Tax Digital
A CRM subscription, if you later pay for one, is normally looked at like other software costs. This free setup does not change your tax records. Enquiries are not sales. Do not treat the sheet as a list of turnover. Making Tax Digital cares about income and expense records in compatible software, not about how you caught the lead.
Practical orientation for a UK reader. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Test log
Status: Pending first test
24 October 2026 · pending
Pending first test. The steps were compiled from Zapier's published plan limits and from ordinary form practice. They have not been run on a live Zap.
Sources
- Zapier pricing — accessed 24 October 2026
- ICO guide to PECR — accessed 24 October 2026
- ICO guide to UK GDPR — accessed 24 October 2026
Disclosure
AgentShed is independent and this playbook is not sponsored. There is no affiliate link on this page. If that changes, the link will use rel="sponsored" and a sentence beside it will say so. The verdict is not for sale.
Questions people ask
When do I outgrow a sheet?
When two people need to update it, when you cannot tell who has replied, or when you are losing enquiries inside the scroll. That is the moment for a real CRM. Not before.
Can the Zap draft the first reply?
It can on a paid plan, and this guide does not set that up. A draft is safer than a send. Even then, read it. An automatic first reply that quotes a price is the failure mode.
What about people who only phone?
Type a row yourself, or accept that the sheet is not the whole business. A system that ignores phone calls will train you to ignore your best leads.
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When this page is re-tested
One email when the log changes. No sequence of lessons.