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peoplefone Zapier integrationAutomate peoplefone with Zapier.

The peoplefone Zapier integration offers 1 trigger, 2 actions and 1 search. The trigger is instant: when a call comes in through Smart Routing, peoplefone warns Zapier itself, and your Zap can decide where the call goes or send an SMS on the spot.

See the 4 operations

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Overview

Let a Zap decide where your calls go

peoplefone is a telephone and SMS operator offering SIP trunks and hosted phone systems. Linked to Zapier, it lets a Zap pick up an incoming call routed through Smart Routing, choose its destination, and send text messages, all without someone switching settings by hand in the phone system.

Calls that land on the right person. New Smart Routing Call. opens the Zap when a call arrives through Smart Routing, and Send Smart Routing Call to Destination tells peoplefone where to put it: an outside number, or a user, group or queue of your hosted account.

Text messages from any workflow. Send SMS sends a message to one or more numbers, whatever started the Zap: a booking, a ticket, a form or a call.

A record of what was sent. Get SMS Details fetches the details of an SMS from its ID, so a later step can store them or act on them.

A routing Zap of one trigger and one action fits the free plan. Add an SMS to the same Zap and it becomes multi-step, with a paid plan.

What Zapier does not do here: there is no trigger for incoming SMS or for ordinary calls outside Smart Routing, and no action to manage users or numbers. The integration covers routing and outgoing texts, nothing more.

The same app on Make: peoplefone Make integration. To compare the platforms, see Make vs Zapier.

Vocabulary

Zapier words, for a phone team

Eight terms come back throughout this page. Each one, once, in plain words.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for it. peoplefone offers one.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something, like routing a call or sending an SMS.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your plan's count is a count of those.
Instant vs polling
An instant trigger is reported by the app itself the moment the event happens. A polling one is checked by Zapier on a timer.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets your condition, and stops it otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something that already exists and passes what it found to the steps after it, like Get SMS Details.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action, a filter or a search makes one, and it needs a paid plan.
Cost

What a peoplefone Zap costs

The incoming call itself costs nothing in Zapier terms: a trigger never uses a task. What you pay for is what the Zap does next.

  • peoplefone trigger0 tasks
  • Each successful action1 task
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Premium appNo, works on the free plan

Each action that succeeds counts once. Routing a call is one task; sending an SMS is another, so a Zap doing both spends two per call. Failed actions cost nothing, though a few apps or actions take more than one task. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps, enough for a trigger plus one routing action. A filter, a second action or Get SMS Details makes the Zap multi-step and needs a paid plan. The interval grid below is for polling triggers; the peoplefone trigger is instant, so it does not apply.

Connect

Connect peoplefone to Zapier

  1. 01

    Open your connections

    In your Zapier account, open the Apps page and click + Add connection. A connection is your peoplefone account linked once, then reused by every peoplefone step in your Zaps.

  2. 02

    Pick peoplefone

    Type peoplefone in the search box of the dialog, select it and click Add connection. You need your own peoplefone account, with the numbers and routing you want the Zap to use.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Sign in to peoplefone in the tab that opens and give Zapier access to the account. If the Zap must route to users or queues you do not manage, check your login can reach them.

First Zap

Your first Zap: route a call and text the person on duty

GoalEach call arriving through Smart Routing goes to the destination you set, and the person on duty gets an SMS to say a call is on its way.

  1. 01

    Pick the app and the event

    Create a Zap, choose peoplefone as the starting app and New Smart Routing Call. as the event. Select the connection you made earlier.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent Smart Routing calls of the account, so you can map the next steps from a real call.

  3. 03

    Route the call

    Add Send Smart Routing Call to Destination. Map the Tracking ID from the trigger, then set the Destination number: an outside number in E.164 format, or an internal user, group or queue.

  4. 04

    Send the SMS

    Add Send SMS, write the Message and enter the Recipients numbers in E.164 format. This second action makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.

  5. 05

    Test and publish

    Test each step once and read what came back, then publish the Zap to switch it on. For more practice with the editor, there is the Zapier training.

Triggers

The peoplefone trigger

1 event starts a Zap when something happens in peoplefone, and one of them is instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New Smart Routing Call.

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when an incoming call is received via Smart Routing.”

Opens your Zap when a call reaches your number through Smart Routing, peoplefone's way of letting an outside tool choose where a call should go. The Zap receives the call request, including the tracking ID the routing action will need.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
sending callers to different people depending on rules you keep in another app, such as a duty roster.
Watch out
only calls handled by Smart Routing set it off; ordinary calls do not reach the Zap.
Actions

The 2 peoplefone actions

peoplefone gives you 2 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Send SMS

Action

In Zapier“Sends an SMS.”

Sends a text message from your peoplefone account to one or several numbers. You write the Message and list the Recipients numbers, both required.

When to use it
confirming a booking or alerting a technician from any Zap.
Watch out
numbers must be in E.164 format, country code first: the field asks for nothing else.
2

Send Smart Routing Call to Destination

Action

In Zapier“Forward the destination to route the call”

Answers a Smart Routing call by telling peoplefone where to put it. Two fields are required: the Tracking ID of the original call, and the Destination number, outside or internal (user, group, queue, time or manual routing).

When to use it
right after the Smart Routing trigger, in the same Zap.
Watch out
map the Tracking ID from the trigger every time.
Searches

The peoplefone search

1 search step looks for data that already exists in peoplefone, so a later step can use it.

Get SMS Details is a search step. In the editor it sits at the bottom of the action-event list, under the SEARCH heading. How strict the match is depends on peoplefone, not Zapier. Three settings decide what happens when the lookup does not return one clean result.

1

Get SMS Details

Search

In Zapier“Get all details for an SMS”

Fetches everything peoplefone holds about one SMS, from its Message Id. That ID comes out of a Send SMS step, so the two usually sit in the same Zap or in linked ones.

When to use it
saving the details of each text you sent into a sheet or a ticket.
Watch out
without a Message Id from an earlier Send SMS, there is nothing to look up.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap there and the steps that relied on it are skipped. Switched on, the Zap carries on empty-handed.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    This box turns a search into a find-or-create. peoplefone offers no find-or-create variant on Zapier: Get SMS Details only reads.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three ways out when several items match: keep the first one (the default), stop the Zap, or pass all of them on at once.
When it breaks

When a peoplefone Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to peoplefone, so the cases below come from the required fields of its operations and from Zapier's general limits.

Most problems start with a field mapped the wrong way, not with peoplefone itself. When a run goes wrong and you need a method, the Zapier troubleshooting page goes through it.

  • The call is not routed

    Send Smart Routing Call to Destination must carry the Tracking ID of the original call. Without it, or with a typed value, peoplefone cannot tie your answer to the call.

  • Phone numbers in the wrong format

    Recipients numbers must follow the E.164 format, with the country code. A local number copied from a form as is does not match that format, so convert it in an earlier step.

  • Get SMS Details stops the Zap

    On its default setting, a search that finds nothing ends the run. Check the Message Id comes from a Send SMS step, or switch the setting on.

  • Earlier calls are never replayed

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Calls received before that are not picked up, and there is no way to route them afterwards.
Need help

Need help automating peoplefone with Zapier?

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FAQ

peoplefone Zapier integration: frequent questions

01Is the peoplefone Zapier integration free?
Yes, on the free plan for simple Zaps. peoplefone is not a premium app on Zapier. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and builds Zaps of two steps, one trigger and one action, which is exactly the routing pattern: a Smart Routing call, then a destination. Add an SMS, a filter or Get SMS Details to the same Zap and it becomes multi-step, which needs a paid plan.
02How many tasks does a peoplefone Zap use?
One per successful action. The Smart Routing trigger costs nothing, so incoming calls do not touch your count. Routing a call is one task, sending an SMS is another, so a Zap that does both uses two tasks per call. An action that fails is not counted. A few apps and actions take more than one task, so check the other apps of the Zap before a busy period on the phones.
03Is the peoplefone trigger real time?
Yes. New Smart Routing Call. is an instant trigger: peoplefone reports the call to Zapier itself, so the Zap starts right away whatever your plan. The 15-minute interval of the free plan only concerns polling triggers, which Zapier checks on a timer, and peoplefone has none. In the editor, a Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt, an easy way to confirm it. No setting on your side changes that.
04What does it take to connect peoplefone to Zapier?
A peoplefone account, plus access to the users, groups or queues you want the Zap to route to if you do not manage them yourself. From the Apps page of Zapier, click + Add connection, search for peoplefone, click Add connection, sign in in the tab that opens and grant access. The connection is then reused by the trigger, both actions and the search. You set it up once and pick it from the list in every new Zap.
05Why is a Smart Routing call not reaching its destination?
Usually because the Tracking ID is missing or wrong. Send Smart Routing Call to Destination must carry the Tracking ID of the original call, mapped from the trigger step, so peoplefone can match your answer to the call. Check also the Destination number: an outside number in E.164 format, or a valid internal user, group or queue of your hosted account. Test the Zap with a real call before relying on it.
06What if the peoplefone operation you are after is missing?
Then it is not offered on Zapier today. The integration has one trigger for Smart Routing calls, two actions to route a call and send an SMS, and one search for SMS details. There is nothing for incoming texts, ordinary calls or account settings, and none can be added from the editor. The workable route is to build around these four operations and handle the rest in peoplefone. Those four cover routing and outgoing texts.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for peoplefone?
Choose on criteria rather than a ranking. On Zapier, the peoplefone trigger is instant, so routing speed does not depend on your plan, and a routing Zap of two steps runs on the free plan with 100 tasks a month. If you need an SMS, a filter or a lookup in the same Zap, the paid plans and the task count become the deciding factors. Set those needs against what each tool offers.
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