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In today’s fast-paced SaaS landscape, seamless integrations aren’t just a feature—they’re an expectation. As businesses aim to streamline workflows and automate operations, the debate over the best integration approach intensifies: Should you rely on an external platform like Zapier or take advantage of native integrations with FlowMate?

Importance of Workflows for the SaaS user

In today’s era of digital transformation, businesses are prioritizing automation to streamline workflows and eliminate manual effort. Seamless integration capabilities are no longer a luxury but a necessity, enabling smooth data exchange and powering automated workflows that enhance productivity.

Customers nowadays expect their SaaS providers to actively support their workflow optimization efforts. The question is no longer if integrations are needed but how they should be delivered. For SaaS providers evaluating their options, a common dilemma arises: Should we rely on a platform like Zapier, or should we build native integrations to truly delight our customers?

Acknowledging Zapier’s Role as a Pioneer in Connecting Apps

Zapier has been a trailblazer in the world of integrations, providing an external platform where tech-savvy and power users can create workflows and connect SaaS tools. It has revolutionized workflow automation by making it accessible to users without requiring coding skills.

However, Zapier’s external nature comes with trade-offs. It requires your users to leave your SaaS app, manage separate accounts, and incur additional costs. While this model benefits Zapier, it often fails to align with your goals to retain control over the user experience and revenue streams with your customers.

Zapier has transformed the integration landscape, but its external platform model often fails to align with SaaS providers’ goals to own the user experience and revenue streams. This is where FlowMate excels.

Introduction to FlowMate’s embedded approach

FlowMate takes a fundamentally different path by empowering SaaS providers to own the integration experience. With FlowMate, you can offer embedded, native integrations directly within your platform, unlocking powerful benefits:

• Enhanced User Experience: Your users remain within your app, enjoying intuitive and seamless workflows without navigating to external platforms.
• Generate More Revenue: Unlike Zapier, where all monetization benefits are directed to its platform, FlowMate allows you to monetize integrations as part of your business model.
• Achieve Greater Retention: By becoming an integral part of customers’ workflows, using FlowMate increase your user retention and cement your role in the customer’s operational ecosystem.

Should You Prioritize Zapier or FlowMate?

Zapier and FlowMate address different needs and can complement each other. For customers already using Zapier, a connector and pre-configured Zaps add value. At the same time, every SaaS provider should prioritize offering native integrations to retain control of the user experience and revenue streams. Our recommendation: Do both, and let your customers decide.

Developing a Zapier connector and offering pre-configured Zaps demands significant effort. Similarly, setting up FlowMate requires a comparable level of initial work. However, FlowMate stands out by offering a smarter, more streamlined start. With personalized support and active guidance from FlowMate’s Professional Services team, you’ll have a dedicated partner to take on key tasks, accelerate implementation, and ensure maximum efficiency-allowing your team to focus on what matters most.

You may need to prioritize where to focus your efforts. In the following chapters, we’ll explore the key differences between FlowMate and Zapier to help you understand why prioritizing native integrations is essential for retaining control over your customers’ workflows and delivering a seamless user experience.

Who Are These Platforms Designed For?

Zapier – Integration Platform for Technical Power Users

Zapier is tailored for technical users, offering extensive automation capabilities through its external platform. It primarily serves power users or admins with technical expertise, enabling them to optimize workflows, manage data mapping, and automate repetitive tasks.

However, its use cases are mostly limited to admin workflows, such as syncing master data or triggering actions based on pipeline stages in CRM tools. Zapier lacks enterprise-grade features like user management or permissions, making it less suitable for larger teams or collaborative environments. Additionally, it’s not ideal for workflows that require every employee, such as connecting calendars or mailboxes, to individually activate integrations. In these cases, simplicity and ease of use are essential, as typical employees may not have the technical expertise to navigate complex integration setups.

FlowMate – No-code Platform designed for SaaS companies

FlowMate is a no-code platform built specifically for SaaS providers, empowering product and customer success teams to swiftly build embedded integrations with all leading SaaS solutions—without writing a single line of code. This approach allows your team to focus on scaling your core product while FlowMate handles the complexity of integration development.

Designed to support you to deliver easy-to-use, plug-and-play automations as feature of your solution to your end users, FlowMate makes integrations accessible to non-technical users, aligning with the needs of modern companies—from small startups to large enterprises.

Enhance User Experience and Keep Customers Engaged

Zapier – Falling Short of User Expectations for Seamless Experiences

Zapier provides a solid user experience for tech-savvy individuals and has cultivated a dedicated community of fans. However, when SaaS providers recommend Zapier as an external service, it requires users to leave the primary solution to manage integrations. This shift disrupts the seamless user experience that customers expect.

While Zapier’s Zaps are powerful, utilizing them effectively demands users to learn how to set up integrations, which requires a strong understanding of workflows and data structures. Unfortunately, most users lack the technical expertise needed to navigate these complexities.

For typical users in roles like sales, marketing, management, or HR, the platform can feel overwhelming and difficult to configure. This often results in misconfigured workflows, leading to frustration, inefficiency, and a diminished overall experience.

FlowMate – Deliver Seamless Integration Experiences for Your End Users

FlowMate enables you to embed native, in-app integrations directly within your platform, delivering intuitive and seamless experiences for your end users. Unlike external platforms like Zapier, which disrupt the user journey, FlowMate ensures integrations are fully embedded, keeping users within your application while operating silently in the background, invisible to your users.

This seamless in-app integration management enhances the user experience and ensures a consistent workflow. Since you know your customers’ use cases and integration requirements best, you can design pre-built, ready-to-use integration templates—just like your standard features—tailored to meet the needs of all your users. This approach simplifies integration setup, eliminating the need for technical expertise and allowing every user to easily activate and benefit from integrations.

Drive Revenue Growth with Integrations

Zapier – Revenue That Leaves Your Business

Zapier operates as an additional, external integration service, requiring your customers to sign up for a separate contract and pay for usage directly to Zapier. This means the monetization benefits Zapier exclusively, as customers pay them for integration use. Unfortunately, SaaS providers who recommend Zapier miss out on this revenue opportunity while potentially losing customer loyalty.

Zapier’s pricing model is based on the volume of transactions, referred to as “Tasks.” For example, their Team Plan, which includes 100,000 monthly tasks, costs $898.50 per month. This pricing can become a significant burden for many users, especially those with high integration needs.

Additionally, subscribing to an external iPaaS platform like Zapier is often outside the scope of non-technical departments such as sales, marketing, or HR. Integration management typically falls under the responsibilities of IT admins, making it less accessible for most end users. In any case, your conversion process becomes more cumbersome if you recommend Zapier to your customers for urgently needed integrations, especially if they are not already familiar with the platform.

FlowMate – Monetize Integrations to Boost Your Revenue

FlowMate empowers SaaS providers to monetize integrations by incorporating them into their own business models. Successful SaaS providers leverage FlowMate to offer integrations in higher-tier plans or as an additional paid service, creating upselling opportunities that drive revenue growth. At FlowMate, our focus is on increasing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) through strategic, in-app integrations that add value for your customers and your business

One of the primary revenue drivers is the ability to convert more leads into paying customers through compelling integration offerings. This starts by showcasing integrations prominently on your website and equipping your sales team with the confidence to close more deals. Imagine a sales team that can confidently assure potential clients, “Absolutely, we seamlessly integrate with your existing tools.”

By owning the integration experience with FlowMate, you not only boost your revenue but also retain full control over your customer relationships and build long-term loyalty.

Boost Retention and Loyalty Through Native Integrations

Zapier – Customer Loyalty Shifts Away from Your Solution

Integrations are one of the most effective ways to retain customers by embedding your solution into their existing SaaS landscape. However, when customers rely on Zapier as an external platform to create integrations, the loyalty shifts away from your solution and towards Zapier.

Even if you provide a Zapier connector, customers will associate the success of the integration with Zapier, not your platform. Ask your customer who enabled their integrations, and they will likely say, „Zapier,“ not your solution. This limits your control over the integration process and diminishes your role as a key enabler in their workflows.

Additionally, Zapier’s platform often hosts competitors’ solutions. If all integration scenarios are handled exclusively through Zapier, your customers could just as easily use the platform to migrate to a competitor’s offering. Over time, the independence granted by Zapier’s know-how could lead to customers moving away from your solution entirely.

FlowMate – Strengthen Loyalty by Keeping Customers Within Your Soltuion

FlowMate empowers you to keep customers engaged within your platform while seamlessly connecting them to their existing SaaS tools. Studies consistently show that customer retention improves significantly when solutions integrate effortlessly into the customer’s broader software landscape. By owning the integration process, you position your platform as the central enabler for workflow optimization, tailored specifically to the unique sub-processes your solution supports.

This strategy not only deepens customer relationships but also makes your platform an indispensable part of their daily operations. When you control the integration experience, you strengthen loyalty, reduce churn, and secure long-term retention by ensuring customers are fully invested in your solution.

Additionally, providing an easy-to-use, fully embedded integration experience elevates your competitive advantage. It positions your platform as a leader in delivering seamless, reliable connections, helping you stand out in a crowded market and cementing your role as a trusted partner in your customers’ success.

Conclusion

Zapier and FlowMate serve different purposes and can complement one another depending on your priorities. Zapier is a strong option for addressing the needs of technical power users, while FlowMate focuses on empowering SaaS providers to embed seamless integrations, enhance user experience, and monetize effectively.

If your goal is to maximize customer retention, boost revenue, and own the integration experience, FlowMate is the clear choice. By prioritizing native integrations, you align with customer expectations and solidify your position as a leader in the SaaS landscape.

Ready to explore how FlowMate can transform your integration strategy? Let’s connect!

Want to see how FlowMate can transform your integration strategy? Book a demo today and take the first step toward owning your integrations and driving SaaS success.