Why ApproveThis + Ortto Is the Approval Automation Power Move You’re Missing

Let’s cut to the chase: approvals suck. They’re the traffic jam in your workflow highway, the “check back next week” in your fast-paced business. But what if you could turn approvals into a competitive advantage? That’s where ApproveThis and Ortto come in—two tools that don’t just play nice together, but actually make each other smarter. We’re talking about automating the boring stuff so your teams can focus on growing revenue, not chasing signatures.

When Approval Workflows Meet Marketing Muscle

ApproveThis isn’t just another checklist tool. It’s the Swiss Army knife of approvals—handling everything from expense sign-offs to contract reviews with customizable workflows. Ortto? It’s the marketing team’s secret weapon for customer journeys and campaign analytics. Together via Zapier, they turn “approval limbo” into automated handshakes between systems. Think less “Hey, did you approve that?” and more “The campaign went live automatically after sign-off.”

Why This Combo Works for Mid-Sized Companies

If you’re managing 50-5,000 employees, you’ve hit that sweet spot where manual processes start costing real money. Marketing needs to move faster. Operations can’t afford bottlenecks. Finance hates last-minute surprises. Connecting ApproveThis and Ortto means:

• No more approval black holes (we see you, lost email threads)
• Automatic paper trails for compliance audits
• Real-time visibility without micromanaging

Three Ways This Integration Actually Gets Used

Here’s where we move past theory into “steal this workflow” territory:

1. Campaign Approval → Instant Customer Journeys

The Problem: Marketing teams waste days getting legal/compliance sign-off on campaigns, delaying launches.
The Fix: When ApproveThis greenlights a campaign, Ortto auto-triggers the customer journey.

Example: A retail company uses ApproveThis to get CEO sign-off on holiday promo emails. Once approved, Ortto immediately segments the audience and deploys the campaign. Result? 3 days shaved off every launch cycle.

2. New Lead → Instant Sales Approval Routing

The Problem: High-value leads from Ortto forms get stuck waiting for sales manager approval.
The Fix: New Ortto contacts trigger ApproveThis workflows to route leads based on deal size.

Example: A SaaS company auto-routes leads over $50k ARR to VP-level approval in ApproveThis before the sales team engages. Smaller leads go straight to reps. Outcome? 27% faster response times on enterprise deals.

3. Budget Approval → Automated Finance Logging

The Problem: Marketing needs real-time budget visibility, finance hates surprise requests.
The Fix: Approved budgets in ApproveThis auto-create Ortto activities linked to campaign ROI tracking.

Example: An agency approves a client’s $20k ad spend in ApproveThis. Ortto logs this against the client’s activity timeline, triggering automated spend alerts at 75% and 90% utilization.

What Makes This More Than Just Another Zap

Sure, you could build basic triggers. But ApproveThis brings muscle to these workflows:

Approval Thresholds That Actually Work

Set it so campaigns under $5k get auto-approved by Ortto journeys, while bigger spends require human eyes. No more all-or-nothing rules.

Delegate Without the Drama

When your CMO is off-grid (again), ApproveThis auto-reassigns approvals to their deputy. Ortto gets notified either way—no workflow hang-ups.

Track Cross-Team Handoffs

See that moment when ops approves a contract and marketing’s nurture campaign kicks off? That’s the audit trail CFOs dream about.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Zapier’s the glue here. You’ll need:

1. ApproveThis and Ortto accounts
2. A Zapier login (free tier works to start)

Sample Workflow (Campaign Approvals):
1. Zapier trigger: “Request Approved” in ApproveThis
2. Action: Find Ortto contact/company
3. Action: Start Ortto customer journey
Total setup time: 12 minutes (we timed it)

Pro Tip: Use Calculated Fields Wisely

ApproveThis can pass along approval metadata (like approved budget amounts) to Ortto’s custom fields. That means your marketing team can auto-segment campaigns by spend tier without manual entry.

Who Actually Benefits From This?

Marketing Teams

Stop being the department that’s always waiting. Get campaign approvals faster, track budget utilization in Ortto, and prove ROI with linked approval data.

Operations Managers

Automate vendor onboarding (new Ortto contact → procurement approval workflow) and track SLA compliance through approval timestamps.

Finance Controllers

See every approval’s dollar impact in Ortto’s dashboards. Set thresholds so big spends can’t slip through without proper sign-off.

The License Hack You’ll Love

Here’s the kicker: approvers don’t need Ortto licenses. Client needs to approve a contract? Add their email to ApproveThis—they’ll get a simple approve/deny link. No software access required. Same for inter-departmental reviews. Ortto stays your team’s single source of truth without blowing the budget on extra seats.

Real Results (Without the Hype)

We’re not claiming this will 10x your revenue. But companies using both tools report:

• 40-60% faster approval cycles for marketing campaigns
• 30% reduction in finance team “status update” requests
• Full audit trails for SOC 2 compliance reviews

Common Stumbling Blocks (And How to Dodge Them)

Mistake #1: Connecting every possible trigger day one.
Fix: Start with one high-impact workflow (like budget approvals), then expand.

Mistake #2: Letting too many auto-approvals pile up.
Fix: Use ApproveThis’ thresholds—maybe auto-approve under $1k, but require VP sign-off above that.

Bottom Line: This Isn’t About Tools—It’s About Momentum

ApproveThis + Ortto via Zapier isn’t another tech stack tax. It’s about removing the friction that makes big companies slow. When approvals become automatic handoffs instead of bottlenecks, that’s when marketing teams ship faster, ops keeps projects on track, and finance actually trusts the numbers.

Ready to stop being the approval bottleneck? Get a custom demo or start your free trial. Your future self (the one who leaves at 5 PM) says thanks.