ApproveThis manages your Inbound Integration approvals.

Why Combine ApproveThis with Inbound?

When Inbound’s email routing meets ApproveThis’s approval automation, teams gain a rare advantage: the ability to turn unstructured email requests into tracked, governed processes without manual intervention. This integration isn’t just about connecting tools – it’s about eliminating approval bottlenecks that quietly drain productivity.

Consider this: 23% of employees waste 1-3 hours weekly chasing approvals (McKinsey). By linking Inbound’s email-to-automation capabilities with ApproveThis’s structured workflows, businesses convert messy email threads into auditable processes with clear ownership. Approvers get context-rich requests in their inbox, while requestors maintain visibility without status-check meetings.

Core Capabilities: What Each Tool Brings

ApproveThis Strengths

Beyond basic approval routing, ApproveThis handles complex scenarios most teams brute-force with email:

• Multi-stage approvals with conditional logic (e.g., escalate to CFO only if request exceeds $50K)
• Automatic delegation when approvers are OOO
• Real-time calculations in requests (e.g., auto-populating budget impact)

Inbound’s Role

Inbound acts as the bridge between email-driven requests and structured workflows. When a client emails a contract revision or a vendor sends an invoice, Inbound parses the message and triggers the next action – no manual forwarding required.

Real-World Use Cases That Deliver ROI

Marketing Teams: Approving Partner Content

Agency receives draft blog posts via email from freelancers. Inbound routes these to ApproveThis, triggering a workflow where:

1. Legal reviews for compliance
2. SEO lead checks optimization
3. Client gets final sign-off

Result: 62% faster content turnaround by eliminating “Who approved this?” email chains.

Procurement: Vendor Invoice Processing

Vendors email invoices directly to a dedicated Inbound address. ApproveThis:

- Auto-captures invoice amount using calculated fields
- Routes to department heads if over budget
- Flags duplicate invoices via integrated CRM checks

Result: AP teams cut invoice exception handling by 41%.

Operations: Facility Maintenance Requests

Employees email maintenance@company.com. Inbound converts these to ApproveThis requests that:

- Assign priority based on keywords (“leak” vs. “flickering light”)
- Require safety officer approval for high-risk issues
- Auto-update facility management software post-approval

Key Integration Benefits

For Finance Teams: Enforce spend controls without being the “bad guys.” Budget holders approve requests routed via email, while finance maintains oversight through approval thresholds and audit trails.

For Client Services: Let external stakeholders approve deliverables via email without needing access to your internal systems. ApproveThis approvers require no licenses for Inbound or other connected apps.

For IT: Reduce Shadow IT by giving teams a governed way to handle email-based requests. Meet security requirements while maintaining user-friendly workflows.

Implementation Made Practical

Step 1: Create a Zapier account if you don’t have one

Step 2: Connect Inbound and ApproveThis as Zapier apps

Step 3: Set trigger as “New Inbound Email” in Inbound

Step 4: Configure ApproveThis action to map email content to approval fields (sender, subject, attachments)

Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis’s calculated fields to auto-extract amounts or dates from email bodies, reducing manual data entry.

Why This Becomes Team Habit

Unlike clunky procurement systems that people work around, this integration works where teams already live – their inboxes. Approvers get mobile-friendly emails with one-click approve/reject buttons. Requestors see real-time status updates without logging into another portal.

For cross-functional teams, vacation delegation ensures approvals never stall because someone’s at a conference. Legal can set conditional rules (“Automatically reject NDAs without termination clauses”) while focusing manual review on high-risk contracts.

Scaling Without Complexity

As approval needs grow, ApproveThis scales through features most teams don’t initially realize they need:

Threshold-Based Escalation: Auto-approve small expenses but require CFO sign-off on major capital requests

Consensus vs. Sequential Approvals: Choose whether multiple approvers must agree (e.g., compliance reviews) or simply pass along (e.g., departmental budget checks)

Getting Started

Start with a high-volume, low-risk approval process to build team buy-in. Client contract amendments or marketing asset reviews work well. Monitor the ApproveThis dashboard to identify bottlenecks – maybe creative reviews need a second approver on tight deadlines.

Ready to turn email chaos into tracked workflows? Register for ApproveThis or schedule a personalized demo to see how approval automation works with your existing tools.

Final Note on Compliance

For regulated industries, this integration provides an unexpected benefit: audit-ready records of who approved what via email. ApproveThis maintains immutable logs showing the exact request details each approver saw, with timestamps and decision rationales.