When "Just Stick It On The Wall" Meets "Who Needs To Sign Off On This?"

Let's be real - most companies aren't lacking tools. They're drowning in them. Mural's where your team brainstorms the next big thing. ApproveThis is where ideas go to either become reality or die in committee. Connect them through Zapier, and suddenly you've got something that feels less like corporate red tape and more like actually moving forward.

Mural's visual workspaces help teams think. ApproveThis forces them to decide. Together? They turn "cool concept" into "shipped project" without the endless Slack pings and follow-up meetings. For teams between 50-5k people juggling multiple approval layers, this isn't nice-to-have - it's the difference between shipping and stagnation.

What Happens When Approval Gates Meet Visual Workflows

Mural's strength is visual collaboration. ApproveThis's superpower is structured decision-making. Combined through Zapier, they fix each other's blind spots:

• Mural's freedom needs guardrails before ideas go rogue
• ApproveThis's structure needs context beyond dry form fields

The integration works because ApproveThis approvers don't need Mural licenses. External partners can veto a design without getting lost in your Mural account. Finance can kill a budget-busting concept without seeing another sticky note in their life.

Real-World Use Cases That Don't Suck

1. Killing "Who Approved This?" Forever

The Problem: Marketing teams using Mural for campaign concepts often discover someone "forgot" to get legal sign-off. Now you're reworking assets 48 hours before launch.

The Fix: New Mural area created → Auto-send to ApproveThis with required legal/compliance reviewers. No concept moves to production without documented approvals attached to the Mural workspace.

Bonus: Use ApproveThis's calculated fields to auto-flag campaigns over $50k budget for CFO review. Because nobody wants that surprise.

2. From Approval to Action Without the BS

The Problem: Product teams approve feature requests in committee, then waste days manually translating decisions into Jira tickets and Mural roadmaps.

The Fix: ApproveThis approval → Auto-create Mural sticky with key details + due date. Suddenly your Mural roadmap updates itself, and stakeholders see decisions reflected in real time.

Pro Tip: Pair with ApproveThis's vacation delegation so approvals don't stall when Karen from UX is hiking the Andes.

3. Audit Trails That Don't Require a PhD to Decipher

The Problem: Compliance needs paper trails, but digging through Mural version history to find who changed what (and whether it was approved) is a nightmare.

The Fix: Every major Mural change triggers an ApproveThis workflow. Now your audit trail shows exactly who approved each iteration, with comments and timestamps attached directly to the Mural.

Setup That Takes Less Time Than Your Daily Standup

1. Connect the Apps: Zapier handles the heavy lifting. If your team can post a Slack message, you can set this up.

2. Map the Nonsense: Pick which Mural actions (new area, sticky, etc.) should trigger approvals. Set thresholds in ApproveThis - maybe all projects over $10k need auto-escalation.

3. Test Drive: Run a fake campaign concept through. If legal gets spammed with cat meme approvals, maybe tweak your workflow rules.

Why Your CFO and Creative Director Will Both Hate This Less

For Finance: Approval thresholds mean budget overages get flagged before they're a problem. Real-time tracking shows exactly where bottlenecks are killing ROI.

For Creatives: No more chasing signatures. Get notified in Mural when concepts are approved and ready to ship. Rejected? Comments come with the decline, so you’re not guessing why.

For Ops: Vacation delegation + approval groups mean projects don’t die because someone’s at Burning Man. Calculated fields auto-route requests based on type, dollar amount, or project risk.

The Part Where We Tell You What To Do Next

If you're still manually screenshotting Mural boards to attach to approval emails, you're wasting about 3 hours per employee every week. That's not "being thorough" - it's burning money.

ApproveThis isn't another tool to manage. It's the glue between the tools you already use. Start with one workflow - maybe concept approvals or budget sign-offs. See how much less everyone hates the process.

Get started free or book a 15-minute demo that skips the sales pitch and shows actual workflows from companies your size.

Wait, Does This Actually Work For...?

Healthcare Teams: HIPAA-compliant approvals attached to patient journey maps? Done. Approvers only see what's relevant to their sign-off.

Enterprise Sales: Auto-route proposal approvals based on deal size. $100k+ deals get CRO review without manual escalation.

Agencies: Clients approve campaign concepts directly from Mural boards via email. No logins, no chasing, no "I thought you clicked approve!"

The Fine Print That's Actually Useful

Licensing: Approvers only need ApproveThis access for workflows you control. Clients/contractors get email approvals. No buying 500 Mural seats for people who just need to say "yes" or "no."

Security: ApproveThis meets SOC 2 Type II standards. Mural integration uses OAuth through Zapier - no password sharing required.

Cost: You're already paying for Mural. ApproveThis starts at $15/user/month. Basic math says if this saves 5 approvals per week, it pays for itself in productivity alone.

Still Reading? Here's Your Exit Ramp

Option 1: Keep pasting Mural links into emails and hoping people review them. Maybe add more meetings to "improve the process."

Option 2: Try ApproveThis free for 14 days. Connect one Mural workflow. See if your team notices the difference.

(If you picked Option 1, we salute your commitment to corporate performance art.)