When “Set It and Forget It” Goes Wrong
You built that sleek email campaign in Selzy. You segmented the lists. You A/B tested subject lines. Then your CFO asks why they’re getting CC’d on 27 reply-all emails about approving a 10% off promo. Suddenly, your “automated” workflow looks more like a group chat from 2006.
This is why combining ApproveThis (the approval sheriff) and Selzy (the email workhorse) through Zapier isn’t just convenient – it’s damage control. Let’s talk about how mid-sized companies actually use this combo to keep campaigns moving without the meeting-about-a-meeting fatigue.
What Happens When Approval Meets Automation
Selzy handles the what – creating campaigns, managing lists, tracking opens. ApproveThis handles the who said yes – routing decisions, collecting signatures, auditing trails. Together through Zapier, they handle the “why is this taking so long?”
Example: A $5M e-commerce company uses Selzy for flash sale emails. Without ApproveThis, their process looks like: Marketing lead Slack’s the CEO → CEO replies “approved” → someone manually updates a Google Sheet. Two weeks later, legal finds out the discount wasn’t vetted. Oops.
With the integration? Selzy triggers an approval request the second a new campaign draft exists. ApproveThis routes it to legal > CFO > CMO in order. Only after three greenlights does the campaign go live. No Slack pings. No spreadsheets. No “I thought YOU checked compliance!”
Real Use Cases That Don’t Suck
1. New Subscribers: From “Maybe” to “Marketable” Without the Manual BS
Scenario: A B2B SaaS company uses lead magnets in Selzy. But their sales team keeps complaining about unqualified leads. Classic case of marketing wanting more leads, sales wanting better leads.
Fix: Zapier triggers an ApproveThis request every time Selzy gets a new subscriber. Sales lead gets an email: “Approve this lead for nurturing? Company size: 15 employees. Downloaded ‘Enterprise SEO Guide’.” One click approves adding them to the drip campaign. Denial kicks them to a re-engagement flow.
Bonus: ApproveThis’ calculated fields auto-flag subscribers who don’t meet minimum criteria (like invalid business emails), routing only questionable cases to humans. No more paying for dead-end leads.
2. Unsubscribes: Compliance Without the Paperwork Hangover
Scenario: A healthcare nonprofit needs to document every unsubscribe for audit trails. Their old method? Sales ops exports Selzy’s unsub list weekly → emails it to compliance → someone manually checks a PDF checklist. It’s as tedious as it sounds.
Fix: When someone unsubscribes in Selzy, ApproveThis automatically:
- Creates an approval task for compliance
- Attaches the user’s full interaction history
- Requires a compliance officer to confirm GDPR/CCPA compliance
Only then does Selzy fully process the unsubscribe. All records live in ApproveThis’ dashboard – no more “Where’s the 3/15 export?” emails.
3. Campaign Launches: The Anti-Bottleneck System
Ever seen a CMO approve a campaign…then a designer tweak the CTA…then it needs re-approval? It’s like a Russian nesting doll of delays.
Here’s how a 200-person agency fixed it:
1. Final campaign draft in Selzy → Zapier pings ApproveThis
2. Approval chain: Designer (checks links) → Client (branding) → Legal (disclaimers)
3. Each step uses conditional logic – if client requests changes, it auto-routes back to design without restarting the whole chain
4. Only when all three approve does Selzy schedule the send
Result? Their “final approval” phase went from 6.5 days to 8 hours. Clients stopped asking for “just one more edit” at 11 PM.
Why This Isn’t Just Another Zap
Most Zapier integrations just shuffle data. This combo actually changes who does what:
For marketing teams:
- No more being the “approval secretary” – everything’s tracked automatically
- Can prove a campaign was legally approved in 2 clicks during audits
For execs:
- Approve via email without logging into Selzy (or even knowing how)
- Vacation mode auto-forwards approvals so campaigns don’t stall
For IT:
- Selzy never stores approval records (they live in ApproveThis)
- No custom code needed to connect systems
Setting It Up Without the Headache
If you can order DoorDash, you can connect these tools:
- Pick your trigger: In Zapier, choose when Selzy should ping ApproveThis – new subscriber, unsub, campaign draft, etc.
- Map the fields: Tell Zapier which Selzy data ApproveThis needs (like email content, user segments).
- Build the approval chain: In ApproveThis, set who approves what. Pro tip: Use approval thresholds so small discounts auto-approve, but big spends need human eyes.
Biggest time-saver? ApproveThis doesn’t make approvers have Selzy logins. Your client’s legal team can review email copy without getting access to your whole Selzy account. That alone prevents about 37 “forgot password” support tickets per month.
When to Use This Combo (And When Not To)
Good fit if:
- You’ve had an email go out without proper sign-off (and lived to regret it)
- Different departments (sales/legal/execs) fight over who OKs campaigns
- You’re scaling beyond “the founder approves everything”
Not worth it if:
- Your entire marketing team is 3 people in one room
- You send 2 campaigns a month with zero compliance needs
- You enjoy forwarding approval emails with “???” every other day
Bottom Line: It’s About Control, Not Just Convenience
Connecting ApproveThis and Selzy via Zapier isn’t just automating clicks – it’s enforcing process where there’s usually chaos. For companies hitting that 100-500 employee range, it’s the difference between “Everyone approves everything!” and actually knowing who said yes, when, and why.
Ready to stop being the approval middleman? Get started with ApproveThis, connect it to Selzy, and let the robots handle the paperwork.
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