I first discovered mailhooks when learning Zapier back in the day. I thought mailhooks were the best-kept secret of the automations world. That is until I used it myself and started getting errors due to email deliverability and formatting changes. But it is all that bad? Should mailhooks have a bad rep?
I say...depends. Here are some situations were you can use mailhooks:
1. You want to trigger an integration instantaneously.
If an application does not have webhooks, you'll have to run the integration periodically - meaning it's either running way too often and you're wasting Make operations, or it's not running often enough and you're team isn't getting the most real-time data.
To avoid losing precious time to get your precious data transferred between your apps, an alternative is mailhooks.
2. You're on a free plan and webhooks/APIs aren't available.
I won't name names, but a helpdesk application has a free version that allows for emails to be triggered when someone is tagged in a ticket. They have APIs and webhooks, but you have to upgrade to the paid plan to use them. It's so close...you can literally see the setting but it's locked.
No worries, be happy. Create a user with an email account dedicated to receive mailhooks, and have your team tag that person in the ticket. It'll send that inbox an email and voila, you just created a trigger for your automation.
Some best practice tips:
A. Parsing data from an email mailhook requires writing delicate code...or a good prompt from ChatGPT that can give you a regex expression.
B. I recommend creating a separate inbox for all your mailhooks. Don't let it flood your day-to-day, otherwise you'll never get to inbox zero.
C. When possible, use webhooks. It's what mailhooks are trying to be.
D. Build a redundancy. If your data is delicate, try building a redundancy integration to run nightly or weekly to make sure your systems are in sync.
Read more to learn more about mailhooks:
What are Mailhooks?
In simple terms, Mailhooks are like an extension of email functionality. They are essentially webhooks that are triggered by email events. They allow systems to communicate and react to emails, automating processes that would otherwise require manual intervention.
Using Mailhooks in Make
Make, known for its user-friendly interface and robust features, can be significantly enhanced with Mailhooks. Here's how to use them:
Set up a Mailhook: In your Make account, go to the Webhooks section and create a new Mailhook. You'll need to specify the incoming email address that will trigger the webhook.
Define the Action: Next, define what action should be taken when an email arrives at the specified address. This could be anything from sending an automatic reply to creating a new task or updating a database.
Test the Mailhook: Send a test email to the address you specified. You should see the action you defined being executed automatically.
Utilizing Mailhooks in Zapier
Zapier, another popular automation tool, also supports Mailhooks. Here's how to use them:
Create a Zap: Start by creating a new Zap. Choose the 'Email by Zapier' app and then select 'New Inbound Email' as the trigger.
Set up the Mailhook: You'll be provided with a custom Zapier email address. Any emails sent to this address will trigger your Zap.
Define the Action: As with Make, you can define what action should be taken when an email is received. Zapier supports a wide range of actions, allowing you to automate complex multi-step workflows.
Test the Zap: Send a test email to your custom Zapier address. You should see your Zap being triggered and the action being executed.
In summary, Mailhooks offer a versatile and powerful way to automate and streamline your workflows in Make and Zapier. By taking advantage of this 'best-kept secret', you can elevate your business operations to new heights of efficiency.
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