How to Set Up a Make.com Automation (Beginner’s Guide)

Short Answer: How Do I Set Up a Make.com Automation?

To set up a Make.com automation, create a free account, build a new “scenario” (Make’s term for a workflow), add a trigger module to start the workflow, connect action modules that do something with the data, test with real data, and turn on scheduling. The whole process takes 15-30 minutes for a basic automation.

What Is Make.com?

Make.com (formerly Integromat) is a visual automation platform that connects your apps and services to create automated workflows. Think of it as a digital assistant that watches for events in one app and automatically performs actions in other apps — without you lifting a finger.

Unlike Zapier’s linear step-by-step approach, Make.com uses a visual canvas where you can see your entire workflow laid out as a flowchart. This makes it easier to build complex automations with branching logic, parallel paths, and error handling. And importantly for Australian small businesses, it’s significantly cheaper than Zapier at any meaningful scale.

This guide walks you through everything from creating your account to building your first real-world automation. By the end, you’ll have a working workflow that captures form submissions, sends notification emails, and adds contacts to a CRM — all automatically.

Step 1: Create Your Make.com Account

Head to make.com and sign up for a free account. The free tier gives you:

• 1,000 operations per month
• 2 active scenarios
• Minimum interval of 15 minutes between runs
• 100 MB of data transfer

That’s enough to build and test several automations before deciding whether to upgrade. No credit card required.

Once you’ve verified your email and logged in, you’ll land on the Dashboard. This shows your active scenarios, operation usage, and recent activity. Take a moment to look around, then click “Create a new scenario” to get started.

Step 2: Understand the Canvas

Make.com’s canvas is where the magic happens. Here’s the terminology you need to know:

• Scenario: A complete workflow (equivalent to a Zapier “zap”)
• Module: A single step in your workflow — either a trigger, action, search, or transformer
• Trigger: The first module in a scenario — it watches for an event (new form submission, new email, new row in a spreadsheet)
• Action: A module that does something — sends an email, creates a record, updates a spreadsheet
• Connection: Your authentication credentials for each app (saved securely and reusable across scenarios)
• Bundle: A package of data flowing through your scenario (like a single form submission with all its fields)

When you open a new scenario, you’ll see an empty canvas with a single “+” button in the centre. That’s where you’ll add your first module.

Step 3: Add a Trigger Module

Every scenario starts with a trigger — the event that kicks off the automation. Click the “+” button and search for the app you want to use as your trigger.

For this tutorial, let’s use Google Forms as our trigger. Here’s the process:

1. Click the “+” button on the canvas
2. Search for “Google Forms” in the app list
3. Select “Watch Responses” as the trigger type
4. Click “Create a connection” to authenticate with your Google account
5. Select the specific form you want to monitor
6. Click “OK” to save the module configuration

Make.com will now watch for new submissions on your selected Google Form. Every time someone submits the form, it triggers the scenario and passes the form data to the next module.

Pro tip: After setting up the trigger, click “Run once” in the bottom toolbar. Make will pull in a recent form submission as sample data, which you’ll need for configuring subsequent modules.

Step 4: Add Action Modules

Now let’s add what happens after the form is submitted. Hover over the trigger module and click the small “+” that appears on its right side to add the next module.

Action 1: Send a Notification Email

1. Search for “Email” and select the built-in email module (or Gmail if you prefer)
2. Select “Send an email”
3. Configure the fields:
   • To: Your notification email address
   • Subject: “New form submission from [map the name field from the trigger]”
   • Content: Map the relevant form fields into a formatted email body
4. Click “OK” to save

Notice how you can “map” data from the trigger into your email fields. When you click into the Subject or Content field, you’ll see a panel showing all available data from previous modules. Click a field to insert it — Make handles the dynamic data substitution automatically.

Action 2: Add Contact to CRM

1. Click the “+” after the email module
2. Search for your CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, or whatever you use)
3. Select “Create a Contact” or “Create/Update a Contact”
4. Map form fields to CRM fields (name, email, phone, etc.)
5. Click “OK”

Your scenario now has three modules: Google Forms trigger, email notification, and CRM contact creation. The canvas shows them connected in a line, with data flowing from left to right.

Step 5: Filters — Adding Conditional Logic

Filters let you control which data passes through your scenario. They sit between modules and act as gates — data that meets the filter condition passes through; data that doesn’t is stopped.

To add a filter:

1. Click on the line connecting two modules (the dotted connection line)
2. A filter panel appears where you can set conditions
3. Set your condition — for example, “Email contains @gmail.com” or “Budget is greater than 5000”
4. Click “OK”

Filters are invaluable for preventing junk data from cluttering your CRM or triggering unnecessary emails. Common filter uses include filtering out test submissions, routing based on inquiry type, or only processing submissions from specific regions.

Step 6: Routers — Branching Your Workflow

Routers are one of Make.com’s killer features — they let you split your workflow into multiple paths that run in parallel. This is something Zapier charges premium prices for (Paths) and limits heavily.

To add a router:

1. Right-click on the canvas and select “Add a router”, or add it as a module
2. The router creates multiple branches — each branch can have its own filter and action modules
3. Add filters to each branch to control which data goes where

For example, you might route form submissions based on inquiry type:

• Branch 1: If inquiry type = “Sales” → send to sales team email and create opportunity in CRM
• Branch 2: If inquiry type = “Support” → create ticket in support system and send auto-reply
• Branch 3: If inquiry type = “Partnership” → send to partnerships email and add to partner pipeline

All branches run in parallel, so the scenario processes quickly regardless of how many paths you have. Learn more about advanced Make.com features in our Make.com vs Zapier vs n8n comparison.

Step 7: Error Handling

Things go wrong. APIs time out, rate limits get hit, and occasionally an app just has a bad day. Make.com’s error handling ensures your automations are resilient:

Break Directive

Pauses the scenario and saves the unprocessed bundle for later retry. Use this for transient errors (API timeouts, rate limits) where retrying later will likely succeed.

Retry Directive

Automatically retries the failed module a specified number of times with a delay between attempts. Perfect for rate limit errors.

Rollback Directive

Stops the scenario execution and marks it as an error. Use this for data integrity scenarios where partial completion would cause problems.

Ignore Directive

Ignores the error and continues the scenario. Use sparingly — only for non-critical actions where failure is acceptable (like sending a notification that isn’t essential).

To add error handling, right-click on any module and select “Add error handler”. Choose the appropriate directive and configure the behaviour.

Step 8: Scheduling

Once your scenario is tested and working, you need to set the schedule — how often Make.com checks for new trigger events:

• Free plan: Minimum 15-minute intervals
• Paid plans: As frequent as every 1 minute
• Instant triggers: Some apps support webhooks, which trigger the scenario immediately when an event occurs (no polling delay)

To set the schedule, click the clock icon on the trigger module and choose your interval. For most business automations, 15-minute intervals are perfectly adequate — instant triggers are available for time-sensitive workflows.

Toggle the scenario to “ON” using the switch in the bottom toolbar, and your automation is live.

Real Example: Form to Email to CRM

Let’s put it all together with a complete, working example that you can build in under 30 minutes:

The Scenario

When someone submits a contact form on your website, automatically: send yourself a notification email, send the lead an auto-reply, and create a contact in your CRM with all their details.

The Modules

1. Trigger: Google Forms → Watch Responses (or Webhook if your form supports it)
2. Action 1: Email → Send yourself a notification with the submission details
3. Action 2: Email → Send the lead an auto-reply thanking them for their inquiry
4. Action 3: HubSpot/Pipedrive → Create a new contact with mapped fields (name, email, phone, message)

Total Setup Time

About 20-25 minutes including connection setup, field mapping, and testing. Once running, this automation handles your lead capture 24/7 without any manual intervention.

For a deeper comparison of automation platforms, check our tool comparison resource, or explore our workflow automation services if you want hands-on help building more complex scenarios.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many operations does a typical scenario use?

Each module that processes data counts as one operation. A three-module scenario (trigger + two actions) processing one form submission uses three operations. The free plan’s 1,000 operations per month is enough for about 330 three-step automations — plenty for testing and light production use.

What happens if my scenario fails?

Make.com logs all scenario runs with detailed execution history. Failed runs show exactly which module failed and why. You can view the error, fix the issue, and rerun the failed bundle without losing data. Incomplete executions are stored for 15 days on paid plans.

Can I use Make.com with Australian-specific apps like Xero?

Yes. Make.com has a native Xero module with support for invoices, contacts, bank transactions, and more. It also integrates with other Australian-popular apps like MYOB (via API), Deputy, and various Australian payment processors.

What’s the difference between Make.com and Zapier for beginners?

Zapier is slightly easier for absolute beginners because of its linear step-by-step interface. Make.com has a slightly steeper initial learning curve because of the visual canvas, but becomes easier than Zapier once you need conditional logic, branching, or complex data transformations. Most users become comfortable with Make.com within their first or second scenario.

Should I start with the free plan or paid?

Start with free. Build your first two or three scenarios, confirm everything works, and only upgrade when you need more operations, faster scheduling, or more than two active scenarios. Most small businesses eventually land on the Core or Pro plan, which starts at around US$10-19/month.

Next Steps

You now know enough to build your first Make.com automation. Start with a simple three-module scenario, get it working, and then explore routers and error handling as your confidence grows. The Make.com canvas becomes intuitive surprisingly quickly.

If you’d like help building more complex automations or want someone to set up your workflows professionally, explore our Make.com automation services. We help Australian businesses build reliable, scalable automations that run themselves.