Track more metrics using Zapier + Geckoboard

Can't find the service you need to connect with or the particular metric that you want to display on your dashboard within our pre-built integrations?

You can try using Zapier + Geckoboard together! Zapier connects with a ton of services, so this is a handy and creative option to explore. 📈 📊 


You can find our list of pre-built integrations here, and the list of services Zapier connects with here  .


Our suggestion would be to first explore our Datasets integration as this is a much more powerful and flexible solution. If Datasets isn't a feasible option for your particular requirements or situation, you should then definitely check out Zapier + Geckoboard!


There are two types of data/metrics you can track with Zapier:  

  1. 'Event' type data
  2. High-level insights and trends, i.e. KPIs

Each type requires its own specific approach. Let's check them out! 🚀

Tracking Events on your dashboard

Events are basically exactly what they sound like - the real-time 'events' occurring in your business.

Examples of 'events'

The value of your latest sales order, name and email ID of your newest lead, the latest commit in your GitHub repo, NPS score given by the most recent reviewer, the latest message in a Slack channel, and so on

For tracking Events, we'll use our integration with Zapier which works via our Custom Widgets

Understanding Custom Widgets

Though you may not really require it for this setup, it'll definitely be helpful to get a more in-depth understanding of Custom Widgets. You can check out our developer documentation and guide article

Important note

While Custom Widgets are a legacy integration, we have no plans to stop support for these. You can rest assured and use them without worry!

We support only three of the available Custom Widgets in our Zapier - Geckoboard integration: Number, Geck-O-Meter, and Text.

Need to use a different visualization?

You should explore the Tracking KPIs' method for Zapier instead.

We'll now cover the required setup and how things work for tracking events (i.e. using Custom Widgets) directly with an example. 

Example with Pipedrive

  1. Let's say you want to display the deal name, contact name, contact email ID, and estimated deal value whenever a new lead comes into your Pipedrive. 
  2.  Begin by creating a new Zap within your Zapier account. make a zap in zapier.png
  3. Give your Zap a name from the top left.
  4. Under the Trigger section: Search the list of integrations and select Pipedrive.
  5. Next, read through the available triggers and select the one you need. For our example, we'll select 'New Deal in a Pipeline Stage'.


    Don't miss the 'show less common options' to view more available triggers!

    select from the list of available Zapier triggers
  6. If you're doing this for the first time, you'll now have to connect your Pipedrive account to Zapier. You'll need your Pipedrive API token which can be found here
  7. Use the Test option to confirm that the Pipedrive account was indeed successfully connected. 
  8. Now, configure the Trigger template by selecting the required pipeline and stage. As we want to display details about the new (latest) deal, we're selecting the 'Lead In' stage.configure the Zapier trigger options
  9. Follow the instructions shown on the next page and test your Pipedrive trigger by fetching an existing deal. If there are errors, Zapier will suggest some potential causes and solutions for you to try. If all looks good, click on Continue
  10. Let's now set up the Action. As you did previously, search the list of integrations and choose Geckoboard this time.
  11. Select the widget (visualization) to use. For our example, we're looking to display textual information about the new deal, so we'll choose the Text widget.configure the Action steps in Zapier
  12. Again, if this is the first time you're using Geckoboard with Zapier, you'll be prompted to connect your Geckoboard account to Zapier. For this, you'll need your Geckoboard API Key which can be found here or by following the steps in this short explainer.
  13. Use the Test option again to confirm that your Geckoboard account was indeed successfully connected.
  14. Now, this is the crucial step - configuring the Action Template. Here, you configure what data about the new deal you want to display on Geckoboard, the particular Geckoboard widget the data will get displayed on, and how the data will display. No pressure 😅
    • First, let's configure the Text field. Remove the default 'Hello from Zapier!' text. Use the Insert button towards the right and go through the different data available. Choose the particular data about the deal you want to push to Geckoboard. You can also include your own text to provide more context to what finally gets displayed on the widget. 


      Our Text widget also supports some HTML, so you could use that as well to tweak how the data gets displayed on the widget.

      This is how we've set up things in our example:set up Zapier data to push to Geckoboard
      The GIF shows the steps:set up Zapier data to push to Geckoboard
    • Next, within Geckoboard, add a Custom Widget - Text. Set the method to Push and add the widget to your dashboard. Once done, you'll be able to copy the widget key. The GIF shows the steps:set up Geckoboard Custom Text Widget and get the widget key
    • Paste the widget key into the corresponding field within Zapier.
    • Choose the display type of the Text widget: Normal, Alert, or Info. You can check out how each of these would look in this guide article. The default (i.e. leaving the field blank) sets it to 'Normal'. 
    • Once you're happy with all the settings, click 'Continue'. 
  15. Zapier will display a preview of the data about to be pushed to Geckoboard. Click 'Create and Continue'.
  16. If all went well, the test should show successful in Zapier, and your Geckoboard widget should start displaying the data. Adjust the widget size if needed and give your widget a title.  How the Zapier data displays on the Geckoboard widget
  17. Once you've had a look at how the data displays on your widget, you can modify the Zap's template as needed. You can also re-test using the new template or with different data. Once you're happy with the setup, click 'Finish'. 
  18. Zapier will prompt you to turn on your Zap. While on, this Zap will check your Pipedrive every 15 minutes and display the details of your latest new deal on Geckoboard.

    All done! You're tracking your latest deal on your dashboard now. 🎉

Tracking KPIs on your dashboard

These are the different key metrics and trends that you want to track in your business. We have a useful section on KPIs if you'd like to have a read! 


The total sales this month, number of leads this month vs previous month, number of GitHub commits this week vs previous week, your NPS score, total number of messages in a Slack channel each month, and so on

Setup and process

  1. Setting up the Zap will be similar to the previous method. We'll then instead feed the results into Google Sheets.
  2. Google Sheets provides many powerful functions. You can use those functions to calculate and crunch the numbers within the spreadsheet itself and get the particular metrics that you're interested in.
  3. Then, using our elegant Spreadsheets integration, you can display those metrics on your dashboards.
  4. Finally, the whole process can be automated quite easily (explained in the video below) and you'll always have live, up-to-date metrics displaying on your dashboards!

Example with Pipedrive

We'll again cover the setup and show how things work by jumping directly into an example. This time, we'll use a demo video:

Resources mentioned in the video

1. The example Google Sheet with all the formulas for your reference.

2. 'Calculate number of rows with current month & year' Stack Overflow post

3. Guides to using our Spreadsheets integration.

Get help

If you have any questions about using Zapier + Geckoboard or need help with any Google Sheets functions or calculations, please get in touch with our friendly customer support team, and we'll be more than glad to assist! 😃

Happy Dashboarding! 📈 📊

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