In this roundup, we will explain how integrating Google Forms, Google Sheets, and Numverify through Zapier can significantly enhance the security and accuracy of managing international phone numbers for new sales prospects. 

At the end of this roundup, we will show you a practical step-by-step guide on how to link your API key from a basic Numverify API plan into a Zap that automates the verification process each time a new number is added to your Google Sheets. This automation not only streamlines the validation of phone numbers but also ensures real-time security checks, minimizing the risk of errors and fraud in your communication channels.

Challenge:

A primary challenge for businesses operating internationally is ensuring the security and accuracy of the international phone numbers they collect. This involves a rigorous verification process, which is crucial for safeguarding customer data and preventing fraudulent activities.

The Primacy of Security and Verification:

1. Fraud Prevention: Verifying the authenticity of each phone number is essential in protecting against fraud, which can otherwise lead to significant financial losses and damage to the company’s reputation.
2. Compliance and Legal Obligations: Many countries enforce strict regulations on data privacy and security. Adhering to these laws through proper phone number verification helps avoid legal penalties and maintains customer trust.
3. Operational Integrity: Accurate and verified phone data enhances the reliability of customer communications, ensuring that messages reach their intended recipients and that customer interactions are based on valid data.

Leveraging Google Forms and Google Sheets for Enhanced Security:

Integrating Google Forms and Google Sheets provides a streamlined, secure method for collecting and managing new sales prospect data. Google Forms can be used to gather initial contact information directly from prospects, which is then automatically populated into Google Sheets. This data can include phone numbers that need rigorous verification for security purposes.

Implementing Verification with Numverify:

Once data is collected via Google Forms and stored in Google Sheets, Numverify can be integrated to verify each phone number in real-time. This setup ensures that all phone numbers are authenticated before any further communication or data processing takes place. Here’s how the process can be structured:

1. Data Collection via Google Forms: Set up a form to collect essential contact information, including international phone numbers, from new prospects.
2. Automated Data Sync to Google Sheets: Use Google Sheets to automatically receive data from Google Forms, organizing it into a manageable format for further processing.
3. Real-Time Verification Using Numverify: Link Numverify with Google Sheets using Zapier, which can trigger Numverify’s API to verify phone numbers as soon as they are entered into the sheet. This verification confirms the phone number’s legitimacy and additional details like country code, carrier, and line type.

Security Over Cost:

While cost considerations for international calls and verification services are important, they are secondary to the primary need for robust security measures. The potential cost of failing to implement rigorous verification could involve serious breaches of compliance and security, far outweighing any savings made from cheaper communication options.

Steps to Enhance Security through Verification:

1. Implement Advanced Verification Tools: Use tools like Numverify to perform real-time verification of international phone numbers directly from Google Sheets.
2. Continuous Monitoring and Auditing: Regularly audit the verification process and the data collected in Google Sheets to adapt to new threats and ensure ongoing compliance with data security regulations.
3. Training and Awareness: Educate staff on the importance of security practices related to international communications and the proper use of Google Forms and Sheets to prevent human errors that could compromise data integrity.

By emphasizing these security measures and integrating Google Forms and Google Sheets into the data collection and verification process, businesses can ensure a more secure and compliant operation, reducing the risk of costly security incidents and enhancing overall customer trust and satisfaction.

Step 1 – Secure Data Collection with Google Forms and Google Sheets That Meet Compliance and Regulations

With global operations, protecting customer data is paramount. Ensuring that phone numbers and other sensitive information are securely collected and stored should be a priority. Use encrypted data transmission and secure storage practices to safeguard this information.

Integrating Google Forms and Google Sheets as part of a Zap with Numverify for number verification guarantees an efficient, secure workflow.

Streamlined Data Collection and Verification

Google Forms (which is part of the free Google Workspace suite) is an ideal tool for businesses that need a solution to collect information effortlessly. Google Forms is a survey administration app that is part of the free, web-based tools offered by Google. It allows users to quickly and easily create custom forms for surveys and questionnaires, quizzes, RSVPs, and more, facilitating the collection of information from users through a digital format. When used in conjunction with Google Sheets, it becomes a powerful duo for organizing and analyzing data in real-time. 

Google Sheets is a free web-based spreadsheet program offered by Google. It allows users to create, edit, and share spreadsheets online while collaborating with others in real-time. Google Sheets is similar to Microsoft Excel, with additional features that make it unique.

Robust Security Features

Security is a paramount concern for businesses today. Google Workspace, which encompasses Google Forms and Google Sheets, is designed with robust security measures to protect sensitive information:

• Data Encryption: All data handled by Google Workspace is encrypted both in transit and at rest, safeguarding it from unauthorized access.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): This adds a layer of security by requiring a second form of identification beyond just a password.
• Advanced Phishing Protection: Google Workspace leverages sophisticated machine learning algorithms to detect and prevent phishing attacks, ensuring that the integrity of data collection processes is maintained.

Compliance and Certifications

Google Workspace adheres to internationally recognized standards and undergoes regular audits to ensure compliance with various security and privacy regulations:

• ISO/IEC 27001: Google Workspace is compliant with this rigorous standard, confirming its commitment to maintaining a robust information security management system.
• Regular Independent Audits: These are conducted to verify Google’s adherence to stringent security, privacy, and compliance controls.

Enhancing Data Management with Automation

Integrating Google Forms and Google Sheets into a Zap with Numverify streamlines the entire process of data collection and validation. This setup automates the verification of phone numbers entered in Google Forms, with the results neatly organized in Google Sheets. This not only enhances the efficiency of data management but also significantly reduces the risk of errors.

This integration exemplifies how businesses can leverage automation and secure cloud-based solutions to improve operational efficiency and data integrity. By using Google Forms and Google Sheets in a Zap with Numverify, businesses can ensure that they are collecting and managing data in a way that is both efficient and compliant with the highest standards of data security.

Step 2 – Secure Automated Validation: 

Before we go into the specifics of automating phone number validation, let’s clarify what Numverify and Zapier are and how they can enhance your business operations:

Numverify is an API service that provides real-time validation of international phone numbers, ensuring their authenticity and accuracy. This service checks if phone numbers are active and legitimate, and provides detailed information such as country code, carrier, and whether the number is mobile, landline, or VoIP. Utilizing Numverify helps businesses protect against fraud, maintain data accuracy, and ensure compliance with international data privacy laws.

Zapier is a robust web-based tool that links your preferred apps—like Gmail, Slack, and Mailchimp—to automate tasks without coding. This tool facilitates easy data movement between applications, enabling the creation of automated workflows, known as Zaps. It enables the integration of over 3,000 web apps such as Google Sheets, Google Forms, and Numverify. Zapier can automate repetitive tasks by creating “Zaps” — workflows that connect your apps and send information between them automatically, streamlining processes and enhancing productivity.

Using Numverify within a Zapier workflow allows your business to automate the verification of phone numbers, streamlining the process and enhancing data security. By integrating a paid Numverify plan that supports HTTPS into your workflow, you ensure that data transmitted between your systems and Numverify is encrypted and secure, crucial for maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information like phone numbers.

Zapier’s Commitment to Security:

Certifications and Compliance: Zapier has achieved SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 compliance, demonstrating its adherence to rigorous industry standards in managing customer data.

Data Privacy Laws: Zapier complies with GDPR, UK GDPR, and CCPA, ensuring lawful processing of personal data across various jurisdictions.

Encryption and Data Protection: All communications via Zapier’s web applications are encrypted using TLS 1.2, with data at rest secured with AES-256 encryption, safeguarding your data from unauthorized access.

Customizable Data Management: Zapier allows you to tailor data retention and deletion policies, helping your business meet specific regulatory requirements.

Robust Security Framework: With a dedicated security team, real-time security updates, AWS Cloud Security, a bug bounty program, and annual penetration tests, Zapier provides a secure platform for automating workflows.

Advantages of a Paid Numverify Plan: Enhanced Features: Compared to free versions, the paid plan offers more extensive verification capabilities, including a higher rate of API calls, access to detailed data such as country code, carrier information, and line type.

Better Support and Reliability: Paid plans typically come with prioritized customer support and more reliable service uptime, ensuring your verification processes run smoothly.

Compliance and Security: The paid plan’s support for HTTPS is vital for compliance with data protection regulations, providing a robust defense against security threats and ensuring that your business’s communications practices meet legal standards.

Integration into Your Workflow: By incorporating a paid Numverify plan into your Zapier workflow, you can automate the validation of international phone numbers as soon as they are inputted into Google Sheets. This integration not only speeds up the verification process but also reduces the potential for human error, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of your business’s data management practices.

Step-by-Step Guide:

We will now walk you through how to use a custom Zap to automate phone number collection and verification. Open this link on your browser and click the button ‘Try this Zap’ https://zapier.com/shared/a3ef8e93baccd2f70056eedb19ff428884c9e719

 

Before using this Zap, there will be a bit of setup that you will need to do in creating a Google Form and a Google Sheet. Let’s setup your Google Form and Google Sheet next.

Set Up Data Collection With Google Form and Google Sheets:

Google Forms

Use Google Forms on your campaign landing pages to gather information from prospective clients, including their phone numbers. https://www.google.com/forms

Google Forms offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to begin collecting data quickly. Here’s how to set up your form:

 

1. Give Your Form a Title: Start by naming your form to reflect its purpose.
2. Rename the File: Click on the default file name at the top to customize it, making it specific to your needs.
3. Set Up the Fields: Add the questions you need by selecting the appropriate question types, such as multiple choice, checkboxes, or text entry, depending on the information you are collecting.

 

These simple steps will help you create a functional and effective form suitable for a variety of data collection purposes.

Google Sheets

To effectively organize data collected from a Google Form along with additional details provided by Numverify, you can set up your Google Sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets to include specific columns for each piece of information. 

 

Here’s how to configure your Google Sheet to handle this data:

Create a New Google Sheet: Open Google Sheets and start a new document. Give it a relevant title that matches the purpose of your data collection, such as “Customer Contact Validation.”

Setup Columns for Google Form Data:

Column A: Name – This will store the names collected from the Google Form.

Column B: Phone – This will store the phone numbers input by the users.

Setup Columns for Numverify Data:

Column C: Verify – This could be a status field indicating whether the phone number has been validated.

Column D: Country – This will store the country information as returned by Numverify.

Column E: Carrier – This will store the carrier information as returned by Numverify.

Column F: Line Type – This will store the line type information (like mobile, landline, or VoIP) as returned by Numverify.

Column G: International Format – This will store the phone number in international format as returned by Numverify.

Automate Data Transfer:

Now you are ready to return to Zapier and automate the Zap on the link you opened earlier.

This is how you automate data entry with Zapier:

Step 1 – Set up a Zap that triggers when a new form submission is added to your Google Form.

This step requires you to link your Google Account to access your Google Forms.

 

At the next step (Trigger) you will need to select the Google Form you created earlier.

Test your ‘Trigger’. We suggest you do an input on to your Google Form and submit it before you test the ‘Trigger’.

Select the recent Google Form submission, and click the button ‘Continue with selected record’.

Step 3 – Add another action in Zap to call Numverify API for phone number validation once the phone number is captured in the Google Sheet.

Continue through the next step to use Numverify which is provided in this Zap template.

 

When prompted, paste your Numverify API key into Zapier.

If you need to find your Numverify key or signup to a paid Numverify plan to get an API key, you can do so at https://numverify.com/ .

You will find your Numverify key in your Numverify dashboard.

Past your Numverify key into Zapier and continue.

After continuing to the next step, position and click your cursor in the box beside the default phone number to reveal the option to ‘Insert Data ….’.

Select the ‘Phone Number’ field from your Google Form. (Don’t worry that there may be some field names that you didn’t setup and don’t recognize).

Delete the previous default phone number, and just continue with the Google Form phone number.

Test the step.

Continue after the result.

Step 2 – Configure the action to create a new row in your Google Sheet, mapping each form field to the corresponding column in the sheet.

Continue with the option to ‘Create Spreadsheet Row’.

Choose the Google account that you used to create the Google Sheet.

Continue

Choose the spreadsheet and the worksheet, by default this will be the name you saved the spreadsheet as, and ‘Sheet1’ if you didn’t name the worksheet tab.

Step 4 – Use the data returned by Numverify to fill in the respective fields in your Google Sheet (Country, Carrier, Line Type, International Format).

For each field that you want to populate on your spreadsheet, first choose the fields that you are automating with Google Form submissions, then choose the fields that you are are automating with Numverify responses.

Your completed Zap form will look something similar to this. The spreadsheet fields mapped to Google forms will have a different icon to the spreadsheet fields mapped to Numverify validation responses.

Test the next step.

On successful completion a message will appear ‘A Spreadsheet Row was sent to Google Sheets about seconds ago’ and you will have the option to ‘Publish’ the Zap to automate further Google Form submissions.

Check your Google Sheet for the updated test result.

Result:

Well done! You have just implemented a powerful system that ensures secure data collection and real-time verification of phone numbers collected online, protecting your business from fraud and maintaining compliance with international data privacy laws. This will streamline your operations, enhance customer trust, and ultimately drive your business success.

Google Forms and Google Sheets provide a secure and efficient method for collecting data, adhering to internationally recognized standards like ISO/IEC 27001. Google Workspace ensures data encryption both in transit and at rest, two-factor authentication (2FA), and advanced phishing protection, which collectively safeguard sensitive information during collection and storage.

On the other hand, Numverify and Zapier focus on automating the verification process. Numverify offers real-time validation of international phone numbers, ensuring their authenticity and accuracy. When integrated through Zapier, this setup automates verification workflows, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations. Zapier’s robust security framework, including SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 compliance, further guarantees secure data management.

Signup to Numverify and Zapier today to start automating your phone number verification process and elevate your data security measures. 

Use our Zap: Numverify: verify phone numbers entered on Google forms