The LearnDash Zapier integration empowers you to automate the learning experience. Using Zapier, you can connect LearnDash with over 1,500 applications, and automatically pass data from LearnDash to another application of your choice.
Data is sent to another app after specific Triggers take place on your LearnDash site. We’ll briefly explain how Zapier works, all of the available Triggers, and walk you through a real-world example from start to finish.
NOTE
You need to sign up for a Zapier account before you can use this integration. Both free & premium options are available. Note that some Zapier functionality, such as filters, require a paid plan.
Table of Contents [show]1 What is a Zap?2 Sign Up for a Zapier Account3 Install the Zapier Integration4 Supported Triggers & Actions4.1 Triggers4.2 Actions5 The Trigger: When This Happens…6 The Action: Do This…7 LearnDash Zaps vs. Webhook Zaps8 Legacy Zapier Setup (v1.x)8.1 Create a Trigger8.2 Set Up the Zap in LearnDash8.2.1 Available LearnDash Event Triggers8.3 Send Test Data to Zapier8.3.1 Create a Test Course8.3.2 Create a Test User8.3.3 Perform the Test Action8.3.4 Finalize the Trigger8.4 Create an Action Step9 Additional Options10 Zap Ideas11 FAQ11.1 Was this article helpful to you?
What is a Zap?
A Zap is a connection between two (or more) applications. Zaps consist of one Trigger, followed by one (or several) Actions.
Trigger: Something occurs in Application 1 to start the process. In this case, Application 1 is LearnDash.
Data from Application 1 is sent to Zapier
Filter: Modify the data in one, or several, ways (optional, requires premium account)
Action: Some, or all, of the data is then sent to Application 2
Sign Up for a Zapier Account
Go to zapier.com & click the “Sign Up” button at the top
Follow the prompts to create your account
Keep your account open in your browser, as we’ll come back to it shortly.
Install the Zapier Integration
Option 1: Add-ons Menu (requires an active LearnDash license)
In your WordPress admin area, navigate to LEARNDASH LMS > ADD-ONS
Locate the Zapier for LearnDash add-on
Click Install Now
Click the Activate Plugin button
Option 2: Manual Upload
Download the plugin file (must be logged in to download)
In WordPress, navigate to PLUGINS > ADD NEW
Click Upload Plugin
Browse for the .zip file you downloaded in Step 1
Click Install Now
Click Activate Plugin
Supported Triggers & Actions
As of version 2.0 of the LearnDash Zapier integration, we support the following triggers & actions. Over time, we will look to expand upon these based on feedback.
Triggers
Enrolled into course
Course completed
Lesson completed
Topic completed
Quiz passed
Quiz failed
Quiz completed
Essay submitted
Actions
Add user to a course
Remove user from a course
Add user to a LearnDash Group
Remove user from a LearnDash Group
Now it’s time to set up a new zap.
The Trigger: When This Happens…
Login to your zapier.com account
Click the Make a Zap! button in the top-right corner
Give your Zap a name (for internal use only)
Under Choose App & Event, search for “learndash” and click on the LearnDash app that appears
Under Choose Trigger Event, select one of the triggers from the list, and then click “Continue”
USING FILTERS
If you want to set a specific Course, Lesson, Topic (etc.) as a Trigger, then that can be accomplished using Zapier’s Filter option. This article explains Filters in more detail. Not available on free Zapier plans.
Click the Sign in to LearnDash button
A popup window will appear, asking you for your site’s URL and an API key
Go back to your WordPress admin area, and navigate to LearnDash LMS > Zapier > Settings, and copy your API key
Navigate back to the Zapier popup window to enter your site URL, and the API key you just copied. Click Yes, Continue.
NOTE: When entering your site URL, be sure to include the final forward-slash (/) at the end.
Click the large Continue button to move onto the next step.
You have three options when it comes to testing your connection & your site’s associated data:
Skip the test
Test & review the results
Test & continue setting up your zap
If you test & review, you’ll see an example of your data, based on the trigger event you chose.
If your connection has been set up properly, you’ll see a green checkmark next to the trigger.
The Action: Do This…
Click on the 2. Do this … heading
Search for & choose an app from the list
In the Choose Action Event dropdown, search for and select an action.
NOTE: The actions will vary based on which app you choose.
Click Continue
You’ll now be asked to sign into your Mailchimp account (or connect to whatever app you chose in step 2 above).
Follow the instructions in the popup to login & authorize access to your account.
NOTE: This will look different depending on the app you choose to connect with.
You should see your connection listed in the dropdown box. Then click the Continue button.
You’ll then be asked to customize the details that will be sent to Mailchimp (or whatever app you choose). This will vary greatly, depending on the app. Here’s an example of the Mailchimp fields:
Fill in all the required fields to take the appropriate action(s) you want to take.
NOTE: If you’re sending an email address from LearnDash to another application, be sure to use the dynamic User Data User Email field. Do not type an email address in the email field.
When you’re finished filling in all the fields, click Continue.
Once again, you have 3 options for testing the data:
skip the test
test & review the data
test & continue with the zap
If your test is successful, you’ll see a message like this:
You can also check your Mailchimp account and you will see a test subscriber has been added to the audience list you chose.
Then click Done Editing to finish up your zap.
Finally, make sure you turn your zap on. You should see a toggle at the very bottom of the screen. Click the switch to turn it from OFF to ON.
The message will disappear and you should see a green ON switch in the top-right corner. Your zap should start to work immediately.
LearnDash Zaps vs. Webhook Zaps
Any zaps you set up using the older method (webhooks) will continue to work, but we recommend using the official LearnDash app in Zapier moving forward. If you need to distinguish between the two types in your Zapier account, just look at the icon used for the trigger. Old zaps will have red/orange webhook symbol while using the newer method will have the blue “LD” icon.
Legacy Zapier Setup (v1.x)
This is the old way to connect LearnDash to Zapier prior to Version 2.0 of the Zapier add-on. We do not recommend this method.
Before we set up any connections in LearnDash, we need to start creating our Zap on the Zapier website.
Create a Trigger
Navigate to zapier.com
Click the Make a Zap! button in the top-right corner
Give your Zap a name (for internal use only)
Choose a Trigger App: Select “Webhooks”
Choose the Catch Hook option
Click Save + Continue
Copy the Webhook URL to your clipboard. You’ll need it in just a second.
Set Up the Zap in LearnDash
Navigate to LEARNDASH LMS > ZAPIER
Click Add Trigger
Give your Trigger a name (internal use only)
Trigger Event: Choose “Enrolled into course”
Trigger Course: Choose a specific course, or leave it set to All Courses
Webhook URL: Paste the Webhook URL you copied from Zapier
Click Publish
NOTE
You can choose any of the available Trigger Events from the list. We’re just using “Enrolled into course” for this example.
Available LearnDash Event Triggers
You may use any of the following events to initiate an Action step in Zapier:
User enrolls into a course
User completes a course
User completes a lesson
User completes a topic
User completes a quiz
User passes a quiz
User fails a quiz
User submits an essay
Zapier also works with WooCommerce, and there are several WooCommerce Triggers available as well.
Send Test Data to Zapier
In order for Zapier to know what data to send to Mailchimp, we need to create a test user, and perform the action of enrolling that user into a course.
NOTE
The action that you need to perform on your LearnDash site will depend on the “Trigger Event” that you choose. Whatever event you choose, be sure to perform that specific action.
Create a Test Course
Let’s create a simple test course that we can enroll in. You can delete this course after you’ve used it to set up the Zapier integration.
Navigate to LEARNDASH LMS > COURSES
Click Add New
Give your course a title
On the Settings tab, set the Access Mode to “Free”
Click Publish
We don’t need to add any lessons or other content. We just need a course that we can easily enroll in.
Create a Test User
Now we need a user to enroll in our test course. Since administrators are automatically enrolled in all courses, let’s create a test user. Again, you can delete this test user after you’re finished the setup.
Navigate to USERS > ADD NEW
Fill out the required information
Role should be set to Subscriber
Click Add New User
Now you’ll need to either logout of your WordPress administrator account or use a private browsing session to login as this new test user.
Perform the Test Action
Navigate to the course page of the test course you just created
Click the “Take this Course” button
Now that you are enrolled in the course, you have sent Zapier the information it needs to be able to communicate with Mailchimp.
Finalize the Trigger
You just need to confirm with Zapier that it has the correct information.
Navigate back to your Zapier account
Click the OK, I did this button
Under Pick A Sample To Set Up Your Zap, you should have one example. Select it.
Tip: Click the dropdown arrow to reveal the information that Zapier collected about the course & the user. This will confirm that you have the info you need.
Click Continue
Create an Action Step
Now it’s time to tell our Zap what to do once the Trigger has been fired.
Part 1 of creating your Action step
Part 2 of creating your Action step
If you’re not automatically sent to the “Choose an Action App” screen, click the + Add a Step button
Click on Action/Search
Type “mailchimp” into the search bar, and click on “Mailchimp” when you see it appear
Select Mailchimp Action: Choose “Add/Update Subscriber”
Click the Connect an Account button. A new window will ask you to sign into your Mailchimp account.
Make sure your account is selected, then click Save + Continue
Audience (formerly Lists): Choose the audience in which you’d like to add the new subscriber to
Subscriber Email: Type “email” to search, and select the option for User[user Email]
IMPORTANT: Do not type an actual email address is this field.
All other fields are optional, but you may set them up if you’d like
Click the Continue button
Click the Send Test to Mailchimp button
Click Finish
Click the toggle to turn on your Zap
Additional Options
If you have a premium Zapier account, you can add more than 1 Action step. This allows you to filter and reformat a user’s data before adding it to Mailchimp (or another app of your choosing).
Learn more about filtering & advanced options in Zapier’s help docs.
Zap Ideas
Here are just a few ideas for how to use Zapier with LearnDash to better automate your learning experience.
Course Enrollment → Email List
When a user enrolls into a course, add them to your email list
Course Enrollment → CRM
When a user enrolls into a course, add them to your CRM database
Course Enrollment → Help Desk Software
When a user enrolls into a course, create an account for them in your help desk software
Quiz Data → Spreadsheet
Keep track of passed and/or failed quizzes by adding them to a spreadsheet (Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, and others)
Completed Lessons/Topics → Slack
Post a message to a Slack channel when users complete lessons/topics
Course Completed → Email
Send an email to users and/or admins whenever a course (all courses, or a specific course) is completed
Course Completed → Tag or Custom Field
After a user completes a specific course, apply a tag or set a custom field in your CRM
WooCommerce Subscription Fails → SMS
If you’re using WooCommerce subscriptions, you can send yourself a text message when a subscription renewal fails
FAQ
Will the “Enrolled into course” Trigger work with course access mode set to “Open”?
No. The course access mode cannot be set to “Open” when using the “Enrolled into course” Trigger.
How to Modify Payload Data Before Being Sent to Zapier?
You can add any additional data such as user meta data, course meta data, etc., to the payload before being sent to Zapier using filter hook learndash_zapier_api_payload. Here is an example:
add_filter( ‘learndash_zapier_api_payload’, function( $payload, $subscription, $trigger ) {
if ( isset( $payload[‘user’] ) ) {
$payload[‘user’]->custom_data = ‘abc123’;
}
return $payload;
}, 10, 3 );
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