How to make your mail do more with API and easy integrations

Earth Class Mail does more than just give you a way to view and manage your mail from any device, any time. We also give you powerful software integrations you can access in minutes and customizable ways to implement your mail into software through our API key. 

What is an API?

API is an acronym for Application Programming Interface. What does it actually do and how can it streamline our day to day work? 

Just as we use our voices, sign language or written words to communicate with others, an Application Programming Interface, or API, is software code that sends information back and forth between a website or app and a user. It helps independent software applications to communicate and exchange data with each other.  Users don’t see the transfer of data because it happens automatically without having to be a developer, deal with source code, or even understand how it works.  

If you made a money transfer from one institution to another using Paypal or Venmo, requested an Uber driver, or had dinner delivered to your home by Doordash, you can thank a developer who created an API to make that as easy as click, send, and receive. 

What are APIs used for?

• Sharing data with a third party 

You use an API when you order dinner from your favorite restaurant through the UberEats app and pay with a credit card on your mobile device. There are multiple actions happening in the background to make this easy for you.

• Integrating data from different sources 

Many of your everyday tasks use an API when you integrate data from two different sources. For example, if you use Outlook email to access customer accounts in Salesforce and send an email, the message will automatically show up in the customers’ account. That’s done through an API.  

• Embedding content from a third party 

Publishing a video to YouTube and then embedding it on your website uses an API as well. 

How do APIs make life as a small business owner easier?

Business owners want to reduce costs, use their existing resources efficiently, and increase productivity, connectivity and collaboration.  An Earth Class Mail helps you do all of this by giving you hands-free mail management and automatic digitization of your mail.  

But did you know that there is much more you can do with the help of integrations to help you become more efficient and productive? 

To enable data sharing between popular business applications, Earth Class Mail provides seamless connectivity with Bill.com, Quickbooks, Xero, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Zapier.  The ability to share, embed, and customize integrations allows individuals and organizations to automate and enhance data flow directly from the Earth Class Mail web application.  Imagine having your documents  automatically scanned within the Earth Class Mail application and then automatically sent to your accounting software, such as Quickbooks or Bill.com 

How do Earth Class Mail integrations work? 

We’ve recently upgraded the way customers set up integrations to make it easier. Our new system gives you a dedicated view for each integration and easy-to-follow connection setup instructions.  To start using the built-in integrations, just navigate to the toolbar within the Earth Class Mail app and choose the Integrations tab. 

Quickly identify integration status

Easily identify which integrations are active by looking for the green 'Connected' status button in the top-right corner of each integration tile.

Add new integrations

Select the "Connect" link inside the tile to add a new integration. The next screen provides a Connection Setup Guide and a "Connect Account" link. Follow the on-screen prompts to set up your integration.

Manage current integrations

From the individual integrations tile, you can see all current connections and account details. From this view, you can disconnect or rename an integration, and review the Connection Setup Guide

Tip:For a more automated solution, we recommend creating an automation rule to send your documents directly to an integration.

Automate document delivery to an integration

To send documents directly to your integrations, create an automated rule. Follow these simple steps to automation.

Account Settings > Automation Rules > Add New > Select New Recipient

Continue to follow the on-screen prompts to customize your automation rule. For more information with step-by-step instructions, follow this link.

At Earth Class Mail, we are constantly looking for new ways to help our customers be successful in their businesses by releasing new innovative products and services. Interested in learning more about virtual mailboxes? See our plans and pricing here.