← All templates

Translation

Translation Quote & Rate Guard

Translators price by the word and lose money by the hour — quoting from scratch each time, forgetting the specialist surcharge, and rebuilding the invoice out of a mailbox. This workflow takes the enquiry form, prices it on source word count, sends a quote that names what is excluded, and asks you the two questions (is this still your rate, is this deadline achievable) at the only moment they can still change the answer.

6 stepsRequires Zapier Starter or higher20 minEasy
Google FormsGoogle SheetsGmailTodoistFormatter by Zapier

What you get

Every enquiry is quoted the same day, at the correct rate for that language pair.
Word count, rate and deadline are recorded before the work starts rather than after.
Rate history per client is visible, so annual increases actually happen.

Workflow blueprint

GF
When this happens
Google FormsNew Form Response
1FO
Formatter by ZapierNumbers — Perform Math Operation
2GS
Google SheetsCreate Spreadsheet Row
3GM
GmailSend Email
4TO
TodoistCreate Task
5GM
GmailSend Email

The full blueprint — every field mapping, example value and the written copy for each message — is included with purchase.

Getting it into Zapier

Build this one from the recipe. The blueprint gives you the exact trigger, action events and field mapping for all 6 steps, so it is a copy-and-paste job rather than a design job.

You need your own Zapier account. Zapier’s Free plan runs single-step Zaps only; multi-step Zaps need a paid plan, and Paths and Webhooks need Professional. How this works →

Not on Zapier?

n8n — import and go

An n8n workflow JSON ships with this template. Import it and all 6 steps arrive on the canvas wired in order, and 4 of the 6 nodes arrive with their fields already filled in — the subject lines, the message copy, the delays, the column names. Every step maps to a native n8n node, one of them by a different route — see below.

Google Forms has no n8n node at all, so that step arrives as a native Google Sheets node on the form’s linked responses sheet. It is named for what it is on the canvas rather than for the app it stands in for, and the sticky note under it opens by saying so — the field names are unchanged either way, but the account you connect is the $Google Sheets one.

What an import cannot carry is your credentials, and the IDs that only exist inside your own account — which spreadsheet, which channel, which board. Those stay in a sticky note under the node, listing what is already done so you do not retype it, and what is left so you can see it.

Make — build guide

A Make-specific guide ships with this template: every module in order, every field value, and the concept translations that catch people out — filters live on the links between modules, and the schedule lives on the scenario rather than in a trigger module.

Self-hosted n8n has no per-task fee, which is worth knowing if this workflow runs at volume. Platform coverage →

Setup steps

1
Capture the enquiry

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

2
Calculate the fee

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

3
Log the quote

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

4
Send the quote email

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

5
Create the follow-up task

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

6
Ask yourself the rate and capacity questions

Configure this step using the field mapping in the blueprint.

Implementation notes

  • Quote on source word count, never target. Target count is unknown until the work is done, and German into English shrinks by roughly fifteen per cent — quote on target and you have given that difference away.
  • Name what is excluded. Revision, DTP and certification are the three things clients assume are free, and each is a real afternoon.
  • The email to yourself is the rate-increase mechanism. Rates do not rise on their own; they rise because the question was asked at the moment you were about to quote.
  • Capacity is the honest constraint. Around two and a half thousand words a day is a sustainable ceiling for specialised text — quoting above it is quoting a weekend you have not agreed to work.