Use the ActiveCampaign PayPal integration

Integrate your PayPal account with ActiveCampaign to sync order events, subscriptions (recurring payments), create and update contacts, and trigger automated workflows in ActiveCampaign when orders are approved in PayPal.

Take note

• You will need an ActiveCampaign account and PayPal Checkout to set up the integration
• This integration only works with PayPal Smart Buttons, and a script tag should be present in the smart buttons definition
• This integration will not add contacts directly to a list
• You can only map PayPal fields to existing fields in ActiveCampaign. This integration will not create any new fields in your ActiveCampaign account
• You can connect more than one PayPal account to your ActiveCampaign account
• It is not possible to perform a historical sync of recurring payments

How the ActiveCampaign PayPal integration works

When orders are approved in PayPal, customer data will sync to your ActiveCampaign. 

Recurring Payments

If you choose "Billing Subscription" as your resource when setting up the integration, recurring payments data will sync to your account when a customer purchases a subscription. 

Learn more about the Recurring Payments feature. 

PayPal contact tags

Contacts synced through the “Checkout Order Approved” event will have the following tags added to their records in ActiveCampaign:

• paypal-integration
• paypal-integration-EVENT_NAME (the event name here will populate with the event that triggered the contact to sync)

Contacts synced through the “Billing Subscription” event (recurring payments) will have the following tags added to their records in ActiveCampaign:

• paypal-integration
• paypal-integration-Billing_Subscription_Events

PayPal automation triggers

Once the integration setup is complete, the following automation triggers will be available in your ActiveCampaign account:

• PayPal Event Received
• Recurring Payment Updated (available with the "Billing Subscription" event)
• Recurring Payment Created (available with the "Billing Subscription" event)

Learn more about automation triggers.

Personalization tags

Once the integration is set up, you can insert personalization tags related to your PayPal events into your automated campaigns.

Learn more about Recurring Payment personalization tags.

Connect your PayPal account to ActiveCampaign

1. Click “Apps” in your ActiveCampaign account.
2. Search for PayPal.
3. Click the PayPal option to open it.
4. Click the “Add an Account” button.
   
   
5. A "Create Contacts From PayPal Orders" modal will open:
   • Paste your PayPal Client ID and Secret into the fields provided. These items are located in your PayPal account's Developer Dashboard
   • Click the "Connect" button
     
     
     
6. Open a separate tab or window and log into your PayPal account.
7. In PayPal, click "My Apps and Credentials."
8. Click "Live" then click "ActiveCampaign."
9. Scroll down and click "Log in with PayPal settings" under Live App Settings.
10. Go back to your ActiveCampaign account. On the next screen:
    • Click the "Choose Resource" dropdown and click the resource you would like to use. You can choose from "Checkout Order Approved" or "Billing Subscription Events"
    • Click the "Continue" button
11. On the last screen in the modal, map fields from PayPal to fields in ActiveCampaign.
    • To map additional fields, click the "Add field mapping" option
    • To remove a field mapping, click the trash icon next to the option you wish to remove
    • To sync customer phone numbers, you'll need to enable phone numbers in PayPal. To do so, log into your PayPal account and go to Account Settings > Website payments > Website preferences > Update > Contact telephone number and click the "On (optional field)" option
      
      
12. Click "Finish" when you have finished mapping your fields.

Your PayPal account is now connected to your ActiveCampaign account. Customer information will sync to ActiveCampaign every time a checkout order is approved.

Manage the PayPal integration

You can manage your PayPal integration from the PayPal apps page in your ActiveCampaign account.

To get to the PayPal apps page:

1. Click the Apps icon in your ActiveCampaign account.
2. Click the "Connected Apps" option.
3. Click PayPal.

From this page, you can:

• View all connected resources
• Add more resources
• Remove resources
• Edit a resource
• Connect another PayPal account
• Disconnect your PayPal account
• View app details

Update field mapping

You can update the field mapping for your connected PayPal resource anytime. Once the mapping is updated, all future submissions will reflect the new mapping rules. This update will not alter or change any fields for contacts who synced before this update.

To update mapping for your PayPal fields:

1. Navigate to the PayPal app page in your ActiveCampaign account (click Apps > Connected Apps > PayPal).

2. Locate the resource you want to modify and click the "Edit" button.

3. Locate the field mapping you wish to update and use the dropdowns to update the mapping.

4. Click the "Finish" button.

Disconnect a PayPal resource from ActiveCampaign

When you disconnect a PayPal resource, your ActiveCampaign account stops receiving data from PayPal whenever an event for the resource occurs. You can always reconnect the resource to your account if necessary.

Removing a resource will not remove any previously synced data from your ActiveCampaign account.

To disconnect a PayPal resource:

1. Navigate to the PayPal app page in your account (click Apps > Connected Apps > PayPal).
2. Locate the resource you want to remove and click the down caret. This is located next to the "Edit" button.
3. Click "Remove."  
4. A confirmation modal will appear. Click the "Disconnect" button.

The resource has been removed from the PayPal app page in your ActiveCampaign account. However, your PayPal account will remain connected to ActiveCampaign.

Disconnect your PayPal account from ActiveCampaign

You can disconnect your PayPal account from ActiveCampaign at any time. Doing so means that:

• The PayPal account will no longer be listed under "Connected Apps"
• Data will not transfer from PayPal to ActiveCampaign

Disconnecting the integration will not remove any previously synced data from your ActiveCampaign account. 

After disconnecting the integration in ActiveCampaign, you must revoke access within your PayPal account.

To disconnect your PayPal account:

1. Navigate to the PayPal app page in your ActiveCampaign account (click Apps > Connected Apps > PayPal).
2. Locate the PayPal account you wish to remove and click the down caret. This is located next to the "Add a new resource" button.
3. Click "Remove."
4. A  confirmation modal will appear. Click the “Disconnect” button.

Your PayPal account is now disconnected from your ActiveCampaign account. 

You can reconnect the integration at any time and remap fields for the Resources you would like to use.