How syncing works with the ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration

ActiveCampaign plans
Starter
Plus
Pro
Enterprise

The ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration provides a 2-way sync between your ActiveCampaign account and your Salesforce account. Syncs between the two platforms run differently depending on the direction of the sync.

In this article, you'll learn how ActiveCampaign and Salesforce sync data to each other.

How syncing works at a glance

Here is a quick breakdown of how syncing works with the ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration. For more detailed information, please see the sections below.

  To Salesforce from ActiveCampaign To ActiveCampaign from Salesforce
How often syncs run

Runs every 10 minutes or when 100 records are updated, whichever comes first.

Determined by you in the integration setup.

You can choose from:

  • Every 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 hours or
  • Once daily
How new contacts and leads are added Through the following automation actions:
  • "Create a contact in Salesforce" 
  • "Create a lead in Salesforce" 
Determined by you in the integration setup.

You can choose from:
  • No leads or contacts
  • New leads or contacts from this point forward
  • Leads or contacts marked via the Process Builder
  • Leads or contacts who meet specific criteria
How updated information is synced
  • Contacts and leads need to be already synced by the integration
  • Contacts and leads need any of the following Salesforce tags:
    • added-to-salesforce-contact
    • created-from-salesforce-contact
    • salesforce-lead-converted-to-contact
    • added-to-salesforce-lead
    • created-from-salesforce-lead
Determined by you in the integration setup.

You can choose from:
  • No leads or contacts
  • New leads or contacts from this point forward
  • Leads or contacts marked via the Process Builder
  • Leads or contacts who meet specific criteria
How Salesforce Opportunities are synced

(One-way sync from Salesforce to ActiveCampaign)
N/A Enabled by you in the integration setup.

Once turned on, we'll map and sync the following Salesforce Opportunity fields:
  • Opportunity Name
  • Amount
  • Stage Name
  • Expected Close Date

How information syncs to Salesforce

Syncing information from ActiveCampaign to Salesforce is considered an "inbound sync."

How data is synced to Salesforce

Data is synced from ActiveCampaign to Salesforce in batches.

This is because Salesforce has limitations for incoming API calls. This varies for each Salesforce plan tier. Sending API calls in batches to your Salesforce account helps you stay within your daily API call limit.

Batches will run either every 10-11 minutes or if 100 contacts are updated before that time. You do not need to take any action.

To understand your Salesforce API limits, you will need to review your Salesforce edition.

How contacts and leads are created in Salesforce

Contacts and leads are added to Salesforce as new contacts or leads from ActiveCampaign through the "Create a contact in Salesforce" and the "Create a new lead in Salesforce" automation action.

Once contacts and leads are added to Salesforce, they are considered "synced."

Once synced, any updates made to their record in ActiveCampaign will be sent to Salesforce when the next sync runs. In addition, any updates made to their record in Salesforce will be sent to ActiveCampaign when the next sync runs.

"Create a contact in Salesforce" automation action

Once a contact reaches the "Create a contact in Salesforce" step in your automation:

  • They will receive the following tag on their profile page in ActiveCampaign: added-to-salesforce-contact
  • They will be queued to sync to your Salesforce account as a contact
  • When the next sync runs, they will be added to Salesforce as a new contact

"Create a lead in Salesforce" automation action

Once a lead reaches the "Create a lead in Salesforce" step in your automation:

  • They will receive the following tag on their profile page in ActiveCampaign: added-to-salesforce-lead
  • They will be queued to sync to your Salesforce account as a lead
  • When the next sync runs, they will be added to Salesforce as a new lead

How updated contact and lead information is added to Salesforce

Once a contact or lead syncs through this integration from either direction, updates made in ActiveCampaign will be sent to Salesforce during the next sync.

For this to happen, synced contacts and leads will need to have any Salesforce-related tag on their profile page in ActiveCampaign. These tags are listed below.

Contact tags:

  • added-to-salesforce-contact
  • created-from-salesforce-contact
  • salesforce-lead-converted-to-contact

Lead tags:

  • added-to-salesforce-lead
  • created-from-salesforce-lead

How information syncs to ActiveCampaign

Syncing information from Salesforce to ActiveCampaign is considered an "outbound" sync.

Syncs to ActiveCampaign from Salesforce run a little bit differently than syncs to Salesforce from ActiveCampaign.  

How data syncs to ActiveCampaign

When setting up the ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration, you determine:

  • Which contacts and leads should sync
  • If Salesforce Account object fields should sync
  • If Salesforce Opportunities object fields should sync
  • How often that sync will run

Contact, lead, account, and Opportunities are enabled and mapped under the "Dynamic Mapping" portion of the Salesforce integration setup.

The frequency of syncs is configured under the "Outbound Sync Settings" portion of the Salesforce integration setup.

  • Contacts
    Choose from no contacts, all contacts created from this point forward, contacts marked via process builder, and contacts who match specific criteria.
  • Leads
    Choose from no leads, all leads created from this point forward, leads marked via process builder, and leads who match specific criteria.
  • Accounts
    Turn it on by clicking the toggle. You can map additional Account fields in this step.
  • Salesforce Opportunities
    Turn it on by clicking the toggle. We'll automatically map the Opportunity Name, Amount, Stage Name, and Expected Close Date for you. It is not possible to update the mapping for these fields.
  • How often the sync will run
    Choose from every 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 hours or once daily. This setting applies to leads and contacts syncing to ActiveCampaign for the first time and subsequent updates made to records in Salesforce.

How contacts and leads are added to ActiveCampaign

Contacts and leads are added to ActiveCampaign from Salesforce during scheduled syncs.

Contacts and leads included in this sync are determined by you under the "Outbound Sync Settings" step of the integration setup (see the How data is synced to ActiveCampaign section above).

When contacts and leads are added to ActiveCampaign, they'll receive Salesforce-related tags on their contact profile page in ActiveCampaign.

Contact tags:

  • created-from-salesforce-contact 
  • salesforce-lead-converted-to-contact This tag replaces the"created-from-salesforce-contact"tag on the contact profile record in ActiveCampaign if the lead was converted to a contact in Salesforce.

Lead tags:

  • created-from-salesforce-lead

How updated contact and lead information is sent to ActiveCampaign

Once a contact or lead is synced through this integration from either direction, any updates made to their record in Salesforce will be sent to ActiveCampaign when the next sync runs.

How do I stop updated information from being synced?

Once a contact syncs through this integration, any updates made to the contact record in ActiveCampaign will be sent to Salesforce during the next scheduled sync and vice versa.

To exclude certain records from syncing to ActiveCampaign from Salesforce, you need to select either the "process builder" or "match certain criteria" option of the "Outbound Sync Settings" portion of the Salesforce integration setup.

To completely stop syncs from happening, you will need to turn off the integration. This is done by uninstalling the ActiveCampaign package in your Salesforce account.

It is not possible to turn off either sync direction to make this integration a 1-way sync.

When a single field changes in ActiveCampaign, how is that information being sent to Salesforce?

We only update fields that are included in the standard and custom field mappings for a lead or contact record. For example, if the "Phone" field is mapped and "Description" is not, we will send the whole ActiveCampaign contact record to Salesforce but only save the updated phone information.

How does the Salesforce integration handle conflicting updates?

In the rare cases when a mapped field is updated in both ActiveCampaign and Salesforce around the same time, we treat Salesforce as the primary source of information. To do that, the integration "looks" at the ActiveCampaign Sync Status of the record in question in Salesforce. If the status is "Waiting for Next Sync," the integration will ignore record changes in ActiveCampaign and use the information in Salesforce instead.

Have more questions? Submit a request

Start free trial