With ActiveCampaign, you can assign ownership of an account to someone on your team. Doing so lets you see who is responsible for managing relationships with your clients.
What is an account owner?
An account owner is someone on your team who is assigned an account to manage. For example, an account owner could be a Sales Representative, Sales Manager, or an Account Manager.
This team member must have their own login to your ActiveCampaign account.
The account owner is represented as a standard, required field in your ActiveCampaign account.
How account owners are assigned
The default owner for each account is your Primary Admin. If you would like to change the owner for any existing account from the default owner to a different user, then you must do so with an automation, manually, or through an account import.
For any new accounts you create, you can choose who to assign the account to. If you do not wish to assign the account to another user, then the default owner will be used.
Assign an account owner with automation
You can update the owner of an account with the “Update an account owner” automation action. This action is located in the CRM section of the automation triggers menu.
How the "Update an account owner" automation action works
As contacts move through this action, the account owner for the account the contact is associated with will be updated. You will see the updated account owner on both the Account record and the Accounts overview page.
In addition, the following note will be added to the Account record automatically:
“Account owner was updated to [Account Owner’s Name] by automation [Automation Name].”
This note will come from the Admin user of the account.
Here are a few things to note before you get started with this action:
- This action only works with Contact-related automation triggers
- You need permission to access automations in order to use this action
Setup the “Update an account owner” automation action
- Click “Automations” on the left menu.
- Locate the automation you want to update and click the “Edit” button. Alternatively, you can click the “Create a new automation” button to create a new automation.
- Click the “CRM” option on the “Actions” menu.
- A list of actions will expand. Drag the “Update an account owner” action to your automation.
- Set up the “Update an account owner” action block:
- Select the new owner for the account
- Click the “Save” button
- When you’re ready to use the automation, set it to “Active” so contacts can enter it.
Assign an owner from the account record
To assign an account from the default owner to a different owner:
- Click “Contacts” on the left menu.
- Click the “Accounts” option.
- Click the account name you want to update.
- Locate the “Account Owner” field.
- Hover your mouse over the field and click the edit (pencil) icon.
- Click the account owner dropdown that appears.
- Click the team member to who you want to assign the account record.
- Click the “Save Changes” button.
Only Admins and users with “Reassign Accounts” permissions under Settings > Users & Groups > Accounts can update the “Account Owner” field.
Assign an account owner during an account import
In order to import accounts into ActiveCampaign, your file must include the following:
- Account Name or ActiveCampaign Account ID
- Account Owner Username, Account Owner User ID, or Account Owner Email Address
If the Account Owner field you're using is left blank in your file, the row will be skipped during the import process. To prevent this, click “Advanced Options” in the import modal. Then click the toggle for the “Use the default Account Owner if left blank” option.
If the Account Owner in your file contains any “bad” values, for example, a misspelled username or email address, it will be assigned to the default account owner. Usually, the default account owner is the Primary Admin of your ActiveCampaign account.
For more information on importing account records into ActiveCampaign, visit How to import Accounts from a CSV file.
Assign an account owner when creating a new contact record
When you create a new contact record from the Contacts Overview page, you have the option to assign that contact to an existing account or to a new account. If you select “Add an account,” we will prompt you to create a new account record.
Add a contact to an existing account:
Once an account is selected, you will see a dropdown for “Account Owner.” Here you have the option to keep the Account Owner as is or change it to a different user.
Add a contact to a new account:
Instead of selecting an existing account, you can click the “Add an account” option.
You will be prompted to supply the account name. Once the account name is added, you can assign an owner to the account. If you do not assign an account owner, we’ll assign it to the default account owner.
To learn more about creating contact records in ActiveCampaign, visit How to add contacts to your ActiveCampaign account.
Assign an account owner when creating a new deal
When you create a new deal, you have the option to add that deal to an existing account or a new account. If you select the create account option, you will be prompted to create a new account record.
Add the deal to an existing account
As you type an account name in the “Account” field, we’ll suggest accounts that you can use.
Once an account is selected, you will see a dropdown for “Account Owner.” Here you have the option to keep the Account Owner as is or change it to a different user.
Add the deal to a new account
As you type the new account name into the “Account” field, you will see a create button. Click this button to create a new account.
Once the account is created, you can assign an owner to it. If you do not assign an account owner, we’ll use the default account owner.
To learn more about creating deals, visit How to create a deal in ActiveCampaign.
Can I assign an account owner when importing contacts?
No. It is not possible to assign an account owner when importing contacts from a CSV file. If your file contains an “Accounts” column, we’ll assign all accounts in your file to the default account owner. In most cases, the default account owner is the Primary Admin of your ActiveCampaign account.
Can I personalize emails with the Account Owner field?
Yes, you can dynamically insert an account owner’s name into an email by using a personalization tag. To learn more, visit How do I insert personalization tags into my campaigns?
Can I change the default account owner?
Yes, you can change who the default account owner is for your ActiveCampaign account. Once updated, we’ll reflect the new default owner as an option you can use for each new account you create. This will not affect any accounts you created before changing the default value.
To change the value of the default account owner:
- Click “Contacts.”
- Click “Fields.”
- Click the “Accounts” tab.
- Hover your mouse over the “Account Owner” field.
- Click the pencil icon.
- A modal window will appear. Click the “Default Value” dropdown and click one of the user options.
- Click the “Save” button.
Can I assign an account owner with an automation action?
No. At this time, it is not possible to assign account owners with an automation action.
If using the “Update a contact” action, you can choose to create a new account. However, this new account will be assigned to the default account owner.
Can I reassign accounts through a bulk edit?
Yes, you can reassign accounts through bulk edit. Learn how to bulk edit accounts.
Note that only Admins and users with “Reassign Accounts” permissions under Settings > Users & Groups > Accounts can update the “Account Owner” field.
What happens if we delete a user who owns accounts?
When deleting a user, we will prompt you to assign their accounts to another user.
What happens if we delete a user who is also the default account owner?
If you are deleting a user who is also the default account owner, we’ll prompt you to choose a different user to be the default account owner.