Custom objects overview

Use custom objects in addition to tags and fields to capture additional information about your Contacts, Deals, and Accounts. Doing so helps you model and manage your data to reflect your unique business. 

Take note

  • All ActiveCampaign plans have access to custom objects from supported third-party applications and integrations on the Standard Contact Object
  • Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plans have access to custom objects from supported third-party integrations on Deal and Account Standard Objects
  • Enterprise plan customers can create their own custom objects via the API or from the "Manage Data" page in their ActiveCampaign account

What is a custom object?

A custom object is a template, or schema, that defines a set of related fields. You can think of it as a category bucket that uses fields to store data. ActiveCampaign offers standard objects (Contacts, Deals, and Accounts) and custom objects. 

Custom objects can be associated with standard Contact, Deal, and Account objects. As custom objects sync to your account, they appear in a box on Contact, Deal, or Account records. 

The custom object box displays up to five custom objects, each under a separate tab. If you have more than five custom objects for a Contact, Deal, or Account object, you can click the overflow menu to view them

Each tab (or object) displays up to five custom object fields. As object records sync to your account, they appear in a row under the appropriate tab. If you have more than five object fields, you can click the "Details" button to view them

If a Contact, Deal, or Account is associated with that custom object, you will see field values populated and a "Details" button. If a Contact, Deal, or Account record is not associated with the custom object, these field values will remain blank, and there will be no "Details" button. It is not possible to remove or hide empty custom object records. 

Rows for each object are displayed in descending order based on "Created Date." The information contained here is for informational purposes only. It is not possible to sort rows or edit these fields from your ActiveCampaign account. 

Automation triggers and email personalization for Contact custom objects

If a custom object for Contacts is added or synced to your account, you will have access to two new automation triggers ("object created" and "object updated"). You also can personalize automation emails with object-related information. 

Custom object automation triggers and email personalization are not supported for Deal and Account custom objects. 

Custom object example

Let's take a look at the following example.

If a Contact custom object syncs to your account, the custom object box will appear on all contact records. This specific custom object will have its own tab and display object-related fields in this box. 

If a contact is associated with a specific custom object instance, you will see a record (or row) containing values for the custom object fields and a "Details" button. 

CO_example.jpeg

Clicking the "Details" button lets you view all fields related to that object record. A sidebar will open on the right and display all fields associated with the record. 

CO_details_pane.png

How are custom objects created?

Custom objects can be imported through a supported third-party application or integration, created using our API, or created from the "Manage Data" page in your ActiveCampaign account. Note the ability to create custom objects with the API or from the "Manage Data" page is available for Enterprise plans only.

Custom objects through an integration

Supported third-party applications or integrations can sync custom objects to standard contact object.

Check out the Salesforce Opportunity objects or Zendesk Support objects documentation for how this works. 

Custom objects through the API

If you are on the Enterprise plan, you can define and implement private custom objects by creating a template, or schema, using our Custom Objects API.

To learn how to create a Custom Object schema with the API, visit Custom Object schemas

Custom objects through the "Manage Data" page

If you are on the Enterprise plan, you can define and create your own custom object templates without the API. 

To learn how to create a Custom Object template without the API, visit How to create custom object templates

Use Contact custom objects to trigger automations

As Contact custom object templates are added to your account, two automation triggers will be available for you to use. These two triggers are:

  • [Custom object] Created
    The related contact is pulled into the automation whenever a new record is created for the object.
  • [Custom object] Updated
    The related contact is pulled into the automation when a custom object field you specify is updated from one value to another. With this trigger, you can choose "Any" or a specific starting value and you can choose "Any" or a specific final value. 

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If you created a custom object using the API or the "Manage Data" page in your account, the trigger will appear under the "Objects" section of the trigger modal.

If a supported third-party application or integration imports a custom object, the triggers will appear in the "Apps" section of the trigger modal. 

With custom objects, you can only use one trigger for your automation. If the automation already has a trigger of any type, you cannot add a Custom Object trigger. If an automation already has a Custom Object trigger, you can use no other triggers. However, you can still manually add contacts to the automation.

Automation triggers for Deal and Account custom objects are not available at this time. 

Add a filter to your Custom Object trigger

Adding a filter to your Custom Object trigger gives you more control over who can enter your automation.

For example, you can trigger an automation to run when a new ticket is created for the Zendesk Support custom object and if the ticket was created on a specific date and time:

Custom_object_trigger_segmentation.jpg

To use this option:

  1. Add the Custom Object trigger to your automation.
  2. A modal window will appear. Click the "Segment" option.
  3. Use the dropdowns to create the segment.
  4. Click the "Save" button.

Note that you can add multiple conditions or add a segment group.

For a step-by-step walkthrough on adding a trigger to an automation, visit the  How to create a new automation page. 

Use Contact custom objects to personalize emails

Once a Contact custom object syncs to your account, you can use the object fields to personalize any campaign sent from an automation. These personalization options are under the "Custom Objects" section in the "Add a personalization" modal. 

Note that you must use a custom object automation trigger in order for the "Custom Objects" section to appear with the triggered custom object fields.

Custom object fields are not available to use in one-to-one emails or campaigns sent from the Campaigns tab in your ActiveCampaign account. 

Email personalization for Account and Deal custom objects is not available at this time. 

To learn more about email personalization, visit How do I insert personalization tags into my campaigns?

Custom objects for Deals and Accounts

Similar to custom objects for contacts, custom objects for accounts and deals will appear on account and deal records, respectively.

Custom_objects_for_Accounts_and_Deals_example.jpg

You can use these objects to display additional information about an account or deal to your marketing and sales teams. This can enable your teams to more effectively engage with customers and leads, and move an account forward on a buyer journey.

Automation and email personalization capabilities are not available with these custom object types at this time.

Are custom objects available in the floating segment builder?

At this time, Custom Object data is only available in certain floating segment builders, with planned expansion to more segment builders shortly.

Today, you can use custom object data within If/Else and Wait actions, but you cannot create list segments, advanced searches, conditional content, goals, or lead scores.

Where else can I use custom objects in my ActiveCampaign account?

You can use custom object data when personalizing automation emails and with automation triggers and the "If/Else" action.

It is not possible to use custom object date when creating:

  • List segments
  • Advanced searches
  • Conditional content
  • Contact or deal scores
  • Goal automation actions
  • Conditional automations actions
  • Conditional split automation actions

For more details on using custom objects in the "If/Else" action, learn how to build Automations with custom objects

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