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

Access to custom objects depends on your ActiveCampaign plan:

• All ActiveCampaign plans have access to custom objects from supported third-party applications and integrations on the Standard Contact Object
• If you have the Pipelines or Sales Engagement add-on, you have access to custom objects from supported third-party integrations on the Standard Deal Object 
• If you are on an Enterprise plan and/or have the Pipelines or Sales Engagement add-on, you have access to custom objects from supported third-party integrations on the Standard Accounts Object
• Enterprise customers can create 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 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, 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, 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 custom objects

If a custom object is added or synced to your account, you can access two new automation triggers: "object created" and "object updated." 

In addition, you can reference custom objects in the following automation actions:

• Send an email
• Send a direct 1:1 email
• Send a transactional email
• Send an SMS
• Sent an internal notification email
• If/Else
• Goal
• Webhook
• Add a note
• Add a deal
• Update a title
• Add a deal task
• Add an account note
• Add contact to account

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 appears on all contact records. This custom object has a tab and displays object-related fields. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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

Using our Custom Objects API, you can define and implement private custom objects by creating a template, or schema.

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

Custom objects through the "Manage Data" page

On the "Manage Data" page, 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 with automations

You can use custom objects to trigger automations as well as use them to personalize your messaging and create conditions with the segment builder.

Read the “Use custom objects with automations” help article to learn more about this topic.

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.

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?

Custom Object data is available in most segment builders.

The only segment builder that does not fully support custom objects is Conditional Content. Conditional Content only supports referencing a triggering custom object from an automated campaign - you cannot reference across all custom objects of a contact.

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

Today, you can fully reference custom object data within the following automation actions:

• Send email
• Send a direct 1:1 email
• Send a transactional email
• Send an SMS
• Send an internal notification
• If/else
• Split
• Goal
• Webhook
• Add a note
• Add a deal
• Update a title
• Add a deal task
• Add a deal note
• Add an account note
• Add contact to account

You can also reference custom objects when creating list segments, advanced searches, campaigns, lead scores, and webhooks.