What is the most common point of frustration people have when using HubSpot and ActiveCampaign? It's only possible to sync contacts between the two systems.
It's possible to connect HubSpot CRM and ActiveCampaign with HubSpot's own Data Sync tool. It syncs contacts both ways, but does not log email engagement in HubSpot. Further, you have to purchase the $45 Operations Hub Starter subscription to use custom field mappings.
Outfunnel takes care of these limtations. Our integration syncs all your existing HubSpot CRM contacts to ActiveCampaign, along with any and all custom fields, keeps the lists up to date, and records all email engagement on the contact profiles in HubSpot.
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How it works
Make all HubSpot contacts or subset(s) you define with filters available in an ActiveCampaign list, along with your custom contact and company fields.
Keep the two databases in-sync going forward. E.g. if a custom text field is updated in HubSpot, this is recorded in ActiveCampaign automatically.
Record ActiveCampaign email engagement on the contact profiles in HubSpot when people open or click on ActiveCampaign email campaigns (one-off and automation campaigns).
New ActiveCampaign subscribers can be copied to HubSpot as contacts. Alternatively, new contacts can be copied to HubSpot only when they open or click on an email campaign.
Set up contact sync
Sync contacts from HubSpot to ActiveCampaign and create contacts in HubSpot from new ActiveCampaign subscribers.
Watch this quick integration how-to video or follow the steps below.
1. Authenticate your apps. Head to Outfunnel > App connector, select the two apps, and authenticate as per on-screen instructions if you haven't done so already.
2. Select the connection type. Click on Connect and choose Contact sync as the connection type
3. Set up contact sync rules. You can set up the contact sync from HubSpot to ActiveCampaign or ActiveCampaign to HubSpot.
💡 Adding contacts
Outfunnel subscribes contacts to the ActiveCampaign list.
Outfunnel resubscribes contacts that had unsubscribed in the past. To avoid this, simply remove the contact from the HubSpot list.
💡 Removing contacts
If a contact is deleted or removed from the HubsSpot list, Outfunnel removes the contact from the respective list in ActiveCampaign. The contact still remains in the overall contact database in ActiveCampaign.
💡 Things to keep in mind
Contacts do not get unsubscribed from ActiveCampaign if you remove the contact sync rule or change the target segment.
Hubspot > ActiveCampaign. Choose whether to sync all HubSpot contacts or only contacts you’ve defined with HubSpot lists and select the ActiveCampaign list you'd like to sync them to. Your HubSpot static and active lists will be visible if you click on the arrow down. Learn how to set up HubSpot Lists.
You can sync different HubSpot lists to different ActiveCampaign lists (eg. separate email lists for different regions or pipeline stages) or you can sync multiple HubSpot filters to the same ActiveCampaign list (eg. a filter with open Deals for each sales rep, all synced to one big newsletter list)
ActiveCampaign > Hubspot. Choose a list that you'd like to record new subscribers to HubSpot as contacts and specify the contact owner. Once the contact is created in HubSpot, a "Contact Created" activity is added under the contact profile.
A new subscriber will not be created from mass inserts such as contact imports.
The contact will only be added if they are subscribed to a list
4. Set up field mapping. Navigate to the field mapping step to select which fields or custom fields you’d like the sync to consider.
Note: If the desired ActiveCampaign field isn’t showing up in the dropdown list, please make sure the field is available in the specific list you have selected. You can check this by going to the advanced options in the field settings in ActiveCampaign.
5. Activate. Activate the connection. The first sync can take up to 15 minutes based on the number of contacts in the sync. The sync runs every 2 hours automatically thereafter or you can trigger an instant sync anytime by clicking on Sync now.
Set up engagement sync
Outfunnel supports recording engagement from ActiveCampaign single email campaigns and automations. If you've already set up a connection, skip to the second step.
1. Authenticate your apps. Head to Outfunnel > App connector, select the two apps, and authenticate as per on-screen instructions if you haven't done so already.
2. Select the connection type. Click on Connect and choose Engagement sync as the connection type
3. Choose the list. Choose the ActiveCampaign list or automation for which you’d like to record email engagement (opens, clicks, unsubscribes, etc).
4. Define how engagement gets recorded. Then define how you’d like email activities like opens, clicks, bounces, or unsubscribes recorded in HubSpot – or simply use our default settings.
5. Set up field mapping. When Outfunnel syncs an engagement for a contact that does not yet exist in HubSpot, a new contact is created with the defined field mapping. Navigate to the field mapping step to select which fields or custom fields you’d like the sync to consider.
6. Activate. Activate the connection. By default, Outfunnel records engagement from emails that have been sent after activating the connection but you can also choose to sync engagement events from the last 30 days when activating the connection. The sync runs every 2 hours automatically thereafter or you can trigger an instant sync anytime by clicking on Sync now.
Notes
Important: The engagements that Outfunnel creates might be hidden at first in HubSpot. Here's how to make them visible:
Make sure you have set up the automation and sent out at least one email campaign from ActiveCampaign.
Open any contact profile in HubSpot and click on "Filter activity" option on the top of the timeline.
Under the Integrations section, enable "Outfunnel" (if Outfunnel is not yet visible but you have sent out a campaign, the data sync might have not happened yet. Just open the connection and click on "Sync now". The activities will be created in the next 10 minutes.)
See what has synced
Once the connection is live, navigate to the Status tab to see how many contacts are in-sync, how many are errored (and why), and when the last sync ran.
Tips, observations, and useful definitions
💡 Sync frequency. Outfunnel syncs some data instantly and some every 2 hours (approximately). You can force a sync when you click on the headline of an Automation and then click the “Sync events now” button.
💡 Unsubscribe recording. Outfunnel only records end-user initiated unsubscribes in HubSpot and manual unsubscribes in ActiveCampaign are not recorded. When a contact is unsubscribed manually but they still match a list in HubSpot that is targeted by an automation, then Outfunnel will resubscribe them in ActiveCampaign. If you'd like to manually remove a contact in ActiveCampaign, they need to be permanently deleted under the contact profile in ActiveCampaign.
Learn more about the best ways to manage unsubscribes and bounces.
💡 Email activity is registered on a Contact level. If someone has sent an email, or they open or click in an email, this is registered independently of the deal stage or pipeline in their Contact profile.
💡 Supported campaign types. Outfunnel supports one-off and automation campaigns.
💡 All engagement is recorded as a new activity type in HubSpot. This applies to sends, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes. All of these types are easily filterable in HubSpot allowing you to create a list of people based on engagements.
Do you use web forms to collect leads to your lists? See the following integrations to automatically sync contacts from web forms to HubSpot CRM:
Don't see your preferred web forms listed above? Browse the upcoming connections and sign up for early access.