Active Campaign Integration Guide

The Rhythm and Active Campaign Integration takes the power of Rhythm query engine to help you create targeted lists for your email campaigns. 

Below is a step-by-step guide to set up and test your integration so you have confidence when you go live. 

What information is needed before setup?

From Rhythm

Before setting up the integration, the Rhythm team will need to turn the integration on in your instance. Please reach out to your project manager or customer success manager for assistance. 

From Active Campaign

Before setting up the integration you will need to sign up and create an account in Active Campaign. After you have set that up you will need the following items:

1. Developer Key 
2. Host Url
3. Default Sender Url
   1. This is a required field when making lists. The Url can be your member portal. 
4. Default Sender Reminder
   1. This is a quick explanation of why the recipient is receiving the email

Note: The Developer Key and the Host URI can be found in your Active Campaign instance by clicking on the gear in the lower left corner of your Active Campaign instance. Then click Developer. From here, copy over the Key and the URI and paste them into Rhythm

What needs to be configured?

Basic Set Up in Rhythm

Security and Settings

1. Click Integrations
2. Click the Active Campaign logo (under Marketing Automation)
3. Click Create Active Campaign Setting
4. Enter in the Developer Key
5. Enter in the Host Url
6. Enter in the Default Sender Url
7. Enter in the Default Sender Reminder
8. Activate the Integration
9. Click Save Changes

List Setup

To send contact lists to Active Campaign, you can create new Rhythm queries or integrate existing ones that have contact information. These queries must first be saved under My Organization’s queries.

Defining Query Criteria

Rhythm recommends using the following fields as query criteria:

• Email Opt Out = No
• Contact status does not equal inactive or deceased.  
  • Note: Rhythm contact status options are active, inactive, suspended and deceased.   This field indicates whether contacts can interact with the Rhythm portal and is distinct from membership status.

Creating a new Query

To create a new query to be sent as a contact list, follow these steps in the app of your choice:

1. Click Queries
2. Click New Query
3. Select Contacts > Contacts
4. Add the Active Campaign recommended fields
5. Add any additional fields needed
6. Set the criteria to pull specific contacts
   1. Within Rhythm we offer configurable communication types that would be best suited for this
7. Click Run 
8. Spot-check a few records to ensure they do meet the criteria you specified
9. Click Options
10. Click Save Query

Tip: Use a descriptive name for the query as the query name will be pushed to Active Campaign

Integrating an existing Query

To send an existing query as a contact list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Contacts + Organizations application
2. Click Queries
3. Click My Organizations Queries
4. Find the query you want to send to Active Campaign
5. Click the chevron on the right-hand side 
6. Click Integrate
7. Select the Active Campaign integration option
8. Click Save Changes
9. Once integrated, Rhythm will send updated query results to Active Campaign every hour

Finding Integrated queries

1. Navigate to the Contacts + Organizations application
2. Click Queries
3. Click Integrated Queries
4. Here you will see a list of all queries that are integrated

If you want to remove a query from being integrated:

1. Navigate to the CRM application
2. Click Queries
3. Click My Integrated Queries
4. Click the red trash can on the right hand side

Creating a Suppression List

Suppression lists are lists of people who you do not want to send to Active Campaign. These can be labeled with the following steps

1. Navigate to the CRM app
2. Click Queries
3. Click My Organizations Queries
4. Click the Chevron on the right side for your desired query
5. Click Suppression List
6. Select your Active Campaign account
7. Click Save Changes

When creating your suppression list we recommend that you use the following criteria:

• Email opt out = Yes

Removing a List from Active Campaign

To remove a list in Active Campaign you will need to remove it as an integrated list in Rhythm and manually delete it in Active Campaign

In Rhythm 

1. Click on Queries in the application where your integrated list lives
2. Click Integrated Queries
3. Click the edit button on the right hand side for the list you want to remove
4. Uncheck the Active Campaign field
5. Click Save Changes

In Active Campaign

1. Click Contacts
2. Click Lists
3. On the list you want to delete click the box to check it
4. Click the drop down on the right hand side
5. Click Delete

Basic Setup in Active Campaign 

Before testing the integration, you will need to set up Users and Groups in Active Campaign. Groups allow you to grant your Active Campaign Users access to specific lists.

To set these up, please follow these steps in the Article from Active Campaign.

How do we test the integration?

In Rhythm 

To test this integration in Rhythm, you need to ensure that your desired list is integrated with Active Campaign. Once that has been done and the top of the hour has passed, it is time to check your Active Campaign instance.

In Active Campaign

In Active Campaign we will need to first assign the list to Groups of users. 

1. In Active Campaign, click the gear at the bottom left
2. Click Users and Groups
3. Click Groups
4. Click Edit on the right hand side of the Group
5. Select the list that has been sent to Active Campaign 
6. Click Save
   1. You will need to do this for each Group you want to have access to the list
7. Click Contacts on the left hand side 
8. Click Lists
9. The list should appear

Note: Once you click into a list and select a contact, some fields may not be filled right away. Please allow 5-10 minutes for those to populate. 

Verify Fields

You can verify that the fields are being brought over by clicking “Fields” on the left hand side under the Manage tab. 

Rhythm Write Backs

With the Active Campaign integration, you can track the campaigns that contacts are included in on their CRM record. When a campaign is sent out, information under the Activity tab of a contacts record will update. Please follow these steps below to verify the information.

1. Access a Contacts record
2. Click Activities
3. Set the filter to Email Integration Active Campaign
4. This will present all campaigns they have been involved in

This will include the following:

1. Title of Campaign
2. Click 
3. Opens
4. Unsubscribes

Suppression Lists 

Suppression lists are for contacts that have opted out of receiving marketing emails. The field to add as criteria for suppression lists is the “Opt Out” field or any custom field you may be using for that purpose. The suppression list is meant to exclude anyone from emails so you will not need to add the Opt Out field to other queries. These lists will appear in Active Campaign by clicking Contacts on the left menu, then click List Exclusions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I integrate a private query with Active Campaign?

A: No. For a query to be used in any integration, it must be a public query in the “My Organization’s Queries” folder.

Q: How can I tell if a query has been integrated with Active Campaign?

A: When you are viewing all saved queries, there is an “Integrations” column where you can see if a query is used in any integration.

Q: Can every query be used to define a list?

A: No. A query must include contact information to be eligible to be used as a list in Active Campaign. For instance, a query that only returns chapters and related fields is not eligible since it does not contain any contact information.

Q: Can I choose which fields are sent to Active Campaign as custom fields in my emails?

A: Yes. All of the selected fields you specify in your query will be sent to Active Campaign as custom fields that you can use when composing an email. 

The Rhythm query engine allows you to select fields from several different kinds of objects, such as contacts and memberships, in a single query. When these fields are sent to Active Campaign, all fields will be defined as custom fields on the subscriber record.

Q: Are all email addresses on a contact subscribed to the list (will one contact receive multiple emails on different addresses)?

A: No. Only the primary “Email Address” field is used for bulk communications. 

Q: Can I see which lists a contact appears on from their contact record?

A: Yes. The first time any list is pushed to Active Campaign, a new communication type is created in Rhythm matching the name of the list. For each contact on the list, this new communication type is added to their communication preferences along with the date and time.

When viewing the contact record, you can see all the communication preferences for that contact including the communication types created during this process. 

Q: Can I define a global suppression list?

A: Yes. When you save a query that will be synchronized with Active Campaign, you can optionally indicate that this will be a suppression list. Any contact that appears on any suppression list will not be sent to Active Campaign, even if they appear on other lists.

Q: How does Rhythm keep track of the emails and campaigns from Active Campaign?

A:The contact profile and email preferences are synced between Rhythm and Active Campaign. Rhythm will always hold the master information and preferences of the contacts. There will be a sync that takes place between the system on a routine schedule.

Q: Can an email subscriber unsubscribe from emails from the association?

A: From the member portal, members will have the option to choose the categories of email campaigns in which they choose to take part. There is also an option to not receive emails from all categories. It is important to note this option does not exclude users from confirmation emails and receipt emails. 

Q: Can I administratively unsubscribe a contact in the Rhythm console?

A: You can either enable the global email opt-out on a contact, or define a new query that includes the contact and save it as a suppression list. Either method will ensure the contact is no longer sent as a subscriber to Active Campaign.

Q: If a contact has unsubscribed from everything, do they still receive transactional emails (order confirmations, event registration, payment receipts, password reset emails, etc)?

A: Yes. Transactional emails are exempted from the global opt-out.

Q: If a contact has unsubscribed from everything, do they still receive 1-to-1 emails initiated from Rhythm?

A: Yes. Direct emails are exempted from the global opt-out.

Q: Are changes to communication preferences, such as unsubscribes, tracked in Audit Logs?

A: Yes. All changes to the contact, including Communication Preferences, are tracked in Audit Logs. Also, the last change to the Communication Preference for every list is tracked directly on the contact.

Q: Can a query that has been integrated with Active Campaign be edited?

A: Yes. Anyone with permissions may edit an integrated query, however before a user saves the query, they will be prompted to confirm that they are changing an integrated query, which may change the behavior of the integration.

Q: How can I delete a query that has been integrated with Active Campaign?

A: To delete an integrated query, click on the integrated query column. The right pane should show a list of integrated queries. Highlight the column and click the trash can for the query you would like to delete. To delete an integrated query, first edit the query and select the save option. In the save dialog, disable the option to integrate the query with Active Campaign. 

Once you have saved the query, it should no longer show a value in the “Used In” column and can therefore be deleted as normal.

Q: If I delete a query that was integrated with Active Campaign are the related activities and communication preferences deleted from contacts?

A: No. Deleting a query that was integrated with Active Campaign does not delete any data except the query itself. This means that all activities, communication preferences, and communication types will remain the same.

Q: What happens to contact records that are deleted in Active Campaign, but the query is still active? Will the data resync to populate Active Campaign again? 

A: Yes. However, you can exclude a contact from being sent to Active Campaign by either enabling the global email opt-out field on the contact in Rhythm, or creating a query that includes the contact and saving it as a suppression list.

Q: Can an integrated query be toggled on/off or enabled/disabled to pause or temporarily withhold the sync from within the Rhythm console?

A: Yes. An integrated query can be disabled, which will stop the related interest from being attached to subscribers in Active Campaign.

Q: What happens when someone clicks the “Unsubscribe” button in the marketing email?

A: When someone clicks the “Unsubscribe” button in the marketing email, the integration will write back to Rhythm to remove them from that list. 

Q: What happens when someone is manually removed from a list in Active Campaign?

A: When someone is manually removed from a list in Active Campaign, the contacts communications preferences will also need to be updated on their CRM record.