Act-On + CRM integration: saving you time, time & time again

It’s no secret that Simpleview provides tools that empower DMOs to promote and market their destinations. But did you know that when these tools talk to each other, it improves efficiency, streamlines workflows, and saves valuable time and resources?

The Simpleview CRM + Act-On integration does exactly that — allows DMOs to effectively market their destinations while increasing overall operational efficiency. 

Act-On is a robust email marketing and marketing automation platform. More than 160 DMOs currently leverage Act-On’s automation, personalization, behavioral segmentation, and reporting. The biggest advantage of making Act-On your go-to for marketing automation is its seamless integration with Simpleview CRM.

Let’s explore the key functionalities of the integration and how they benefit your DMO.

Sync Searches

The bread and butter of the integration is the ability to create contact-based, advanced searches in Simpleview CRM, which are automatically synced with Act-On. We set up one master search for each group (such as Consumer, Member/Partner, or Meeting/Sales), and ultimately, the saved searches become your email marketing lists within Act-On and can be further segmented from there. The sync occurs daily, with the option to sync in real-time if needed. All information displayed in each saved search column is passed to Act-On, allowing the ability to sync UDFs, core fields, consumer interests, contact, and account tags. 

The integration enables the CRM to remain the single source of truth for all your contacts, with the ability to further segment lists within Act-On. This means no more exporting web sign-ups and importing them into your email service platform — it’s simple, streamlined, and seamless.

Connect Forms

Once you create a Form Builder form in CRM, you can link it to an Act-On form. This allows your organization to collect behavioral data from any contact that submits a form of their website interactions and activities. You can target these visitors based on certain behaviors to create retargeting campaigns with this information. 

If you are promoting an upcoming event on your website, you could create a segment to identify the people who visited that page, then send them an email reminder with links to local sites, coupons, and hotels. Or suppose you were thinking about sending a dining-specific newsletter. In that case, you can create a segment of all the contacts who have visited the dining section of your website, then send them an email to find out their interest level in receiving the specific newsletter. The more targeted your emails are, the more effective they will be.

Connecting Simpleview CRM and Act-On forms also allows you to send immediate auto-response emails. If someone signs up for your newsletter, you can automatically send them an email thanking them for signing up or requiring them to confirm their opt-in. You can also send automatic thank-you emails for requests for proposal (RFP) submissions or RSVP confirmations. 

When a user submits a form, that data is automatically added to the CRM and then synced with Act-On during the daily sync. The forms don’t need to be connected for this to happen, but it’s an essential component of how the systems work together.

Segment Lists

Creating segments within your marketing lists allows your organization to send targeted emails. Targeted emails have much higher engagement rates and fewer opt-outs than generalized emails as you send out specific communication to a particular audience, creating a more personalized experience. Within Act-On, you can segment based on demographics such as age and gender (if this data is in the CRM) or behaviors such as webpage visits and email opens or click-throughs.

With the Simpleview CRM + Act-On integration, the power of segmentation is expanded by making CRM UDFs (user-defined functions), core fields, consumer interests, contact, and account tags available in Act-On via the daily syncs. Contact and interest tags can help organize your contacts, refine your lists, and personalize email content for recipients. Contact tags and interest data associated with CRM Form Builder forms will carry over with contacts in Act-On when segmented. This allows you to segment based on your website visitor's newsletter sign-up contact tag value and interests. 

List Hygiene

List hygiene is of the utmost importance when it comes to email marketing. A clean list means higher engagement rates and higher deliverability. The integration between CRM and Act-On ensures your lists are in tip-top shape. Once an email is sent, bounces, opt-outs, or spam complaints are returned, which makes your list messy and outdated. However, during the daily Act-On sync, those are sent over to CRM and removed from your list in addition to inactive contacts. Once your list syncs, it’s automatically cleansed of all unengaged contacts.

Track Behavior

When your Act-On account is set up, a tracking beacon is installed that allows website visitor behavioral data to be tracked. This provides a complete overview of each contact's website engagement and activities, such as webpage visits, media downloads, and media link clicks. Any email-related tracking is captured by the tracking pixel within the email. This data includes emails sent, opened, and clicked. Form submissions and automated programs a contact has entered are also tracked through Act-On.

All of this information is extremely valuable to understand how engaged or unengaged your contacts are and what they are engaging with the most to create targeted campaigns. Within Act-On, the Contact Report provides a complete view of an individual in Act-On. The timeline tab provides a timeline of behaviors for the contact. Not all of your team members may have access to Act-On, so the integration syncs the timeline data back to the CRM, and this information can be viewed within the CRM contacts’ Act-On timeline tab. 

Automated Programs

One of the most powerful functions of the integration is the ability to trigger an automated program based on an action taken in CRM. These actions include field or status changes, dates or assignments, or removal of contact and account tags.

For example, if you have a new member sign up, the status change from prospect to active will trigger the contact to enter a new member welcome program that walks them through the benefits of being a member and how to capitalize on them. On the Meeting/Sales side, when lead status changes to definite, this would trigger the contact to be added to a welcome/services intro program thanking the client for their business and introducing them to their services manager. When a definite meeting end date passes, an automated program could be deployed to send a post-event survey — this is widely used for conventions and weddings.

Send Emails from CRM

Since not all team members will have access to Act-On, the integration allows all CRM users to send Act-On emails directly from the CRM. After selecting the list to send to, users will have the option to start with a blank message, use an existing Act-On template, or use an existing sent message to work from. This is widely used for the Member/Partner group and is ideal for sending event RSVPs or trade show follow-ups.

This powerful integration between two robust systems streamlines workflows saves time and eliminates a ton of manual work. If this isn’t enough, you can also work with your Marketing Automation Specialist to create automated programs that trigger traces within the CRM.

If email marketing is part of your marketing plan, Act-On is the ideal tool to fold into your Simpleview ecosystem. If your team just doesn’t have the bandwidth to manage another product or oversee another marketing channel, consider our Marketing Automation Managed Services, where industry, product, and marketing experts plan, manage and execute your email marketing and marketing automation initiatives for you.