---
title: "ActiveCampaign Integration"
description: "The ActiveCampaign Integration app connects your J2Commerce store to ActiveCampaign so your email and SMS automations always have real purchase data behind..."
url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/apps-and-extensions/apps/app_activecampaign"
markdown_url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/apps-and-extensions/apps/app_activecampaign.md"
last_updated: "2026-11-07T19:14:33+00:00"
version: "J2Commerce 6"
breadcrumbs:
  - title: "Home"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/"
  - title: "J2Commerce 6"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6"
  - title: "Apps and Extensions"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/apps-and-extensions"
  - title: "Apps"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/apps-and-extensions/apps"
  - title: "ActiveCampaign Integration"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/apps-and-extensions/apps/app_activecampaign"
---

# ActiveCampaign Integration

The ActiveCampaign Integration app connects your J2Commerce store to [ActiveCampaign](https://www.activecampaign.com/) so your email and SMS automations always have real purchase data behind them. Every time a customer places an order, their status changes, or a cart sits abandoned, J2Commerce pushes that activity to ActiveCampaign in real time. A checkout consent checkbox lets shoppers opt in to your marketing list the moment they buy, and a product catalog sync keeps ActiveCampaign's Product Picker and segmentation tools up to date automatically.

## Requirements

- PHP 8.3.0 or later
- Joomla 6.x
- J2Commerce 6.x
- An active ActiveCampaign account

## Find Your ActiveCampaign API URL and Key

Before configuring the app, you need two values from your ActiveCampaign account: the **API URL** and the **API Key**. J2Commerce uses these together for every server-side call to ActiveCampaign.

1. Log in to your ActiveCampaign account.
2. Go to **Settings** -> **Developer** (or **Store Settings** -> **API** in some account types).
3. Copy the **API URL** — it looks like `https://youraccount.api-us1.com`.
4. Copy the **API Key** shown on the same screen.

> **Tip:** Copy both values to a safe place before leaving the ActiveCampaign screen. Never paste a "Bearer" token into the API Key field — J2Commerce expects the plain API key.

## Purchase and Download

The **ActiveCampaign Integration** is a separate add-on available from the [ActiveCampaign](https://www.j2commerce.com/extensions/apps/activecampaign). It is not included with the core J2Commerce 6 component.

**Step 1:** Go to [www.j2commerce.com](https://www.j2commerce.com/extensions) -> **Apps**.

**Step 2:** Locate the **ActiveCampaign Integration** app, click **View Details**, then **Add to Cart** -> **Checkout**.

**Step 3:** After purchase, go to **My Downloads** under your profile menu and find the app. Click **Available Versions** -> **View Files** -> **Download Now**.

## Install the App

In the Joomla Administrator, go to **System** **->** **Install** **->** **Extensions**.

Upload the plugin ZIP file or use the Install from URL option.

![Joomla System Dashboard with System in the sidebar and the Install Extensions link highlighted to open the extension installer](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/install.webp)

## Enable the App

The plugin installs and enables itself automatically. No separate enable step is needed. However, it's important to know where to go to enable or disable it in the future .

There are **two** ways to reach the Apps list.

**Option A:** Go to the **J2Commerce** icon at the top right corner **-> Apps**

**Option B:** Go to **Components** on the left sidebar **-> J2Commerce -> Apps**

![Joomla admin navigation to J2Commerce Apps: Components, J2Commerce, Apps in the sidebar and Apps in the J2Commerce menu highlighted, above the list of apps](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/gift-wrap-apps.webp)

To help you narrow down the list, you can do a search for **ActiveCampaign Integration**, click the **X,** and it will turn into a green checkmark. It is now enabled and ready for setup.

![J2Commerce Apps list searched for ActiveCampaign, with the search box and the ActiveCampaign Integration enabled status icon highlighted](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_enable.webp)

## Configure the App

Click the **ActiveCampaign Integration** title (next to the green checkmark) to open the settings screen.

> **Tip:** Click the **Toggle Inline Help** button on any app you install to see a description below each field directly in the admin panel.

![ActiveCampaign plugin toolbar with Toggle Inline Help highlighted and the Enable Order Events help text shown below the switch on the Order Events tab](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_toggle.webp)

### API Connection

![ActiveCampaign Integration plugin, API Connection tab highlighted, showing the API URL, API Key and Store Logo URL fields with values blurred](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_api.webp)

This is the only required section. Nothing else works without it.

**API URL:** Your ActiveCampaign account API URL, for example `https://youraccount.api-us1.com`. Found under **Store Settings** -> **API** alongside the API key.

**API Key:** Your ActiveCampaign API key. Use the plain key only — never a Bearer token.

**Store Logo URL:** Optional. A URL to your store logo, shown on the ActiveCampaign store connection and in ecommerce emails. Defaults to your site favicon. Only applies when the connection is first created.

After saving the API URL and Key, click **ActiveCampaign Dashboard** in the toolbar and then click **Test Connection** to confirm J2Commerce can reach your ActiveCampaign account. A success message shows how many contacts already exist in your account.

### Order Events

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Order Events tab highlighted: Enable Order Events Yes, Real-time sync, Paid Confirmed, Fulfilled Shipped, Cancelled, Refunded statuses](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_order.webp)

Controls which order lifecycle events are sent to ActiveCampaign as Deep Data orders, and which J2Commerce order status triggers each one.

**Enable Order Events:** Master switch for all order lifecycle events. Turn this off to stop all order event syncing.

**Order Sync Source:** Tells ActiveCampaign whether orders are being pushed live (**Real-time**) or backfilled (**Historical**). The **Sync Historic Orders** dashboard action always sends Historical regardless of this setting.

**Paid Order Status:** The order status that triggers the "paid for order" event. Typically your Confirmed / Paid status.

**Fulfilled Order Status:** The order status that triggers the "order fulfilled" event. Typically your Shipped status.

**Canceled Order Status:** The order status that triggers the "order canceled" event.

**Refunded Order Status:** The order status that triggers the "order refunded" event. Leave empty to disable refund event tracking.

A "placed order" Deep Data sync happens automatically for every new order, regardless of these status mappings.

> **Info:** NOTE: If the status you want isn't listed in the dropdown menu, you can create a new one by going to **J2Commerce -> Setup -> Order Statuses**

![J2Commerce Order Statuses list with the J2Commerce menu open at the right, highlighting Setup and its Order Statuses item](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/shipstation-order-status2-1.webp)

### Segmentation

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Segmentation tab highlighted: List No List Subscription, Subscribe Contacts Only with consent, Automation No Automation, Sync Order Data No](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_segmentation.webp)

Controls which ActiveCampaign list, tags, and automation your synced contacts receive.

**ActiveCampaign List:** The list to subscribe synced contacts to. This dropdown loads live from your account once the API URL and Key are saved. Choose **No List Subscription** to skip list subscription entirely.

**Subscribe Contacts:** When a contact is subscribed to the list above: **Only with consent**, **Always**, or **Never** (the contact is still synced, just not added to the list).

**Contact Tags:** Comma-separated tag names applied to every synced contact, for example `j2commerce-customer, vip`. Tags are created automatically in ActiveCampaign if they don't already exist.

**ActiveCampaign Automation:** The automation to enroll synced contacts into. Loads live once your credentials are saved. Choose **No Automation** to skip enrollment.

**Sync Order Data to Custom Fields:** When enabled, the customer's last order total and last order date are written to ActiveCampaign contact custom fields (created automatically if missing), enabling richer segmentation.

### Abandoned Cart

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Abandoned Cart tab highlighted: Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery Yes and Abandonment Timeout set to 1 hour](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_cart.webp)

**Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery:** When enabled, carts left inactive past the timeout below are synced to ActiveCampaign as abandoned Deep Data orders, powering cart-abandonment automations. Currently supports **logged-in shoppers only** — guest carts are not yet synced.

**Abandonment Timeout:** How long a cart must sit inactive before it's considered abandoned: **1 hour**, **6 hours**, **10 hours**, or **24 hours**. Only shown when Abandoned Cart Recovery is enabled.

### Checkout Consent

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Checkout Consent tab highlighted: Show Consent Checkbox Yes, empty Checkbox Label, Sync Phone Number (SMS) No](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_checkout.webp)

**Show Consent Checkbox:** Displays a checkbox on the checkout shipping/payment step. Checking it subscribes the customer to your ActiveCampaign list.

**Checkbox Label:** The text shown next to the checkbox. Leave blank to use the built-in default: "Email me news and exclusive offers." Plain text only — HTML is not allowed.

**Sync Phone Number (SMS):** Sends the customer's billing phone number to ActiveCampaign as an SMS contact identifier. The number is **not** marked as SMS-subscribed — SMS marketing still requires its own separate consent. This simply lets ActiveCampaign hold the number for transactional or separately-consented messages.

Adds a marketing-consent checkbox to the checkout shipping/payment step so customers can opt in to your ActiveCampaign email list when they buy.

> **Info:** The consent checkbox is always unchecked by default. This is intentional for GDPR compliance — customers must actively tick it to subscribe.

### Site Tracking

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Site Tracking tab highlighted: site-wide snippet and tracking switches Yes, with empty Tracking Snippet, Account ID and Event Key fields](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_tracking.webp)

Controls the ActiveCampaign JavaScript that runs on your storefront, plus the separate `trackcmp.net` event-tracking integration.

**Enable Site-wide Snippet:** Injects the ActiveCampaign site-tracking snippet (pasted below) on every page of your site. Logged-in shoppers are automatically identified to ActiveCampaign by email once the snippet is present.

**Tracking Snippet (paste from ActiveCampaign):** Paste **only** the JavaScript from the site-tracking snippet ActiveCampaign gives you under **Settings** -> **Tracking**. Do **not** include the surrounding `<script>` tags — the plugin adds those for you. It is injected just before the closing `</body>` tag. There is no auto-built fallback, so this field is required for site tracking to work.

**Enable Order Event Tracking:** When enabled, order lifecycle events (placed, paid, fulfilled, canceled, refunded) are *also* sent as ActiveCampaign site-tracking events via `trackcmp.net`, in addition to the Deep Data order sync in Order Events above. Requires the two fields below.

**Tracking Account ID:** The `actid` value from your ActiveCampaign site-tracking snippet.

**Event Key:** The Event Tracking key from ActiveCampaign **Settings** -> **Tracking** -> **Event Tracking**. This is separate from your API key and is never logged.

**Enable "Viewed Product" Event:** Reserved for a future release. Requires Enable Site-wide Snippet to be on.

**Enable Cart & Checkout Abandonment:** Reserved for a future release. Currently, use **Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery** above for cart-abandonment sync.

> **Info:** The **Enable "Viewed Product" Event** and **Enable Cart & Checkout Abandonment** fields are placeholders for an upcoming release and do not send data yet. Use **Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery** (in the Abandoned Cart section) for cart-abandonment automations today.

### Product Catalog Sync

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Product Catalog Sync tab highlighted: Enable Product Catalog Sync switch set to Yes](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_product.webp)

**Enable Product Catalog Sync:** When on, every product save or delete is automatically synced to ActiveCampaign's product catalog. Enables the ActiveCampaign Product Picker in campaigns and product-abandonment automations. Requires the on-site snippet for browse-abandonment flows.

### Advanced

![ActiveCampaign plugin, Advanced tab highlighted: Debug Logging switch set to No](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/active_advanced.webp)

**Debug Logging:** Writes verbose log entries to the Joomla log file. Turn this off in production — use it only when diagnosing a problem.

## The ActiveCampaign Dashboard

After saving your API URL and Key, click **ActiveCampaign Dashboard** in the toolbar from the plugin settings page to open the integration's admin view.

From the dashboard you can:

- **Test Connection** — Verifies your API URL and Key and shows how many contacts already exist in your ActiveCampaign account.
- **Sync All Products** — Queues every enabled product for a full catalog sync to ActiveCampaign. Use this once when you first connect, or after enabling catalog sync on an existing store.
- **Sync Historic Orders** — Queues all past orders for ActiveCampaign. Use this once when you first connect so ActiveCampaign has purchase history for segmentation.
- **Settings** — Opens the plugin configuration form directly.

> **Info:** The sync buttons add items to J2Commerce's background queue. Delivery to ActiveCampaign happens the next time the J2Commerce Scheduled Tasks run. Make sure you have a cron job set up for Joomla's task scheduler at **System** -> **Scheduled Tasks**.

> **Info:** Before clicking **Sync Historic Orders**, pause any ActiveCampaign automations triggered by order events. Otherwise ActiveCampaign may send confirmation-style emails to past customers.

## How It Works

Here is a plain-English summary of what happens behind the scenes when the integration is active.

**A customer registers or places an order.** J2Commerce queues a contact record for ActiveCampaign with the customer's email, first name, and last name. If the customer ticked the consent checkbox at checkout, they're subscribed to your list according to the **Subscribe Contacts** setting. If **Sync Phone Number (SMS)** is on, the billing phone is included as an SMS identifier.

**An order is placed.** J2Commerce sends a Deep Data "placed order" record with the full order details: items, quantities, prices, shipping, discounts, and currency. If **Sync Order Data to Custom Fields** is on, the customer's last order total and date are also written to their ActiveCampaign contact record.

**An order status changes.** When an order moves to a status you mapped in Order Events, J2Commerce re-syncs the order and, if **Enable Order Event Tracking** is on, fires the matching `trackcmp.net` event — "paid for order," "order fulfilled," "order canceled," or "order refunded."

**A cart sits inactive.** If **Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery** is on, once a logged-in shopper's cart has been inactive past the configured timeout, J2Commerce syncs it to ActiveCampaign as an abandoned Deep Data order so your cart-recovery automations can trigger.

**A shopper visits your storefront.** If **Enable Site-wide Snippet** is on, the ActiveCampaign tracking snippet loads on every page and identifies logged-in shoppers to ActiveCampaign by email.

**A product is saved or deleted.** If **Enable Product Catalog Sync** is on, the product is automatically synced to — or removed from — ActiveCampaign's product catalog without any manual action.

## Events Sent to ActiveCampaign

| Event | When It Fires | What Enables It |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Placed order (Deep Data) | After a new order is saved | Automatic when Order Events is on |
| Paid for order | Order status matches **Paid Order Status** | Configurable status mapping |
| Order fulfilled | Order status matches **Fulfilled Order Status** | Configurable status mapping |
| Order canceled | Order status matches **Canceled Order Status** | Configurable status mapping |
| Order refunded | Order status matches **Refunded Order Status** | Configurable status mapping (disabled by default) |
| Abandoned cart (Deep Data) | Cart inactive past the abandonment timeout | Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery (logged-in shoppers only) |
| Contact registered/synced | Customer registers or places an order | Automatic |

## Tips

- **Set up cron first.** The integration relies on J2Commerce's background queue. If Joomla's task scheduler isn't running via cron, contacts and orders queue up but never reach ActiveCampaign. Confirm your cron job is active before testing.
- **Pause automations before a historic sync.** Before clicking **Sync Historic Orders**, pause any ActiveCampaign flows triggered by order events so past customers don't receive confirmation-style emails.
- **Use Test Connection before going live.** Click **Test Connection** from the ActiveCampaign Dashboard after saving your credentials to confirm they work.
- **The API Key is not your ActiveCampaign login password.** Both the API URL and Key are found under your account's Developer/API settings, not your login credentials.
- **Cart abandonment currently covers logged-in shoppers only.** If you need to reach guest shoppers, keep this in mind when planning your recovery automations.

## Troubleshooting

### Contacts are not appearing in ActiveCampaign

**Cause:** The API URL/Key are missing, invalid, or the background queue isn't processing.

**Solution:**

1. Go to **J2Commerce** -> **Apps** -> **ActiveCampaign Integration** -> **Settings** and confirm both **API URL** and **API Key** are filled in.
2. Open the dashboard and click **Test Connection**. If it returns an error, the credentials are wrong or have been revoked.
3. Go to **System** -> **Scheduled Tasks** and confirm the last run time is recent — contacts are delivered through J2Commerce's background queue.
4. Turn on **Debug Logging** in the Advanced settings, reproduce the issue, then check the Joomla log for `plg_j2commerce_app_activecampaign` error entries.

### The consent checkbox is not appearing at checkout

**Cause:** The setting is off, the app is disabled, or no API credentials are saved.

**Solution:**

1. Confirm **Show Consent Checkbox** is set to **Yes** in the Checkout Consent settings.
2. Confirm the app is enabled — the toggle in **J2Commerce** -> **Apps** should show a green checkmark.
3. Confirm your API URL and Key are saved. The plugin skips all frontend output when no credentials are configured.

### Abandoned cart events are not syncing

**Cause:** Recovery is disabled, the shopper was a guest, or the cron task scheduler isn't running.

**Solution:**

1. Confirm **Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery** is set to **Yes** in the Abandoned Cart settings.
2. Confirm the customer was logged in — guest carts are not yet synced.
3. Confirm the cart has been inactive longer than the configured **Abandonment Timeout**.
4. Confirm Joomla's Scheduled Tasks cron is running so the queue can process.

### The site-tracking snippet is not appearing on my storefront

**Cause:** The snippet is disabled, no snippet was pasted, or the page is being cached.

**Solution:**

1. Confirm **Enable Site-wide Snippet** is set to **Yes** in the Site Tracking settings.
2. Confirm the **Tracking Snippet** field contains the JavaScript from ActiveCampaign (without the surrounding `<script>` tags) — there is no auto-built fallback.
3. View your storefront's page source and search for the snippet just before `</body>`.
4. If you use a caching extension or CDN with HTML caching, flush all caches and reload.

### Test Connection returns an error about an invalid API key

**Cause:** The API URL or Key is incorrect, or the key was rotated in ActiveCampaign.

**Solution:** Copy both the API URL and API Key exactly as shown in ActiveCampaign under your Developer/API settings. Never prepend "Bearer" or any other prefix to the key. If the key was rotated or revoked, generate a new one and update the plugin settings.

### Sync All Products shows 0 products queued

**Cause:** Product catalog sync is disabled, or no products are published.

**Solution:** Confirm **Enable Product Catalog Sync** is set to **Yes** in the Product Catalog Sync settings, and confirm your products are published, before clicking **Sync All Products**.

## See Also

- [Apps Overview](https://docs.j2commerce.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=47)
- Products