Use a Create in CRM step to automatically add new contacts to NetSuite when they reach a certain point in your Automated Program. You can create new records, update existing ones, or add notes for your sales team. This ensures your sales team gets timely leads without manual data entry.
Quick Reference (Advanced Users) – Click to Expand
- Requires NetSuite sync enabled in Act-On
- Pushes All Contacts or Marketing List fields mapped to NetSuite
- Options: create new contacts, update existing, or create entities (Customer, Note)
- Insert a Wait step if using multiple Create in CRM steps
Use Cases
Use this step to:
- Create new NetSuite leads from Act-On records.
- Push highly qualified leads to NetSuite based on lead score
- Create Notes for the sales team to follow up.
- Create Customer records
Before You Begin
- NetSuite Sync: A NetSuite sync must be enabled in Act-On for Create in CRM steps to work. See NetSuite sync setup.
- Field Mapping: Fields must be mapped between Act-On and NetSuite. Check your All Contacts or Marketing Lists setup to confirm mappings.
- Wait Steps: If using multiple Create in CRM steps, insert a Wait step between them to prevent update conflicts.
Choose an Action
When adding a Create in CRM step, choose whether to:
- Create new contacts - choose to create new contacts
- Update existing records
- Create entities (Customer, Note)
Create New Contacts
Create new Contacts based on the email address. You can also add extra fields not present in your list, if you want to set them to a static value.
Contact creation notes:
- Include all required fields for NetSuite in your All Contacts database or on your source list. If a required field is missing, the record will not be created. You can also manually set a value to the required field using the "Add a field to set on new records" if it is not present in your data.
- All mapped fields will be sent to NetSuite; you don't need to specifically add fields. Use the "Add a field" option to add data to a NetSuite field that is not on your source data.
- If your source list has fields that are not explicitly mapped, for example form data fields, they will be populated in NetSuite if the field name is an exact match to the NetSuite field name.
Update Existing Records
Update existing Dynamics records with new data from Act-On by choosing Update existing records.
Here you have 3 options to control how data will be updated
- Update fields based on list's push policy will only update fields that are authorized to push. Learn more
- Update all fields (overwrite list's push policy) will update all mapped fields in NetSuite
- Update only blank fields (overwrite list's push policy) will update any field that is blank in NetSuite but populated in Act-On, but will not overwrite other data.
Create Entities
Use +Add Entity to create related NetSuite records:
- Customer – add a customer record attached to the contact you are creating
- Note - Create a note for this contact record
Customer Records
While you can create a Customer record, you must also create a contact to associate with it. Act-On is unable to support Customer as the primary object.
Create in CRM steps can include personalized values from your Act-On lists or segments. For example, if creating a Customer record to go with this contact, you can personalize the Company Name from the Contact's "Company" field.
Add the "Person" field and check it to create a Customer of type "Individual". Otherwise, the Customer will be a "Customer".
Test Your Automated Program
Always test with a Test List or Test Segment from All Contacts. Then check NetSuite to confirm:
- New records are created or updated correctly
- Entities (Customers, Notes) are added as expected
- Mapped fields sync properly