Use an Automated Program Webhook to Send Contacts to an External System

Automated Programs can use outgoing webhooks to send contacts to an external system. This is a flexible way to send new leads to your CRM or another application when they become qualified.

If you are using one of Act-On's native CRM integrations, use the Create in CRM program step instead of a webhook.

Contact webhooks are available for Act-On Contacts based Automated Programs only.

Create a Segment to Identify the Contacts You Want to Send

First, decide which contacts you want to send to your external system.

• If you only need to trigger on a lead score threshold, you can use an outgoing webhook based on score threshold.
• If you want to filter by industry, market segment, campaign behavior, or other criteria, create a segment and use it as the program source.
• If you want to send all new contacts that are added to Act-On, create a segment that identifies Act-On Contacts not yet present in your external system. This often uses an external ID or other field that links back to your CRM.

Create Your Outgoing Webhook

Next, configure the outgoing webhook that your program will call.

For full setup details, see How To Set Up an Outgoing Webhook in Act-On. At a high level:

1. Go to Settings > Connectors > Outgoing Webhooks.
2. When creating your webhook, enter the endpoint URL from your external application and select the automated-program-step.executed event:

3. Save the webhook.

Add the Outgoing Webhook Step to Your Program

1. Create a new Automated Program or edit an existing one. See the Automated Journey Builder User Guide.
2. In the Settings tab, set the program source to the segment you created above.
3. In the Program Flow, add an Outgoing Webhooks step:

•  
  • If you do not see this step type, make sure:
    • Your program source is selected
    • Your source is a segment of Act-On Contacts

4. Give the step a clear name, choose the outgoing webhook endpoint you created earlier, and select which contact fields you want to send to the external system:

5. Save your step.

Result

When contacts reach the Outgoing Webhooks step and the program executes it, Act-On sends a payload to your endpoint. This includes the contact fields you selected, plus additional context fields from the program and account.

In addition to your mapped contact fields, the payload includes values such as:

• "automatedProgramLink" – a link to the program performance page
• "contactReportLink" – a link to the contact record in Act-On
• "crmLink" – a direct link to the CRM contact (for native CRM integrations)
• "description" – the program description
• "externalId" – an external ID value if available
• "name" – the program name
• "programId" – the program identifier
• "recId" – the Act-On contact record ID
• "stepId" – the internal ID for this step
• "stepName" – the step name you provided
• "timestamp" – the Unix timestamp when the step executed

Your external system can use these values to:

• Create or update lead or contact records
• Attach activity to existing CRM objects
• Store references back to the Act-On program and contact

Best Practices

• Use clear, descriptive step names so your external logs are easy to understand.
• Test the webhook with a small internal segment before using it on production contacts.
• Secure your endpoint and validate the incoming payload on the external side.
• Document which fields are mapped so your marketing and engineering teams stay aligned.