Use a Create in CRM step to automatically add new leads or contacts to Dynamics when they reach a certain point in your Automated Program. You can create new records, update existing ones, or add contacts to a Dynamics marketing list. This ensures your sales team gets timely leads without manual data entry.
Quick Reference (Advanced Users) – Click to Expand
- Requires Dynamics sync enabled in Act-On
- Pushes All Contacts or Marketing List fields mapped to Dynamics
- Options: create new contacts/leads, update existing, or create entities (Task, Opportunity, Email, Note, Account, Add to List etc.)
- Insert a Wait step if using multiple Create in CRM steps
Use Cases
Use this step to:
- Create new Dynamics leads from Act-On records and assign to an owner or lead queue.
- Add members to a Dynamics list.
- Push highly qualified leads to Dynamics based on lead score, and create Accounts, Opportunities, or Contact Roles.
- Create tasks and activities for the sales team to follow up.
- Create Opportunities from forms or lists where interest has been explicitly expressed.
- Add notes to Dynamics records to document interactions.
- Schedule tasks in Dynamics for meetings or calls.
Before You Begin
- Dynamics Sync: A Dynamics sync must be enabled in Act-On for Create in CRM steps to work. See Dynamics sync setup.
- Field Mapping: Fields must be mapped between Act-On and Dynamics. 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 contacts or leads (including duplicates if desired)
- Update existing records
- Create entities (Accounts, Email Record, Opportunities, Notes, Tasks, or List Membership)
Create New Contacts
Create new Dynamics Leads or 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.
Lead creation notes:
- Include all required fields for Dynamics 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 Dynamics; you don't need to specifically add fields. Use the "Add a field" option to add data to a Dynamics 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 Dynamics if the field name is an exact match to the Dynamics field name.
- You can assign new records to an Owner. Choose "Add a field to set" and select your owner ID field.
- You cannot re-assign existing records with this step.
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 Dynamics.
- Update only blank fields (overwrite list's push policy) will update any field that is blank in Dynamics but populated in Act-On, but will not overwrite other data.
Create Entities
Use +Add Entity to create related Dynamics records:
- List Member – add contacts to Dynamics Lists
- Tasks – assign tasks with due dates, owners, priorities
- Opportunities – create opportunities with stage, amount, probability
- Accounts, Notes, E-mails, or Opportunity Contacts
Push Personalized Data
Create in CRM steps can include personalized values from your Act-On lists or segments. For example, you can customize the task subject to include the lead First Name and Last Name, as in this example.
Test Your Automated Program
Always test with a Test List or Test Segment from All Contacts. Then check Dynamics to confirm:
- New records are created or updated correctly
- Entities (Tasks, Notes, Opportunities) are added as expected
- Mapped fields sync properly