Resources · Make integration

BigMailer Make integrationAutomate BigMailer with Make.

Can Make keep your BigMailer contact list in step with the rest of your tools? The BigMailer Make integration gives you 8 modules: one trigger for new contacts, six actions and one search. This guide is for marketers who know BigMailer and are new to Make, and it walks you from the connection to a working first scenario.

Try the BigMailer integration on MakeSee the 8 modules

Verified Trustpilot reviews · AI, automation & growth agency

What you can automate

What does the BigMailer Make integration let you automate?

The BigMailer Make integration links your BigMailer account to Make, a visual tool where you build a scenario: the automation itself, a chain of modules that each do one job. A module is one brick of that chain, such as a trigger that spots a new contact or an action that sends an email. No code is involved: you pick modules and point them at your data.

Welcome every new subscriber properly. Watch New Contacts notices each contact added to your brand, and Send a Transactional Email sends that person a message from one of your transactional campaigns. The sign-up and the welcome email stop depending on someone remembering.

Feed BigMailer from your other tools. When a form, a shop or a CRM collects a new lead, Create a Contact adds it to BigMailer, and Update a Contact corrects the record later without touching the fields you leave empty. If you already use forms, the 123FormBuilder Make integration is a natural source for this flow.

Clean the list when someone leaves. Get a Contact checks one record, List Contacts pulls the whole list of the brand, and Delete a Contact removes a person for good once another system flags them.

What the integration does not cover: the listed modules handle contacts and transactional emails only. For anything else the BigMailer API offers, Make an API Call reaches it with the same connection. If your team also runs n8n, it may have a BigMailer node worth checking; our n8n vs Make comparison sets out the criteria, and the Make pricing page explains how operations are counted.

Connect

How do you connect BigMailer to Make?

  1. 01

    Create an API key in BigMailer

    You need an active BigMailer account. Open the API key management page in the BigMailer console, click Create Key, give the key a name, confirm with Create, then copy the key shown in the window.

  2. 02

    Open the connection window in Make

    In your scenario, add any BigMailer module and click Create a connection. A connection is your BigMailer account linked to Make once, then reused by every BigMailer module. The Connection name field is optional.

  3. 03

    Paste the key and save

    Paste the API key you copied into the credentials field and follow the instructions on screen. Once saved, the connection shows up in the drop-down of every BigMailer module, so you never type the key again.

First scenario

Your first scenario: a welcome email for each new contact

GoalWhen a new contact appears in BigMailer, Make sends that person a transactional email.

  1. 01

    Create the scenario

    On the Scenarios page, create a new scenario and click the big + to add the first module. This first module decides when everything else runs.

  2. 02

    Add Watch New Contacts

    Search for BigMailer, pick Watch New Contacts and select the connection you created. Once the connection exists, Make lists what it can read in your account, so you pick from menus instead of typing.

  3. 03

    Add the email action

    Click the + on the right of the trigger and add Send a Transactional Email. Map the contact data from the trigger into its fields so each new person gets their own message.

  4. 04

    Test with Run once

    Add a test contact in BigMailer, then click Run once. Then read the bundles each module received: a bundle is one item passed along, here one contact.

  5. 05

    Schedule and switch on

    Set the schedule on the first module (every 15 minutes by default) and turn the scenario on. From now on, each new contact gets the email at the next check.

Triggers

What can start a BigMailer scenario?

1 module starts a scenario when something happens in BigMailer. A scheduled trigger is checked by Make on the scenario's schedule; an instant one is called by BigMailer as soon as it happens.

BigMailer1Watch New Contacts

Watch New Contacts

Scheduled trigger

In Make“Triggers when a new contact is created.”

This trigger hands your scenario every contact that has been created in BigMailer since the last check, one bundle per person, ready for the modules that follow.

How it fires
it is a scheduled trigger, so Make checks the app on the scenario's schedule. The default is every 15 minutes, and the Free plan cannot go below that interval.
When to use it
pick it when a fresh subscriber should set something in motion, like a welcome email, a row in a sheet or a note to sales.
Watch out
contacts added between two checks arrive together at the next run, and each one counts as an operation downstream.
Modules

What can BigMailer do in a scenario?

BigMailer gives you 7 modules. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

BigMailer1

Create a Contact

Action

In Make“Creates a contact.”

Adds a person to your BigMailer brand from data collected somewhere else, so a lead captured by a form or a checkout lands on your list without manual import.

When to use it
right after a sign-up, a purchase or a demo request in another app.
Watch out
if the same person may come back, look them up first with Get a Contact to decide between creating and updating.
BigMailer2

Delete a Contact

Action

In Make“Deletes a contact.”

Removes a contact from BigMailer for good, which keeps people who asked to leave out of your future sends.

When to use it
when another system records a deletion request or a closed account and BigMailer has to follow.
Watch out
a deletion cannot be undone from Make, so test it on a dummy contact with Run once before switching the scenario on.
BigMailer3

Get a Contact

Action

In Make“Gets a contact.”

Fetches the full record of a single contact, which lets later modules use details that the previous step did not carry.

When to use it
before an update or a deletion, to check what BigMailer currently holds, or to enrich a message with stored data.
Watch out
it targets one known contact; to go through everybody, List Contacts is the right module.
BigMailer4

Make an API Call

Action

In Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call.”

Opens the rest of the BigMailer API to your scenario, reusing the same connection, so you are not stuck when no listed module does what you need.

When to use it
for any endpoint beyond contacts and transactional emails, once you have found it in the BigMailer API documentation.
Watch out
you write the request yourself, so a wrong path or body returns an error rather than a friendly form.
BigMailer5

Send a Transactional Email

Action

In Make“Sends an email as part of a transactional campaign.”

Sends one person a message from a transactional campaign in BigMailer, triggered by what just happened in your scenario rather than by a newsletter schedule.

When to use it
for a welcome message, an order confirmation or a reminder tied to a precise event.
Watch out
the email belongs to a transactional campaign, so prepare that campaign in BigMailer before you run a test from Make.
BigMailer6

Update a Contact

Action

In Make“Updates a contact. Any parameters not provided are left unchanged.”

Changes an existing contact while leaving every parameter you do not fill exactly as it was, so a partial update never wipes other data.

When to use it
when a customer changes plan, company or preferences in your CRM or shop and BigMailer should reflect it.
Watch out
an empty field in Make means no change, not a cleared value in BigMailer.
BigMailer7

List Contacts

Search

In Make“Gets all contacts from the brand.”

Returns all the contacts of the brand, each as its own bundle, which gives you a full snapshot to copy, compare or clean.

When to use it
for a backup to a spreadsheet or a check against another database after an event such as a migration.
Watch out
every returned contact flows through the next modules and each step costs an operation, so a big list adds up fast.
Need help

Need help automating BigMailer with Make?

A person reads every message.

FAQ

BigMailer and Make: frequently asked questions

01Is the BigMailer Make integration free?
Yes, on the Make side. BigMailer is a standard app, available from the Free plan. That plan allows 2 active scenarios, a minimum of 15 minutes between scheduled runs, 5 minutes of execution per run, files up to 5 MB and 512 MB of data transfer. Paid plans (Core, Pro, Teams and Enterprise) lower the interval to 1 minute and remove the cap on active scenarios. Usage is counted in operations each month. You still need your own BigMailer account and subscription, which this page does not price.
02What does connecting BigMailer to Make require?
An active BigMailer account and an API key. In the BigMailer console, open the API key management page, click Create Key, name it, confirm and copy the key shown. In Make, add a BigMailer module, click Create a connection, give it a name if you like and paste the key. The connection is then shared by all BigMailer modules, so you only do this once per account and then pick it from the list in each module.
03Does the BigMailer trigger in Make fire instantly?
No. Watch New Contacts is a scheduled trigger: Make checks BigMailer on the scenario's schedule instead of being called by the app. A new scenario checks every 15 minutes by default, which is also the shortest interval on the Free plan; paid plans can go down to 1 minute. Contacts created between two checks are picked up together at the next run. If you need a faster reaction, shorten the schedule on a paid plan, keeping in mind that each check uses operations.
04What if a BigMailer action is missing in Make?
Use Make an API Call. It calls any endpoint of the BigMailer API with the connection you already set up, so you can reach features that the 8 listed modules leave out, which only handle contacts and transactional emails. You will need to read the BigMailer API documentation to write the request. Also note that Make labels its own doc for this app as AI-generated and possibly inaccurate, so confirm important details with BigMailer.
05Make or n8n for BigMailer: which one fits?
It depends on the tool your team already runs. Neither tool is ranked here. In Make, you get 8 ready modules covering the new contact trigger, contact management, a contacts search and transactional emails, plus Make an API Call for the rest, all built visually and tested with Run once. If your automations already live in n8n, check whether it offers a BigMailer node before switching. The comparison page linked above sets out the criteria side by side.
Same platform

Other docs you might need on this stack.

Browse all integrations