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Dotdigital Zapier integrationAutomate Dotdigital with Zapier.

The Dotdigital Zapier integration gives you 8 triggers and 12 actions, with no search step. Every trigger is checked on a timer, it works on the free plan, and the real traps sit in a handful of required fields. Here is what each one does before you open the editor.

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Overview

What the Dotdigital Zapier integration actually does

Dotdigital is a marketing platform built around customer data: contacts, lists, email and SMS campaigns, automation programs. The Zapier integration lets another tool react to what happens in your account (a click, an unsubscribe, a survey answer) and lets that tool write back into Dotdigital without anyone copying a row by hand.

Three results come up again and again. The first is a warmer follow-up: someone clicks a campaign, Campaign Clicks picks it up, and Enrol Contact in Program drops them into the automation program built for engaged readers. The second is a clean contact base: a form, a shop or a CRM pushes people in through Create or Update Contact, matched on email or mobile number, without anyone re-keying them. The third is a message that leaves on its own: an order confirmation through Send Transactional Email, or a reminder through Send Transactional SMS.

Now the limits. Every Dotdigital trigger on Zapier is a polling trigger, so nothing here is instant: on the free plan, a click can wait up to 15 minutes before your Zap sees it. There is no search step either, so a Zap cannot look up an existing contact and read its data before acting. And the integration does not delete anything: the closest you get is Unsubscribe Contact.

If you are weighing tools, the same app has its own page for the Dotdigital Make integration, and the Make vs Zapier comparison lays out how the two platforms differ in general.

Vocabulary

Zapier words in one minute

Seven terms come back on every line of this page. Here they are in ordinary English.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier sits and waits for that event.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that creates, sends or updates something in an app on your behalf.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action your Zap completed successfully, and your plan counts those.
Polling vs instant
A polling trigger is checked on a timer, Zapier keeping only what it has not seen yet. An instant one is pushed by the app the moment it happens.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when what arrived meets your condition, and stops it there otherwise.
Connection
Your Dotdigital account, linked to Zapier once and then reused by every step of every Zap that touches Dotdigital.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes it one, and it then needs a paid plan.
Cost

What a Dotdigital Zap really costs

Dotdigital is not a premium app, so it runs on the free Zapier plan. The bill is counted in tasks, and only actions produce them.

  • Free plan100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps
  • Zap size on free2 steps: one trigger, one action
  • DotdigitalNot a premium app, usable on free
  • BilledEach successful action, never the trigger

The trigger never costs a task, however often Zapier checks Dotdigital for new clicks or contacts. Each action that succeeds costs one, so a Zap that creates a contact and then enrols it in a program uses two per run. An action that fails is not counted. The catch is the free plan: it only builds two-step Zaps, one trigger and one action. Add a filter or a second action and you need a paid plan, even though Dotdigital itself stays allowed on free.

Connect

Connect your Dotdigital account to Zapier

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In your Zapier account, go to Apps and click + Add connection. Type Dotdigital in the search box of the dialog and pick it. You need a Dotdigital account first, with access to the lists, campaigns and programs you want the Zap to touch.

  2. 02

    Sign in to Dotdigital

    Click Add connection. A new tab opens on Dotdigital: sign in with the account that owns the data. If you work inside a shared account, use a login that can actually read and write the contacts in question.

  3. 03

    Grant access

    Allow Zapier to reach the account. From then on, that connection is offered in every Dotdigital step of every Zap, so you link the account once and reuse it everywhere.

First Zap

Your first Dotdigital Zap, step by step

GoalReaders who click your newsletter go straight into a nurture program, and the matching segment is brought up to date.

  1. 01

    Build: pick the trigger

    Create a Zap, choose Dotdigital as the app and Campaign Clicks as the event. Select your connection, then the campaign to watch: that field is required.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent clicks from your account, so you map the next steps on a real contact rather than a guess.

  3. 03

    Add the enrolment

    Add a Dotdigital action, Enrol Contact in Program. Map the contact from the click into the match identifier and choose the program. It has to be active in Dotdigital.

  4. 04

    Refresh the segment

    Add Refresh Segment and pick the segment your team reports on. This second action makes the Zap multi-step, so this one needs a paid plan.

  5. 05

    Test, then Publish

    Test each action once and read what came back. When both look right, click Publish to switch the Zap on. Only clicks that happen after that point will be picked up.

Triggers

Dotdigital triggers on Zapier

8 events start a Zap when something happens in Dotdigital. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.

1

Campaign Activity

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a campaign has new activity.”

This trigger watches your campaigns as a whole and starts the Zap whenever one of them records new activity. It is the broad net of the list: you hear about movement without choosing a single campaign upfront.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a marketing lead who wants a log of campaign movement in a reporting tool without wiring one Zap per send.
Watch out
because it covers every campaign, it can produce far more runs than you expect, and each action behind it costs a task.
2

Campaign Clicks

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a campaign has been clicked.”

Pick one campaign and the Zap starts each time a recipient clicks a link inside it. That click is the clearest signal of interest Dotdigital hands to Zapier, which makes it the natural start for a follow-up.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a webinar invite went out and you want every clicker passed to sales or enrolled in a reminder program.
Watch out
the campaign is a required field, so a new send means editing the Zap or building another one.
3

Campaign Opens

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a campaign has been opened.”

Same idea as the click trigger, one notch earlier in the funnel: the Zap runs each time someone opens the campaign you selected. You get more volume, and a weaker signal per person.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an important announcement where you want to know who saw it, for instance to brief account managers before they call.
Watch out
a campaign has to be chosen, and opens pile up faster than clicks, which shows up quickly on a 100-task free plan.
4

Contact Created

Polling trigger

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

Whenever a new contact is created in your Dotdigital account, this trigger passes it on to the next steps. It is the starting point for keeping a second tool in step with your audience.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
copying each new subscriber into the CRM your sales team works from, so nobody re-keys a lead.
Watch out
a big import creates a burst of contacts at once, and Zapier can hold back such a sudden batch with its flood protection.
5

Contact Modified

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new contact is modified.”

This one reacts to edits rather than arrivals: a contact whose details change in Dotdigital starts the Zap. Use it when the record already exists elsewhere and only needs to follow along.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a contact updates their preferences or details, and your support desk should show the same thing.
Watch out
never pair it with Create or Update Contact on the same account. The Zap's own write counts as a change, and it sets itself off again.
6

Contact Suppressed

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a contact has been suppressed.”

When Dotdigital suppresses a contact, this trigger tells your other tools about it. You choose in the settings which suppression reason it should watch.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
flagging the person in your CRM so a salesperson does not keep sending them sequences from another tool.
Watch out
the suppression reason is a required field, so decide which one matters to you before you set up the trigger.
7

Contact Unsubscribed

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a contact has unsubscribed.”

It fires when a contact has unsubscribed from your Dotdigital account. That makes it the direct way to carry an opt-out into every other tool that writes to the same audience.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an ecommerce team that also sends offers from its shop platform and must stop as soon as someone opts out.
Watch out
on the free plan the opt-out can take up to 15 minutes to travel, so another tool may still send in that window.
8

New Survey Response

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a survey of your choice receives a new response.”

Dotdigital surveys feed this trigger: each new answer to the survey you choose starts the Zap and carries the response with it. Feedback stops sitting in a report nobody opens.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a post-purchase satisfaction survey whose answers should land with the customer success team.
Watch out
the survey is a required field and must already exist in Dotdigital before you set up the trigger.
Actions

Dotdigital actions on Zapier

Dotdigital gives you 12 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create a List

Action

In Zapier“Creates a list.”

Spins up a new list in your account from a name your Zap provides. Handy when each event, cohort or client gets its own audience.

When to use it
an agency opens a new client project elsewhere and wants a matching Dotdigital list ready.
Watch out
the name cannot repeat an existing list, and Test or All contacts are already taken.
2

Create or Update Contact (Deprecated)

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new contact or updates an existing one. Match on email or mobile number. Optionally add contact to a list, and include data fields.”

The older version of the step above, still listed in the editor with a Deprecated label. It does the same job: create or update a contact, matched on email or mobile.

When to use it
only to keep an existing Zap running while you plan its move to the current version.
Watch out
for any new Zap, pick Create or Update Contact without the deprecated label.
3

Create or Update Contact

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new contact or updates an existing one. Match on email or mobile number. Optionally add contact to a list, and include data fields.”

The workhorse: it adds a person to Dotdigital, or updates them if they are already there, matching on email or mobile number. It can also put them on a list and fill data fields in the same step.

When to use it
every new lead from your site's demo form should reach Dotdigital with its company name.
Watch out
the match identifier is required, so decide upfront whether email or mobile is your key.
4

Create Contact Data Field

Action

In Zapier“Creates a contact data field within the account.”

Adds a new contact data field to the account, with a name and a data type. It changes the shape of your contact records, not their values.

When to use it
a new product line launches and you need a field ready before contacts start carrying it.
Watch out
the name allows up to 20 characters, letters and numbers only, plus hyphens and underscores.
5

Enrol Contact in Program

Action

In Zapier“This operation enrols a given contact into an automation program.”

Pushes a given contact into one of your automation programs, so the journey you designed in Dotdigital takes over from there.

When to use it
a trial signup in your app should start the onboarding sequence.
Watch out
the program has to be active in Dotdigital before the Zap can enrol anyone in it.
6

Refresh Segment

Action

In Zapier“Refreshes a segment.”

Asks Dotdigital to recalculate a segment so it reflects the latest contact data rather than its last refresh.

When to use it
right after a Zap has updated contacts that a segment depends on, before a send goes out.
Watch out
it refreshes the segment you pick and nothing else; the segment itself is a required field.
7

Resubscribe Contact

Action

In Zapier“Resubscribes a contact to the account.”

Brings a previously unsubscribed address back into the account. By default Dotdigital first sends a confirmation email to the person.

When to use it
a customer ticks the newsletter box again at checkout in your shop.
Watch out
switching the confirmation setting to No resubscribes without asking the person to verify.
8

Send Email Campaign

Action

In Zapier“Send a marketing email to a contact.”

Sends one of your existing marketing emails to a single contact. You pick the campaign by name and give the address.

When to use it
someone books a demo and should receive your prepared product overview right after.
Watch out
if the address is not a contact in Dotdigital yet, the campaign is not sent. Put Create or Update Contact before it.
9

Send SMS

Action

In Zapier“Send a marketing SMS to a contact.”

Sends a marketing text message to a contact's mobile number, with the message written in the Zap.

When to use it
a flash sale reminder to customers who opted in to texts.
Watch out
the number must be in E.164 format, the international standard that starts with the country code.
10

Send Transactional Email

Action

In Zapier“Sends a transactional email.”

Sends a one-to-one email such as a receipt or a booking confirmation, with the subject and content built inside the Zap. Five fields are required: from, to, subject, HTML content and plain text content.

When to use it
order confirmations from a shop that has no mail engine of its own.
Watch out
a from address missing from your account is replaced by your default from address.
11

Send Transactional SMS

Action

In Zapier“Sends a transactional SMS.”

The text-message twin of the transactional email: one message to one number, for service rather than marketing. Link shortening is optional and off by default.

When to use it
a delivery or appointment reminder triggered by your booking tool.
Watch out
up to 160 non-encoded characters per message, and with Unicode left off, any message containing it is not sent.
12

Unsubscribe Contact

Action

In Zapier“Unsubscribes contact from account.”

Removes a contact from your mailings at account level, using the same email or mobile match as the contact steps.

When to use it
an opt-out recorded in your help desk or CRM has to reach Dotdigital too.
Watch out
the match identifier is required, and the opt-out applies to the whole account, not to a single list.
When it breaks

When a Dotdigital Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to Dotdigital, so the failures worth knowing are the general ones, applied to how this app behaves.

Four situations deserve a look before you publish, because each one changes what your Zap picks up or what it costs. If a run fails, the Zapier troubleshooting guide is the next stop.

  • The past is not picked up

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Contacts, clicks or survey answers that already existed stay where they are; moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • A Zap that triggers itself

    Contact Modified feeding Create or Update Contact on the same account writes a change, which counts as a new modification. The loop runs until your task count is gone.

  • Bulk imports get held back

    Importing thousands of contacts at once makes Contact Created return a huge batch. Zapier's flood protection can hold it back instead of running the Zap on every row.

  • No duplicates, by design

    Zapier remembers which items a polling trigger has already seen, so the same contact or click never starts the Zap twice, even if it shows up again in the next check.
Need help

Need help automating Dotdigital with Zapier?

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FAQ

Dotdigital Zapier integration: questions

01Is the Dotdigital Zapier integration free?
Yes, as long as your Zap stays at two steps. Dotdigital is not a premium app, so the free Zapier plan accepts it, with 100 tasks a month and triggers checked every 15 minutes. As soon as you add a second action or a filter, the Zap becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan. Prices are not listed here because the plan grids change often. Check the size of your Zap before you build, not after.
02How many tasks does a Dotdigital Zap use?
One task per action that succeeds, and nothing for the trigger. A Zap that waits for a survey answer and then updates the contact costs one task per answer. If it also enrols that contact in a program, that is two tasks per answer. Zapier checking Dotdigital for new items costs nothing, however often it looks, and an action that fails is not counted against your plan. A busy campaign trigger multiplies that quickly, so count runs before you choose a plan.
03Does Dotdigital send data to Zapier in real time?
No. All 8 Dotdigital triggers are polling triggers: Zapier asks Dotdigital for new items on a timer. That timer depends on your plan: 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional, 1 on Team and Enterprise. On paid plans you can change how often a trigger checks, and you can also run a check by hand from the editor when you are testing. If speed matters, test the delay on your own plan first.
04What does it take to connect Dotdigital to Zapier?
A Dotdigital account, and access to the lists, campaigns, surveys and programs your Zap should touch. The connection is made from the Apps page of Zapier with + Add connection, then a sign-in on Dotdigital in a new tab. Some steps also expect things to exist first: an active program for enrolment, a campaign for the click and open triggers, a survey for responses. Set those up in Dotdigital before you open the editor.
05Why does a Dotdigital SMS or campaign not go out?
Usually a field the step is strict about. Send Email Campaign is not sent when the address is not already a contact in your account. Send SMS expects the number in E.164 format. Send Transactional SMS rejects numbers without the international prefix, caps a message at 160 non-encoded characters, and drops any message containing Unicode while that option is left on No. Test the step once with a real contact to catch it early.
06What if the Dotdigital operation you need is not on Zapier?
Then the integration simply cannot do it from the editor. Zapier offers 8 triggers and 12 actions for Dotdigital and no search step, so there is no way to look up a contact and read its fields first. Check the lists on this page against your scenario before you build. If a step is missing, another automation platform may cover it, which is worth comparing operation by operation. Start from the operation, not from the tool.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Dotdigital?
Decide on criteria rather than reputation. First, the operations: list the triggers and actions your scenario needs and check which platform offers them for Dotdigital. Second, timing: on Zapier every Dotdigital trigger is polled, so speed depends on your plan. Third, billing: Zapier counts one task per successful action, so estimate your monthly runs before choosing. Fourth, who maintains it: pick the tool your team will actually open. The answer can differ from one scenario to the next.
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