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Qualisend
Integration guide

Connect ActiveCampaign to Qualisend

Qualisend checks the email addresses in your ActiveCampaign account and saves each result on the contact in five custom fields, so you can leave bad addresses out of your sends. This guide covers setup, real-time checks, schedules and fixes for common errors.

Open ActiveCampaign in Qualisend
Connects with
API URL and API key
Who can connect
Workspace Owner or Admin
Writes
5 custom fields
Never changes
Subscriptions, list membership or tags
Cost
1 credit per address checked
Per run
Up to 1,500 contacts

Last updated

Before you start

  • A Qualisend account. Create one if you don't have one yet.
  • The Owner or Admin role in your Qualisend workspace to connect. Editors can run cleans once it's connected.
  • An ActiveCampaign user who can open Settings → Developer and edit contacts and custom fields. Qualisend works with that user's API key.
  • Enough credits for the contacts you want to check.

Connect and run a first clean

  1. 1

    Open ActiveCampaign in Qualisend

    In Qualisend, click Integrations in the sidebar, then the ActiveCampaign tile under Email marketing.

    Qualisend Integrations page with the ActiveCampaign tile highlighted under Email marketing
  2. 2

    Copy your API URL and key

    In ActiveCampaign, click Settings (the gear icon), then Developer. Under API Access, use Copy API Url and Copy API Key. Treat the key like a password.

    ActiveCampaign Settings, Developer page: the API Access section with the URL and Key fields and their copy buttons, and the Manage Webhooks button below
  3. 3

    Paste them and connect

    Back in Qualisend, paste them into API URL and API key, then click Connect. The check takes a few seconds. When it passes, the page shows Connected and your account address, such as youraccount.api-us1.com. The URL works with or without /api/3 at the end.

    ActiveCampaign connect form in Qualisend with the API URL and API key filled in
  4. 4

    Choose what to clean

    Under What to clean, pick All contacts or one list. Below it, Qualisend shows how many contacts it found and the most credits the run can use. Then, under What to do with the results, choose:

    • Tag contacts with results saves each result on the contact in ActiveCampaign. Despite the name, it fills custom fields, not ActiveCampaign tags.
    • Verify & export a clean list leaves ActiveCampaign untouched. You download the results instead.

    Leave Repeat on Just once unless you want an auto-clean. The same form is also on Bulk cleaning.

    Qualisend ActiveCampaign page, connected, with the Newsletter list chosen: 1,240 contacts, up to 1,240 credits
  5. 5

    Start the clean

    Click Verify & clean. Qualisend opens the clean's results page and counts up as addresses are checked. You can Stop at any time. Once it shows Verification complete, Download CSV saves every result on the All tab, or just the tab you're on.

    With Tag contacts with results, the fields are saved after the whole clean finishes. Open a contact in ActiveCampaign to see Qualisend Status and the other Qualisend fields.

    Qualisend results page for the ActiveCampaign Newsletter clean showing verification complete and the result breakdown

Fields written to your contacts

With Tag contacts with results, Qualisend fills five custom fields on each contact it checks. It creates them the first time results are saved and makes them available on all your lists. Each new result replaces the previous one.

FieldWhat it holds
Qualisend StatusTextdeliverable, risky, undeliverable or unknown
Qualisend ScoreTextA number from 0 to 100, stored as text
Qualisend ReasonTextOne code: accepted_email, low_deliverability, low_quality, invalid_email, invalid_domain, rejected_email, timeout, unavailable_smtp or unknown
Qualisend FlagsTextAny of free_mail, disposable, role, catch_all, full_mailbox, disabled, separated by commas. Empty when none apply.
Qualisend CheckedDateThe day of the check

For what each status means, see the status guide.

Use the fields in ActiveCampaign

To keep bad addresses out of campaigns, build a segment that leaves out contacts whose Qualisend Status is undeliverable. Add risky if you want to hold those back too; What to do with each result suggests an action for each status and the main flags. Filter on Status rather than Score: Score is stored as text, so greater-than and less-than comparisons are unreliable.

Check new contacts in real time

ActiveCampaign can send each new contact to Qualisend through a webhook. Qualisend checks the address and saves the same five fields. You add the webhook in ActiveCampaign yourself; Qualisend doesn't create it for you.

For forms you host yourself, see the verification API.

  1. 1

    Copy your webhook URL

    On the ActiveCampaign page in Qualisend, find Real-time verify-on-signup and click Set up (Manage once checks are arriving), then Copy next to Webhook URL. The URL contains a secret key for your Qualisend workspace, so keep it private. This step needs the Owner or Admin role.

    Real-time verify-on-signup card in Qualisend with the setup steps and the webhook URL
  2. 2

    Add the webhook in ActiveCampaign

    In ActiveCampaign, go to Settings → Developer, click Manage Webhooks, then Add. If it asks which kind of webhook, pick the standard one for contacts. Give the webhook a name, such as Qualisend, and paste the URL.

  3. 3

    Choose the event and sources

    Under Type, select Subscribes only. Don't add Contact updated: Qualisend's own field updates would trigger it. If ActiveCampaign asks for a list, pick the list your signup form adds people to.

    Then choose which sources should trigger it: contacts (for example, form signups), admin users, the API or system processes. Every contact sent to the webhook is checked and uses one credit, so pick only the sources you want checked. Save the webhook.

    Prefer automations? Add a Webhook action with the same URL to an automation instead.

  4. 4

    Hold the welcome email for the result

    In the automation that sends your welcome email, add a Wait of a few minutes before it, then an If/Else on Qualisend Status. Send unless the status is undeliverable, so contacts that haven't been checked yet still get the email.

    The Qualisend fields only appear in ActiveCampaign after results are first saved. If you can't pick Qualisend Status yet, run a clean with Tag contacts with results first.

  • Once checks arrive, the card shows Active and the time of the last check.
  • Instant results, such as undeliverable or disposable addresses, usually reach ActiveCampaign within a minute. Others need a live mailbox check first. A check that hasn't finished after 15 minutes is saved as unknown.
  • If ActiveCampaign sends the same address twice within two minutes, it's checked once. ActiveCampaign can deliver a webhook more than once.
  • ActiveCampaign sends the whole contact to the webhook; Qualisend uses only the email address.
  • Each check uses one credit, and unknown results are refunded. If you run out, the card shows Paused - out of credits and new contacts aren't checked until you top up. Contacts that arrived in the meantime aren't checked later, so clean their list.

Auto-clean on a schedule

To clean a list or all contacts regularly, set Repeat to Auto-clean every 7 days, Auto-clean every 14 days or Auto-clean every 30 days before you click Verify & clean. That clean runs now, and the next one runs after the interval you picked. On a bigger source, every auto-clean re-checks the same first 1,500 contacts.

Schedules appear under Scheduled auto-cleans on the ActiveCampaign page, with the next date and how the last run went:

  • Last run: clean: it ran.
  • Last run: no contacts: the list was empty.
  • Last run: error: it couldn't run, for example because there weren't enough credits.
  • Skipped - reconnect ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign was disconnected when the clean was due.

Click Cancel to stop a schedule. Auto-cleans use credits like any other clean.

Scheduled auto-cleans in Qualisend: the Newsletter list cleaned every 14 days, with the next date and a Cancel button

Credits and limits

  • A clean uses one credit per unique address. Duplicates in the same run count once.
  • Credits for the whole run are reserved when it starts. If your balance can't cover it, the clean doesn't start.
  • unknown results are refunded, and stopping a clean returns the credits it hasn't used. Verify & export a clean list uses credits the same way.
  • Each run, auto-cleans included, checks the first 1,500 contacts of the list you pick (or of All contacts), and it's the same contacts every time. The count under What to clean tells you when a source is bigger. To cover more, split them into lists of 1,500 or fewer and clean each one, or clean it by CSV.
  • The list picker shows your first 100 lists.
  • See pricing for credits and plans.

Disconnect

On the ActiveCampaign page in Qualisend, click Disconnect. It takes effect right away, with no confirmation step. Only an Owner or Admin can disconnect.

If you're leaving for good, cancel your auto-cleans first. They're hidden while ActiveCampaign is disconnected.

After you disconnect:

  • Qualisend deletes your API key and API URL.
  • The Qualisend fields and their values stay in ActiveCampaign.
  • Your webhook stays in ActiveCampaign, but Qualisend rejects what it sends. Delete it from Settings → Developer, under Manage Webhooks.
  • Past results stay in your Qualisend workspace.

If you connect again later, your existing webhook starts working again.

If you click Reset API Key in ActiveCampaign, disconnect and connect again with the new key. Your webhook keeps working.

Troubleshooting

“ActiveCampaign rejected that API URL or key. Check them and try again.”

ActiveCampaign didn't accept the pair, or the URL doesn't point to your account. Copy both again from Settings → Developer under API Access.

“requires admin role”

Connecting, disconnecting and real-time setup need the Owner or Admin role in your Qualisend workspace. Ask an Owner or Admin to do it, or to change your role.

“requires editor role”

Running cleans needs at least the Editor role.

“insufficient credits”

Your balance doesn't cover the contacts in this run, so it didn't start. Top up or pick a smaller list.

“Couldn't load ActiveCampaign: could not load activecampaign lists”

Qualisend couldn't read your lists. The API key may have been reset in ActiveCampaign, or ActiveCampaign may be unavailable. Disconnect and connect again with the current key.

“0 contacts - nothing to clean here”

The list you picked is empty. Pick another list or All contacts. Clicking Verify & clean anyway shows “no addresses found in that source”.

My list isn't in the picker

The picker shows your first 100 lists. Choose All contacts, or contact us.

None of my contacts have the Qualisend fields

Check that you picked Tag contacts with results and didn't stop the clean. The API key has the permissions of the ActiveCampaign user it belongs to, so use a key from a user who can edit contacts and custom fields, then run the clean again. If it still fails, contact us with the clean's name and time.

Some contacts don't have the Qualisend fields

Fields are saved after the whole clean finishes, so give it a few minutes. On a source bigger than 1,500 contacts, only the first 1,500 are checked. If some are still empty, run the clean again. It uses credits again, so pick the smallest list that covers them. Stopped cleans and Verify & export a clean list don't save fields.

I can't pick Qualisend Status in an automation

The fields are created the first time results are saved. Run a clean with Tag contacts with results, then try again.

“Paused - out of credits”

Real-time checks stopped because the workspace ran out of credits. Top up to resume, then clean the list to catch the contacts that arrived while paused.

The webhook isn't doing anything

Check that ActiveCampaign has the full URL from Qualisend, including the part after ?s=, and that ActiveCampaign is still connected in Qualisend. Requests with an incomplete URL are rejected. If your balance hit zero, checks are skipped, not queued. If the card shows Active but new contacts don't get the fields, the API key may have been reset. Disconnect and connect again with the current key.

Related

Why verify ActiveCampaign contactsWhat the connector catches, and what to do with each result.Clean ActiveCampaign by CSV: unsubscribe or delete?The manual export route, and which choice lowers your bill.Authenticate ActiveCampaign sendingSPF, DKIM and DMARC for the domain you send from.

Get help

Still stuck? Use the contact form or email hello@qualisend.com. Include the message you see and roughly when it happened.