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Problem with AC to Salesforce updating a field

  • June 19, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 51 views
nddMedical

Newer to the community here!

Question regarding AC into Salesforce for updating fields. I think my automation isn’t triggering at the correct time. Here are my automation steps:

  1. Automation starts when someone submits a form
  2. Contact gets an email
  3. Internal team gets notified
  4. A new lead is created into Salesforce
  5. Tag is added  - added to salesforce
  6. Then Add lead to Salesforce campaign

I have a separate automation that is doing the following

  1. When added to salesforce tag is added
  2. Update lead source to ActiveCampaign

For someone reason the lead source isn’t updating. I have the fields mapped properly in the AC dashboard in Salesforce. I am thinking it may be the timing of it all? I tried added the “update lead source” after step 5 in the first automation but that didn’t work. The add to Salesforce campaign works although it takes 20 minutes!

Any ideas on what could be the problem?

2 replies

Alanna Hurley
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  • Alanna Hurley
  • Community Manager
  • June 22, 2026

Hi there, welcome to the community!

I do think timing is likely part of what’s happening here.

With the Salesforce integration, contacts and leads created from ActiveCampaign are queued and then sent over on the next scheduled sync, which runs about every 10 minutes (or sooner if 100 records are updated). That same timing is also why the “Add lead/contact to Salesforce campaign” step can take around 20 minutes in some cases. How syncing works with the ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration Add leads and contacts to Salesforce campaigns with automation

My guess is that your second automation is firing as soon as the added-to-salesforce-lead tag is applied, but before the lead update has had a chance to sync back over the way you expect.

A few things I’d try:

  • Set the Lead Source field in ActiveCampaign before the “Create a lead in Salesforce” step, so the value is already present when the lead is created in Salesforce

  • If you want to keep the separate automation, add a 10–15 minute wait after the added-to-salesforce-lead tag trigger before updating the Lead Source field

  • Double-check that the Lead Source field type in Salesforce is supported by your current field mapping setup, since unsupported mapping combinations can prevent updates from syncing properly. Field mapping cheat sheet | ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration

One other thing to watch for: once a lead/contact is synced, later changes from ActiveCampaign are sent during the next sync window, and if Salesforce and ActiveCampaign are both changing the same mapped field around the same time, Salesforce is treated as the primary source. How syncing works with the ActiveCampaign Salesforce integration

If you only need Lead Source set for brand-new leads coming from ActiveCampaign, the cleanest setup is usually to populate that field before the lead is created in Salesforce rather than trying to update it immediately after!

nddMedical
  • nddMedical
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • June 24, 2026

Hi Alanna. Thank you for the response. I am wondering if it would be best to add the “update lead source” in the form field as a hidden field? So that when it syncs the first time as a lead, it gets updated? Or would it be best to add it in the automation?

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