Missing Account Identifier — Importance of a Clean Database

Feedback
1

I’ve noticed that ActiveCampaign doesn’t have a unique ID for accounts, which makes it hard to keep data clean.

Even small differences like “Acme Inc”, “ACME, Inc.”, or “Acme Incorporated” end up creating duplicate accounts or breaking syncs with other systems.

It really shows how important a clean, consistent database In past systems i have always had the option to use “email domaines”

Has anyone found a good workaround for managing accounts without a unique identifier?

2

This also applies for Deals ** If there was a way to tie them all together * any contact with this email domaine * can be tied to a deal (for me a deal is a company target and not an individual)

3

Hi Melissa!

ActiveCampaign is primarily built around individual contacts rather than accounts/companies, which can make B2B account management tricky. You’re right that there’s no built-in “Account ID” field like you’d find in a traditional CRM.

Here are some workarounds that I would suggest trying:

Use Email Domain as Your Unique ID

  • Create a custom field called “Account_Domain”
  • Extract and store the email domain (e.g., “acme.com”) for each contact
  • Use this to group contacts by company
  • Can be automated with workflows or tools like Zapier

Or

Make Deals Your “Account Records”

  • Create one deal per company/domain
  • Link all contacts from that domain to the same deal
  • Store company-level data in deal custom fields
  • Use deal title or custom field to store the standardized domain

Either of these routes should help you manage accounts a little bit easier!

4

Hi Thank you , Can you provide “How too’s” as of now, i have to manual attach contacts via search and bulk edits *

5

Hey Melissa! Happy to walk you through the setup.

Email Domain as Unique ID (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Create the Custom Field

  1. Go to Lists → Manage Fields
  2. Click Add Field
  3. Field Type: Text
  4. Field Name: Account_Domain
  5. Save

Step 2: Extract Domain with Automation

  1. Go to Automations → Create Automation
  2. Trigger: Tag is added (create a tag like “Extract Domain”)
  3. Add action: Webhook → POST
  4. Use a service like Zapier or Make.com to:
  • Receive the contact email
  • Extract domain (everything after @)
  • Update the Account_Domain field back in ActiveCampaign

For existing contacts (bulk edit):

  • Export your contact list
  • Use Excel/Google Sheets to extract domains (formula: =RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND("@",A2)))
  • Re-import with the Account_Domain field populated

Deals as Account Records (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Create Deal Custom Field

  1. Go to Deals → Settings → Deal Custom Fields
  2. Click Add Custom Field
  3. Field Type: Text
  4. Field Name: Company_Domain
  5. Save

Step 2: Create Your Company Deals

  1. Go to Deals → Add Deal
  2. Deal Title: Company name (e.g., “Acme Inc”)
  3. Fill in Company_Domain field: acme.com
  4. Save

Step 3: Link Contacts to Deals

Manual method (for now):

  1. Go to Contacts → Advanced Search
  2. Filter by email contains “@acme.com”
  3. Select all matching contacts
  4. Click Bulk Edit → Add to Deal
  5. Select the Acme Inc deal
  6. Apply

Repeat for each company domain.

To automate going forward:

  • Create an automation that triggers when a new contact is added
  • Use webhook to check if a deal exists with that domain
  • Automatically add contact to the matching deal

Quick Win for Right Now:

Since you’re doing manual work anyway, I’d suggest:

  1. Create the deals for your top 10-20 companies first
  2. Use advanced search + bulk edit to attach contacts
  3. Set up automation for new contacts going forward