Connect Marketing Automation

Why connect marketing automation

Form submissions on your CMS site generate leads. Without automation, those leads sit idle in a database. Connecting your CMS to a marketing automation platform lets you trigger email sequences, score leads, and nurture prospects automatically. The goal is to move visitor data from your site into your marketing workflows without manual export.

Understand the data flow

The connection works in two directions:

1. CMS to MA — Form submissions, page views, and visitor profiles push to your marketing platform.
2. MA to CMS — Personalized content or dynamic blocks can pull from your marketing platform’s audience segments.

This guide focuses on the outbound flow: getting CMS data into your marketing tools.

Set up form data capture

1. Create or open a form in the CMS using the built-in Forms feature.
2. Add fields that match your marketing platform’s contact fields (email, name, company).
3. Publish the form on a landing page.
4. Submit a test entry and verify it appears in Forms > Submissions.

CMS

On CMS SaaS, the Forms feature is built into the visual editor. You can drag form elements onto any page without code.

Configure the connector

Most marketing automation connections use webhooks or API integrations.

Option A: Webhook integration

1. In your marketing platform, create a new inbound webhook endpoint.
2. Copy the webhook URL.
3. In the CMS, navigate to Forms > Settings for your form.
4. Add a Post-Submission Action and select Webhook.
5. Paste the webhook URL.
6. Map CMS form fields to the expected webhook payload fields.
7. Save the configuration.

Webhook payload mapping

JSON Payload

json Copy

{
  "email": "{{Email}}",
  "firstName": "{{FirstName}}",
  "lastName": "{{LastName}}",
  "source": "cms-form",
  "formName": "{{FormName}}",
  "submittedAt": "{{Timestamp}}"
}

8. Verify by submitting the form. Check your marketing platform for the new contact.

Option B: API integration (PaaS)

CMS

On CMS PaaS, you can build custom form submission handlers using the Forms API events.

Custom form submission handler

C# (.NET)

csharp Copy

using Optimizely.Forms.Core;
using Optimizely.Forms.Core.Events;

[InitializableModule]
public class MAConnectorInit : IInitializableModule
{
    public void Initialize(InitializationEngine context)
    {
        var formEvents = context.Locate.Advanced
            .GetInstance<FormsEvents>();
        formEvents.FormSubmitted += OnFormSubmitted;
    }

    private void OnFormSubmitted(object sender, FormSubmittedEventArgs e)
    {
        var email = e.SubmittedData["Email"];
        var name = e.SubmittedData["Name"];
        // Send to your MA platform API
        MarketingApiClient.CreateContact(email, name);
    }

    public void Uninitialize(InitializationEngine context) { }
}

1. Create an initialization module that subscribes to FormSubmitted events.
2. Extract the submitted field values from the event arguments.
3. Call your marketing platform’s API to create or update the contact.
4. Deploy and verify by submitting a test form entry.

Track visitor behavior

Beyond form data, visitor page views provide valuable context for lead scoring.

1. Add your marketing platform’s tracking script to the site layout template.
2. Configure the script to capture page URLs and visitor identifiers.
3. Verify by browsing several pages and checking the visitor’s activity log in your marketing platform.

Verify end-to-end

1. Visit your site as an anonymous visitor.
2. Browse several pages to generate behavioral data.
3. Submit a form with a test email address.
4. Open your marketing platform.
5. Search for the test contact. You should see the form submission data.
6. Check the activity timeline. Page views should appear if tracking is configured.

Common issues

Issue	Cause	Fix
Form submission not reaching MA	Webhook URL incorrect	Verify the URL and test with a tool like Postman
Missing fields in MA contact	Field mapping mismatch	Align CMS field names with MA expected fields
Duplicate contacts created	No deduplication rule	Configure your MA to deduplicate by email
Tracking script not firing	Script blocked by cookie consent	Ensure tracking loads after consent is granted

Related content

Continue your journey with these related pages.

🔧Follow a guide

• Manage Integrated Apps and Add-ons
• Set Up A/B Testing on CMS Content
• Configure Visitor Groups