The moment it happens

Post ActiveCampaign unsubscribes to Slack

You see who left and from which list as soon as it happens.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: ActiveCampaign
AI: Not needed
Access: API key

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when someone unsubscribes in ActiveCampaign, post their email and the list to #marketing in Slack.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

Add to ChatGPT Add to Claude

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A rise in unsubscribes is one of the earliest signs that something is wrong with your email: a campaign that missed the audience, a send frequency that is too high, or a segment that was never meant to receive the message. If you only learn about it from the campaign report days later, you have already sent two more emails to the same people. A single unsubscribe from a key customer can also mean an account problem that nobody noticed.

When someone unsubscribes in ActiveCampaign, the event arrives as a webhook and a Slack message is posted with the contact and the list they left. The team sees the opt-out as it happens.

It is useful for email marketers who want to spot problems during a send, and for account managers who care when a customer opts out.

What you get out of it

Bad sends are caught while they run
A burst of unsubscribes during a campaign tells you to pause. That stops further damage and protects your sender reputation. A sharp spike on a single email is easy to see when each opt-out is in front of the team, and you can stop the next send in the same series. That protects deliverability, which takes weeks to rebuild once damaged.
Key accounts are not lost silently
If a paying customer leaves your list, the account manager can reach out. The reason may be fixable with a short conversation. Hearing it the same day gives you a chance to ask what went wrong and offer a fix, such as a lower email frequency, before the account decides to leave altogether.
Frequency problems become visible
Seeing opt-outs cluster after specific emails shows which messages push people away. You can adjust cadence with evidence. If your newsletter goes out on Tuesday and every opt-out lands on the following Wednesday emails, you know which message to rewrite or retire, and you have data to support that choice.
Compliance requests are tracked
Opt-outs are recorded with names and lists in a channel. If a contact claims they were still emailed, you have a timestamp to check against. Regulators and customers both care about timely opt-outs, and a dated trail in a channel is a simple way to show requests were seen and honored without hunting through the account.
Feedback loops close
Unsubscribes tell you more than open rates do. A shared feed gets everyone paying attention to them, not just whoever checks reports. When the whole team can see opt-outs, they stop being a number on a report and start being a signal people discuss and learn from, which improves future campaigns.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When someone unsubscribes in ActiveCampaign, ActiveCampaign tells ClickRuntime straight away.
The automation picks out their email address and the list they left.
It posts them to your #marketing Slack channel.

Before it runs live

Connect ActiveCampaign
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

Post ActiveCampaign unsubscribes to Slackjust nowSucceeded

Slack · #marketingUnsubscribed: sam@northwind.example from list Newsletter

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other ActiveCampaign steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

unsubscribe_alert_activecampaign.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_event, notify

@on_event
def handle(event):
    f = event.json
    notify.slack(f"Unsubscribed: {f.get('contact[email]')} from list {f.get('list') or f.get('list[0][name]', '-')}",
                 channel="#marketing")
    return {"posted": True}

FAQ

Common questions

Does it include the reason for unsubscribing?

ActiveCampaign includes the contact and list in the unsubscribe event. If your unsubscribe page collects a reason, it is available only if the event carries it, so the post shows what ActiveCampaign sends. If you need a reason, add a short question to your unsubscribe page and pass the answer along.

Will spam complaints show up too?

Complaints are a separate event type in ActiveCampaign. The alert covers unsubscribes by default, and complaints can be added as another webhook if you want them in the same channel. Both can share one channel or be split, depending on who needs to act.

Can I alert only for customers and not for cold leads?

Yes. If you tag customers, the automation can look up the contact before posting and only send the alert when the customer tag is present, which keeps the channel for people who matter. For large lists this also cuts alert volume sharply.

What permissions does it need?

API key. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

The moment it happens