The Dotdigital integration adds the email addresses and phone numbers your popups collect to the Dotdigital lists you choose. Each contact arrives with a consent record, the popup and campaign names, any form answers you map, and events you can use in Dotdigital programs and segments. You can connect more than one Dotdigital account, for example one per region or brand.
Connect your Dotdigital account
Dotdigital connects through a sign-in on Dotdigital's side, so you never paste an API key.
In Alia, go to Integrations and select the Dotdigital card.
On the Dotdigital page, select Connect.
Sign in to Dotdigital and approve Alia.
Dotdigital sends you back to Alia, and the Configure Dotdigital window opens.
Choose your Email list and SMS list, set up Field mapping if you need it, then select Save.
Once connected, the Dotdigital card on the Integrations page shows Connected to and your account name.
Connect more than one Dotdigital account
If you run separate Dotdigital accounts, such as one per country or brand, you can connect all of them to the same Alia store.
Go to Integrations and select the Dotdigital card.
Select Connect another account.
Sign in to the other Dotdigital account and approve Alia.
In the window that opens, choose that account's lists and field mapping, then select Save.
Each connected account appears as its own card on the Dotdigital page, showing its account number, Email list, and SMS list, with Edit and Disable buttons.
How signups work with several accounts
Every account gets the signup. Alia sends each signup to every connected account that has a list set for the channel the visitor used.
Each account has its own settings. Lists and field mapping are set per account, because each account has its own lists and data fields.
Popups have a section per account. In the popup editor, each account gets its own Dotdigital settings for section, named after the account, so you can pick different lists for each one.
Targeting asks which account. When you target by Dotdigital list, you choose the account first, then the list.
Accounts disconnect separately. Disabling one account doesn't affect the others.
💡 Note: To keep an account from receiving a channel at all, leave that account's list for the channel blank. A visitor who gives only a phone number isn't sent to an account with no SMS list.
Choose your default lists
Each account has 2 default lists, which every popup uses unless you change them:
Email list: contacts who gave an email address are added to this list.
SMS list: contacts who gave a phone number are added to this list.
If a visitor gives both and both lists are set, the contact is added to both. If you leave a list blank, Alia doesn't add anyone to it. If none of a contact's details match a list you chose, Alia doesn't send that contact to that account.
To change an account's defaults, select Edit on its card on the Dotdigital page.
Map form answers to Dotdigital data fields
Field mapping controls which Dotdigital data field each piece of information goes into. Alia includes 3 built-in fields:
Alia field | What it holds |
FIRSTNAME | The visitor's name, if the popup collected one |
ALIA_CAMPAIGN | The name of the campaign the visitor saw |
ALIA_POPUP | The name of the popup the visitor signed up through |
By default, each field goes into a Dotdigital data field with the same name. You can point any of them at a different data field instead. Select Add custom field to map any other form answer, such as a birthday or a preference. If a data field doesn't exist yet, Alia creates it as a private text field.
A few rules apply to data field names and values:
Characters other than letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens become underscores, and names are cut to 20 characters.
Values are converted to match the data field's type in Dotdigital. Number, date, and yes/no fields only receive values that can be read as that type.
Dates typed into a free text field with a date Input format, such as DD/MM/YYYY, are converted to a standard date so Dotdigital reads the day and month the right way round.
💡 Tip: Give free text fields short Integration field name values made of letters, numbers, and underscores, so the Dotdigital data field name matches what you typed.
Send a popup, form, or reward to a different list
The lists on each account are the defaults for every popup. You can change them in 3 places:
Popup: in the popup editor, open the Integration settings tab and find Dotdigital settings. With several accounts, there's one section per account.
Form: each form step has its own Dotdigital settings section, below When form is submitted.
Reward: a reward's Integration overrides setting changes where visitors who claim that reward are sent.
Each section shows Using default settings until you change something. Only the settings you change differ from your defaults.
Settings on a form or reward apply every time that form is submitted or that reward is claimed. Settings on the Integration settings tab are fixed the first time Alia sends anything about a visitor to Dotdigital. If a particular popup must always send to a particular list, set the list on the form.
To check where signups will land, look at the popup's card on the Campaigns page. Its badges show the Dotdigital list each channel goes to.
Show or hide popups by Dotdigital list
In targeting rules, Dotdigital offers In Dotdigital list and Not in Dotdigital list.
Add the rule to your campaign's targeting.
If you've connected more than one account, choose the account.
Choose the list.
Choose what happens when Alia can't tell: Default to in list or Default to not in list.
Alia knows a visitor is in a list when Alia added them there itself, or when Dotdigital's site tracking recognizes the visitor. Everyone else falls back to the default you chose.
💡 Tip: Use Not in Dotdigital list with Default to not in list to hide a signup popup from people already on your list while new visitors still see it.
What Alia sends to Dotdigital
Contact details
Email address and mobile number
FIRSTNAME, ALIA_CAMPAIGN, and ALIA_POPUP
Form answers collected under an Integration field name, plus any user properties the form sets under When form is submitted
Alia marks the channels the visitor gave as subscribed, with single opt-in for email. A contact who had unsubscribed and signs up again through a popup is resubscribed.
Consent record
Every contact carries a consent record with the popup's name, the date and time of signup, the page the visitor was on, their IP address, and their browser.
Events
Event | When it's sent | Data |
Alia_Signup | The first time Alia creates the contact | Campaign, popup |
Alia_Poll_Answered | The visitor answers a question in a popup | Question, answer |
Alia_Reward_Claimed | The visitor claims a reward | Reward text |
If a visitor answers a question or claims a reward before their contact exists in Dotdigital, Alia sends the event right after the contact is created.
When contacts are sent
A contact is sent when the visitor submits a form that collects an email or phone number. If the form's Immediately subscribe users to CRMs setting is off, Alia waits until the visitor submits another form, claims a reward, answers a question, or has been inactive for a few minutes, then sends everything at once. This lets a multi-step popup collect an email, then a phone number, and send one complete contact.
Identifying visitors on your site
If Dotdigital's site tracking script is on your store, Alia also identifies each new signup to it in the browser. This is the Dotdigital checkbox under Third-party pixels in Settings > Tracking, and it's on by default.
Disconnect an account
Go to Integrations and select the Dotdigital card.
On the account's card, select Disable.
Confirm.
Disable stops new contacts and events going to that account. Contacts already in Dotdigital stay there. Popups and targeting rules that referred to that account stop using it, and targeting rules fall back to their default. Any other connected accounts keep working.
FAQ
Can I connect more than one Dotdigital account?
Yes. On the Dotdigital page, select Connect another account. Every signup goes to each connected account that has a list set for the visitor's channel.
Which list is my popup sending to?
Look at the popup's card on the Campaigns page. The badges show the list for email and for SMS. To change it, open Dotdigital settings on the form or the Integration settings tab.
A signup didn't reach Dotdigital. What should I check?
Check that the account has a list set for the channel the visitor used. A visitor who gave only a phone number isn't sent to an account with no SMS list. If the form's Immediately subscribe users to CRMs setting is off, the contact arrives a few minutes after the visitor stops interacting with the popup.
A form answer is missing or in a different field. Why?
Long or unusual Integration field name values are cut to 20 characters, and special characters become underscores, so the data field may have a slightly different name. Also check the field's type in Dotdigital: a number or date field won't accept text that can't be read as a number or date.
Will my subscribers get one welcome email or two?
Alia doesn't send emails itself; it adds contacts to your list. If both a list-based program and an Alia_Signup-based program send a welcome email, the contact gets both. Trigger your welcome on one of them.
The consent record shows IP address 127.0.0.1. Why?
That appears when Alia didn't have the visitor's IP address at the time it sent the contact.
Still have questions?
Start a chat from inside the Alia app, or use the chat in our Help Center.