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How to Connect Your app to Your Email Provider Using Zapier

How to integrate your app with your email list using Zapier

Sunny Dulay avatar
Written by Sunny Dulay
Updated over 3 months ago

⚠️ Heads up: This setup requires some technical knowledge.
If you're not comfortable with tools like Zapier or your email service platform/provider (ESP), we recommend hiring us to handle the integration for you — so you can stay focused on your content and community.

Breakthrough integrates with Zapier, allowing you to automatically send user data (like new signups and purchases) to your email service provider (ESP) — such as Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, or Klaviyo. This enables powerful automations like onboarding sequences, cancelled winback, and engagement flows.

This guide will walk you through:

  • How to connect new registered users to your ESP

  • How to connect new or updated purchases (subscriptions)

  • How to connect billing issue events (failed payments)

  • How to connect non-recurring purchases (e.g., one-time content sales)

  • Best practices for tracking subscription status

  • What to do if your trigger test shows no data

Not Technical? We’ve Got You Covered

We know that setting up automations with Zapier and your ESP can feel overwhelming — especially if you’re not technical. If you need help, you have two easy options:

  • Hire us to set it up for you – We’ll handle the full Zapier integration for your app. You can purchase the setup service here.

  • Upgrade to Clevertap – If you prefer a more powerful and user-friendly email system, we offer a done-for-you setup with Clevertap, an ESP built for apps. We’ll handle the full technical integration for you. Email us if you want to go this route.

To learn more or ask questions, reach out to partner@breakthroughapps.io. We're here to help.

Note: Zapier offers a free tier with limited tasks, but more advanced automations may require a paid plan depending on usage.

Getting Started

You can access and set up your integration in one of two ways:

Option 1: From the Breakthrough Portal

  1. Log into your Breakthrough Partner Portal

  2. Go to Portal > Integrations

  3. Click Connect with Zapier

Option 2: Directly from Zapier

Visit: https://zapier.com/apps/breakthrough/integrations
You’ll find pre-built Zap templates for common workflows like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and ActiveCampaign.

1. Trigger: New Registered User

Use this trigger to add new free users to your ESP as soon as they sign up for your app.

What it does:

Fires when a user creates a new account in your app (even if they don’t subscribe yet).

How to set it up in Zapier:

  1. Choose the Trigger: New Registered User

  2. Connect your Breakthrough account

  3. Choose your ESP (e.g., Mailchimp)

  4. Choose action: "Add/Update Subscriber"

  5. Map fields:

    • Email → email

    • First Name → first_name

    • Last Name → last_name (optional)

    • Add a tag like joined_app if using tags (optional)

This is great for starting welcome sequences or getting users into your email funnel right away.

2. Trigger: New or Updated Purchase

Use this trigger to keep your ESP updated when a user subscribes, cancels, or changes plans.

What it does:

Fires when a user:

  • Starts a free trial

  • Becomes a paying subscriber

  • Cancels their subscription

How to set it up:

  1. Choose the Trigger: New or Updated Purchase

  2. Connect your Breakthrough account

  3. Choose your ESP and action like "Update Subscriber/Contact" (this will depend on your ESP)

  4. Map the following fields:

    • Email → email

    • Subscription Status → data.status (trialing, active, or canceled)

Note: you would have to create a new field in your ESP to track Subscription Status. See the following Best Practice on this.

Best Practice: Track Subscription Status with a Custom Field

We recommend creating a custom field in your ESP to store the user’s current subscription status.

Why a field is better than tags:

Using a field like subscription_status ensures that the value is always current.
If you rely only on tags (like Trial, Active), they can quickly become outdated. For example:

  • A user signs up and gets the tag Trial

  • They later become a paid subscriber, but the Trial tag remains unless manually removed

  • This can lead to confusing or conflicting email sequences

How to set it up:

  1. In your ESP, create a new field called subscription_status

  2. In Zapier, map Breakthrough's data.status to this field

Possible values for data.status:

  • trialing

  • active

  • canceled

You can then use this field to segment your audience, trigger different automations, or pause campaigns when users cancel.

Optional: Using Tags Instead (Advanced)

If you prefer using tags, be aware:

  • You'll need to manually remove old tags or set up advanced logic in Zapier

  • This requires setting up Zapier filters or paths based on data.status

Only choose this route if you're confident with advanced Zapier automations.

3. Troubleshooting: Test Trigger Not Showing Anything?

If you're setting up your Zap and the test trigger doesn’t return data, don’t worry — this simply means that event hasn’t been fired recently.

What you can do:

  • For New Registered User, simulate the event by creating a test account in your app

  • For New or Updated Purchase, start a free trial or test a subscription

  • After simulating the action, re-click “Test Trigger” in Zapier

This will allow Zapier to pull in the necessary sample data so you can continue mapping fields.

4. Additional Triggers & Setup

In addition to new signups and subscriptions, Breakthrough supports triggers for billing issues and one-time (non-recurring) purchases. These can be used to send alerts, trigger email sequences, or notify your team.

Trigger: New Billing Issue

Use this to get notified when a user’s payment fails — perfect for retention workflows or follow-up emails to help them re-subscribe.

What it does:

Fires when a subscription renewal fails or there's an issue with a user's payment method.

How to set it up:

  1. Trigger: New Billing Issue

  2. Action:

    • Notify your team (e.g., send Slack or email alert)

    • Tag the user in your ESP (e.g., billing_issue)

    • Start a reactivation sequence

Trigger: New Non-Recurring Purchase

Use this to track one-time purchases, such as:

  • Paid classes

  • Single workshop access

  • One-time lifetime purchase

What it does:

Fires when a user makes a non-subscription purchase in the app.

How to set it up:

  1. Trigger: New Non-Recurring Purchase

  2. Action:

    • Add the user to a specific email flow

    • Tag them

    • Send a confirmation email or upsell recommendation

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