Action Network

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What can I do with the Action Network integration?‍

With Ascend’s Action Network integration, you can use forms, letter campaigns, and petitions to grow your members list. When a member signs a form, member info will be automatically added to your Ascend members list.

Can I use Action Network forms/petitions to trigger flows in Ascend?

Yes! Once you have integrated your Action Network form/petition you can create an integration automation in Ascend. With automations, you can trigger flows when a new or existing member fills out a form. Learn more about setting up automations.

Will members who sign a form/petition be added to Ascend?‍

Yes, new and existing member info will be added to your Ascend Members list when they opt-in for mobile texts. Synced forms/petitions will automatically generate a group, titled the same as your Action Network form/petition. Members will be added to this group upon filling out a form.

What types of Action Network forms can I integrate into Ascend?

Any petition, letter campaign, or form you’d like!

Note: In order for your forms to properly integrate, your Action Network forms must contain:
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-A FIRST NAME field, set to required
-A MOBILE field, set to required
-An OPT-IN CHECKBOX 

More info on form building can be found in Action Network’s knowledge base here.

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How to set up your Action Network integration

In order to set up your Action Network integration, you’ll need your Action Network API Key. 

‍Note: If your Action Network account consists of parent and child groups, you will need to generate an API key from your parent group first.

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Find your Action Network API key

1. In your Action Network account, select Details from the top navigation bar.
2. Click on API & Sync from the dropdown list.
3. Under Your API Key in the left hand panel copy the 32 digit code consisting of letters and numbers. 

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Add Action Network to Ascend

1. In your Ascend account, click on Integrations from the left side panel.
2. Select Action Network from the integrations options.
3. Add your Action Network API key.
4. Click Submit.
5. Next, from the Integrations page click Settings under Action Network
6. Click Settings in the top right corner.
7. Optionally, Enable Webhooks. This will allow Ascend to receive updates from form submissions in real time. If not enabled, Ascend will fetch for updates from synced forms every 15 minutes.
8. Paste your webhook into Action Network by clicking into Start Organizing > Details > API and Sync > Webhooks

Note: It may take 5-15 minutes for existing and newly created forms/petitions to appear in Ascend. Try periodically refreshing if you don't see your forms/petitions available to sync right away.

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Add Child Groups to your Integration

1. If your Action Network account is using the Network feature in Action Network, you can sync your child groups in Ascend. This will pull in any forms, petitions, or letter campaigns in your child group(s).
2. To sync additional groups, click Settings in the top right corner of the Action Network integration page.
3. Under the Add groups from your network drop down, click Add Group
4. Generate an API key for your child group in Action Network
5. In Ascend, enter the Child Group name and corresponding API key
6. Finally, copy the Ascend webhook from your Ascend account (under Real Time Webhooks) and paste it into each group in Action Network.

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Sync Core and Custom Fields (Coming Soon)

Set core and custom field sync logic between your Action Network and Ascend account.

Core and Custom fields

1. Go to the Integrations page. Under your integrations, click the Action Network Settings button.
2. Go to the Fields tab. All available core fields in Action Network will appear in the Default Mappings table, along with the Ascend Members list field they are mapped to.
3. Update sync logic for a core field by clicking the Sync dropdown. Select your desired sync logic.
4. Sync additional fields, like custom fields, in the Additional Mappings table.

Sync options:

When a field value is created or updated in one of your accounts, you can set the following sync logic on the field:

• One-way, overwrite Action Network Ascend will overwrite Action Network. Action Network will not make changes to Ascend.
• One-way, overwrite Ascend Action Network will overwrite Ascend . Ascend will not make changes to Action Network.
• Populate, no overwrite Ascend and Action Network will populate empty fields. Neither will overwrite.
• Populate, overwrite Action Network Action Network will populate empty fields in Ascend. Ascend will overwrite Action Network.
• Populate, overwrite Ascend Ascend will populate empty fields in Action Network. Action Network will overwrite Ascend.‍
• Two-way, overwrite both Sync data between Ascend and Action Network. Overwrite existing data when a field is updated in Ascend or Action Network.
• Ignore: The field will not be synced between your Action Network and Ascend accounts.

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Sync Reports (Coming Soon)

Synced reports of Action Network activists are imported as Ascend members as long as they have a valid US phone number that is opted in to mobile messaging.

Note: Map any core and custom Action Network fields to Ascend fields via the Fields tab before importing a report.

1. From your Ascend account, go to the Integrations page and click Settings under Action Network.
2. Go to the Reports tab.
3. Click Import next to the report you'd like to import. A group is automatically created using your Action Network report name.
4. Allow 5-15 minutes for the report to fully sync. You can view all the Ascend members in the report by filtering for the report group name in the Members list or via the Groups page.

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Sync Tags (Coming Soon)

All available tags will appear in the Tags tab as available to sync. Ascend will fetch Tags that have been updated every 10 minutes.

1. Go to the Tag tab
2. Next to the Tag you’d like to sync click Sync

Syncing an Action Network tag will automatically create a group in Ascend sharing the same name as your tag. The group will contain all members synced to an activist who have that tag.

You cannot delete this group if the tag is synced.

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Sync forms, petitions, and letter campaigns

1. Click the Sync button next to the form or petition you'd like to sync. Forms, petitions, and letter campaigns that are synced will say Synced in the Sync column.
2. Once your form/petition is synced, members who sign your form will be added to your members list.

💡 Synced forms, petitions, and letter campaigns will automatically generate a group in Ascend, labeled with the same name as Action Network.

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Automations

Once a form is synced, you can create Integration Automations that trigger Ascend flows when members take action. This makes it easy to send confirmation texts, thank-yous, or re-engagement messages.

1. Go to Automations under Configurations in the left-hand navigation.
2. Make sure you are on the Integrations tab.
3. Click Add Automation. A new row will be created in the automations table.
4. Name your automation.
5. Select your trigger by choosing Action Network from the integration platform dropdown.
6. Choose the form type you want to use as the trigger (form, petition, letter campaign).
7. Select the form to trigger the automation by selecting the form name.
8. Select the flow you want this trigger to send, or click A/B test to test multiple flows.
9. Optionally, assign the member to one or more groups when the automation triggers.
10. Click Create.

💡 Optionally, you can set up a default automation to trigger for synced forms that do not have an explicit Integration automation.

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Click-Through Tracking

Once you've synced your Action Network account, you can track click-through rates on Action Network forms in your messages and see how your asks perform across broadcasts, automations, and flows.

Step 1: Enable tracking on your links

To track who clicks your forms, you must use the Ascend link shortener when including the link in a message.

1. Click Link below the compose window and enter the Action Network form URL.
2. In the Track click-throughs by type dropdown, select Action Network.
3. Click Add Link.

Step 2: Monitor performance in Reports

Click-through performance is tracked in your Broadcast, Automations, and Flow reports so you can see how each of your event asks is performing across your messaging. Once a member clicks a shortened  link, the widget will populate in the corresponding report with the following metrics:

• Click-through rate: the percentage of recipients who clicked the shortened  link.
• Form submissions: the estimated total number of form submissions received via the shortened link.
• Link clicked with no submission: the total number of members who visited the  form via the shortened link but did not submit.
• Messages sent with no clicks: the total number of messages sent where no click or submission activity was detected.
• Submission conversion rate: the percentage of members who clicked the link and went on to submit the form.

Note: If you are tracking multiple Action Network links in the same message, use the URL dropdown of the widget to view metrics for a specific link.

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Nudge subscribers

Ascend's nudge feature lets you send a follow-up SMS to subscribers who click your Action Network links but don't submit the form.

How do Action Network nudges work?

When you add a trackable Action Network link to a step in a flow, you can attach a nudge to that bot action. The nudge will send a follow-up message to any subscriber who clicked the link but did not submit the form within the nudge's configured time window.

Add an Action Network form nudge

1. In a Flow, compose a bot action that includes a trackable shortened link.
2. Click Add Nudge on that bot action, or select Nudge from the bot actions menu.
3. Choose the Link Clicked No Form Submission nudge type.
4. Compose your nudge message. Make it descriptive of the action you want the subscriber to take.
5. Set the nudge duration: how long to wait after the subscriber reached the bot action before sending the nudge. We recommend at least 1 day so that Action Network has time to send any pending submissions over to Ascend.
6. Optionally, add a filter, customize quiet hours, or set an expiration date for the nudge.
7. Click Save.

Tip: You can stack a Link Clicked No Form Submission nudge with a Link Clicked No Link Clicked nudge in the same bot action to follow up with different audiences in different ways.