Synchronizing contact data with your email platform or CRM
RightMessage can automatically send segmentation data, captured either through behavior or survey responses, directly to your integrated ESP/CRM.
How we synchronize segment data
When a visitor is segmented, RightMessage will see if the Segment Group or Question that contains the segment is set up for synchronization.
If it is and the visitor is already an identified contact, we’ll automatically connect to your ESP/CRM and update the relevant contact record.
If it is and the visitor is anonymous, we’ll wait until they convert (i.e. opt-in to a RightMessage form), and then we’ll send that segment data immediately to their new contact record.
When you’ve successfully synchronized a Segment Group, we’ll try to segment new visitors.
For example, let’s say someone’s answered a survey question on another computer. This data (favorite_color=red ) is then sent up to their contact record in your ESP/CRM. Now they’re back on your website but on a different computer. Assuming we’ve been able to identify the visitor, we’ll see that favorite_color=red is set on their contact record and they’ll be immediately segmented into the “Red” RightMessage segment.
Synchronizing a Segment Group
To synchronize a Segment Group or Question, head over to the “Sync with…” tab from within the Segment Group editor.
First, you need to decide on what field you’ll store segmentation data in. For an “Industry” segment group, this is likely an industry field that you’ve set up within your ESP/CRM.
If you don’t have a custom field set up in your ESP/CRM for this Segment Group, add that field (consult the relevant documentation for your email marketing app) and then reload RightMessage.
Next, you’ll want to decide what values to set in this field when a visitor is segmented. We typically recommend coming up with an internal value for each segment option – it’s easier to segment people in your email marketing database who have need=start rather than need="I want to start my own business" .
✅ Best practice:
Using lowercase letters with underscores (e.g., 'business_starter' instead of 'Business Starter' or 'business-starter') helps prevent integration issues across different systems. Spaces, capital letters, and special characters can cause problems in URLs, databases, API calls, and code variables.
This snake_case format ensures compatibility across email marketing tools, CRMs, analytics platforms, and other systems that might process your segment data. For example, use 'premium_user' rather than 'Premium User' or 'need_startup' instead of 'Need: Startup'.
This is what the RightMessage team uses both internally and with external clients as well.
RightMessage will automatically ensure that identified visitors are updated appropriately in your email marketing database. Not only will this allow you to send better targeted, more personalized emails, but this will ensure that the segment data you collect about someone persists across multiple devices/browsers.
“Why can’t I segment people with tags?”
Many of our customers segment their email list with tags, and are a little confused when they see that our Segment Group or Question synchronization doesn’t write tags – we only write to custom fields.
We have an in-depth guide that covers why tags shouldn’t be used to segment.