Connecting Your First Data Source

Notifications are more powerful when they show real activity from your actual customers. A live visitor count tells people your site is busy. A notification that reads "James from Seattle just bought the Pro Plan — 4 minutes ago" tells them that real people are choosing you. Connecting a data source is what makes the second kind of notification possible.

Types of data sources

• E-commerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce) — pull real orders, including customer name, city, product, and timestamp.
• Payment processors (Stripe) — pull successful charges. Useful for SaaS and digital products sold outside a traditional storefront.
• Email and form tools (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, HubSpot, Zapier) — pull signups, trial starts, and list joins.
• Webhooks — send any custom event from any platform that can make an HTTP request. The most flexible option.

Connect via native integration

Native integrations are the fastest path. Activly handles the authentication and data sync for you.

1. Go to Integrations in your Activly dashboard.
2. Find your platform in the list and click Connect.
3. Authorize the connection. Depending on the platform, this is either an OAuth flow (you log in and approve access) or an API key (you paste a key from your platform's settings).
4. Choose which events to pull — purchases, successful payments, form signups, etc.
5. Click Test Connection. You should see a list of recent events appear in the preview panel.

Once the connection is active, Activly will continuously sync new events. You do not need to do anything else — the data feeds into your notifications automatically.

Connect via Zapier

If your platform does not have a native Activly integration, Zapier is the next best option. Activly is available as an action in Zapier's app library.

1. Create a new Zap in your Zapier account.
2. Set the Trigger to the event you want to capture — for example, "New Order" in your e-commerce platform, or "New Subscriber" in your email tool.
3. Set the Action to Activly: Create Notification Event.
4. Map the fields: customer name, city, product or event name, timestamp.
5. Turn the Zap on and test it with a real event.

Zapier works well for platforms like Gumroad, Teachable, Kajabi, and any other tool with a Zapier integration.

Connect via Webhook

For custom platforms, internal tools, or developers who want direct control, Activly provides a webhook URL.

1. Go to Integrations → Webhooks in your Activly dashboard.
2. Copy your unique webhook URL.
3. Configure your platform or application to send a POST request to that URL whenever a relevant event occurs — a purchase, a signup, a trial start.
4. The request body should follow Activly's payload format, which is documented in the Webhooks section of your dashboard.

A basic payload looks like this:

{
  "event": "purchase",
  "first_name": "James",
  "city": "Seattle",
  "product": "Pro Plan",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-28T14:32:00Z"
}

Activly will validate the payload and queue the event for display.

What's next

• Creating Your First Notification in 5 Minutes
• Setting Up Shopify Integration