Custom Events
Custom Events are the only class of Profile Event you can create and edit yourself. The default Events delivered by each Tool (Email, SMS, Forms & Pages, Website, etc.) are managed by the system — you can use them in Segments and Flows, but you cannot change their structure. Custom Events fill the gap when you need to track an action that the default Events do not cover.
With Custom Events you can tailor exactly what events are collected and stored in profiles, providing a richer overview of how profiles are interacting with your brand. So if you want to know when a booking was made, when an order is created, or any other event related to your profiles, create a Custom Event that suits your purpose.
There are three ways to work with Custom Events:
via the API
by installing a Web Snippet
via Zapier
💡 Custom Events vs. Default Events
Default Events (email opens, page views, form submits) are tracked automatically by Apsis One tools. Custom Events let you track anything else — typically actions that happen outside of a tool, like a transaction in your ecommerce platform or a milestone in your CRM.
ℹ️ Good to know: When you create a Custom Event you choose its name, description and the fields it carries. The internal identifier (the discriminator) and the category folder are set at creation and cannot be changed afterwards.
In this article
Event Categories
We have made three default categories of Custom Events, making it much easier for you to group them according to their purpose and your strategy: Transactions, Conversions, and Signals.
Transactions
Use Transaction Events to log transactions that are useful to build personalised and automated customer journeys. For example, service aspects like forgotten password requests, satisfaction surveys, post-purchase product reviews, etc.
Conversions
Use Conversion Events to keep track of how your leads advance in their customer journey.
These Events are useful to record a history of meaningful shifts in your customer lifecycle, such as a visitor becoming a customer by making a purchase, or a customer advancing into a higher loyalty tier.
Signals
Use Signal Events to gather information about your visitors' or customers' meaningful interactions. These Events can keep track of specific actions visitors do on your website, like voting in one of your website's polls or answering a survey.
Create a Custom Event
To create new Custom Events, go to the Section's Data Model.
Click the Profile Icon in the top right corner and choose Settings.
Choose the Section you want to work with.
Select Data Model in the left menu and go to Custom Events.
Choose which Custom Event Category you want to create — Transactions, Conversions, or Signals.
Name the Custom Event. This will be visible when choosing the Event for future use.
Fields
What is a Data Field?
Events are indications that a profile has performed an action. All Events contain their specific Event Data, which adds extra information about how the event was performed.
A Custom Event may contain as many as 100 different fields that describe the Event in detail.
All Custom Events have a Source Field where you need to add information about where this Event is coming from. Example: Website, API, My Page, Checkout, etc.
Let's add some Data Fields for your Event.
Under Field Name, enter the name of the Data Field. By default, you'll see some pre-made fields when you create a new custom Event.
The field name must start with a lower-case letter, but you may use upper-case letters within the name. No spaces nor special characters allowed.
Expand the Field Type drop-down menu and pick which type of value you wish to map to the field name. Choose between Text, True/False, Date (in pilot), Time stamp (in pilot), Number, or Number with decimals.
To delete a field, click the X icon on the right of the field.
To add more fields, click Add New Field.
Remember to Save.
Advanced: Allowed Operations
This setting only applies to operations performed by the API and Integrations. It is intended to give you control over which identifiers can be used to read or write Profile data by external systems.
For example, you can adjust these settings to keep third-party systems from reading sensitive Profile data by disabling the read permission for the email identifier linked to your third-party system.
Click the envelope, mobile, or CRM icon to expand and choose an option.
Click Save.
Congratulations on creating a Custom Event! The Event will be displayed under the type of Custom Event you chose.
Custom Events: Web Tracking
Once you save a Custom Event you will be able to enable Web Tracking. This will generate a code snippet you can install on your website to track the Event.
Posting Custom Events to Profiles
After a Custom Event is created in the Data Model, you can start logging that Event onto Profiles. There are three options:
Method | When to use it | What you need |
Apsis One API | You have an external system (CRM, e-commerce backend, custom app) that needs to log Events server-to-server. | One API credentials. See Post Custom Events with the One API. |
Web Tracking (snippet) | You want to track the Event from the visitor's browser — for example, a button click or a successful form submission on your own site. | The generated tracking snippet installed on your site. See Custom Events: Web Tracking. |
Zapier | You want to log an Event from a third-party tool that has a Zapier integration, without writing code. | The Apsis One Zapier app, connected with a One API key. |
ℹ️ Note: The API, Web Tracking and Zapier can only post Events to Profiles — they cannot create new Custom Event types. The Event template must be created in the Data Model first.
Posting Custom Events via Zapier
The Apsis One integration is publicly available in Zapier, which means you can post Custom Events to profiles using any of the 5,000+ apps in the Zapier ecosystem — without writing code or installing a Web Snippet.
💡 When to use Zapier
Zapier is the right choice when you want to send Custom Events from a system that:
doesn't have a native Apsis One integration
isn't a website (so a Web Snippet doesn't apply)
you'd rather not connect via the API
Examples: a payment platform, a help desk tool, a calendar app, a project management tool, a survey platform, an internal database — basically anything Zapier supports.
What you can do with the Apsis One Zapier integration
Beyond Custom Events, the Zapier integration can also:
Create or update profiles in Apsis One.
Add or remove consent on a profile.
Post Custom Events to a profile.
This means you can build a single Zap that, for example, captures a new lead from a survey tool, creates the profile in Apsis One, applies email consent, and posts a "lead captured" Custom Event — all in one flow.
Before you begin
Create your Custom Event in Apsis One first — define the fields, save the Event, and confirm the version ID. Zapier will need to know which Custom Event to post to.
Check Allowed Operations — make sure the Custom Event is configured to allow write operations on the identifier (Email, Mobile, or CRM ID) you'll use in Zapier to find or create the profile.
Have your Apsis One API credentials ready — Zapier authenticates using API client ID and secret. Contact Customer Service if you need help generating these.
Setting up a Zap that posts Custom Events
Head to https://zapier.com/apps and search for Apsis One.
In Zapier, create a new Zap and select your trigger app (e.g. Typeform, Stripe, HubSpot, Calendly — whichever system holds the data you want to send).
Configure the trigger event in that app (e.g. "New form response" in Typeform).
Add an Apsis One action. Choose Post Custom Event.
Connect your Apsis One account by entering your API credentials.
Map the profile identifier (Email, Mobile, or CRM ID) from the trigger to Apsis One.
Select the Section the Custom Event lives in.
Pick the Custom Event from the dropdown — Zapier will list all Custom Events available in that Section.
Map each Custom Event field from the trigger app's response to your Custom Event field. Make sure the data types align — text-to-text, number-to-number, etc.
Test the Zap using sample data, then check the profile in Apsis One Audience to confirm the Custom Event arrived.
Turn the Zap on. Apsis One will receive Custom Events whenever the trigger fires in the source app.
Things to keep in mind
Zapier counts each event as a task — high-volume use cases may benefit from the API instead, where there are no Zapier task limits.
Field types must match — if your Custom Event has a Number field, Zapier needs to send a number, not a string. Use Zapier's "Formatter" tool to convert types where needed.
Editing a Custom Event triggers the 1-hour edit lock — and creates a new Event Version. If you later edit the Event, update your Zap to use the new version, otherwise the Zap may fail.
The profile must exist or be created in the same Zap — if you're posting an Event to a brand-new profile, chain a "Create/Update Profile" action before the "Post Custom Event" action in your Zap.
Edit a Custom Event
Before you begin
Once you create a Custom Event, the Event will have a unique version ID. If you later edit a Custom Event, it will gain a new version and you will have the option to select which version of the Event you wish to use in marketing activities. Read more about Event Versions →
⏱️ One-hour edit lock
After you edit and save a Custom Event, editing will temporarily be disabled for one hour. Make all the changes necessary before you click Save, as you will have to wait 1 hour before you can make additional changes. An edited Custom Event cannot be used until one hour after it has been modified.
Locate the Event you wish to edit and click the pencil icon.
Edit your Event and remember to Save the changes. Remember the 1 hour lock!
Hide a Custom Event
Hidden Custom Events will not appear in profiles or any activities within your account, but they will not be deleted.
⚠️ Hiding an Event cannot be undone.
You cannot restore or unhide a hidden custom event.
Locate the Custom Event you wish to hide and click the eye icon.
Are you sure you want to proceed? This action cannot be undone. Click Hide to confirm.
Common use cases
Category | Custom Event example | Useful fields | What it powers |
Transactions | Order placed | orderid, totalvalue, currency, productcategories | Post-purchase email flows, loyalty point allocation, win-back campaigns based on last purchase. |
Transactions | Booking made | bookingid, location, date, value | Booking confirmations, location-specific upsells, reminder emails. |
Conversions | Visitor became customer | conversiondate, sourcecampaign, firstpurchasevalue | Welcome series for new customers, attribute revenue to acquisition campaigns. |
Conversions | Loyalty tier upgrade | oldtier, newtier, upgradedate | Send tier-specific welcome content, recognise loyalty milestones. |
Signals | Survey response submitted | surveyid, score, primaryinterest | Segment by NPS score, follow up with detractors, route promoters into advocacy flows. |
Signals | Content downloaded | contenttitle, contenttype, source | Trigger relevant nurture sequences based on the content type a profile engages with. |
Signals | Demo requested | companysize, role, primaryinterest | Lead qualification, route to the right sales team, personalise follow-up. |
Choosing the right method to send the Event
Once you've defined a Custom Event, you have four ways to actually send the data in. Pick the method that fits your source:
Source | Best method | Why |
Website button click, page view, form submit | Web Snippet / Custom Events Editor | No code required, integrated directly with your website tracking. |
Backend system you control (e.g. your own ecommerce platform) | Apsis One API | Real-time, no task limits, full control over payload structure. |
Third-party SaaS (Stripe, Typeform, Calendly, HubSpot, etc.) | Zapier | No code, fastest to set up, leverages 5,000+ existing app connections. |
Internal team adding events ad hoc | Apsis One API (via internal tooling) or Zapier (with Google Sheets, Airtable, etc.) | Low-code path for one-off or low-volume events. |
Troubleshooting
I clicked Save and now I can't edit my Custom Event
That's the 1-hour edit lock in action. After saving an edit, the Custom Event is locked from further changes for one hour to ensure data consistency. Plan all your changes before hitting Save the next time.
My Web Snippet isn't tracking events anymore
If you generated a Web Snippet, then later edited the Custom Event and saved changes, the old snippet keeps collecting data but using the now considered old version. Generate a new snippet (Disable Web Tracking → Enable Web Tracking) and replace the old code on your website.
The Event isn't showing up in segmentation or Marketing Automation
A few things to check:
Section — Custom Events are scoped to the Section they're created in.
Save state — Verify the Custom Event was saved (not just configured).
Allowed Operations — If read permissions are restricted for the identifier you're using, the Event won't be visible to that source.
Hidden — Confirm the Event hasn't been hidden.
I need to add a field to an existing Custom Event but I'm worried about data integrity
Adding a field creates a new version of the Custom Event — historical data on the old version stays intact. In segmentation you can choose which version to use. Read more about Event Versions.
I hid the wrong Custom Event
Hiding cannot be undone. The Event and its data are not deleted, but the Event is removed from segmentation, no longer visible in Marketing Automation, and the Profile timeline display. Recreate the Event if you need it back, or contact Customer Service for help.
How long is Custom Event data retained?
Unlike default Events, Custom Events do not have a default TTL — you set the retention period when creating the Event. Plan this carefully when first creating the Event, especially for high-volume Events.
I want to send Custom Events from a system, not the website
Use the Apsis One API to post Custom Events programmatically — useful for backend systems, ecommerce platforms, or anywhere a Web Snippet doesn't make sense.
What's next?