Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

Anonymous
Not applicable

Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

Question for the Marketo gurus. Are click-throughs on the the links generated by the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" system level token tracked?

We started using the "{{system.viewAsWebpageLink}}" on some of our templates more recently, and it appears click-throughs on those links are tracked, but, having clicked on a few of the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links myself, and having examined my activity log, as well as link reports for older e-mails which used the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" token, I don't see any activity log entries or click-throughs.

Bonus question. What's the logic/benefit behind creating these two different tokens? We're working on a program that's triggered by an API call and noticed that this program, which uses the "{{system.viewAsWebpageLink}}" token, doesn't generate a web version that's usable. The bulk of the content is populated by the API call into tokens, but the tokens show up with their placeholder content rather than the content which was included in the API call when the "{{system.viewAsWebpageLink}}" is viewed. (Looks fine in the e-mail, but virtually nothing appears on the "{{system.viewAsWebpageLink}}" version since the bulk of the content is from the token.)

Wasn't true when we used the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##", but, due to the structure of the HTML, we'd prefer it be part of the template itself rather than use the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" approach.

7 REPLIES 7
SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

Are you sure that the %mkt_webview_url% actually included the dynamic {{my.tokens}} from an earlier Request/Schedule Campaign API call, but the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} does not?  That sounds unlikely to me as they are expected to point to the same renderer.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

Thanks, Sanford!

We actually have both of them running in our production instance right now. The new program contained the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} token. The e-mail looked great, but when we clicked through on the link generated by the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} token, the web version was "empty". We're in the process of testing, so only I and another colleague are receiving that e-mail when the campaign is triggered by the API call. (We've now removed the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} token and linked to some equivalent pages on our site since we couldn't get it working.)

To be clear, it did generate a link, but the areas where the tokens sat in the template (tokens also populated by the API call) were populated with the token's default content. Three periods (...), since the tokens can't be empty.

The second program, which is meant to be replaced by the new program once we hammer out this last issue, uses %mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK## and its web version renders correctly. We send it daily to and there's never been any issue with the web versions.

As for the renderer, I had assumed as much since the root path is identical, but still, no luck. Any insight as to why there are two different tokens for this? My suspicion was that they aren't quite identical. (Otherwise, why not eliminate the %mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK## method entirely?)

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

If the entire path including the hostname, pathname, and mkt_tok is the same in the browser, they must render the same.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

Thanks, Sanford! However, the tokens are not the same. Structurally, these programs use the same approach, but they use different smart campaigns, have different e-mail templates, use differently named program tokens, et cetera. The approach is the same, aside from the structure of the HTML and the use of {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} instead of %mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##. Everything after "mkt_tok=" is Greek to me, so I couldn't speak to the differences in the string, but I assumed the string was unique for each recipient for each send, so hadn't expected them to be the same. (Particularly because they're triggered by different smart campaigns and use different templates.)

Thanks though.

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

The mkt_tok is indeed unique per lead + email, but I'm talking about for the same email. You should be able to include both variants in the same email and I'd like to see the generated URL for each.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. (Doy.)

Tried it and encountered an interesting result. The presence of one seems to mean the exclusion of the other. When they were both included, only the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} link appeared. As soon as the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} was removed, the block of content from the admin, e-mail, "View as Web Page HTML:" field, which contained %mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##, appeared. (Kind of makes sense as one would be redundant, but I'm not sure why they'd go to the trouble to make sure one was excluded.)

I had already tried the %mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK## token in the body of the e-mail before, and the %mkt_webview_url% portion doesn't render at all, only the ##MKT_TOK## part. It does, in fact, include the same string for the mkt_tok= portion that appears in the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} link when they're included together in one e-mail. Similarly, {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} doesn't render when it's placed in the admin, e-mail, "View as Web Page HTML:" field.

So, I'm pretty stumped now. Based on the fact that the ##MKT_TOK## value and closing portion of the {{system.viewAsWebpageLink}} are the same, you'd think the result would be identical.

Could it have to do with how token variables are stored? Or is the URL from the tracking server a factor? I'd love to figure this out.

Thanks, Sanford, for all the help!

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Are the "%mkt_webview_url%?mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" links tracked?

If the entire URL is the same, the result has to be the same (not on all websites, of course, but I'm not aware of any different code paths that are possible here).  If you copy and paste the mkt_tok-enized URL into a new tab, does it or doesn't it have the token values?