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Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Hi guys, I'm new to Marketo so I am trying to figure a few things out.  We already have emails created and running with a standard Unsubscribe form but want to create a form that is a little bit more complex and makes users go through the options of unsubscribing from certain types of emails (newsletters, promotions, etc.). I am following the guidelines set by Josh here Building a Full Subscription Center in Marketo - Marketing Rockstar Guides and they're really helpful.  My problem comes at point no.4 where you "Search Marketo Field," the example used in this is "Newsletter."  Since we already have emails that are created or running regularly, we would have to add an attribute to them (That i would create) so they are triggered as the Newsletter in this example would be when unsubscribing. 

My issue is that I don't know where I would attach that attribute, or if I even use an attribute, or if there is a different way to group my emails into newsletters, promotions, etc.  so when I create the Unsubscribe form, I can specify what kind of emails the guest would be opting out of.

I would really appreciate some help on this, I am sure I am missing something simple. Let me know if any other details are needed in order to help me solve this issue.

Thank you,

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Grace_Brebner3
Level 10

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Hey Noah, welcome to the Marketo community hope you enjoy it.

The way this typically works is that you have custom fields in Marketo for each of your identified email "types" - they'll change for each business and should generally be meaningful to the customer, and not so numerous as to be confusing/cumbersome. Newsletters, then Deals and Promotions, Product Updates, Events - these are some typical examples that businesses often use. You then have some kind of internal process of categorisation for what falls into each of those categories. Typically the association is informed by the topic of an email, or program types/channels - newsletter, live event, webinar, tradeshow, etc (see more about tags and channels here: Tags - Marketo Docs - Product Documentation​).

When people opt into receiving marketing from you, all of those fields (unless not appropriate) should be ticked as true (note - you will need to create a smart campaign to do this, Marketo won't do it automatically).

When you build a new program, you then have to remember to include a filter for only including people who have that category relevant to your program ticked as true. So, yes, you can kind of attach an attribute (channel), but doing so doesn't impact the unsubscribe form or the rules of the campaign - you still have to ensure that the inclusions/exclusions are put in place as required.

In terms of your campaigns already run - you wouldn't need to do anything retrospectively to those.

Hope that helps to clarify!

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9 REPLIES 9
Grace_Brebner3
Level 10

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Hey Noah, welcome to the Marketo community hope you enjoy it.

The way this typically works is that you have custom fields in Marketo for each of your identified email "types" - they'll change for each business and should generally be meaningful to the customer, and not so numerous as to be confusing/cumbersome. Newsletters, then Deals and Promotions, Product Updates, Events - these are some typical examples that businesses often use. You then have some kind of internal process of categorisation for what falls into each of those categories. Typically the association is informed by the topic of an email, or program types/channels - newsletter, live event, webinar, tradeshow, etc (see more about tags and channels here: Tags - Marketo Docs - Product Documentation​).

When people opt into receiving marketing from you, all of those fields (unless not appropriate) should be ticked as true (note - you will need to create a smart campaign to do this, Marketo won't do it automatically).

When you build a new program, you then have to remember to include a filter for only including people who have that category relevant to your program ticked as true. So, yes, you can kind of attach an attribute (channel), but doing so doesn't impact the unsubscribe form or the rules of the campaign - you still have to ensure that the inclusions/exclusions are put in place as required.

In terms of your campaigns already run - you wouldn't need to do anything retrospectively to those.

Hope that helps to clarify!

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Thank you Grace and Sanford, this helps a lot but now I am trying to figure out how to use the values(Newsletters, deals, etc.) I created as tags on my Unsubscribe form.

From my understanding, to create an Unsubscribe form, I have to add a Marketo Field. I know how to create a field but how do I connect that tag to the field? Or is there another way to build this form that will somehow connect to the tag?

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

I know how to create a field but how do I connect that tag to the field? Or is there another way to build this form that will somehow connect to the tag?

I feel like you need to read my answer again, particularly the No bullet...

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Right, but how do I go about creating this qualification rule?

Once the rule is created, is that where I would be able to create the attribute that will allow me to create the form based on the tag?

Sorry this process is a little foreign to me.

Grace_Brebner3
Level 10

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Hey Noah - for clarity, the qualification rules do not live within, and have no explicit, automatic relationship with your subscription preferences program, which should be where the form you are talking about sits. The qualification rules Sanford​ refers to are the same as what I refer to as "filters" in my above comment. These must be included in the smart campaign/smart list rules for every program that you build which sends emails to leads, and which decide who that email is sent to.

The form itself will include a custom field that will need to be created in your instance (if it doesn't already exist). Creating it may require admin permissions, depending on your set up of roles. To be clear - the form has no explicit, automatic relationship to the qualification rules, the program channels or tags. It simply populates a value in a field on the lead record when a lead fills the form out.

The objective of the qualification rules/filters for each program is to then say "exclude from this send anyone who has not opted into or has opted out of [insert comm type]". In your smart list/smart campaign criteria, this effectively translates to "and [field] = true", e.g. "and Opt In - Newsletters = true".

We may be getting a little stuck on terminology so if you need further clarification don't hesitate to ask

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

That's the unfortunate thing Grace & I are trying to get at: you never create forms "based on" tags.

You create forms that surface certain fields. Those fields may have the same names and same possible values as your tags. The forms might be used only in Programs that have the same matching tags, and the Smart Campaigns that add people to those programs, and/or qualify people for sends in those programs, should be built to filter only leads that match.

But all of this setup is on you.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Thank you both, sorry for the confusion. Following steps now.

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Just to help you read between the lines of Grace's answer (it's all in there, but maybe not explicit enough for you as you're just getting started):

  • Yes, you can categorize the relevant categories for a program by setting tag values.
  • Yes, you can add DateTime (my preference) or Boolean type fields to the Lead/Person object with the same names as the tag values.
  • Yes, you can set and unset lead fields to reflect someone's interest in a given tag or tag category.
  • No, Marketo will not pair the lead-level fields with the tags automatically; you still need to create qualification rules so someone only enters relevant campaigns.  In essence you end up with multiple sets of useful hints -- and having a good naming convention is critical to help you build campaigns from those hints -- but it's lacking the magic quality you might (?) expect.

Having more of this happen automatically is kind of a Holy Grail with Marketo but you shouldn't hold your breath for it.

Grace_Brebner3
Level 10

Re: Grouping emails - Attaching attribute (Unsubscribe Form)

Thanks for adding the clarity, Sanford!