Out of Box - Geography Data Normalization

[Anonymous]

Wondering why data normalization of Geography is not out of the box waiting to turn on in Marketo? Marketo sets up a ton of programs and things to help people keep their DB healthy, this should be one of them. As Marketers, we constantly have lists from 3rd parties, events, and other sources where the data points are not consistent. This means someone has to standardize the data before importing it into the system. It would be smarter if they system had logic that would do that automatically as a lead was created.

EX:

I have seen Oregon written: Oregon, Ore., Oreg., Ore, and OR... yet I only want my system to have OR.

The logic would be:

SmartList = Lead was created & State is: Oregon, Ore., Oreg., Ore

Flow = State is: Oregon, Ore., Oreg., Ore  then change state to OR

If your system is new, create these right away and never have to fix geography again... if not, create these twice with a batch and trigger to ensure your DB is up to date.

[Casey_Grimes]

While I understand what you're trying to say, the fact of the matter is that many different companies have many different ways of storing address information, and if there are any legacy systems that need that data formatted in a certain manner, this would cause direct conflicts.

Now, I wouldn't be opposed to say, a Program Library Import that helps standardize some of this for new users, but this should in no way be a core part of the product.

[Grégoire_Miche2]

At the end of the day, this relates to the broader issue of how Marketo is handling picklists. The way it is done for CRM sync'ed fields is pretty good, inheriting from the CRM picklist in UI dialogs and forms. But for Marketo only fields, this is just completely missing.

-Greg

[Dan_Stevens_]

Similar to this Idea, Greg?

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Yes. Voted.

It could be event 1 step further, being set at field level and applicable not only for forms but also for any field entry (Change data value flow step, lead detail screen, field filters,  DVC triggers and filters...) in the UI.

-Greg