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Issue Delay in SFDC Sync causes email to be sent with unpopulated tokens Wait steps in campaign designed to prevent race conditions are sometimes not long enough for the SFDC Sync to complete Wait steps cause delay in customer receiving their email after filling out for - bad user experience Environment Smart Campaign triggers off form fill and flow step syncs Person record to Salesforce  Info from SFDC sync is used to populate tokens in email Campaign uses Wait steps to hold email send until sync is finished Solution Split the Smart Campaign into two campaigns The first campaign runs the sync activities, but does not send email The second campaign triggers off of the Data Value Changes resulting from the sync and sends the email with the email tokens populated
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Issue Clicking a tracked link in an email either leads to a 404 page or the fallback page. Environment Tracked links Tokens Specific Characters: "#", "$", unbalanced brackets "{" or "}" Solution Do not use the following characters "#", "$", unbalanced brackets "{" or "}" in a link that is tracked when using a token as well. For example: www.google.com/ebook-download.html?ebook={{lead.ebook}}# This will not work and will either direct to a 404 page or redirect to fallback page. When hovering over the link you will see that it is not a normal tokenized link, it will contain something along the lines of: $mktEncrypt.encrypt($mkturl2)/<random characters> Root Cause When using tokens in the url of a tracked link, the email is processed and the tokens are substituted and populated with the correct information. The engine that assembles this information have some characters reserved for use such as #.
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Issue Why is there a difference between the Exhausted Count displayed in an Engagement Program Stream vs. a smart list using the "member of engagement program stream is exhausted" filter? Solution To account for the difference in a smart list that is displaying a different number of people that have exhausted the content in a stream, in the smart list account for the other conditions the Exhausted Count uses: Engagement Program Cadence of "normal" - this can be included as a constraint on the "Member of Engagement Program" smart list filter The members were not blocked - this can be included in the smart list by using the smart list filters: member of smart list is not blocklisted, unsubscribed = false, marketing suspended = false, email address is not empty and/or email invalid is false. Have not exceeded the communication limit at the last nurture cast - there is no specific smart list filter for this, so it will need to be manually checked in a lead's activity log. Root Cause The Exhausted Count represents the latest exhausted number after the last run/cast. It has other conditions like the nurture cadence of a member should be "Normal", and the member was not blocked or have not exceeded the communication limit at the last nurture cast. If the smart list is configured as follows, then it will display a different number as it does not account for the engagement program cadence of 'Normal' and if a member is not blocked and has not exceeded the communication limit at the last nurture cast. #1: Member of Engagement Program is any Exhausted Content is true Program is [Program Name] Stream is [Stream Name] Environment Engagement Program Exhausted Content Smart List
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Issue Issue Description Using a token in the Smart List of a Smart Campaign yields unexpected results, an error, or the campaign to not trigger.    Solution Issue Resolution Tokens cannot be used in the Smart List section of Smart Campaigns. Tokens can be used in the Smart Campaign Flow, in the following steps: Interesting Moments Change Data Value Salesforce Campaign Steps (add, remove, change status) Create Task
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Issue You have been sending live emails (non-samples) to yourself or colleagues to test functionality of an upcoming email blast, and even though you may be opening the email, you are not seeing the open email activity on the Lead Activity Log.     Solution Note that there may be a slight delay between opening the email, and the activity displaying on the Log. Marketo considers an "open" to be when the images in the email are downloaded, specifically a single-pixel tracking image. The recipient may be receiving the emails and viewing them, but not downloading the images. This would not count as an "open."  Please note that since text-only emails have no images, so they will never log an Open activity. If the images are being downloaded, and you are still not seeing the activity after about 5 minutes, check to make sure there are no duplicate leads that are logging the activity instead.  If you need further assistance, please contact Marketo Support.    
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Issue Sometimes you may get this error when trying to sync a Marketo Program to an SFDC Campaign -  "Not allowed: Salesforce campaign contains incompatible statuses", even though the statuses match in the Marketo program and SFDC campaign.   Solution Check for the statuses in the Marketo program channel and SFDC campaign - you will see the same statuses. This error occurs if there is any case-sensitive error in the statuses. For example, if your Marketo program has the following statuses: Attended, Registered, Unable to Attend and the SFDC campaign has Attended, Registered, Unable to attend. Then you will encounter the above error. You have to change the status in Marketo as "Unable to attend" or change the status in SFDC Campaign as "Unable to Attend"  in order to fix this.    
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Issue This describes the difference in how filter logic applies to triggers and filters in a Smart Campaign Smart List. Solution Issue Resolution You can view the video on this here. Filter logic in a Smart List only applies to filters (the green criteria) and not triggers (the orange criteria.) If you have multiple triggers in a Smart Campaign, they will always operate on ANY/OR logic, which is to say, only one of the triggers needs to fire in order for the Smart Campaign to run. The filter logic you select, whether it is AND, ANY, or Advanced, will be used to further filter the leads after the trigger has fired.
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Issue How to use the Web Page, Referrer URL, or Query String constraints to specify web page when using one form on multiple pages. Solution Use the appropriate constraint to specify which page the form is on when using a "Fills Out Form" trigger or "Filled Out Form" filter in a Smart List. There are three options: Web Page Referrer URL Query String   Web Page This constraint is designed for Marketo Landing Pages. If you have one form on multiple pages, and were attempting to specify a Marketo Landing Page, then you would use Web Page.  If you use Web Page, your value is the Landing Page asset name, such as "Global Contact Form Page". Or if the page is local to a program, the name format would be [program name].[landing page name]   Referrer URL This constraint is designed for external, non-Marketo pages. If the form you have is embedded on an external page, the value you would enter would be the URL of the page.This constraint is very picky about the values entered. Say the form is on http://www.pages.domain.com/contact-us.html. Only the following 2 options would function: Referrer URL - is - http://www.pages.domain.com/contact-us.html Referrer URL - contains - www.pages.domain.com/contact-us   By using "is", the exact value must match. When using "contains" a smaller portion of the whole can be used. Even "contains" /contact-us would have worked successfully, but the less specific the value is the more other pages could qualify depending on the use case. Generally, "contains" is advised with a unique portion of the URL because there can often be querystrings on URLs that would then not satisfy the "is" constraint.   Querystrings If the form is on a page, and the page has a querystring, such as: http://www.pages.domain.com/contact-us.html?product=new-stuff, then the form submission activity on the Marketo record would have a new field in the Detail called Query Parameters. (Querystring, Query String, Query Parameters are all the same thing.) If you set up direct links to the Page with unique querystrings, then you would be able to use the Querystring constraint and use values from the querystring in the trigger/filter form fillout campaign.
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Issue A lead met the trigger criteria but failed to trigger a Smart Campaign Solution When a trigger campaign Smart List contains both triggers and filters, the filters criteria must be satisfied before or at the exact moment the trigger fires.  To determine whether this is the case for a particular lead: Look at the Smart List to determine what filter criteria need to be satisfied. Open the lead's activity history and see when the activity occurred that should have triggered the campaign. Go through the lead's activity history and determine when the values were set for each of the filter criteria. If one of the values was set after the trigger fired, the lead would not have qualified in time to go through the Smart Campaign.    
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Issue There are two filters available (Acquisition Program and Acquisition Program Name), but only Acquisition Program Name appears in the lead record and is available as a column in the lead views.  What is the difference between these? Solution Acquisition Program is a system-managed field. It isn't available in many picklists, nor in certain filters. Acquisition Program Name is a field that allows you to use this data more freely as it is not locked by the system. Acquisition Program = Master naming for programs Acquisition Program Name = Friendly usable name    
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To enable Marketo to meet the performance demands of its customers, Marketo has a standardized Data Retention Policy used across the platform. This policy applies to the activities stored in the activity logs of people in your database.   Activities and Data Retention There are three components to our data retention policy: a retention period of 14 days for one activity, 90 days for twelve high-volume activities; and a retention period of 25 months for other lead activities. Activity with Retention Period of 14 days Activities Retained for 14 Days       Delete Lead   Activities with Retention Period of 90 days The high-volume activities listed below will be retained for 90-days. After 90-days, these activities will be permanently deleted. Activities Retained for 90 Days Add to List Change Score Change Data Value Visit Webpage Click Link on Webpage Sync Lead to SFDC Sync Lead to Microsoft Sync Lead Updates to SFDC Update Opportunity Request Campaign Email Delivered* Send Email*   * Email Delivered and Send Email activities change from 25 months to 90 days effective August 31st, 2020.  More information here.   Activities with Retention Period of 25 Months The activities listed below will be retained for 25 months. After 25 months, all such lead activities will be permanently deleted. The only exception is the New Lead activity, which will always be displayed in the activity log. All other activities will be deleted, but the New Lead activity will not, giving you a permanent record of when the lead was created and how. Category Activities Retained for 25 Months Web Click Predictive Content Click RTP Call to Action Fill Out Form Smart Campaign Add to Engagement Program Call Webhook Change Lead Partition Change Engagement Program Cadence Change Engagement Program Stream Change Program Success Change Revenue Stage Change Program Member Data Change Revenue Stage Manually Change Program Status Compute Data Value Enrich with Data.com Execute Campaign Interesting Moment Merge Leads Remove from List Resolve Ruleset Reward Test Group Variant Schedule Test Variants Send Alert Engagement Program Cast Push Lead to Marketo Social Click Shared Link Share Content Vote in Poll Email Click Email Email Bounced Email Bounced Soft Open Email Received Forward to Friend Email Sent Forward to Friend Email Unsubscribe Email CRM - Salesforce Add to Opportunity Add to SFDC Campaign Change Owner Change Status in SFDC Campaign Click Sales Email Convert Lead Delete Lead from SFDC Lead Assigned New SFDC Opportunity Open Sales Email Receive Sales Email Remove from Opportunity Remove from SFDC Campaign Resolve Conflicts SFDC Activity Sales Email Bounced Send Sales Email SFDC Activity Updated SFDC Merge Leads Add to Case Add to SFDC Custom Object Test (Contact) CRM - Microsoft Dynamics Add to Opportunity (Contact) Add to Opportunity (Account) Remove from Opportunity (Contact) Remove from Opportunity (Account) Update Opportunity (Contact) Update Opportunity (Account) Delete Lead from Microsoft Segmentation Add to Segment Change Segment     Retaining Data Marketo’s data retention policy gives you a rolling 90-day view of certain high-volume activities and a rolling 25-month view of other lead activity data. To help prevent any actual data loss, Marketo has developed a Bulk Extract API that enables you to export this data directly if desired. Once exported, you will be able to host this information locally and utilize it in any way you deem necessary. Premium Data Retention Option Marketo offers a premium Extended Data Retention subscription option that will allow activity data to be stored for 37 months instead of the standard retention period of 25 months. The high-volume activities, however, will only be retained for 90 days even with the premium option. For more information, contact your Customer Success Manager.  
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Issue An email program fails to send emails to a large number of leads/people in the Smart List.     Solution Sometimes leads/people in your Email Program's Smart List will be skipped in the email send because they already reached their daily/weekly communication limit. You can confirm if this has occurred by following these steps: Open your Email Program. Change your view to Control Panel. Click on View Results in the top left panel to see a list of all activities attributed to the email program. Click on Filter > Custom. Select the Send Email box. Click the Apply button. Scroll to the bottom of the list. If the leads/people have been skipped due to communication limits, you will see that a large number of leads/people listed as "Skipped Lead already used up Daily/Weekly communication limit."   You can check or adjust your Communication Limits in the Admin panel of your Marketo instance.
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Issue Description Using a token in the Smart List of a Campaign yields unexpected results, an error, or the campaign to not trigger.  Issue Resolution Tokens cannot be used in the Smart List section of Smart Campaigns. Tokens can be used in the Smart Campaign Flow, in the following steps: Interesting Moments Change Data Value Salesforce Campaign Steps (add, remove, change status) Create Task
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Want to gauge how many leads clicked through a link you have in your social media or other outlets? This can be done using URL Parameters at the end of the URLs you use. Basically, you just add a little bit of code to the end of the hyperlinked URL. When leads click through and arrive at your Landing Page, that code can be captured into a hidden Form field. Here’s how to do it.   Quick Overview of URL Parameters In the structure of a URL, there are two main parts. The first part is used for navigation, and the second part is used to pass data along. The two parts are separated by a question mark. For example, let’s look at this URL:   www.myawesomewebsite.com?URLParameter=ThisIsAParameter   The first part of the URL, “www.myawesomewebsite.com” is the main part of the URL used for navigation. The whole rest of the URL from the question mark on, “?URLParameter=ThisIsAParameter” is referred to as a querystring. It isn’t needed for navigation to the page specified, but can be used to pass the extra data you want to include.   This is a article attached image   The querystring contains the URL Parameters, which are used to push data into the hidden Form fields. In the querystring “?URLParameter=ThisIsAParameter” used here, “URLParameter” corresponds to the name of the parameter you use when designating the value for the hidden Form field, and “ThisIsAParameter” will be the value that is actually entered into that field. You can add additional values into additional other fields by adding those into the format of the URL separated by an ampersand like this:   www.myawesomewebsite.com?URLParameter=ThisIsAParameter&URLParameter2=ThisIsValue2&URLParameter3=ThisIsValue3   In this example, you’ve got the same initial value being pushed into the first hidden field, but now two more hidden fields will store the next two values as well. The name of the parameter for the second hidden field would be “URLParameter2” and the value put into it would be “ThisIsValue2”. The third hidden field parameter name would be “URLParameter3” and the value put into this field would be “ThisIsValue3”. This is a article attached image Applying This to Social Media Use So, how does this let you track leads coming from each of your social media sources? Well, in setting up your different promotional channels, when adding the hyperlink, you can customize the URL parameter for each channel so that the values passed will input the information specific to where they came from. The parameter values will change from one social media outlet to the next, but the structure and format will stay the same.   Let’s use the social media sources of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as examples. Since you’re looking to identify the source of these leads, you’d likely want to name your parameter as “Source” so that it’s easily identifiable. Using the same base URL, let’s see how you’d structure the URLs. For hyperlinks placed on Twitter: www.myawesomewebsite.com?Source=twitter For hyperlinks placed on LinkedIn: www.myawesomewebsite.com?Source=linkedin For hyperlinks placed on Facebook: www.myawesomewebsite.com?Source=facebook   When leads fill out the form on your landing page, the Source field will then tell you exactly where they came from! The best part, this is completely customizable and scalable. You can add more parameters and hidden fields to capture additional information like what campaign it is for.   Documentation How to make form fields hidden: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/marketo/using/product-docs/demand-generation/forms/form-fields/set-a-form-field-as-hidden How to define hidden form field value: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/marketo/using/product-docs/demand-generation/forms/form-fields/set-a-form-field-as-hidden (Look for the section on URL Parameters in particular) Using the URL builder to generate the URLs you’ll be using: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/marketo/using/product-docs/demand-generation/landing-pages/personalizing-landing-pages/using-the-url-builder    
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Issue Best practices for trigger campaigns. Solution Trigger campaigns in Marketo look for ANY activity that could be related even if there is a filter or constraint. If you have 10 Clicked Email Campaigns active, and 100 Leads click on an email. Each lead has 10 evaluations to determine if that trigger qualifies. They will still evaluate even if they will not qualify due to constraints or filters. Here are some best practices to assure your trigger evaluation step is as quick as possible: -Turn off any trigger campaigns that are no longer needed. (This will reduce the # of active monitors that will cause evaluations to fire off for a trigger event)       -Note: Once a quarter, Marketo will find smart campaigns that have sat dormant (no people trigger it) for 6 months or more and deactivate them automatically. However you can manually deactivate campaigns on your own.   -Convert Trigger campaigns to Batch if they are not needed for immediate response (for activities or campaigns that can run nightly). Batch campaigns run on a separate component of Marketo's processors which doesn't affect the Trigger qualifier speeds. Each instance's situation can be unique. Our support team would be glad to go over best practices for your instance and also review how you can self-maintain the campaign deactivation through the Campaign Inspector.   
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Issue What is the shortest wait step time duration value that can be used in wait step? Solution Wait times can be set to days, hours, minutes, or seconds. Just type in "30 seconds" or "1 minute" etc.
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Issue: I am looking for the ID to one of my campaigns for a SOAP API project I am working on. Solution: The ID can be found in the URL of the campaign. 1.1 Log into Marketo, under Marketing Activities, find and select the campaign in question. This is a article attached image 1.2 The URL to the campaign will look something like: This is a article attached image   The Campaign ID is between "SC" and "A", in the above example it's "1150". This is a article attached image  
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Marketo campaign queues work like a mall parking lot.  We accommodate average and even above average loads.  But if it's Christmas, you may have to wait a while for a spot.   The campaign execution queue When a flow is launched, Marketo assigns it a priority then queues it for execution.  This priority is based on how the campaign was launched (batch, trigger, resume from Wait) and what's in the flow: Priority level Priority criteria High Send email (triggered) Send alert Medium Request Campaign Interesting Moment Create Task Convert / Delete Lead Add to / Remove from List Change Sales Owner / Progression Status / Revenue Stage / Field in Program Change Member of / Add to / Remove from Sync to SFDC Change Status in SFDC Campaign Low Change data value Change score Wait steps with a wait time > 5 minutes Web hooks Marketo then executes campaigns based on priorities.  High priority campaigns run first in the order they were added to the queue.  Once those are finished, the next highest priority campaigns are executed in time order and so on down until all have completed. If the queue contains only low priority campaigns and a new high priority campaign comes in, the high priority campaign will jump to the head of the line and run next. Batch campaigns and trigger campaigns are run and processed in separate queues.   "Why is my campaign running slow?" Several factors determine how fast and when your campaign will run.  In general, campaign execution time depends on: The campaign's priority The complexity of the smart list filters being used - See Best Practices for Smart Lists The number of records that qualify for the campaign The number of flow steps used in the campaign The complexity of Choices in the flow steps   Even though Marketo can execute many campaigns simultaneously, there are only so many resources available to process smart campaigns. Also, certain campaign flow steps take longer to process, than others.  The flow steps below take longer than most, and you may notice that difference when executing your campaigns: Send Email Delete Lead Sync Lead to Sales Add Lead to SFDC Campaign Call Webhook   Speeding up your campaigns Here are some tips to speed up how and when your campaigns are executed: Do essential flow steps first If this is an auto-response or notification campaign, put the Send Email or Send Alert flow step first.  Absolutely do this if you're using two slow steps in a row (Send Email followed by Sync Lead to Sales) so that the email goes out with the highest priority. Don't start with a "Wait" step If you need to delay the launch of your batch campaign, use the batch campaign scheduler.  Re-think any triggered campaigns that start with a "Wait" step because it will be prioritized lower; you probably don't need to include it anyway. If you have a wait step of longer then 5 minutes this will cause all flows below it have a low priority.
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With the evolving best practices and awareness around data privacy, Marketo will be upgrading how we handle form pre-fill. What change is being made? Starting April 24, 2019, Marketo will only pre-fill form fields if the URL used to navigate to the Marketo landing page contains a valid mkt_tok URL parameter value (which occurs when users click tracked links in Marketo emails). What that means is, any time a person is viewing a Marketo landing page with a form, the URL being used must contain the mkt_tok token in the query string, otherwise the form on that landing page will not be pre-filled. If the URL in the browser window does have a valid mkt_tok tracking token, then the form within the page will pre-fill as expected with data corresponding to the person record associated with that mkt_tok. Also note that if you are embedding Marketo Landing Pages within other web pages using an <iframe>, the mkt_tok would need to be passed from the parent page to the <iframe> URL if you intend for form prefill to work within the <iframe> ​How did it work before? Previously, Marketo landing pages would rely on Munchkin tracking cookies to identify known person records, and forms would pre-fill based on that cookie. Form pre-fill did not require being linked to a Marketo landing page from a tracked email link. Why is this changing? This upgrade is being made to provide a more consistent and more secure experience with Marketo’s forms. We have identified that, in the past, people have experienced scenarios where data pre-filled into a form didn’t always correspond with the actual person viewing the page. For example, people using a shared computer or those who may have been cookied incorrectly by clicking through a forwarded email, could end up viewing incorrect data associated with a different person. To provide a more consistent customer experience, and as a security enhancement, Marketo is upgrading the conditions under which the form pre-fill will display known customer information. In short, pre-fill will only work when users clickthrough links in Marketo emails, demonstrating that they have ownership of the email address associated with the known person record. Below is a list of different scenarios and how form pre-fill will work moving forward. Please note, these changes to form pre-fill will not affect any other functionality of Marketo Forms, including the progressive profiling feature. Scenario Will the form pre-fill? Notes Clicking a tracked link in a Marketo email to a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled Yes The email link must have mkt_tok enabled. Links that are not tracked or that have mkt_tok disabled will not work. Navigating directly to a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled No A direct link to the landing page will not have the mkt_tok present in the HTTP request. Refreshing a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled No The mkt_tok is stripped from the URL after Marketo Landing Pages load so refreshing the page will not include the mkt_tok in the URL. As a result, pre-fill will not work. Clicking a link in a sample email to a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled No The sample email will not have a valid mkt_tok attached to the link and so will not pre-fill the form. If you wish to test form pre-fill you will need to use a real email from a Marketo campaign. Navigating to a non-Marketo page that includes an embedded Marketo form which has pre-fill enabled No This behavior does not change with the upgrade. Pre-fill has never been supported for Marketo forms that are embedded on non-Marketo pages. Navigating to a non-Marketo page that includes an <iframe> pointing to a Marketo Landing Page that includes a form with pre-fill enabled With custom implementation The form within the Marketo Landing Page that is being loaded in the <iframe> will pre-fill if the mkt_tok value from the original HTTP request is passed along to the <iframe> URL Visiting a Marketo page with a mkt_tok that is not associated with the same person record as an existing Marketo Munchkin cookie currently stored on the browser No This will prevent the wrong person’s information from being displayed in cases where a computer is shared, or an email with a mkt_tok tracked link is forwarded to another person that may already be cookied as a known person in your database. Copying a Marketo tracked link from an email and sharing/pasting it externally (email, blog, chat, social media post, etc.) that enables another individual to click the tracked link Yes The tracked link in a Marketo email will redirect to a URL with the mkt_tok included, so anyone clicking this link will reach a page and see pre-fill data associated with the known person record from the “to” line of the email.
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Issue You have been receiving form submissions that appear to have bogus/nonsensical data in the fields, such as "kjsag@sm4.to" for email address, or "111-111-1111" for phone number, or in a Comment field other random nonsensical text.     Solution Currently, there are no default settings in Marketo that prohibit a form submission if the required fields are filled out. A great workaround for addressing these bogus form submissions in Marketo is to implement a 'honeypot' field on the form. To do this, you will need to create a custom Marketo field, string type, and name it something distinctive (such as "spam" or "honeypot"). After creating this field in Marketo Admin > Field Management, place this new field on the form as a hidden field. Real live end-users do not see hidden fields, but spam bots will see them and fill out all available fields. So now when we see form fills with this honeypot field "not empty," we know that it was a bot fillout.   Setting up the Honeypot Field Say that you have a Trigger Campaign that's having some issue with these spam/bogus form fills. In the flow of this campaign, you can add a flow step at the top: Remove from Flow, with a Choice.   Choice: If Honeypot field Is not empty, then remove from flow Default: do nothing   This way, the lead record is removed from the flow. You can also have other campaigns to handle these bogus form fills, such as a daily recurring batch to delete the record.   Other Options Another method of dealing with bot fillouts is to enable a reCaptcha. In fact, a very prolific Marketo user has written custom code that you feasibly could use to enable a reCaptcha on the form! Check this out: https://codepen.io/figureone/pen/meybqN?editors=0110    
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