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Custom Activities vs Custom Objects : The right tool for the right job

John_M
Marketo Employee
Marketo Employee

I've blogged before about Custom Activities, and at length about Custom Objects, but I'm often asked when to use these. Are they interchangeable? Why do we have both? Where am I?

So many questions. At a high level, and this may seem obvious but it helps to bear it in mind. Think of Custom objects as Nouns, and think of Custom Activities as Verbs. When you think of it like that, the difference is obvious, and the use cases write themselves.

Examples of Custom Objects

     Product

     Automobile

     Asset

     Portfolio

     Farm Animal

     Trailer

Examples of Custom Activities

     Subscribed to mobile app

     Purchased Product

     Leased an Automobile

     Deleted a Portfolio

Here's a comparison...

Custom ObjectCustom Activity
Can be created by you as a Marketo AdminMust be created by Support or Consulting
Can have individual instances added via the SOAP APICANNOT have individual instances added via the SOAP API
Can have individual instances added via the REST APICan have individual instances added via the REST API
Can be used in Email ScriptsCANNOT be used in Email scripts
Can trigger off the insertion of Custom ObjectsCan trigger off the addition of Custom Activities
Can filter on "has Custom Object"Can Filter on "has Custom Activity"
Can update and deleteCannot programmatically delete or update

As you can see below comparing the available Triggers and Filters for a Custom Object and a Custom Activity, in a Custom Activity there is no concept of "has custom activity" because they are by their nature, in the activity log of the associated lead, whereas the Custom Object very much exists in a current state "this lead owns these Apple products" vs "this lead made Purchases"

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Screenshot 1: Available Filters and Triggers for a Custom Object

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Screenshot 2: Available Filters and Triggers for a Custom Activity

So you can see, they really each have their place. What are your use cases? Add a commend below and tell us!

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