Alternatives to Workspace/Lead Partition

Matt_Frost
Level 1

Alternatives to Workspace/Lead Partition

Hi,

The company i work for are looking to utilise their existing Marketo instance across a second product.

Each product targets a different customer base - One is B2B and the other is B2C. Whilst both in the same business sector the data relevant to each product and resulting marketo campaigns is quite different.

So far it looks like there are two options:

  1. Enable Workspace / Lead Partitioning
  • As far as I'm aware the data/field structure would need to persists across all workspace/partitions. So this is better suited to the same product with a geographical segregation rather than two disparate products


   2.    Compromise the design of the existing data structure and integration in Marketo to allow for extra fields to accommodate a second product. Creating a manual flag to differentiate between 1 product and another.

  • For each distinct product there would then be a portion of the fields will be superfluous, existing only to accommodate the other, and remain blank/NULL.

Is there anything I'm missing or is this not something that's typically achieved through one Marketo instance?

Any advice of guidance appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

3 REPLIES 3
Chris_Johnston
Level 8

Re: Alternatives to Workspace/Lead Partition

Hi Matt, this is far more complex of decision than simply a Marketo Forums discussion as the results of what you choose to do could have huge risks for your business in the future.

For instance, your option 1 is actually many different options. You don't have to have Workspaces and Lead Partitioning.

Understanding Workspaces and Lead Partitions - Marketo Docs - Product Docs

You can assign lead partitions to workspaces in the following configurations:

  • one workspace to one lead partition (1:1)
  • one workspace to many lead partitions (1:x)
  • many workspaces to one lead partition (x:1)

Typically I would suggest that for separate regions or business units deserve their own Workspace. At first guess, and it truly is just a guess based on the little information I have, 2 Workspaces -> 1 Lead Partition is what will work best for you.

But will the leads ever overlap? Will someone try to buy both the B2B product and B2C product. You mentioned they are in the same business sector so maybe someone is trying to determine if the B2C product might be cheaper and still meet the B2B needs for example. If leads might overlap, then multiple lead partitions might be the right answer.

Other questions include, what happens to the leads when they leave Marketo to a CRM system perhaps? Do you have a data enrichment partner or other tied in products that will need to be altered.  I am also curious about what type of custom fields you are using that you feel would need to be increased so much to accommodate a second product. I would think you would just be creating new nurture campaigns, new assets like email and landing page templates. I don't think option #2 would be the field nightmare you are suggesting. A field could easily be set automatically based on entry point (ie. which landing page).

If it were me, I would look to a consultant to help go over your specific needs and answer the long list of questions that should be asked before deciding to split up your instance. Of course, I work for a Marketo Partner named Salytics so this answer may come off as me being a little biased, but I would be happy to setup a call and go over this in more detail. You can reach me at chris@salytics.com

Chris_Johnston
Level 8

Re: Alternatives to Workspace/Lead Partition

Also, this section of Marketo is for support of the actual community as opposed to Product help, if you move your thread to Products you may find more people will discover it and offer some of their input.

Grégoire_Miche2
Level 10

Re: Alternatives to Workspace/Lead Partition

Hi Matt,

The choices you have are on the table indeed, but the option 2 bear quite a few drawbacks. The main risk is that you will always depend on the rigorousness of the users to make sure they are not making any mistake when targeting a campaign. There also some operational costs that will increase due to the lack of separation in the data, the need for a more complex data model, etc... And finally the peace of mind (What would be the price for this ? ) for you and the other Marketo users knowing that the systems is better protected from errors.

-Greg