API Calls on Segments or Workspaces

[Cecile_Maindron]

Hello,

W are looking at comparing data sources. For instance, we would like to know if an external sales list contains some existing customers/prospects without having to load it (it takes time and we don't want new activity logs).
We have noticed that Marketo api doesn't support large volumes of data (it took use 3 hours to compare a .csv file with 250K records. I know that it's not possible to have api calls on smartlists (just lists) but a common use case is to compare with Marketo DB and not a specific list as we don't always know in advance where to look and again it takes time to build large lists.
My question is: is it possible to run api calls on segments or workspaces?

Cécile @ Talend

[Jep_Castelein2]

Segments are not accessible through the API. I don't understand how you'd want to use Workspaces. I do have three possible ideas though:
- upload the list manually into Marketo using the mode "skip new leads and updates". This will add the matches to a static list and ignore the email addresses that don't match.The records that don't match can be downloaded afterwards. 
- create a separate partition into which you upload the list (this can be done via the API). Make sure to include a unique identifier for the list as a value in a custom field. Then - in the default workspace - run a Smart List with 2 filters: has duplicates by email & list id = 'the value you uploaded'. Then you get a list of records that are dupes. 
- make sure the sales list has the Marketo ID: this would be easier if they compile the list from the CRM system rather than from their own hard drive of various external sources. This way, if the record has a Marketo ID, you know it's already in Marketo

[Cecile_Maindron]

ok let me explain the use case in details. Say I have a Sales List and AE wants to know how many contacts inside this list are already customers or prospects. Or the opposite, I want to try a new vendor and I need to know how many leads in the sample they sent are brand new. For the 2 examples, I don't want to add leads in my database. I just want to do a comparison between 2 data sources. Currently what I'm doing is, cleansing List so that it matches Marketo loading system and change format to csv. I then load List (excluding net new). I end up with a sub segment of my initial list, which I need to export, and then transform (because Marketo csv contains "," and French xls only supports ";" ). Finally I add leads to my existing List and  check duplicates in .xls so that I can say these are existing leads or these are net new leads.
So I confirm that it's possible to do comparison with Marketo but I find it way easier to do it outside. The only constraint that we have (compare to other sources/applications) is that Marketo api is quite slow. So as a result, comparing a static list with Marketo full DB is taking ages. But let's say, I know for a fact that all leads in my List are based in France, I could narrow comparison to French segment or French workspace... does that make sense?
 

[Anonymous]

You can mark leads that meet a certain criteria, and then query them via the REST API:
http://developers.marketo.com/blog/find-leads-by-custom-field-value/

I expect that you could query 250k leads in an hour via the REST API.