Are there any Cvent + Marketo users here?

[Ayan_Talukder]

We onboarded Cvent this summer, great tool and had all of the features we wanted. However we started to notice a few issues with the data from Cvent syncing to Marketo. We set up everything as instructed and was told everything looked fantastic. After two events we just hosted, we noticed the data was not always making it through to Marketo from Cvent. It got so bad, that only 50% of the people attended our most recent event ended up with their status changed in Marketo.

We had to manually update the rest, but it's been a real pain. I just wanted to reach out to the community and see if there are any other Marketo + Cvent users here?

I have to be honest, the Cvent integration with Marketo is pretty out-dated. They rely on a Campaign is Requested trigger and look to see if the Source is Web Service API. I am concerned Marketo is unable to handle the calls coming from Cvent and is missing them.

[Ayan_Talukder · Accepted solution]

Just to provide an update from 2 years ago, Cvent has been working much better now. They have finally integrated REST API along with having SOAP API making campaign calls. We have seen far less issues with the lead data transferring over to Marketo, but have encountered some newer issues such as:

• Cvent requiring the same field type (e.g. string, integer, boolean, etc.) when mapping the Cvent fields with Marketo fields. The only resolution for this was creating a new field. In our case it was Phone Extension which was a string value in Marketo previously.
• Issues with the Marketo external authentication blanking out our Marketo values because Cvent changed the way certain fields authenticated. For example our Province field would have the fully spelt out name such as Ontario. Cvent modified their authentication with a province code (in this case ON). When Cvent tried to populate the Province field, it was looking for "ON" and did not recognize the full name (Ontario). It then blanked out the Province field and cleared it in Marketo afterwords. We had to convert all of our province fields to the "province codes" to avoid this issue.
  • We're trying to figure out if external authentication is even worth it since it seems to be causing more issues for our customers than helping.

[Anonymous]

We are about to roll out our Cvent/Marketo integration in the next coming months. Looking for any videos, tutorials, etc. Thanks, all!

[Anonymous]

Hi Jack,

Did you get any helpful docs or videos?

[Alex_Venus]

C-vent and Marketo integration guide 2017. Is this the latest version? We are about to start working on our integration.

[Josh_Hill13]

sounds newer than the last time i looked.

Best to ask Cvent for the current edition.

[Benjamin_Ortiz1]

There should be a Marketo/Cvent integration guide when you login to cvent. We were told the new marketo release is slated for this August.. I would ask your account manager at cvent about this before you set anything up.

[Benjamin_Ortiz1]

It has to do with cvent switching to the REST API, if you purchased the integration recently I would advise getting a refund as the product they sold you is not functional.

[Anonymous]

Hi Benjamin,

Same offer to you as to Christina above. If you'd like to see if we can figure it out on a quick GoToMeeting, I'd love to try to help. As I mentioned, I just went through a brand new integration recently and it's working just fine. Perhaps I can be of help. If you're interested, let me know at drew@leadmd.com.

Thanks,

Drew

[Anonymous]

Hi Drew,

I am trying to confirm the integration set up between our Marketo instance and Cvent. I have been told that Marketo is a listener and only receives data from Cvent. Also, I would be interested to know if the optimal way to use the Cvent platform with Marketo is to send all emails from Cvent and use Marketo as the lead capture. I would be interested to know how others are using their integration and what is truly optimal. We want to manage against any unsubscribes to ensure we are not including them in any event sends but I believe this could be accomplished by vetting the initial list but still sending the emails from Cvent. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,

Adee

[Anonymous]

Hi Adee,

In agreement with Josh's note above, I would send things like invitations, confirmations, reminders through Marketo. Anything involving financial transactions (receipts, refunds, etc.) or event selections (breakouts, seminars, etc.) should be sent via Cvent.

You are correct that the integration is a push integration where Cvent pushes data into Marketo. It is not a bi-directional sync, as you see between Marketo and SFDC.

A vastly underutilized element of the integration is the custom object sync. I find this to be very helpful/useful, but not many people set it up. I strongly advise in favor of using this element of the integration.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Thanks!

Drew

[Anonymous]

Hi Drew,

My next question may seem silly, but I don’t have any experience with using Cvent. We have a Sales Admin Team that uses this tool. If we use Marketo to send invites, confirmations, and reminders how would this work with Cvent? What element is Cvent capturing?

What we are trying to accomplish is a way to allow our very large sales team to execute events due to our very small team not being able to accommodate all of their requests being executed through Marketo. What I was thinking is that if the emails are executed out of Cvent that we supply the invite list and request any lists to them import.

Is there a way for us to set up a process that could allow us to automate the list import? Is this where the custom object could be useful?

Thanks,

Adee

[Anonymous]

Hi Adee,

Not a silly question at all. Cvent would be capturing registrations, cancellations, etc. and then pushing those into Marketo lists. Marketo can then be set up to trigger based on an individual being added to, or removed from, a list within your even program. That action would then tell Marketo send a confirmation email, a reminder email, etc.

If Marketo is sending the invitations, you shouldn't have to worry about list imports at all. Marketing, even with a small team, should be able to manage the invitation list and send. Alternately, you can empower sales to send the invites on their own via Sales Insight. You can make the invitations available through Sales Insight so that sales can invite whomever they want, without requiring Marketo to get involved. You could also empower sales to do this through the corresponding SFDC campaign (provided the Marketo program is synced with the SFDC campaign).

What is your current process for managing the lists for event invitations?

Drew

[Anonymous]

Large events, mostly national, are managed in Marketo for invite sends, reminders, etc.

Small, regional and local events, are done in Cvent and to date we have not had a good process of being made aware of these events and then getting the list details. This is what I would like to automate, but I don’t think there is an established process in place to accomplish this task. If I am correct we would need to be sent the extracted list if Marketo is not sending anything.

[Anonymous]

Hi Adee,

The unsubscribe piece is precisely why I like managing invitations and the like through Marketo. Since Marketo is housing your unsubscribe process (which it should), that ensures that unsubscribes are properly managed. Any emails sent via Cvent would be operational in nurture and therefore not need to worry about unsubscribes.

I would advise that you create email templates to use for your events. You should also have a program template for your most commonly used event types. This allows you to quickly react to the needs of your sales team, or even empower a Sales Ops person to manage this.

If using this methodology, you don't have to worry about manually importing lists. Sales selects whom they want to invite through SFDC and sends the invites via MSI. Cvent pushes registrations and cancellations to Marketo, which then triggers confirmation emails based on those actions. The whole process is automated.

If you'd like to discuss further, I'd suggest reaching out to me via email at drew@leadmd.com.

Thanks!

Drew

[Anonymous]

Hi Drew,

Your suggestion about using MSI is awesome! What I would like to know is how best to organize the templates that the sales team can access. It should be noted that we have a shared instance of SFDC and Marketo.

It should also be noted that we do not use templatized event invites. Within our business we support multiple channels and 100’s of products so many requests are custom. This is the challenge with events. We don’t have the capacity to execute all of the events that are coming in from the sales team. It is highly probable that we will continue to use Cvent to execute the invites, reminders, etc. Is the only option for us, in terms of data capture and exchange to import the lists to Marketo? Would the use of a custom object be an aide in anyway?

The other challenge we have is making sure we are not sending email to anyone who has opted out of email messaging or those who may be in an email blackout. Since there is not a 2 way communication between Cvent and Marketo what is the optimal way to provide lists to the team using Cvent to adhere and be email compliant?

I really do appreciate your input. I am like James Dyson in the sense that just want things to work properly. The caveat is that I have to attempt that in the construct of what is possible based on our tech stack and how it is built.

Adee

[Josh_Hill13]

Whatever you decide is optimal for your business.

I would send most emails out of Marketo and design your flows and data sync to handle that. But there are use cases where Cvent should send things like Receipts or complex agenda selections.

[Anonymous]

Hi Josh,

Are you aware of any published information that details flow design and data sync on the Marketo side of the integration w/ Cvent?  I have a Cvent-published "Marketo Integration User Guide" that details the mechanics of the technical side, but I'm looking for guidance on the actual campaigns and flows.

[Anonymous]

Hi Josh,

If we utilize the MSI option is there a way to enter multiple email addresses in the To: field? I want to explore this option more with my team, but need to know if the functionality is there to truly enable the utilization.

Thanks,

Adee

[Anonymous]

Hi Adee,

You can include more than one email address in the "To:" field. You have to enable the MSI features in the list view. You can find that how-to at Add Marketo Sales Insight Tab and Buttons to Salesforce - Marketo Docs - Product Docs .

Drew

[Benjamin_Ortiz1]

We've been attempting to use the cvent/marketo integration since January of this year with numerous issues (leads not syncing over to marketo, program statuses not changing, list import function not working). After going back and forth with Cvent for months it seems like they might have a solution to the problem which they are currently testing internally. Until then the integration is useless in my opinion, and I would advise anyone to not use it until it is working properly.