Can limit attendance in a program?

[Milena_Volkova]

Is there any way to automatically cap attendance at an event? We currently process registrations manually and add people above the limit to a waiting list. Is is possible to automate that? Thank you.

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

Yes, there are 2 methods:

• the native registration cap feature — see here and ask your Adobe/Marketo account manager to ensure this is enabled for your instance
• using a webhook-based alternative — more flexible outcomes but requires more config

[Jo_Pitts1 · Accepted solution]

@Milena_Volkova ,

I prefer the webhook based approach that @SanfordWhiteman mentions in his post.  I have a number of clients who run in person events, and as part of the registration want to know the number of people who will be attending.  Using the webhook based approach, I can manage an event counter based on that value rather than just on the lead registration itself.

Cheers

Jo

[Jo_Pitts1 · Accepted solution]

@Milena_Volkova ,

I prefer the webhook based approach that @SanfordWhiteman mentions in his post.  I have a number of clients who run in person events, and as part of the registration want to know the number of people who will be attending.  Using the webhook based approach, I can manage an event counter based on that value rather than just on the lead registration itself.

Cheers

Jo

[Milena_Volkova]

Thank you @Jo_Pitts1, thank you @SanfordWhiteman , really appreciate it. 

I might try Flowboost based on your recommendations. I also found this service, in case anyone else reading this thread needs it: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/marketo-tip-automatically-cap-registrations-any-form-part-mba/

[Jo_Pitts1]

@Milena_Volkova ,

The Brighthooks tool you refer to in your post is convenient in that it has a bunch of pre-built functions you can use.  However:

1. To access all their functions, you have to pay a fee to use the tool.
2. If the functions don't do what you want, then you are out of luck.
3. The biggest reason I can see NOT to use it is that their base login page is running on HTTP, not HTTPS.  I wouldn't trust anyone doing that as far as I could throw them.

Unless you have very high volumes of transactions calls (>100k per month), then Flowboost is free.  Because you get to write your own code in there, it is wildly flexible.

Cheers

Jo

[Milena_Volkova]

Thank you, @Jo_Pitts1 

[Vinay_Kumar]

@SanfordWhiteman  @Jo_Pitts1  I am interested to know more here. 

As per my understanding here we need to set a threshold value for the cap limit, create a webhook which will look for the form fill outs to match that threshold value. Please correct me if I am wrong here. If I am moving in the right direction then I have following silly queries:

1. How will webhook check for the form fill out numbers? Is it on the basis of form button clicks or something else?

2. How are we counting/adding the form fill out numbers? 

3. Are we using any tokens?

4. What if someone fills out the form twice or more?

Hope to hear from you soon! Thanks in advance!

[SanfordWhiteman]

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1. How will webhook check for the form fill out numbers? Is it on the basis of form button clicks or something else?

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Actual Filled Out Form activities. You can’t count only button clicks (which may or may not successfully submit the form).

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2. How are we counting/adding the form fill out numbers?

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Trigger Smart Campaign(s) listening for Filled Out Form.

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3. Are we using any tokens?

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Not sure exactly what you mean.

You‘d always use at least the {{program.id}} built-in token to store a count for each program. There could be other tokens used to distinguish the counters from each other. (Like including {[system.date}} to limit the number that can register each day.)

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4. What if someone fills out the form twice or more?

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When you call the webhook, you make the “primary key” of the counter the {{lead.Email Address}}. So there won’t be an effective duplicate when you call the counter multiple times for the same email address.

[Jo_Pitts1]

@Vinay_Kumar ,

if the webhook service you use is flowboost, there is a key element in there, namely a built in counter (FBCounter) that you can use to manage the total count.  This counter persists its value across time.

Cheers

Jo

[Vinay_Kumar]

Thanks for the clarification @SanfordWhiteman and @Jo_Pitts1 

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

Yes, there are 2 methods:

• the native registration cap feature — see here and ask your Adobe/Marketo account manager to ensure this is enabled for your instance
• using a webhook-based alternative — more flexible outcomes but requires more config

[Milena_Volkova]

Hi @SanfordWhiteman, I watched your two webinars on FlowBoost, thank you for such generosity with your time. I still have a question: in my case, I don't want to count just the number of form fills; in my case, people signing up for training have to meet the prerequisites. It may happen that for a class that has a limit of 8 students, 8 people signed up, but only 6 have prerequisites and are confirmed, the other 2 have program status "no prerequisites". If 2 more new people with prerequisites sign up, they will be registered/confirmed, while people still working on their prerequisites will be bumped, even though they submitted the form earlier than the latest two. If the max number of confirmed students is set at 8, the max is not reached until all 8 have prerequisites and confirmed, otherwise any number of people should be able to submit the form.

So, I want to keep the count of people with a certain program status ("registered"), not all who have submitted the form; or maybe I want to keep track of all those, but I want to close the class registration (at least just simply send an alert to myself) when the number of "registered" hits the maximum.

Marketo changes a person's program status upon checking their current certification field, that's easy. I don't understand where in the webhook I should change what the counter should count, how to make it consider people's program statuses. 

Could you please help with that? Thank you in advance!

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

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So, I want to keep the count of people with a certain program status ("registered"), not all who have submitted the form; or maybe I want to keep track of all those, but I want to close the class registration (at least just simply send an alert to myself) when the number of "registered" hits the maximum.

Marketo changes a person's program status upon checking their current certification field, that's easy. I don't understand where in the webhook I should change what the counter should count, how to make it consider people's program statuses. 

Could you please help with that? Thank you in advance!

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I would say you don’t need to send the program status to FlowBoost. You can use the program status (in the Smart List) to filter whether the FlowBoost webhook is called at all.

[Milena_Volkova]

Oh, right, of course! Thank you.

And if I wanted to use the current count in an email alert, would I need to/can I write that counter value into a Marketo field on the person's record? 

[SanfordWhiteman]

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And if I wanted to use the current count in an email alert, would I need to/can I write that counter value into a Marketo field on the person's record? 

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Yep, you can include the count like so (I typically fetch the count first, then add the new person, though you could do it in reverse):

FBCounter.count(counterName)
.catch(count => 0)
.then(count => 
   FBCounter.autoAdd(counterName)
   .then(entry =>
      success(++count)
   )
)
.catch(failure);

Make sure you’re using the Pro authoring mode in this case (use the URL https://api.teknkl.com/flowboost/v21/run?authoringEnv=pro).

[Milena_Volkova]

Thank you so much, @SanfordWhiteman!