Compliance Requirements and A/B Testing Programs

[samdemko1]

Hi Community,

We are a financial firm with the requirement to store all emails sent externally to our database. We are pulling them via API with no issue, with one exception: we're unable to pull down A/B tests because of the way the program executes on the email send.

I know this is a known issue and I've seen threads that detail how you can see in the Get Leads Activities Endpoint, by filtering in the Send Email activity, whether a lead was involved in the test or received the winning email via the appended .Subject Line Test, but I need to be able to determine which leads received test A, which received test B, and which received the winner to satisfy our compliance requirement.

Is anyone else facing anything similar or know of a workaround for this issue? Unfortunately it's not enough for us to even be able to save both versions of the test, unless we can pinpoint the recipients of each version.

TIA!!

[dtavangar]

 Hi You may be able to use the Get Leads Activities Endpoint and filter the "Send Email" activities and then check for specific subject lines or email IDs to determine which version was sent to which lead.  I would also look into the activity logs using same logic.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Having worked with US finance clients for a frightening number of years, I have to say whatever you’re trying to do with the API is unlikely to actually be compliant in the event of an audit. You cannot be archiving the actual content sent to a given recipient, as all personalization is lost.

So you might feel comfortable for now. But when auditors come around asking why, for example, IIs are getting content only meant for professionals, you must show what you really sent, not a general framework for what might have been.

My advice is to save yourself the time, worry, and even budget. Turn on Marketo’s auto-BCC feature and send emails to an industry-standard service like Global Relay. GR can store trillions of messages, and since they charge by From: address, you’ll be on the low end of pricing.