Custom Subscription center - how to pre-populate fields when leads want to update information

[Gerard_van_den_]

We're working on a pretty basic subscription center, where people can sign up for newsletters, events and other types of information. For new leads registering we're fine. However, what is the best way to offer people the option to UPDATE their preferences (could be types of communication or maybe their email address / name). As a customer / lead I would then expect a link at the bottom of the email stating 'update preferences' (next to a plain unsubscribe). Here comes the tricky part:

When clicking the update preferences link I would expect the same information to show up that I entered during my initial sign up process. I don't want to rely on cookies though for that to work (the fields being filled out automatically). People may be on the different computer or mobile device now. Can I use the token MKT_TOK somehow to retrieve the information to populate my form fields? Other suggestions to update preferences in a user-convenient manner?

[Josh_Hill13]

If the lead clicks on the tokenized link, it will recognize them and show them the CURRENT information on the Form, assuming you left Prefill on and this is a Marketo Page.

There are some threads on the issue you raise about people getting forwarded emails and what not. I do not see it has a big problem, but there are a couple of ways to handle:

• Offer a "Not You" button to bring them to a no-prefill page
• do some fancy javascript.

[Gerard_van_den_]

Thanks Josh,

I still think this solution is based on cookies stored on their computer, isn't it? I'm looking for a way to populate the fields that will also work when there is no history of the lead on that specific machine. Am I missing something?

[Mike_Reynolds2]

The standard method of pulling known lead data into forms to prefill info is going to be entirely reliant on the cookie stored on their computer. Without that cookie in place, there's just no way to know which lead it is to pull that data in. The MKT_TOK token exists to that lead record to the cookie on the computer, but it's only added to hyperlinks in emails. You could try developing some javascript to identify the leads, but without the cookie in place, there isn't really any way I know of to identify the lead record that way either.

[Gerard_van_den_]

Would it be possible to use a non-standard email footer for 'unsubscribe' and 'update my profile' where we pass along a unique identifier, maybe Marketo ID, and prefill the form based on that information?

[Mike_Reynolds2]

You could probably add some code into your email, but not JavaScript since that's not allowed in emails. However, if the lead is clicking through an email, that link click would automatically track the lead and make them be cookied as that corresponding lead anyway.