'Data Value Changes" trigger when no value previously exists

[Dan_Stevens_]

Does the "Data Value Changes" trigger work on fields where there was no previous value (empty/null)?  I thought I read somewhere that there has to be a prior value for this to trigger.  And if so, how do we trigger off of those instances where a previous value was empty?

[Anonymous]

Hey Dan,

That will work if the previous value is empty. You can even add a constraint to only trigger if the previous value was empty.

[Dan_Stevens_]

Thanks for confirming Jeff.  I will need this to trigger in both instances (if empty / if existing value).

[Anonymous]

How would I set this up? I only want to update if the value is blank and not populated

[Anonymous]

Amanda, in your case, in your Change Data Value step, add a choice and say If [field] is empty, perform action. Alternatively, you could say if [field] is not empty, do nothing - then your second choice or default action could be to perform the update.

You may also want to block field updates from forms in your admin panel for when there is already a value in that field - depending on what you're trying to achieve

[Anonymous]

I have one caveat to report for this that we recently discovered -- and i'm not sure if this is helpful for your case -- but if you're using Marketo's API to pass values into the system, and you're using the "Data Value Changes" trigger in a campaign smart list, the trigger wouldn't fire for a new lead. It would only fire for an existing lead in the system who had a previous value of null for the data change field in question.