Deleted lead receiving emails

[Anonymous]

Hello Marketo Community,

I noticed something very strange with one of the leads in the campaign I'm currently running.

This is a "default" program including three emails, one sent every week. Each email is sent via a different workflow and I only schedule the workflows a few days before sending.

I sent the first email to the database. I got an automatic reply from one of the recipients saying that the email address is no longer active and the person has left the company. I then deleted the lead from my Marketo database entirely.

The campaign carried on, I scheduled the next workflow and the emails were sent. This is where something unexpected happened: I'm still receiving the same automatic reply from this email address. I checked and the lead is still not in my database.

My questions are :

1. How can this be happening? How come that a deleted lead can receive my Marketo emails?

2. How do we prevent this?

Thank a lot for your help.

Claire

[Josh_Hill13]

Are your workflows using a wait step? It's possible the lead got stuck in there and it won't go away even though you deleted it.

Are you sure the auto reply was in reference to the second email? Marketo might have seen the original auto reply as a soft bounce and would attempt to re-send within 24 hour period.

[Anonymous]

Hi Josh,

Thanks a lot for answering!

I know the auto-replies were in reference to the second and third emails because the subject line was included. There was about a week between each auto reply so I don't think this is due to a soft bounce.

The 1st workflow used a "wait" step: 1. Send email; 2. Wait; 3. Resend if not clicked or opened. However the second workflow didn't, and was started a few days after all actions from the first workflow were finished.

Claire

[Anonymous]

That's very odd indeed. You ran a search within your database and the lead did not exist? Does it exist within your campaign membership send for your third email?

[Anonymous]

Hi Tim,

Yes indeed, the lead does not exist, and did not exist in my databse (and therefore in the program) when I activated the workflow for the 3rd email.

I'm very confused.

[John_Clark1]

Hi Claire,

It's also possible that the lead had another email address in your database that gets auto forwarded to the original.  Try search your database for the lead's name and see if anything similar comes up.  Deleting a lead should remove them from any flow, including those with wait steps, so it's most likely some other record that's still getting the emails.

John

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

I had actually thought about this.

There is no "generic" email address from this company but there are several other contacts from the company in the program. I checked their activity and the emails are delivered. I also checked if they were still working at this company and they are, and it's unlikely their emails are forwarded to the deleted lead given their respective roles.

Thanks a lot for your answer, I'm not sure this is the answer, but do you know a way to know for sure?

Claire

[John_Clark1]

There isn't really a way to be 100% certain.  Searching your database with the lead's name or any other identifying information for duplicates is the best thing to do.

John

[Anonymous]

Well in that case I have searched for similar leads and didn't find anything so it may not be the solution.

I have opened a support case about this but so far their answers have been very vague and rather unhelpful (compared to this thread).

I'll let you know if anything interesting comes up.

[Jenn_DiMaria2]

I would bet my money on there being an email address forwarded to the deleted address. I've had this happen several times, usually involving people complaining that they've unsubscribed and asking why they continue to receive emails; it's because there's another SUBSCRIBED email address forwarding to them. Could they have subscribed via another non-corporate email address? That's what happened in my scenarios, and it can sometimes be difficult (if not impossible) to narrow down.