Discrepancies between Marketo and Bizible reporting (utm source)

[Nicole_Van]

Hi!

We’re seeing a huge discrepancy between the numbers in Marketo and the numbers in our other reporting platforms (Bizible, Tableau), where utm source is roughly four times lower in Marketo for the month of June (Data Value Changed = utm source, Value = paidsearch, Between June 1-18, & previous/new values).

Our conversion per person number is nowhere near 4x, so it can’t be repeat converters causing the discrepancy. Has anyone else seen anything similar? How should I go about fixing this?

[SanfordWhiteman]

Can you explain exactly how you're passing those query parameters into a Marketo field, and how you're ensuring the field changes on each form post?

If you're using a hidden form field, for the data to hit Marketo, someone must not only (1) click the Submit button but also (2) submit the form successfully. Some poorly written 3rd-party JS will send a conversion hit even though the form failed validation — that's one way that an outside analytics platform can show vastly inflated numbers.

Another consideration is that Marketo, out of the box, can only see the UTM params if they're on the same page the form is on. Additional JS is necessary for the UTM params to be part of the form post even if they landed on an earlier page.