Duplicate in AB test

[aditya_Sharma]

I would like to learn how to remove duplicates from a specific campaign before sending an email using the A/B test functionality.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Create a Smart List that's filtered by member of program/list (or whatever you're using to qualify people for the AB) PLUS Possible Duplicate on Email Address.

Then remove all but one person with each Email Address from the AB qualification program/list.

[Darshil_Shah1]

Glad that you caught this before (a lot of people don't catch this until it's too late)! Understanding the significance of managing duplicate people is crucial. While Marketo prevents sending emails to duplicate records (i.e. same email address) via the same smart campaign, it is possible to send an email to duplicate records when there is an A/B test configured for the email program. Specifically, the case where one record can be sent an email from the test sample size while the duplicate record can be sent the email from the winner sample size. This is a possibility because sending the test and sending the winner utilizes individual background campaigns in the backend which is why the systematic deduplication of emails within a smart campaign does not take effect for this scenario.

As recommended by Sandy, you can use the Duplicate Fields smart list filter on Email Address field or use the Possible Duplicates system smart list (available in Database > System Smart Lists) to identify duplicate records. Do you want to suppress all duplicate instances of people with multiple records with the same email address or keep one and remove the associated duplicates (i.e., just keep one record per email address) from your program?

[aditya_Sharma]

Thanks for the insights, would like to keep one record, associated per email. 

[Darshil_Shah1]

Cool, then you can add the record you'd like to keep of all the duplicate records for each email address in a static list (say Filterered Duplicate Records), and use its membership as a criterion in the following manner:

1. Your smart list's original criteria
2. Member of Smart List not in "Possible Duplicate"
3. Member of List in 'Filtered Duplicate Records"

Logic - ((1 and 2) or 3)

You might want to refresh the static list before email send (I.e., add any more duplicate records or remove existing people who don't qualify for the original smart list criteria). Hope this is helpful and makes sense. Let us know if you have questions.

[aditya_Sharma]

Good idea, however 

I am thinking of creating two smart lists:

1 The Target Audience: This smart list will include the intended recipients for the campaign.

2 {Filter} (1) Members of Smart List ( The Target Audience:) {Filter} (2) with Duplicate Fields (Email Address): In this smart list, will identify the duplicates.

In the final Email send smart list will use these two smart lists, which include the members from Smart List 1 but exclude the members from Smart List 2. to get the unique and deduplicated count for the campaign.

Let me know if this has any flaws. 

thank you!

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

Well, this way you'll be excluding all the duplicate records (I.e, this logic won't include even the one-person record you'd like to include of all the duplicate records for each email address). Per your earlier comment, it seemed like you'd like to keep one record per email address. Also, if you just want to exclude all the duplicates, you can add the Member of Smart List not in the Possible Duplicate smart list in AND logic to your original smart list instead of creating a separate smart list.

[aditya_Sharma]

Got it, Creating s static list would be better, thanks for the help