Form fields don't overwrite - how to capture the data

[Anonymous]

So, our company opted to not overwrite any data when someone fills out a form in an attempt to keep our data clean, but I've found that when someone is registering for an event we've run into situations where the number on file for the person and the address are incorrect, and when i look in their activity log I see that they filled out the form with new information. Is there a way to capture that information somehow and send it along with the task so that they can check the data? Thanks!

[SanfordWhiteman]

Please move the thread to Products and I'll continue over there. "Central" is for general marketing topics as opposed to the Marketo platform.

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Katie,

A couple of things here:

1. You can choose to authorize / prevent override at field level (in admin-> field management)
2. You can always use a separate set of fields for your forms than the default CRM ones. Just create a new set or address and phone fields (in the CRM if you want them to be sync'ed, or in Marketo only). If you have a different set of fields, then you can use manual or automated (smart campaigns) to manage the cases in which the new values override the existing ones.

-Greg

[Anonymous]

Thanks Greg, ya I don't want to overall authorized field overwriting. Our IT team would not be happy with that, so I've been trying to brainstorm a way to do this. I know I can make separate marketo only fields but I don't know how to do a campaign that says something like, If leads phone number in my new marketo event phone field doesn't match the phone number on their record, then send an email to someone or something... I can't seem to wrap my head around how to make that work correctly. We use MS dynamics and our leads aren't automated yet...

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Katie,

this is impossible to do without some external software, because it's impossible to compare 2 fields in Marketo, with Marketo only technology.

You ought to consider some webhook platforms to establish the comparison and tell Marketo that new and previous phone numbers are different and then use a "send alert" to alert someone.

Look at these solutions:

• flowboost from Etumos. Contact Edward Unthank (Etumos) and /or Sanford Whiteman​
• CalcItNow. Contact Diederik Martens
• Hoosh Excel Formula. Contact Fab Capodicasa​.
• BrightHook. Contact Rajesh Talele

-Greg

[Grégoire_Miche2]

And give a look to this: for the limitation.

-Greg

[SanfordWhiteman]

Thanks, Greg. I've been surprised at how many -- well, proportionally, let's not overstate here! -- FlowBoost users have made intelligent change detection their main use for the platform, as opposed to committing changes to the databases.

FB is a natural fit for comparing proxy fields and primary fields. For example, pass the current and potentially updated values:

var oldStuff = {
    AnnualIncome : {{Lead.Annual Income}},
    JobTitle : {{Lead.Job Title}},
    Industry : {{Lead.Industry}}
},
newStuff = {
   AnnualIncome : {{Lead.Annual Income - Editable}},
   JobTitle : {{Lead.Job Title - Editable}},
   Industry : {{Lead.Industry - Editable}}
},
isDiff = getDifference(oldStuff,newStuff);

Then you get a response with whether there were any changes, and if so, which fields changed. If the person changed from making $100K to $200K and from, say, Retail to Forestry, but kept the title of CFO at both companies, you'd get:

  "isDiff": {
    "diffDetected": true,
    "diffKeys": "AnnualIncome;Industry"
  }

Then you can send an alert, perhaps including the new values, without automatically overwriting old with new.