How do I set up a personalized url / purl?

[Chelsea_Stinnet]

I have enabled personalized urls in my Admin > Landing Page settings and on the langing page I am trying to set up with personalized urls. When I'm testing the landing page, there is no personalized url. What is the trick to setting up the url so it will appear as "info.smg.com/C-store/john-smith"??

I tried to edit my url settings on the landing page and add a token in the url builder, but it wouldn't let me save with the {{ }}characters. What am I missing?

[SanfordWhiteman]

pURLs don't need to be set up manually. 

When you enable pURLs for an LP, that means that you automatically can append a lead's Marketo Unique Code or Marketo Unique Name to it.

       http://​example.com/lpname/x8fj3j

       http://​example.com/lpname/ChelseaStinnett1

[Renee]

Hi, I have an same question. I have enabled personalized URL and no idea if I need to append the lead's first name on the URL behind or Marketo will append the name and code automatically. 

For example, if the URL is https://reach.apple.com/FY21APR-NXE-5811_test.html

Do I need to add the first name behind https://reach.apple.com/FY21APR-NXE-5811_test.html/Reneecheng ?

However, I took myself as an example but I couldn't export the CSV file with my record as below. Not sure what's wrong with the operation. 

Thank you for the instruction !

[SanfordWhiteman]

Why are you using a pURL?

There's no situation where Marketo *could* add data to the URL where you would need a pURL.

[Chelsea_Stinnet]

Is there a way to choose between the unique code or unique name? Do you know why when we send a test email that links to the landing page, the landing page does not have a unique url? It seems like I'm missing a step because it's not working.

[SanfordWhiteman]

You can choose either one. It's basically a matter of whether you want something obscure like the Code, or something that kind-of looks like the person's name, like the Name.

But I think maybe you're confused about why you'd use pURLs?  If you're sending emails, links are already automatically mkt_tok-enized specifically for the recipient.  pURLs are primarily for out-of-band communication like direct mail (you can use them in Marketo emails but you're just making more work).

[Chelsea_Stinnet]

Yes, it's very possible that I'm confused

We are sending an email to a targeted list, who are already cookied, and the email will link to a landing page that will have a personalized url. I have enabled the personalized url, but it didn't give me the option to choose between name or code, and when I'm testing the landing page, the personalized url is not present.

[Dan_Stevens_]

Agree with Sandy here - there's really no benefit (and in fact adds unneeded complexity) when using PURLs in email.  Especially since you don't normally display the actual URL within the email - and instead use actionable keywords for the call-to-action (e.g., "Download the whitepaper"). 

For tactics/channels like Direct Mail - where you need to "stamp" a simple URL on the collateral so that the user can easily access the LP (and ultimately have a unique/personalized experience (if they're previously cookied users)) - have you followed the steps here: Export a List with Personalized URLs - Marketo Docs - Product Docs

[Stephanie_Chmie]

Can you only export a list of people who have already come to a Marketo landing page. I want to create personalized URL's for a mail campaign. We do not use Marketo forms or Landing pages yet?  However most if not all have opened an email that has been sent from Marketo.

I tried to export it but I am not getting the Include Personalized URL option.

I hope that makes sense.

[SanfordWhiteman]

It's not a prereq that the lead has visited an LP. That wouldn't make sense (and in fact it's better if they've never visited your site at all).

But you do need an LP with pURLs enabled to do the export (how else could there be a URL in the resulting file?). Make sure you have one of these and have followed all the steps in the doc above.

If you're still having problems please open a new thread.

[Stephanie_Chmie]

We have done all that and the option is still not showing up. I am going to create a support ticket. Thanks!

[SanfordWhiteman]

You can open a Community thread (not necessary a ticket), but resurrecting this one is bad for Community organization/later searches.

Anyway, you actually don't need to export the URL if you have the Marketo Unique Code/Marketo Unique Name in your export.  The URL always follows the exact same pattern: www.example.com/page/{{Marketo Unique Code}}.  So you can just construct the new column in Excel.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Agree with Sandy here - there's really no benefit (and in fact adds unneeded complexity) when using PURLs in email. Especially since you don't normally display the actual URL within the email - and instead use actionable keywords for the call-to-action (e.g., "Download the whitepaper").

- and when the URL is click-tracked, the original URL isn't shown at all!

Chelsea, you can append {{Lead.Marketo Unique Code}} to the pathname of the URL as required for a pURL, but take it from Dan and me, this will only add confusion. If leads copy the URL from the email, they're still copying the tracked URL @ your branding domain.

[SanfordWhiteman]

But why personalize the URL? If they're already cookied (which technically you can't know, since they might be on a new device, but let's assume it's largely accurate) or if they receive a standard Marketo tracked link, your page will know who they are.

Again, confusingly, a Personalized URL™ in Marketo isn't the only kind of "personalized URL" you can send (though it is the only kind you can manually create and use in print media, for example). I wish the name were different.  When I first started using Marketo the naming threw me for a loop.

[BP_chloecurtis]

Can I ask - would  PURL only work for that user? Reading a later response on this thread, would a personalised URL protect the URL by only being accessed by that user? 

Does it work as a form of 'protection' or are PURLs more of a additional prettiness to elevate the unique user experience? 

I am trying to direct specific users to a landing page, but don't want this to be able to be shared with anyone else - I only want specific people to be able to access. Would PURLs do this? Thank you

@SanfordWhiteman 

[SanfordWhiteman]

There’s a limited degree of protection. A person would have to know the Marketo Unique Code or Marketo Unique Name of someone in the db.

However, it’s quite easily to guess the latter if you know someone’s full name. The former doesn’t offer that much entropy (meaning you could rattle through 6- or 7-letter alphanumeric sequences and eventually find one that exists). Of course this is also true if you have a similarly short password!

In both cases, a degree of malice is required. You won’t accidentally happen upon somebody else’s pURL. But they’re not designed to supply protection in the way that, say, an “unguessable” Google Sheets URL is.

[BP_chloecurtis]

Thank you for this - very useful. Am I right in thinking a lead could forward on a personalised link and it would work for another user too? @SanfordWhiteman 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Of course, same with any link that doesn't require a preexisting login.

[Chelsea_Stinnet]

We want to personalize the URL because we want to create a personalized experience for an ABM campaign. We also want to use the personalized url in print media later on in the campaign. It would be great if it would populate in the search bar when they opened the landing page AND it worked when they typed it in from their print mail. Is there a way to do both? I'm guessing the marketo personalized url means when they type in their personalized landing page, the main landing page opens up?