Import list: Update fields, but skip new people

[tomh2]

Hi there,

I have two databases that contain some overlapping records. This means that there are three different types of records:

1. Leads who exist only in Marketo
2. Customers who exist in both Marketo and CRM
3. Customers who exist only in CRM

Unfortunately, I don't have an easy way to determine which group each person falls into.

I would like to update a field in Marketo for the customers who exist in both Marketo and CRM, based on a corresponding field in their CRM record that indicates their contact preferences (for example, "No surveys"). This way, when I send out surveys to my Marketo audience, I can ensure that I am honoring their preferences as recorded in the CRM.

To achieve this, I'm attempting to upload a static list of all CRM customers with specific contact preferences into Marketo so that I can update their Marketo profile. However, I don't want to import any new people into Marketo (i.e. those in group 3 above).

Unfortunately, it seems that there are only two options when importing a list: Default (which updates fields and adds new people) and "Skip new people and updates" (which does neither). I want to update fields but not add new people. Is there an option for this or a workaround?

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

The easiest way would be to update the sync user’s permission so it could see the preferences field. That way the preferences data that you wish to update in Marketo using list import would sync automatically. Another way would be to tally the records you have in your list import file with the  records in Marketo, I.e., make sure that all people in your file are in Marketo too and remove the ones that aren't. Lastly, you could also do a full list import and then delete people from Marketo who were created as net new records. I like the first approach better as it solves your problem once and for all.