importing a list of names from SFDC to a list in Marketo - help!

[Hayley_Sheaffer]

if i want to import a list and the people are already in Marketo will it create duplicate records?  We have a list of people we want to target, the list was made in Salesforce based on opportunity details. 
I know these people are in our Marketo database but seems to me the quickest way would be to import these people into a static list (or smart list) in Marketo, but I don't want to create a bunch of duplicate people in my database.

Any tips or east to follow instructions on the best way to do this is much appreciated! 

[SanfordWhiteman]

A regular list import via the Marketo UI will dedupe on the Email Address, so as long as you don't have any existing dupes by email, you won't have any new dupes or unexpected behavior.

Also, such things are easy to test with a single lead!

[Oz_Platero · Accepted solution]

Hello @Hayley_Sheaffer ,

You have 2 options depending on what exactly you are trying to do (more follow up questions required).

1. Skip new people and updates
   1. https://docs.marketo.com/display/public/DOCS/Import+a+List+of+People#ImportaListofPeople-Browsetothe....
2. Make a smart list,
   1. Filter = email address is
   2. expand window for the email address and drop in the list of email address here

Thank you

[Hayley_Sheaffer]

Hi @Oz_Platero 

I ended up going with your option 2. this time around. 

1. seemed like what i was ultimately aiming for though, but I want everyone on that list to be emailed a specific email. So, if I do the skip new people and updates, it sounds like some people will be left off that list and I want to email them, unless they opted out of course. Is that the case?

That's what I wanted to do, there is a list that was pulled from SFDC and most of those people are already in the Marketo db. We wanted to email that specific list and I needed to get that list of people in a static list to email them.

[Oz_Platero]

1. seemed like what i was ultimately aiming for though, but I want everyone on that list to be emailed a specific email. So, if I do the skip new people and updates, it sounds like some people will be left off that list and I want to email them, unless they opted out of course. Is that the case? Yes.  Think about it as an option to just create a list of people that already exist in your DataBase for future use, but not create people or make updates to existing records.  You may also want to check that if you SFDC list has from example 100 records; the mechanism to send to those recepients also has 100 potential records. Essentially double checking to see if there are any people not in your Marketo DB.

That's what I wanted to do, there is a list that was pulled from SFDC and most of those people are already in the Marketo db. We wanted to email that specific list and I needed to get that list of people in a static list to email them.

*There is a chance some of the people from the SFDC list may not exist in Marketo for one reason or another.  You then would ideally go through a process to ensure those records make it to Marketo.  If you do a normal list import you could create a duplicate person.  I would start by checking to make sure all the records from the SFDC list exist in Marketo as well.

[Hayley_Sheaffer]

I don't get notifications as much anymore! So revisiting this, you said *There is a chance some of the people from the SFDC list may not exist in Marketo for one reason or another.  You then would ideally go through a process to ensure those records make it to Marketo.  If you do a normal list import you could create a duplicate person.  I would start by checking to make sure all the records from the SFDC list exist in Marketo as well.

How do you recommend checking it? I was unable to use the same filter that I built the SFDC report with, as a smart list in Marketo. so how would you do a check to make sure all of the 100-200 people exist in both? 
Thanks! 

[SanfordWhiteman]

---

How do you recommend checking it? I was unable to use the same filter that I built the SFDC report with, as a smart list in Marketo.

---

Why not? You just need the email addresses.

[Hayley_Sheaffer]

well I guess I don't know! Are you saying to pop in 100 - 200 email addresses in the database search field?  Can I search by inputting multiples, or does that basically go back to what option i went with? 

Since I did have the 150 email addresses, I went with the above stated option 2 -- using the email address in my smart list and just popping them in there and doing the send that way. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

I think it wasn't clear how you were distinguishing (1) and (2).

There's only one way to search for the addresses, and that is to paste them into the Multiple Value chooser in a Smart List [is] filter. But you don't have to send to do that. A standalone SL will work fine.

[Hayley_Sheaffer]

got it. I guess that's what I did, but in a smart campaign so that after checking the 'email address is' then I could just do my batch send of the appropriate email. However, would there be a recommendation on importing that list from SFDC to have everyone just pop into a static list. Or is that primarily used for if I know most of the people would not already be in our Marketo database?
I thought the import a list was going to be the preferred way to do it since we puled the list from Salesforce, but maybe in this case it wasn't....but if there would have been 500 people, that seems like you would want to import as a csv because of the number, even if they already existed in Marketo