Is a PURL like a vanity URL?

[Jamie_Barclay]

I'm wondering if a PURL is like a vanity URL?  We have a print-based camapign that we want to bring to a Marketo landing page.  So I need a (vanity) url to include in the postcard.  Would a PURL be used?

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

Yes, pURLs are lead-specific variants of a landing page.  They are expressly for situations like direct mail or print.

However, they have a few oddities that can only be fixed with custom JS code. Principally, they are designed for leads who have never visited your site before, even anonymously.  As I usually put it, the pURL is a "weak associator" to the named Marketo lead -- weaker than the association between a Munchkin session and an anonymous Marketo lead. So it can't override the latter out-of-the-box.

[Jamie_Barclay]

Thank you for the clarification. 

Question: we generate our vanity URLs internally (i.e., campaign@blueshieldca.com).  I'm looking for a recommendation of creating vanity URLs for marketo landing pages.

[SanfordWhiteman]

campaign@blueshield.ca is an email address.

I don't understand the connection to vanity URLs (http://lp.example.com/page/{user id}).

[Dan_Stevens_]

Vanity URLs can be created by creating a new "redirect rule" in ADMIN > LANDING PAGES > RULES

[Jamie_Barclay]

Thanks Dan - I'll look into this - seems logical.

[Dan_Stevens_]

It's also worth pointing out that if the desire is to use PURLs to provide a personalized experience on the landing page, that can only be done if the user's browser has a Munchkin cookie associated to him/her.  See this thread for more info: Undesired behavior when using Personalized URLs PURLs

[SanfordWhiteman]

... that can only be done if the user's browser has a Munchkin cookie associated to him/her...

Or if they have no cookie at all. That's the hitch. Either an already-associated session, or no session (neither anonymous nor associated) at the time they request the pURL.

[Dan_Stevens_]

Can you elaborate, Sandy?  In all of our tests, if the lead didn't have a cookie on their browser, none of the personalization features (e.g., tokens) were accessible.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Open an Incognito/Private window and visit this link.