List Import Data Update (question/confirmation)

[Anonymous]

I just need to hear a confirmation or additional information to the following:

If when doing a list import from sales there is a customer that is already in my Marketo account, will the new information (e.g. job title) in the import update to Marketo? Or will it be overwritten by the current profile?

[Kenny_Elkington · Accepted solution]

When using normal mode it will apply any changes in each field to a record if it already exists, or create a new one with the new data if it does not.  Updates to existing fields will be blocked if you have the field blocked in field management, but only if there is already a value in that field.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the prompt response! I thought this was the case but just needed a confirmation before I altered data.

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi April,

The answer is not straightforward

You can set each fields to be updatable through import. By default most of the fields are updatable (see below for exceptions). To prevent a field to be updated, go to admin -> lead management and select the field. Then click the "Filed actions"->Block field update and select the sources by which the field CANNOT be updated. You'll see 2 imports types in the following dialog box : "Lead import trusted source" and "Lead Import Untrusted Source". This is because, at import time, you may consider your import source reliability to be good or questionable.

Second point, some fields cannot be modified through import. For instance, some are system managed and cannot be changed. Some, such as the "unsubscribe" cannot be updated through import, only set at lead creation.

Third point, some fields might be updated if the lead is a CRM lead, but not a CRM contact. I am writing here about the account fields. They might appear as updated, but Marketo cannot write the CRM account info, so next time the account is updated in the CRM, all the values in Marketo (incl. those resulting from the import) will be overwritten by CRM values.

-Greg

[Anonymous]

Thank you for this detailed response! This helps tremendously for my reference now and moving forward.