Need help setting up campaign that retargets

[rgallegos]

Hi everyone, newer Marketo user here. We're trying to set up our campaigns so that anytime someone clicks on an email containing "/products/" in the URL is sent a follow-up email an hour later. The follow-up email needs to include a token to the original URL the person clicked on. Can you please help? We need assistance with the smart list and flow of the campaign as well as tokenizing the original URL. Thank you!

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

@rgallegos, this is simple: you can create a trigger campaign with the Clicks Link in Email trigger, add the constraints for Email (this will be the email(s) on which you want to listen for clicks) if applicable, and the Link (you can mention the Link contains "/products/"). You could add any additional filter(s) to the campaign's smart list if required. In the campaign flow, use the Send Email flow step and select the follow-up email asset in it. Now, you can display the link that triggered this campaign (i.e., the one with "/products/" in it) using the {{trigger.Link}} token in the email. The link token would display the link that triggered the campaign flow. Marketo has several other trigger tokens (documented here) that you can use wherever required.

Smart List

Flow:

In general, sending emails or performing actions based on mere email clicks might not be the best idea, as there are chances that the original click would have been done by email scanners or bots and not by a genuine human. Sending emails based on an action that a person might have never taken might not be the best idea.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Darshil alludes to this, but I don’t think it’s a good idea at all to be sending emails in response to what you have no confidence are human interactions.

Even with bot detection turned on and filtering those activities (highly recommended in any case) you will still send to people who never clicked the original email.

P.S. A terminology pointer: we don’t say “tokenize a URL” to mean make the URL available as a token in flow steps.

Experienced users do say “tokenize,” but they usually mean changing out static text for {{my.tokens}} and {{lead.tokens}} in email and LP assets. For example, having a block of text be a Rich Text {{my.token}} instead of set separately in a bunch of assets.

But the term is quite confusing because it’s also used to describe tracked links which have the mkt_tok query param added — I try to say “mkt_tok-enized” instead for this case.

[Darshil_Shah1]

Yep, I totally agree with Sandy—it's never a good idea to perform actions (and that too sending follow-up emails) based on email clicks. This can damage your brand reputation and erode trust with your audience. This can negatively impact your email sender reputation and make it more difficult to reach genuine recipients. Lastly, relying solely on clicks for follow-up targeting can be ineffective, as it may not accurately reflect the recipient's level of interest or engagement. A more personalized approach, considering other factors such as form fills, past interactions, and preferences, can be more successful.

[rgallegos]

Thank you very much, Darshil! We are going to rethink this and not do it given your thoughts. Thank you for walking me through the steps, as well. This can still be helpful for us in setting up different types of triggers. I appreciate your help!

[Darshil_Shah1]

You're welcome, @rgallegos! Glad to be of help. 

[rgallegos]

Thank you very much, Sanford! We are going to rethink this and not do it given your advice. I really appreciate the assistance and pointers!