Overwriting an old form field value issues

[Nate_Oosterhous]

Hello Everyone!

We are having issues with a comments field on our web forms.  Here is the scenario that explains our issue:

1. Lead A fills out our form that has our Optional Comments field.
   1. He adds these example comments "Hello I need help"
   2. Now in the system he has "Hello I need help" for that field value
   3. An alert is sent to the appropriate sales rep with the appropriate comments.
2. Lead A fills out our form again that has our Option Comments field a few weeks later
   1. He adds no comments.
   2. In the system he still has "Hello I need help" for the Comments field value
   3. An alert is sent to the appropriate sales rep with the old Comments and the rep thinks these are the comments filled in on this second form fill out.

The issue is with the form fill outs beyond the first form fill out with comments filled in.  In part two above we would want the comments field to be overwritting with a blank value appropriately indicating that that Lead filled in no comments.

Any help/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

[Josh_Hill13 · Accepted solution]

Nate, 

There are a couple of options here:

1. Disable pre-fill on the comments field.
2. Create a NEW comments field to avoid having Sales write in nasty comments that accidentally get displayed back to the lead. It does happen. I guess this is an issue more with the Description=Person Notes field in SFDC.
3. Use Comments History:

Option Comments is listed on your Form. This is a "most recent" field. Then create a new field in SFDC called "Option Comments History". Stop displaying the first field on the page, then put the history field on the page to Sales.

Then follow the instructions in this post:

http://www.marketingrockstarguides.com/marketo-hidden-tricks-tips-1482/

[Nate_Oosterhous]

You are awesome Josh!  Thank you.  This helps out a ton.  We will be making use of the Comment History Concept.
 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Liked for "to avoid having Sales write in nasty comments that accidentally get displayed back to the lead".  It's always good when we talk about real-world stuff!