Phrase match using 'contains' filter?

[Robert_Kelen3]

Is there a way around Marketo effectively doing a broad match when using the 'contains' filter? If we have something like Company Name contains "Acme Pharmaceuticals", now it will pull values for either of the two terms, such as "Acme Manufacturing" and "Smith Pharmaceuticals".

Given non-normalized data which could include many variations (such as "Acme Pharmaceuticals, Inc." or "Acme Pharmaceuticals" or "Acme Pharmaceuticals Company", etc.), it's not currently an option to use the "is" filter.

Thanks.

[Josh_Hill13]

Did you test that? Thought CONTAINS with "acme x" would only look for that phrase.

You can also try STARTS WITH as an alternative.

[Robert_Kelen3]

Thanks Josh. I've not tested 'starts with', but the 'contains' issue is definitely taken from experience.

[Dan_Stevens_]

Unless something has changed in terms of how Marketo searches string values, this would only look for the entire string when setup like this:

However, if you entered it like this, it would return any record with "Acme" or "Pharmaceuticals":

By chance, are you manually entering these as comma/semi-colon values?:

[Robert_Kelen3]

Our client's case looks like your first example, yet is still pulling in things it shouldn't (i.e. that don't match the full value).

[Trevor_Parsell]

Hey Robert,

I agree with Dan and have tested this extensively.

If you use a filter like the one below, you will only get values that contain "Acme Pharmaceuticals" or "Smith Pharmaceuticals". If you are using a filter like this and getting results like "Acme Manufacturing", there must be a different filter pulling that in.

Can you send a screenshot of the filter/values you are using?

Thanks!

[Robert_Kelen3]

I'm not able to send a screenshot because the filter has more than 1000 selected values in it, and is specific to the client's marketing interests. I can say that results of the smart list definitely include things that don't match the filter. That said, it does appear that Josh's 'starts with' idea effectively suppresses the false positives I was seeing in the 'contains' case.

[SanfordWhiteman]

If this is happening, it's a massive bug, so please try to provide a repro case and/or open a Support case.

[Robert_Kelen3]

Sandy, I don't think Marketo views the problem this way. Our client actually had a chat with support about it, and got this answer:

"After some additional research and investigation, I was able to determine that the 'contains' operator will allow any lead through that has any complete character value for each word in the list...Unfortunately, there is not a set way to avoid this, because the 'contains' operator is designed to cast the widest net possible when searching for values. As long as a lead's value contains all of any single word(or character string), they will qualify for the list. This is especially true when using 1000+ different words/character strings...if filter 'contains: wal mart', it will return leads like walgreens, smart list, kmart, etc., because it only needs to identify the individual words."

[Trevor_Parsell]

Hey Robert,

If I am correctly understanding what you are saying, that just isn't the case in my experience. If the filter is Job title contains "Senior marketing operations manager", you will only get a match for people who have a job title that contains Senior marketing operations manager. It will not pick up everyone who has Marketing or Senior or Manager in their title.