Practice Exam Question: Tracking known user activity across multiple domains

[Dan_Stevens_]

I took the certification practice exam the other day and would like the thoughts from the community around this specific question (and the correct answer):

I actually created a test program to see what the outcome would be when linking to two third-party sites that didn't contain our Munchkin tracking code:

• When clicking on a link in an email, it did track the URL of the third-party site I linked to (although I'm not able to be tracked across this domain).  It simply tracked the link URL I clicked on.
• When submitting a form on a landing page and configuring the follow-up page to a third-party site, nowhere in my activity log does it show that I visited this third-party URL.

Based on my findings, I question the correct answer here.  Even if Marketo properly captured the page I visited after filling out the form, I'm not able to be tracked across these other domains.  Can anyone from Marketo chime in here?

[Robb_Barrett]

This sounds like a better job for a tracking pixel or a 1x1 iframe large enough to read and write a cookie.

[Anonymous]

I'll admit... this is one question that I know I got wrong during my recertification. Personally, I dislike the entire question because Marketo will tell you that they can only track across a single website. But, assuming that you know the answers to the other 85ish questions on the test, it's ok to get one wrong 🙂

[SanfordWhiteman]

I see you posted again while I was composing!

[SanfordWhiteman]

Dan, I think you're using an offbeat definition of "tracking across domains." First of all, deep click tracks are only possible if Munchkin is loaded, so I don't know why you'd test with 3rd-party sites that don't have Munchkin (the question expects that you'll use all the facilities Mkto offers for tracking). Second, the redirection to a follow-up page isn't a Clicked Link nor View Web Page activity by default, but you can easily make it include a Munchkin call if you know the remote site doesn't run Munchkin (if it does run Munchkin, you'd end up with an extra log entry, so it makes sense to skip it by default). I agree that the correct answer is A.

[Anonymous]

Sanford (or Dan) - I know this is an old thread but can you please help me understand the meaning of "fills out a form or clicks a link in an email that directs to each domain"? Can you give me an example? I'm struggling with this because I can't picture one URL pointing to multiple domains. Nor can I imagine how a form would direct to multiple domains. I must be missing something and this question has niggled at me for a couple of years (just didn't have a reason to chase it down before).

[SanfordWhiteman]

A single URL can only point to a single domain, absolutely!

But if you can get someone to click on http://pages.example.com/some-lp.html and then send them another email from, for example, a subsidiary, and have them click on http://pages.example2.com/some-other-lp.html then you'll have them associated on both domains.

Same idea with a form: they'd have to be led to each domain individually.

Now me, I would never rely on this, as I have other tricks up my sleeve... but it is the official way (which is to say, there is no special way).

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Sanford! In that case though, what is wrong with answers B or C? In fact, your description seems to fit answer C.

Denise

[SanfordWhiteman]

Yeah, it's not very well phrased. Problem with [B] and [C] is they suggest that merely by (organically) visiting other websites, you will transfer your association to another site. But in fact it only works if you take a, shall we say, pre-gated path to another website via an email link.  But you're right that this is a form of "visiting another website" from the lead's perspective, at least if they don't think about being tracked.

[Anonymous]

I guess having never worked with a Marketo instance where the company had multiple domains I'm struggling to understand the use case for this and/or the underlying setup. But Marketo puts it on the MCE test every year so I'd like to understand.

Would this be the use case? Say I have a company with 2 web sites that have separate domains:

1) www.easy-doks.com

2) www.doksolution.com

I purchase Marketo and then want to be able to track the known users across both domains because they represent the same business. Why isn't putting the munchkin code on both web sites enough to organically track the user across both of them?

@Marketo: if anyone from Marketo is reading this, please add it to the product documentation (or tell us where to find it if it's there) since you consider it important enough to keep putting it on the MCE exam.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Also, as far as use cases, take a company with a blog that's tightly related to cross-promoting their product but has its own domain name. Or a company that uses ccTLDs for their localized sites (example.com.au, example.fr, example.de).  Or companies that have recently merged (and merged their product lines and, in theory, marketing efforts) but have different CMSes. In these cases, navigation across domains would be expected, but the moment that happens, you lose track of the human lead.

Of course you could (re)architect around the easier cases, using example.com/thebigblogname for the blog in the first case and paths for localization in the second case (/au, /fr).  Some would say that you don't care about the multilingual user who would become known on a Spanish-language site and then organically visit an Engligh-language site.  But overall, it's not a crazy situation. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

1) www.easy-doks.com

2) www.doksolution.com

I purchase Marketo and then want to be able to track the known users across both domains because they represent the same business. Why isn't putting the munchkin code on both web sites enough to organically track the user across both of them?

Because the cookie from www.easy-doks.com (which will be set at the parent level .easy-doks.com ​by default) will not be present when the same visitor goes to www.doksolution.com, so they will get a brand-new, anonymous cookie.  If they went to info.easy-doks.com (same parent) they would share the existing cookie, but once they get a new cookie they have to be associated again. 

Again, association can be as "simple" as getting them clicking an email link to www.doksolution.com (or go.doksolution.com, etc.), or as "simple" as getting them to fill out a form on www.doksolution.com. "​Simple" in quotes because that means you have to get them to  re-convert, even though it's the same human. Frustrating but (with basic technology) unavoidable.

Of course, there's much the same problem when people use multiple devices: if they click a link to ​www.easy-doks.com ​from their phone, they have to click a link to the same domain (which could be the exact same link) to be associated on their laptop. At least there, though, the leads have demonstrated interest in a particular link, so you can cross their fingers that they'll open their email on the other device and re-follow the link, or that eventually they'll open an email for the same product line on the other device.

I tend to think that waiting for people to re-associate is a losing battle, which is why I use other methods to ensure that they'll be associated across a set of related domains.

[Anonymous]

Hi Sanford - Okay, I finally get it. It's all about how to figure out that the person associated with cookie A from Domain A is the same as the person associated with cookie B from Domain B. Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to educate me on this topic! Much appreciated!

Denise

P.S. Of course, I'm curious about your other methods but I imagine those are your "secret sauce."

[SanfordWhiteman]

P.S. Of course, I'm curious about your other methods but I imagine those are your "secret sauce."

Have to leave something to bill for..

[Dan_Stevens_]

I got clarification from Marketo that the assumption was that the Munchkin code would be contained on both domains.  So answer A is indeed correct.