Pulling Custom Fields within Custom Objects into a Smartlist

[Devin_McDonnell]

I'm currently linking our webinar platform with Marketo so that all webinar data is sent into our Marketo platform. Everything is passed along correctly as you can view the data on a record by record (person by person) basis. While this is all well and good, it doesn't really do much for me as I need an aggregate, high-level view of this data.

Ideally, I'm looking to create a smart list that pulls all registrations from the webinar, and within the Smartlist view, create columns for all of the custom fields within the custom object so that I can view this data at a high-level and export it for reporting. While I can create Smartlists based on filters using the custom fields from the custom object, I'm not seeing a way to add it to the view within the Smartlist. Am I missing something here?

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

Can't be done in the UI.

The general assumption w/COs is they have another source of truth (wherever they're imported from, since they can't be hand-managed in the UI) and that other place is where you'd pull reports.

You can pull COs back down via API but it's really cumbersome.

[Devin_McDonnell]

Thanks this helps. Do you think it's possible to get creative and create a Smart Campaign to copy data from these COs into stand-alone custom fields?

[SanfordWhiteman]

A Smart Campaign merely using Change Data Value? No, because the CO fields aren't accessible.

It's possible — though not for the faint of heart and undocumented — to get CO properties into a webhook and from there onto the lead. I've sketched out the technique on my blog (that post isn't cross-posted to the Marketo blog, but is only on the source, which you can find in my profile.)

In fact I'm working on 2 such projects right now. Seems to be more interest in getting at CO info, probably because more people are using COs and realizing the gaps in functionality.

[Austin_Whiting1]

Hey Sanford, 

Thanks for the info on this subject. I'd love to look at that post, but am having some trouble finding it in your profile. What is the title of that blog post? Or, would you mind linking to it?

Thanks,

Austin

[SanfordWhiteman]

Sorry for the delay. The post is still there, but the technique is obsolete after changes Marketo made in June 2019.

We now use an extension of the technique, using Send Alert to send specially crafted alerts (containing a JSON payload) to AWS SES, then relaying the JSON to a Lambda that loops back to the Marketo API. Works wonderfully -- in fact it's amazingly scalable, to the point that we have to tune down how often it can hit Marketo to not exceed Mkto's rate limits. Not exactly an overnight thing though.

[Austin_Whiting1]

Okay, thanks a lot for the response and the info on the updated process. Can you share the name of that blog article in your profile? Just so I can start to wrap my head around it? 

Thanks,

Austin

[SanfordWhiteman]

I suppose it's harmless now: Presented with minimal comment 

[lillyfalcon]

Hi @SanfordWhiteman 

Great insights!

I've started using custom objects in Marketo but don't seem to be able to 'send an email to records stored within a custom object'. 

This is my custom object called Contact:

One of the fields in this CO is 'email address' and the data comes from our CRM (in our CRM, when leads convert they become accounts and these are associated with multiple contacts, some of which did not exist as a lead)

I've manually imported 4 test records to this CO, which are associated with one existing Marketo person (lead)

I then created an email program to send an email using a smart campaign but when I use the filter 'was added to CO Contact' it only pulls the Marketo person (lead), not the records. 

      

Is there a way to email custom object records using email and / or engagement programs in Marketo?

Thank you!!

[SanfordWhiteman]

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Is there a way to email custom object records using email and / or engagement programs in Marketo?

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There is not. Emails are sent to the standard Email Address field and (if configured) a CC: field. Note the CC: is always in addition to the system Email Address, not instead of.

You can send Alerts (not Emails) to any {{lead.token}}, {{company.token}}, or {{my.token}}. But you can’t directly reference a property on one CO record as a token.

A way to sort-of do this (which we’ve done, it’s just something to build) is to Call Webhook to a service that loops back, calls the Marketo API to get Custom Object data, then sends an Alert using the Request Campaign API.