Question about "Data Value Changed" filter behaviour

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Hoping someone can confirm something for me! I ran the following single-filter smart list two days in a row and noticed the number of leads changed overnight; this led me to question my interpretation of its behaviour.

The filter in question is set up as such:

Data Value Changed

Attribute: Variant

New Value (is) : A

Date of Activity (between): 09/13/2015 & 09/19/2015

I've come up with the following possibilities; hoping to find out which is the true description of the resulting lead list:

1) Leads that had Variant change to A during the time period, and still have that value of A when the smart list is processed

2) Leads that had Variant change to anything during that time period, and have a value of A when the smart list is processed

3) Leads that had Variant change to A during the time period, regardless of the value of A when the smart list is processed.

Thanks in advance!

[John_Clark1]

Hi Kevin,

The third option is true.  The smart list is only looking for leads that had the Variant field changed to A between those two dates.  It won't matter what the value is now, only that a Change Data Value activity was logged for that field in that time period.

If you need to find leads with a specific value in this field right now, then you would use the filter for that field in addition to the filter you already have in your list.  That would tell you who changed in the time period you've given, and who still has that same value.

John

[Anonymous]

Thanks John.

Would that mean the only explanation for the lead that went missing overnight is that they've been removed from Marketo between yesterday and today?

[John_Clark1]

Hmmmm, if the smart list filter has not changed at all, then yes.  The only way the lead wouldn't show up on the list any more is that the activity doesn't exist any more.  And the only way to remove an activity is to delete the lead.

[Josh_Hill13]

The lead could have been Deleted or Merged.

[John_Clark1]

A merge would still have retained the activity though.

I guess they could have been merged with a completely different record, and that would explain why this specific lead (email address) isn't showing up.

[Kristen_Malkov1]

Something to keep in mind/probably the reason for your variance is Marketo only keeps 'data value was changed' information for 90 days. So that information is constantly going to be in flux. What you should do instead is use channel/program tags to track the date/time stamps. Those are forever and easier to report on depending on the type of marketing program you're creating.

[Josh_Hill13]

This is true, but the DVC was not even a month ago.

[Kristen_Malkov1]

Good point. I'd also look at Salesforce or your CRM if those values sync to SFDC/CRM.