Recommendation for unidirectional communication with Marketo?

[Anonymous]

Hi folks,

In the past I remember seeing a piece of documentation that recommended a Server Side form post for unidirectional communication with Marketo. I don't see that documentation anymore. The document explained that using an API was overkill for unidirectional communication.

Is there a recommended technique for getting this info into a Marketo system now? I see this post that makes it seem like use http://mkto.co/PushLeadToMarketo

Slackbot Hates Server Side Post

Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks.

[SanfordWhiteman]

"Unidirectional" communication is a bit general: all Marketo API endpoints are unidirectional channels, after all. If this data originates in a browser, you shouldn't use the any back-end API at all, instead using the Forms 2.0 API to post directly from the client to Marketo. It eliminates the DoS vulnerability of other approaches and is vastly more scaleable.

If you're talking server-to-server, the new Push Lead to Marketo endpoint is powerful, but I'd like to know what you're actually trying to achieve.

[Anonymous]

We are building a piece of desktop software and we want to push the registration information into Marketo. Any thoughts?

[Josh_Hill13]

I would recommend hiring Sanford or another developer to look at this in detail. You cannot solve this on a forum.

I would personally expect the API to be the best method if you are hooking back to Marketo from a sold piece of software.

[SanfordWhiteman]

I would personally expect the API to be the best method if you are hooking back to Marketo from a sold piece of software.

Not with 10,000 calls a day (and also requiring another tier to process the initial request)...

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

Post to the Forms 2.0 endpoint from the client. It's a standard HTTP POST. If you weren't going to filter traffic going through your server anyway, this accomplishes the same thing only it's vastly more scalable.

[Anonymous]

Does that mean following the steps that Jep recommends here:

HTTP Post 

Except use http://mkto.co/PushLeadToMarketo  instead of http://app-x.marketo.com/index.php/leadCapture/save ?

[SanfordWhiteman]

No, you don't use Push Lead to Marketo at all -- and definitely not directly from a client app!!

You can use the /save forms endpoint as described in that old post. Or use the /save2 endpoint (the fields are almost the same: you can check them by inspecting a Marketo form post). Both of these methods work, scale, and keep your API credentials secure. They are not officially supported, though, so don't expect to open a Support case.