Sending Alerts to Dealers - No CRM

[Anonymous]

When a lead fills out a form and asks for more information, or gets qualified based on our set parameters, I'd like to send an alert email to the dealer closest to that lead. 

We have multiple dealers in each state, so zip code would have to be the determining factor on which dealer the lead alert gets sent to. The lead information would go to the dealer closest to the lead's zip code.

Has anyone ever had to set up alerts to work with multiple dealers in a state? Any suggestions on how to get started would help.

We are also not using a CRM. We are just using Marketo's lead database.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I had to build a program just like this back in the pre-segmentation days. I believe I literally had to look up all zip codes for a particular area, load those into "if zip code is" for the "send alert" flow. Terrible.

If you segmented your database by zip code, then you could do this much faster, and change your segmentations easily (within 24hrs). So the logic would be the same, except for the alert it would be "if segmentation is ____" send alert. 

Oh, in case you haven't used them, you can do segmentations without a CRM. They're like giant smart lists, but be careful because depending on your subscription you can max out, but if this is a primary/necessary function to have, then it's definitely worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

This isn't going to be easy, especially using zip codes...yuck. 🙂

You could use a custom segment to cut the database up. Use these articles to help you:

• https://community.marketo.com/MarketoTutorial?id=kA250000000Kyzy
• https://community.marketo.com/MarketoArticle?id=kA050000000LBEqCAO

Each dealer can be a segment. Choose zip code as your filter and list all of the zip codes that are going to be assigned to that dealer. The nice part about using segments is that this will allow you to use much simpler campaign triggers and constraints. It will allow you to manage all of your dealerships and their assigned zip codes in one place. 

Does that make sense?

[Josh_Hill13 · Accepted solution]

I like Joe's solution.

You may have to run the record through a Webhook attached to a mapping/zip code service to identify the correct dealer. I would worry that Joe's solution could encounter issues if you have overlapping dealers for an area.

[Jep_Castelein2]

There is a maximum to the number of segments you can have within a segmentation, I believe it's 50. So this solution would work if you have fewer than 50 dealers. 

If you have lots of dealers, I would try to find a solution similar to Josh's. You could also consider adding dealer information to the lead record before you import them into Marketo. 

[Anonymous]

Jep, the article I referenced above might need to be updated then (it was last modified on July 24, 2014). It specifically states "you can create up to 20 segmentations" and "add as many segments as you want". Can you confirm the two limitations for our future reference?

[Jep_Castelein2]

Joe, the limit is 100. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jep!