Smart list not pulling all contacts when using a custom object as a filter

[Megan_Harris]

Hello!

We have a custom object that is associated to the SFDC Contact object. We set this up in Marketo in mid 2018, and are now working to run a campaign on contacts with an associated custom object the meets specific criteria.

We've built the smart list to be "Has related object" with a constraint on one of the fields. This list pulls us 73 contacts (all of which do meet this criteria).

The issue is when we pull a report in Salesforce to double check the number of records with the same criteria we get 143, so we're missing half of the audience. What could be the reason for the discrepancy?

HELP!!

[SanfordWhiteman]

I trust you have checked that the SFDC contacts that are in the gap between the 2 systems exist in Marketo at all? What if you remove the constraint?

If even with no constraint, you still see a disjunction, then unfortunately you may be encountering the Custom Object Dead Zone™. I have a few instances where this always happens -- yet others where COs sync losslessly. Can you compare some other metadata, like the date (according to SFDC) they were added to the object?

[Megan_Harris · Accepted solution]

Yes, we checked that the missing ones exist. When we removed the constraint we got the same number. We ended up changing what the filter was based on to a secondary custom object under the object we were originally filtering off of (really it should pull the same number as the original filter) and got it to match what is in Salesforce. Must be something weird with how the objects pull over into Marketo.

Thank you for your response!

M

[SanfordWhiteman]

That is... very strange. And kind of unstable. I don't know that I'd trust such a situation.