SMS tagging campaign: How to create customized short links?

[SanfordWhiteman]

Yes, you could use a Marketo-hosted pURL as a redirector page.

[BlaneMcMichen]

My Marketo-hosted redirect page does recognize the pURL and the lead, but the redirect is not maintaining the lead identity and is seen as anonymous.  I tried (probably foolishly) to add "&mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##" to the redirect URL, but that did not work.  Is there another way to do this?

Here is my redirect script that I am using on the Marketo-hosted page and it does redirect to the desired destination.

<script type="text/javascript">
// <![CDATA[
// JavaScript - to run when the page has loaded... 
//This will change URL based on {{my.Long-URL}} and {{my.LongURL-UTM}} token values.

window.onload = function pURLredirect() { 
    var destinationURL = "{{my.Long-URL}}" + "?" + "{{my.LongURL-UTM}}" + "&mkt_tok=##MKT_TOK##";
    //console.log("Redirecting to " + destinationURL); //For debug 
    window.location.replace(destinationURL); //redirect user to Final Page
    return 0;
}
// ]]></script>

@SanfordWhiteman  - Thanks for any advice.

[SanfordWhiteman]

You'd have to parse the mkt_tok out of the URL (that ##FIELD_NAME## notation doesn't work on an LP) to pass it.

But I'm losing focus on what you're trying to do. Is the next page on/under the same domain as the pURL?

[BlaneMcMichen]

@SanfordWhiteman sorry for being vague...not intentional.  Here is my design approach...

The part I am trying to solve is the SMS Msg link on the right.  It will hit the Marketo hosted redirect with pURL and that page uses the script from my previous post to forward the user to the destination URL, which is not hosted on Marketo...but does have the Munchkin code.  My goal is to ID the user with the pURL page and them pass them on to the external page as a known user. for tracking actions.

Does that make sense?

[BlaneMcMichen]

@SanfordWhiteman  or anyone who may be listening, because I may be talking to myself here.  (But journaling this may be useful to someone in the future.)

I think my problem is tracking across domains, since the cookie on Marketo-hosted page (let's call this page A - where the user is identified via their pURL) and the destination page (let's call this page B - an externally-hosted page with Munchkin code) are different domains.  This means that I need to associate the two cookies for Munchkin magic to happen.  From what I can find, I can do this by adding the page A cookie value for _mkto_trk with a URL parameter named _mkt_trk as a query string on the URL for page B.

I've added a few steroids to my redirect script to accomplish this.  (Don't laugh at my hacking!)

Here's the revised Javascript...

<script type="text/javascript">
// <![CDATA[
// JavaScript - to run when the page has loaded... 
//This version will change URL based on {{my.Long-URL}} and {{my.LongURL-UTM}} token values.

function getCookie(name) {
    // Split cookie string and get all individual name=value pairs in an array
    var cookieArr = document.cookie.split(";");
    
    // Loop through the array elements
    for(var i = 0; i < cookieArr.length; i++) {
        var cookiePair = cookieArr[i].split("=");
        
        /* Removing whitespace at the beginning of the cookie name
        and compare it with the given string */
        if(name == cookiePair[0].trim()) {
            // Decode the cookie value and return
            return cookiePair[1];
        }
    }
    // Return null if not found
    return null;
}
window.onload =  function pURLredirect()   { 
	// Wait for cookie value to be set
    var mktoTrk = getCookie("_mkto_trk");
	var i = 0;
    while(mktoTrk != "" && i < 100) {
        var mktoTrk = getCookie("_mkto_trk");
		i++;
    } 
	//Use _mkto_trk value for _mkt_trk (yes, it is different), but after 100 checks it may be null
	var destinationURL = "{{my.Long-URL}}" + "?" + "{{my.LongURL-UTM}}" + "&_mkt_trk=" + mktoTrk;
	window.location.replace(destinationURL);  //redirect user to Final Page
	return null;
}  
// ]]></script>

In summary, the getCookie() function will return the cookie value for the name passed to it.  In this case the name is _mkto_trk.   In the pURLredirect() function that runs onLoad, I get the value and store it in a variable named mktoTrk, then I have added a little while loop to give the cookie time to load in case it is initially null.  When it is not null it moves on, but if it is still null after 100 checks I move on so we don't keep the user waiting.  I haven't used decodeURIComponent() or encodeURIComponent() for the value, because I am assuming that the value is already encoded URI in the cookie.  I then execute the redirect.  This does work and I get to the destination page (B) with the query string appended. 

In this case I get...   

&_mkt_trk=id:AAA-BBB-CCC&token:_mch-marketo.com-1585149994161-15329

However.  🥁 (drum roll)  ... no Munchkin magic happens on page B.  

Am I barking up the wrong tree?  🌳🐕

[SanfordWhiteman]

First... that while() loop is a code smell, and the way JS executes (run to completion) it isn't doing anything at all. No reason to guess about the cookie anyway; when the main Munchkin library has loaded, the cookie always exists, because it's set (synchronously) on startup.

Second... you need to do more than pass the Munchkin cookie in the query string, you need to ensure that the original cookie value is used instead of creating new cookie on the remote site. You do that by passing { visitorToken : fieldFromQueryString } in the Munchkin init options.