Stopping Inconsistent Data Syncing with Salesforce

[Yasmin-Lee_Col1]

Hello Community,

A couple of questions in this one...

We're thinking of ways we can stop any inconsistent data (which is inputted via a webform from a lead or uploaded by our marketing/sales team) syncing across to Salesforce -  stopping any spelling mistakes, abbreviations etc getting sent across to SFDC.

We researched a few ideas:

1) Creating validation rules within Salesforce which Marketo will respect.

- However I am unsure if this means if a lead inputs data incorrectly, it's stopped from syncing with SFDC but than remains 'incorrect/inconsistent' within Marketo

2) Creating drop down fields in Marketo forms so leads can only select the data we have provided - therefore keeping it consistent with Salesforce.

- This could mean uploading an awful lot of data and we would run the risk of excluding information and losing out on the correct data. For example - a job title is Applied Technology Manager but the only options close to this provided in the drop down are Marketing Manager/Digital Marketing Manager.

3) Always having the pre-filled form option so leads never need to re-submit their data

- Although if the lead has a change in job title or surname than the data submitted could be incorrect if entered whilst in a hurry OR the lead may not have provided us with this information so will need to manually input their data.

I wondered if anyone has come across this problem before, if you've used any of the above as solutions and it's worked or if you have come across this before and used a different method to solve it.

We did also think about building smart lists which would run in the background and standardise any data as it comes in, does anyone have an idea of how we could go about setting this up if this could be an option?

Any help is always appreciated!

Thanks

Yasmin

[Josh_Hill13]

You are describing basic Data Cleaning and Management. There are tons of threads on solutions as well as on the Developer.marketo.com blog or on my site.

• SFDC Validation Rules - avoid this until you are sure the Marketo inputs are fixed. Marketo will throw errors every single time SFDC rejects data. It will make your data worse.
• Forms in Marketo - YES. Ensure that your drop downs match SFDC rules and picklist values.  100% do this.
• Titles vs. Roles - Job Title should remain free text. everyone loves to spout their Titles. But consider a Role field to ask that is only a picklist. Ask for the Job Title later
• Prefill/Progressive - sure do this.
• Data Governance - you have to come up with a plan for which fields are important, order of precedence, values and sources you trust. Please do some research on this here and elsewhere to guide the plan.
• Data Changing Flows - one of the most common things to do in Marketo is create data management flows to clean up these issues when possible.