Trigger on a data value change after filling out a certain form

[Dan_Stevens_]

There seems to be contradictory information in this thread.  Just to clarify: 'Data Value Changes' works fine on existing leads where the prior value was blank/NULL. It just doesn't work on new leads (in which case, you would use the "Lead is created" trigger, along with a DVC filter to evaluate the field value - in addition to the DVC trigger on existing leads).

To confirm, I just tested it on an existing lead record and the activity log captured the CDV activity:

And just to be certain, I then ran a smart list...

...which produced this same lead where the mobile phone number changed.

[DaveSilva]

In my testing for an existing lead, any changes that went from [null] to a value were not picked up by the trigger.

You can see it in this activity log, where I've got a program looking for a Postal Code Value Change, but the trigger doesn't activate when going from [null] to 5. It only triggered when it already had a value (5) and I changed it to 55.

Am I missing something here?

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

@DaveSilva, Marketo does not log Change Data Value activities for fields that are populated in the creation of a lead. If the value changes after the lead is created, it logs the Data Value Change which would then trigger the appropriate campaign.

If you want to include newly created leads along with existing leads in your campaign:

1. Add a "Person is Created" trigger to the campaign along with the Data Value Change trigger
2. Add a filter for the specific field and the desired value.

This will allow the campaign to fire for both new and existing leads.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Dave, consider these 4 cases:

1. creation of a new lead with a non-empty value

2. updating an existing lead from empty or null to non-empty

3. updating an existing lead from non-empty to another non-empty

4. updating an existing lead from non-empty back to empty or null

1 is not expected to trigger Data Value Changes.

2-4 are expected to trigger (provided there are no other constraints on the trigger, of course).

[DaveSilva]

The scenario I was describing above was for an existing lead. When I set an initial value, such that it went from [null] to a value, the trigger did not fire. But it did once I changed the value a second time -- from a value to another value.

[SanfordWhiteman]

That’s definitely not expected!

A change from [null] value → non-empty value is supposed to trigger Data Value Changes. I just validated this in one of my instances.

[Darshil_Shah1]

@DaveSilva, yes you should see activities for data value changes- even if it’s from the empty value initially. I too just validated this in production instance.

[Jo_Pitts1]

@DaveSilva ,

do you have a constraint on the trigger?  Maybe something like previous value is not empty?