What's the use of mkt_tok in emails?

[Anonymous]

I track all our emails with UTM parameters and the regular marketo tracking. what's the use of mkt_tok?

[Priyank_Joshi3]

Hi Idan,

mkt_tok parameter is used as the querysytring so that lead could be tracked against Marketo email link. If you notice you have the same parameter in your Global unsubscribe message under your admin tab, which defines lead has unsubscribed from your email, same way Marketo tracks if lead has clicked link in an email.

Thanks

Priyank

[SanfordWhiteman]

This is not strictly accurate.  The click on the email will be tracked by the branding (click tracking) server regardless of whether the mkt_tok exists.  In fact, the click is tracked before the mkt_tok is appended to the URL, and even if the user never reaches your web server with the mkt_tok (for example, if they have JS disabled) their link click is still registered.

What the mkt_tok is vital for is tracking the subsequent ​web session activities ​for the lead. It's a subtle distinction but you should think of the mkt_tok is being the bridge to the realm of Munchkin.  It is also not always present -- links with the special class mktNoTok will not be mkt_tok-enized, which can be important in some technical cases -- but web tracking is severely hampered without it.

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Sanford,

I gather, that If there is no mkt_tok variable but there is a Marketo cookie on the browser, the web tracking will work correctly, but might be attached to another (potentially anonymous) lead. So this really important for leads that have NEVER filled out any form on your web site. Is this correct ?

Also, it the mkt_tok is present on the link but the cookie on the browser links to a different lead that the one the email was sent, to which will Marketo attach the web session ?

-Greg

[SanfordWhiteman]

I gather, that If there is no mkt_tok variable but there is a Marketo cookie on the browser, the web tracking will work correctly, but might be attached to another (potentially anonymous) lead. So this really important for leads that have NEVER filled out any form on your web site. Is this correct?

Yes. That's why using mktNoTok is not fatal to all web activity tracking because already-associated cookies will continue to work  Though it can give confusing results for exactly this reason.

Also, it the mkt_tok is present on the link but the cookie on the browser links to a different lead that the one the email was sent, to which will Marketo attach the web session ?

It will be pinned to the original lead IIRC (the opposite of a form post, in essence).

[Liliana_Cheng1]

Hi Sanford Whiteman​, is it possible to use the mkt_tok value to find a lead record?

We have leads who filled out a form on a web page that was only accessible by an email promo to a specific segment. Some of these leads do not have the email activity on their record, which indicates that they either received the email promo on a different email address or they were forwarded the email from someone else.

Thanks.

[Steven_Vanderb3]

The mkt_tok is encrypted so that lead identifying data can't be extracted from it.  What you can do, however, is visit a URL with the mkt_tok appended on a page with a form with prefill enabled and see what populates.  Keep in mind your browser will be cookied as that lead until you clear your cookies.

[Liliana_Cheng1]

Thanks Steven Vanderberg​

[Danielle_Wong]

I'm experiencing a similar issue where I'm seeing a bunch of new leads being created with tracking UTMs related to a Marketo email campaign. I'm trying to figure out how these new people are coming in with these Marketo utms, when they wouldn't have received the email unless they were in our database to begin with.

I tried visiting the referrer url that has the mkt_tok and the pre-fill did not populate in the form. So that didn't give me any clues. 

Would you say that the only logical reasons for this would be that someone in our database forwarded their email to someone else who wasn't in our database or the existing lead typed in their email address wrong or provided a new one?

[SanfordWhiteman]

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I tried visiting the referrer url that has the mkt_tok and the pre-fill did not populate in the form. So that didn't give me any clues. 

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That wouldn't work unless you opened a new Incognito/Private window anyway. If the mkt_tok doesn't match the current associated lead (i.e. you) then (native) Pre-Fill is disabled.

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Would you say that the only logical reasons for this would be that someone in our database forwarded their email to someone else who wasn't in our database or the existing lead typed in their email address wrong or provided a new one?

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Or someone has an auto-forwarder for their own emails to another account.