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Auto-submitting a form for Known Visitors

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Marketo's Known Visitor HTML (If Known Visitor, Show Custom HTML in Form Editor » Settings) feature is the obvious answer to a few questions:

 

  • How can I completely ungate an asset no form fillout at all, just a redirect if a web session is is already associated with a known person in my instance?
  • How can I show just a Download button if a session is already associated?
  • How can I auto-submit a form if a session is associated, so I can still switch between the different Advanced Thank You pages in my form setup?

 

Just redirect

This first one is easy: put a <script> that calls location.redirect in your KV HTML. (You do have to manage the redirect URL in JavaScript; it won't use the Thank You URL(s) as you're skipping the form post entirely.)

 

Just a button

The second one is straightforward, too.[1] In the Rich Text editor that pops up when you select Custom HTML, strip everything but the built-in {{form.Button}} token:

 

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Auto-submit for Known Visitors

The third goal above isn't as easy as you'd expect. If you've dabbled in the Forms 2.0 JS API before, you might think you could do this (purposely screenshot-only so you're not tempted to copy it):

 

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Nope, that won't work!

 

The reason is a classic bug-you-eventually-round-up-to-intentional: the JS API is not fully supported in KV HTML mode.

 

The whenReady listener itself runs, and the onSuccess event fires... but neither the onSubmit  event, nor calling submit on the form object, will work.

 

So we need to go back to the old-school method of simulating a click event on the button. It works just fine in all browsers, even if primitive:

 

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Copypasta:

{{form.Button:default=Auto-submit}}
<script>
MktoForms2.whenReady(function(form){
  var formEl = form.getFormElem()[0],
  submitEl = formEl.querySelector(".mktoButton");
  submitEl.click();
});
</script>

 

 

 

Notes

[1] KV HTML does have an unexpected hidden field autofill (i.e. UTM tracking) gap that relates to the 2nd and 3rd bullets equally, but that's separate enough to be covered in another upcoming post.

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13 Comments
Paul_Johnson
Level 5

Sanford Whiteman , this is one of my favorite recent pieces. Thank you!

Ankit_Dua
Level 6

Thank you for this post Sanford Whiteman

Dilusha_DeTisse
Level 1

Hi Stanford,

Thank you for this post. I am very new to Marketo and I am trying to create a blind form for a know visitor. My use case is, when a webinar non-attendee access the reply link in a follow up email (replay link hosted in Wistia), I like to set up a blind form submit saying they viewed the replay. I am not a HTML person and trying to see how I can get the custom HTML code for this purpose. I have also seen this type of code in other articles here in Marketo, but not sure if I need to populate any unique form ID on it. Hoping you can help me figure this piece out.

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Not sure I understand how the use case requires a hidden form submit, Deanna.

Is the follow-up email sent from Marketo? If so, and if you trust the Clicked Link activity means the person viewed the replay -- optimistic due to mail scanners clicking links, but an automated form submit is also affected by those same scanners -- why do you need a Filled Out Form activity exactly?

Milly_Tsui
Level 2

Thanks for posting this, Sanford Whiteman‌! Is the secondary post you mentioned in the notes available? If so, could you please share the link?

Dilusha_DeTisse
Level 1

Yes, the email is sent via Marketo. I didn't realize that the clicked link activity could do that same. For the use case that I described, I think what you mentioned here works. Thanks!!

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

Is the secondary post you mentioned in the notes available? If so, could you please share the link?

Don't think it made it into a post proper... the bug alluded to above is that Auto-Fill settings are ignored w/KV HTML.

But the fix is already here: MktoForms2 :: KV HTML w/Auto-Fill and Cascade v1.1.0 

Evan_Rittenhous
Level 1

Sanford Whiteman‌ Thanks for this! I have a question - when I try to add <script> or <style> tags to my Known Vistor HTML code (done in the WYSIWYG editor after clicking the HTML tag  ), then apply and save, the tags are removed by something and don't save. Do you know how to fix this so that I can use your code?

Thanks so much for your help!

Kevin_Keefe
Level 2

Can I be a real dummy and ask the question...what is the KV HTML?

This is a great post Sanford, thanks as always for your great contributions. 

SanfordWhiteman
Level 10 - Community Moderator

The Known Visitor HTML -- i.e. the HTML you enter into the Rich Text popup on the Setup tab.