Managing Duplicate Leads in Marketo Engage
Duplicate leads in Marketo can pose significant challenges for marketing and sales teams, particularly when integrating with systems like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics. These CRMs are often considered the source of truth, meaning any duplicates in these systems will result in duplicates in Marketo.
Here, we define a duplicate in Marketo as a lead with the same email address. Understanding the implications and system behavior concerning duplicates is crucial for effective lead management.
Today, let's explore the key areas affected by duplicates in Marketo.
Batch Campaigns
Behavior: In batch campaigns, when both duplicate leads qualify, the campaign will only target one lead.
Selection Criteria: The email is sent to the lead with the lower Marketo ID, i.e., the one created first in Marketo.
Activity Attribution: Click activities and web visits (if linked to a page with Munchkin code) will be attributed to this lead.
Trigger Campaigns
Behavior: Trigger campaigns are generally considered a "batch of one" and do not de-duplicate in the same way batch campaigns do.
Implication: Since each trigger is processed individually, duplicates are less of a concern here.
Form Fills
Behavior with Cookie: If a duplicate lead fills out a form and a cookie exists on their machine, the form submission is attributed to the lead associated with the cookie.
Behavior without Cookie: If no cookie exists, the submission is attributed to the most recently updated lead in Marketo.
Implication: The lead gets cookied upon form submission, ensuring future interactions are linked to this lead.
Web Tracking
Cookie ID: A cookie ID in a browser is linked to one lead, but each browser can have its own cookie, potentially pointing to different duplicates.
Triggers:
Clicking a link in an email
Submitting a form
Implication: Different browsers and devices can cause activities to be spread across duplicates.
List Uploads
Behavior: When lists are uploaded, they update the most recently updated duplicate lead.
Implication: Ensures the latest data is associated with the most recent lead.
Lead Scoring
Impact: Lead scoring is based on activities like form fills and web visits, following the rules mentioned above.
Risk: Potential for split lead scores due to activities being attributed to different leads.
Mitigation: Most activity is associated with the most recently updated lead, minimizing the risk of artificially low scores.
Interesting Moments & Activity Types
Impact: Activities and interesting moments may be spread across multiple duplicates.
Implication: Similar to lead scoring, this can lead to fragmented insights.
Reporting
Effect: Due to the spread of activities amongst duplicate leads, you might see lower click and open rates than expected.
Implication: Reporting will likely reflect data from the most recently updated duplicate, providing a somewhat consolidated view.
Best Practices
Regular Deduplication: Aim to regularly deduplicate leads to maintain data integrity.
Integration Sync: Ensure CRM systems like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics are regularly synced and cleaned to avoid duplicates.
Monitoring and Auditing: Regularly audit lead activities, scoring, and reporting to identify and address discrepancies.
By understanding these nuances and implementing best practices, you can effectively manage duplicates in Marketo Engage and maintain accurate lead data for your marketing and sales efforts.