Deleting leads - is it a good idea? | Community
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Anonymous
January 24, 2017
Question

Deleting leads - is it a good idea?

  • January 24, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 5385 views

Hi All,

We have around 20,000 unsubscribed leads in our Marketo Database and are wanting to know if it a good idea to delete the lead records or not.

I have done run a report and found that 19000 of the leads have interacted with our website in the last 2 years.

I'm looking for reason as to why we would not delete these records from our Database - as they haven't interacted with our website and we cant directly market to them is it worth them just sitting in the system?

Cheers,

Gareth

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    3 replies

    Grégoire_Miche2
    Grégoire_Miche2
    Level 10
    January 24, 2017

    Hi Gareth,

    1/ even if you delete them from the database, Marketo will remember the fact that they are unsubscribe. This is important in case they reenter the database in the future.

    2/ If they keep interacting with your website (and not with your unsub pages) then it may make sense to keep them in. If you delete them, you will also delete reference to the cookie value and all traces on past web site visits, form fillouts, attached scoring, etc... will be lost

    -Greg

      Dan_Askin
      Dan_Askin
      Level 4
      March 28, 2017

      "In case they re-enter in the future" -- a little confused on the durable unsubscribe concept. For all (at least that's the goal) digital points of entry -- ie forms -- we have relevant change data value conditions. (If unsubscribe = yes, change to no). By re-entering the DB, do you mean all means of entry not tied to said forms?

      What if you import leads with the unsubscribe attribute column left blank?

      Thanks,

      Dan

      Grégoire_Miche2
      Grégoire_Miche2
      Level 10
      March 28, 2017

      Hi Dan,

      Once a lead has the checkbox "unsubscribe" checked, the email address of that lead is added to another table (hidden to you) call the durable unsubscribed table. This has 2 consequences:

      • any other lead in your db with the same email address will also be unsubscribed
      • even if you delete the lead from your db, the email address remains in the durable unsubscribe table and any lead that you will insert on your db with that same email address will also be marked as unsubscribed

      The email address will be removed from the durable unsub table if you resubscribe the lead in your database. Legally speaking, this normally can only be done upon a formal request of the email address owner (or a form fill out with an optin field).

      -Greg

      Dory_Viscoglio
      Dory_Viscoglio
      Level 10
      January 24, 2017

      Hey Gareth, sorry.. it's a bit confusing. They have or have not interacted with your site in the past 2 years? If they haven't, then I would definitely delete. As Greg mentions, Marketo has something called durable unsubscribe so that even if they come back into the system for one reason or another, they will remain unsubscribed.

      If they have interacted with your website in the past 2 years, I would use this as an opportunity to discuss your processes with sales since they're likely the ones who would be using these names. If there is a lot of interaction on your site, then you would want to identify this to your sales team and have them reach out directly.

      Josh_Hill13
      Josh_Hill13
      Level 10
      January 25, 2017

      I would go deeper here. Which leads have been on the site in the Past 6 months. What's their score (if any) and which pages did they visit?

      Keep those leads and find a way to do retargeting or ask Sales to call up the best ones to keep the pipe filled.

      If the rest of the leads are dormant, unsubscribed, and not customers or free trials, then it's ok to remove per Greg and Dory's instructions.

      You can also delete in Marketo and not in SFDC.

      Steven_Vanderb3
      Adobe Employee
      Steven_Vanderb3Adobe Employee
      Adobe Employee
      March 28, 2017

      Keep in mind that the Visit Web Page activity archives after 90 days by default.  You wont be able to determine whether or not a lead has visited your web site via a Smart List after 90 days unless you have something like Interesting Moments noting the activity.

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