How Marketo identify and merge the database with page visit behavior | Community
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R
Renee-1
Level 3
February 26, 2021
Solved

How Marketo identify and merge the database with page visit behavior

  • February 26, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 5351 views

I am a beginner to Marketo. There are a lot of things to learn and catch up. 

Could someone help answer my questions as detailed as you can. Thank you advance. 

 

if we import a lead to Marketo and we have his email , name and some basic info. After one month, this lead comes to our website and accept the cookies, will we able to track his web visit behaviors? How Marketo associate these behaviors with this lead? Could someone explain the mechanism behind ?

 

The second scenario is 

when visitor first time enter our website and Marketo will create an anonymous activity and when this visitor fill out a Marketo form. This visitor would be merged to a known person in Marketo. I want to know how Marketo identify it? Is it done by sourcing the IP address to match between web visit and form info. 

 

Best answer by SanfordWhiteman

Hi and welcome to the Marketo community!

 

if we import a lead to Marketo and we have his email , name and some basic info. After one month, this lead comes to our website and accept the cookies, will we able to track his web visit behaviors? How Marketo associate these behaviors with this lead? Could someone explain the mechanism behind ?

It depends on how the lead comes to your website.

 

  • If the lead follows a tracked link in a Marketo email (links are tracked by default), the link will include a special unique mkt_tok query parameter. If Munchkin, Marketo's analytics module, is running on your website, then the mkt_tok will be used to associate the Munchkin cookie with the lead in your database. Both previous and subsequent web activities will then be found in the lead's Activity Log.
  • If the link is not tracked, but it has been specially constructed (again inside Marketo, via Velocity token or other special URL construction) to attach the same unique mkt_tok query param, then the cookie will also be associated.
  • If the person merely arrives on your page, but doesn't identify themselves via form fillout nor have that very special mkt_tok, then Munchkin would have no way of knowing who they are — so the session remains anonymous.

 

The second scenario is when visitor first time enter our website and Marketo will create an anonymous activity and when this visitor fill out a Marketo form. This visitor would be merged to a known person in Marketo. I want to know how Marketo identify it? Is it done by sourcing the IP address to match between web visit and form info. 

The IP address is never used. Remember, tens of thousands of people can share the same IP address!

 

The Munchkin tracking cookie (_mkto_trk) is used to maintain the anonymous session. Whenever someone fills out a Marketo form, the value cookie is automatically posted to Marketo in a hidden field.  This allows Marketo to associate formerly anonymous activities with the new or existing lead identified by Email Address.

1 reply

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhitemanAccepted solution
Level 10
February 26, 2021

Hi and welcome to the Marketo community!

 

if we import a lead to Marketo and we have his email , name and some basic info. After one month, this lead comes to our website and accept the cookies, will we able to track his web visit behaviors? How Marketo associate these behaviors with this lead? Could someone explain the mechanism behind ?

It depends on how the lead comes to your website.

 

  • If the lead follows a tracked link in a Marketo email (links are tracked by default), the link will include a special unique mkt_tok query parameter. If Munchkin, Marketo's analytics module, is running on your website, then the mkt_tok will be used to associate the Munchkin cookie with the lead in your database. Both previous and subsequent web activities will then be found in the lead's Activity Log.
  • If the link is not tracked, but it has been specially constructed (again inside Marketo, via Velocity token or other special URL construction) to attach the same unique mkt_tok query param, then the cookie will also be associated.
  • If the person merely arrives on your page, but doesn't identify themselves via form fillout nor have that very special mkt_tok, then Munchkin would have no way of knowing who they are — so the session remains anonymous.

 

The second scenario is when visitor first time enter our website and Marketo will create an anonymous activity and when this visitor fill out a Marketo form. This visitor would be merged to a known person in Marketo. I want to know how Marketo identify it? Is it done by sourcing the IP address to match between web visit and form info. 

The IP address is never used. Remember, tens of thousands of people can share the same IP address!

 

The Munchkin tracking cookie (_mkto_trk) is used to maintain the anonymous session. Whenever someone fills out a Marketo form, the value cookie is automatically posted to Marketo in a hidden field.  This allows Marketo to associate formerly anonymous activities with the new or existing lead identified by Email Address.

    R
    Renee-1Author
    Level 3
    February 27, 2021

    Sorry one more questions. 

    If I go back to view this page...

    https://docs.marketo.com/display/public/DOCS/Understanding+Anonymous+Activity+and+People

     

    An anonymous activity is merged into a new or existing person when someone:

    As you mentioned, we will use Munchkin cookie generated by web visit to associate the code below right ? 

    • Clicks a link in a Marketo email. →Using Munchkin code (_mkto_tok )

    • Fills out a Marketo Form. →Using Munchkin code 

    • Uses Marketo's SOAP or Munchkin API (for developers) to associate an anonymous person with a known record.How about this one ? Could you provide an example to explain how it works?

    SanfordWhiteman
    SanfordWhiteman
    Level 10
    February 27, 2021

    Uses Marketo's SOAP or Munchkin API (for developers) to associate an anonymous person with a known record.How about this one ? Could you provide an example to explain how it works?

    The mention of the Munchkin API is obsolete — that feature is deprecated.

     

    If you have 3rd-party/indirect knowledge of the lead that corresponds to a given _mkto_trk (Munchkin session) you can use the SOAP or REST API and custom code to associate the two.

     

    For example, you might know who someone is because they logged into your extranet supplier site or something like that; if that site is also running Munchkin, your server can see the _mkto_trk as well as other identifying info about the lead. Then your custom code — again we are talking about custom development, this isn't built-in behavior — could call the API, which would be different from Munchkin automatically using the mkt_tok and also different from the form automatically using the _mkto_trk.

     

    But it's best to not consider the API method to be part of your reality if you're not a developer/using a dev.

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