Preference center form - interest tags sync with Salesforce (bidirectional) | Community
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Gayathiry1
Level 2
March 18, 2026
Solved

Preference center form - interest tags sync with Salesforce (bidirectional)

  • March 18, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 22 views

Hi,

In the pref center form in Marketo, there are 22 different client interests (like events, webinars, newsletters…..) which is in checkbox(boolean). Inorder to make it bidirectional, we tried the normal procedure which is creating 22 sfdc custom fields and mapping it with marketo for bidirectional flow)

Is there any other way other than this approach (instead of creation 22 individual custom fields), kindly share your thoughts.

Thanks!

Best answer by SanfordWhiteman

Why not use a multi-valued String field instead of a Boolean? Are there cases where you must update sub-values outside of a Marketo form (i.e. in a Marketo flow)?

3 replies

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhitemanAccepted solution
Level 10
March 18, 2026

Why not use a multi-valued String field instead of a Boolean? Are there cases where you must update sub-values outside of a Marketo form (i.e. in a Marketo flow)?

G
Gayathiry1Author
Level 2
March 18, 2026

you mean multi valued field in Marketo form?

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhiteman
Level 10
March 18, 2026

I mean a String field that’s intended to contain zero or more sub-values, semicolon-delimited.

 

Such fields may be updated using either (a) a Checkboxes group or (b) a Multiselect dropdown on a Marketo form, or the same input types in Salesforce/Lightning. They are not suitable for individual subvalue updates in Marketo flows (though you can use a webhook for that).

P
Praveenra2
Level 2
March 18, 2026

Hi ​@Gayathiry1 ,

 

The most efficient alternative to creating 22 individual fields is to move to a Single Field Multi-Select model. By using one String field in Marketo mapped to a Multi-Select Picklist in Salesforce, we can sync all interests as a semicolon-delimited list (e.g., 'Webinars;Newsletters'). This keeps our schema clean and makes adding new interests as simple as updating a picklist value rather than creating new custom fields. To prevent overwriting existing data, we can implement a simple append logic via a webhook during form submissions.

G
Gayathiry1Author
Level 2
March 18, 2026

Thanks ​@Praveenra2 for your quick response. so the multi picklist will only work in terms of webhooks for the bidirectional sync?

P
Praveenra2
Level 2
March 18, 2026

 

Good question, ​@Gayathiry1 

The multi-select will work natively for bidirectional sync between Marketo and Salesforce as long as the field is properly mapped (String in Marketo ↔ Multi-Select Picklist in Salesforce). You don’t need webhooks for standard syncing.

Webhooks are only needed if you want to do something extra—like appending values without overwriting existing ones or handling more complex logic during form submissions.

Darshil_Shah1
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
Darshil_Shah1Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
March 18, 2026

 @Gayathiry1, I agree! If you don't need to reference these fields individually anywhere, then you can create this as a multi-pick field in SFDC and sync it to Marketo. In Marketo, add this field as a checkbox field on the form -- data in this field will be stored in a semicolon-delimited manner (this field would be of type String in Marketo). This field would sync data bi-directionally (or based on the read-write-update permission you give the Marketo sync user).

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