Ways to send a serial number of a free trial to customer? | Community
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Anonymous
April 21, 2015
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Ways to send a serial number of a free trial to customer?

  • April 21, 2015
  • 4 replies
  • 2084 views

I  would like to send out a email that lists the specific serial# after filling out the form.
Can this be done in Marketo without additional functionality?
2.) Do I need an aditional function like sweepstakes?
 
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I did this about a year back. We had a similar requirement where the serial number was generated in our production SaaS system. This serial number was not a random number but a specific number created by a specific backend system. 

We also did not want to use javascript as it can be manipulated to generate fraudulant serial numbers and misuse.

You will need a bit of custom programming depending on where and how you are generating the serial number.
The components of the system for us was,

1> An external 'web service' which accepts a request, generates a new serial number and returns it via JSON.
I suggest to make this web service require password protection at minimum. Depending on how sensitive this work is you can look to add multiple layers of security from IP address restrictions, oAuth security etc.

2> In Marketo, create a 'webhook' which submits a request to this new web service. Configure this web hook to accept JSON returned by the web service, parse it and update appropriate fields on the lead.

3> After the web form is submitted, in Marketo smart campaign, call this web hook. This will fetch a new serial number in the lead field. Then send the email with this serial number field embedded in it to the lead.

There are some advance scenarios etc which might need tweaking. For example, can a lead request multiple serial numbers? Because in this situation, you only retain the 'last' serial number sent.

In our case, we had much complex needs such as approvals and so on. But wanted to just provide the simplified solution here.

Hope this helps..

Rajesh

 

4 replies

Josh_Hill13
Josh_Hill13
Level 10
April 21, 2015
Depends how the code is generated.
  • Add a field that has the code from someplace
  • use a script
  • have it generated on page and placed in field, then emailed.
Justin_Norris1
Justin_Norris1
Level 10
April 21, 2015
Yes I think you would need a javascripty thing on the page to generate the serial number automatically. Then you could capture it to a hidden form field and then include that token in your email that you send. 

Of course this would just be a random string, if you actually need it to activate something in your product then you would need to have the number generated in the product, most likely, and use an API call to pipe in the serial # after the lead fills out the form. 

So order of operations would be something like, lead fills out form, somehow trigger your internal database that holds serial #s, passback serial # to Marketo, send email. 

Justin Norris | Perkuto
A
Anonymous
Accepted solution
April 21, 2015
I did this about a year back. We had a similar requirement where the serial number was generated in our production SaaS system. This serial number was not a random number but a specific number created by a specific backend system. 

We also did not want to use javascript as it can be manipulated to generate fraudulant serial numbers and misuse.

You will need a bit of custom programming depending on where and how you are generating the serial number.
The components of the system for us was,

1> An external 'web service' which accepts a request, generates a new serial number and returns it via JSON.
I suggest to make this web service require password protection at minimum. Depending on how sensitive this work is you can look to add multiple layers of security from IP address restrictions, oAuth security etc.

2> In Marketo, create a 'webhook' which submits a request to this new web service. Configure this web hook to accept JSON returned by the web service, parse it and update appropriate fields on the lead.

3> After the web form is submitted, in Marketo smart campaign, call this web hook. This will fetch a new serial number in the lead field. Then send the email with this serial number field embedded in it to the lead.

There are some advance scenarios etc which might need tweaking. For example, can a lead request multiple serial numbers? Because in this situation, you only retain the 'last' serial number sent.

In our case, we had much complex needs such as approvals and so on. But wanted to just provide the simplified solution here.

Hope this helps..

Rajesh

 
    Justin_Norris1
    Justin_Norris1
    Level 10
    April 21, 2015
    That is very helpful Rajesh! Thanks for spelling it out. 
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