Adding Custom Marketo Fields to Salesforce | Community
Skip to main content
Mike_Reynolds2
Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10
August 5, 2016

Adding Custom Marketo Fields to Salesforce

  • August 5, 2016
  • 53 replies
  • 26309 views

Included in this article

Overview

Marketo uses a set of fields to capture certain kinds of marketing related information. If you would like this data in Salesforce, please follow the instructions below.

  1. Create three custom fields in Salesforce on the lead and contact objects: Lead Score, Acquisition Program, and Acquisition Date.

  2. Map these custom fields between leads and contacts so that on conversion in Salesforce, the values carry over.

  3. You can create other additional fields, if necessary (see the table below).

All of these custom fields are optional and are not required to sync Marketo and Salesforce. As a best practice, we recommend that you do create fields for Lead Score, Acquisition Program, and Acquisition Date.

Add Marketo Fields to Salesforce

Add three custom fields on the lead and contact objects in Salesforce listed above. If you want to add more, see the table of available fields at the end of this section.

Perform the following steps for each of the three custom fields to add them. Start with Lead Score.

1. Log into Salesforce and click Setup.

2. In the Build menu on the left, click Customize and select Leads. Click Fields.

3. Click New in the Custom Fields & Relationships section at the bottom of the page.

4. Choose the appropriate field type (for Lead Score — number; Acquisition Program — text; Acquisition Date — Date/Time).

5. Click Next.

6. Enter the Field Label, Length, and Field Name for the field, as shown in the table below.

Field Label

Field Name

Data Type

Field Attributes

Lead Scoremkto71_Lead_ScoreNumberLength 10
Decimal Places 0
Acquisition Datemkto71_Acquisition_DateDate/Time
Acquisition Programmkto71_Acquisition_ProgramTextLength 255

7. Click Next.

8. Specify the access settings and click Next:

  • Set all profiles to Visible and "Read-Only".
  • Uncheck "Read Only" for the profile of your sync user.

  • Often customers have a user with the profile of a System Administrator as the sync user. If that's the case with you, then uncheck “Read Only” for the System Administrator profile as shown in the picture below.

  • If you have created a custom profile for the sync user, then uncheck "Read-Only" for that custom profile

9. Choose the page layouts that should display the field.

10. Click Save & New to go back and create each of the other two custom fields. Click Save when you're done with all three.

11. In the Build menu on the left, click Customize and select Contacts. Click Fields.

12. Perform steps 3 through 10 for the Lead Score, Acquisition Date, and Acquisition Program fields on the contact object, just as you did for the lead object.

13. Optionally, use the above procedure for any additional custom fields from this table.

     NOTE: These fields are additional optional fields you may choose to add as well. The Lead Score, Acquisition Date and Acquisition Program fields      are detailed above

Field Label

Field Name

Data Type

Field Attributes

Acquisition Program Idmkto71_Acquisition_Program_IdNumberLength 18
Decimal Places 0
Original Referrermkto71_Original_ReferrerTextLength 255
Original Search Enginemkto71_Original_Search_EngineTextLength 255
Original Search Phrasemkto71_Original_Search_PhraseTextLength 255
Original Source Infomkto71_Original_Source_InfoTextLength 255
Original Source Typemkto71_Original_Source_TypeTextLength 255
Inferred Citymkto71_Inferred_CityTextLength 255
Inferred Companymkto71_Inferred_CompanyTextLength 255
Inferred Countrymkto71_Inferred_CountryTextLength 255
Inferred Metropolitan Areamkto71_Inferred_Metropolitan_AreaTextLength 255
Inferred Phone Area Codemkto71_Inferred_Phone_Area_CodeTextLength 255
Inferred Postal Codemkto71_Inferred_Postal_CodeTextLength 255
Inferred State Regionmkto71_Inferred_State_RegionTextLength 255

Map Custom Fields for Conversions

A custom field on the lead object in Salesforce should be mapped to a contact field on the contact object so that data is carried over when a conversion occurs. 

1. In the top right corner, click Setup.

2. Type "Fields" into the Nav Search without pressing Enter. Fields appears under different objects; Click Fields under Leads.

3. Go to the Lead Custom Fields & Relationships section and click Map Lead Fields.

4. Click the drop-down next to the field you want to map.

5. Select the corresponding contact custom field.

6. Repeat the above steps for any other fields you've created.

7. Click Save when you're done.

Here's a video of the entire process that should make it easy to follow along: Salesforce Connector Setup

    This post is no longer active and is closed to new replies. Need help? Start a new post to ask your question.

    53 replies

    Show previous replies
    A
    Anonymous
    December 9, 2016

    Thank you Mike! I appreciate it!

      A
      Anonymous
      December 17, 2016

      Hi Guys,

      When mapping the Lead Fields, how do we know which one of the fields we need to map, if both of them have the same names?

      For instance, shall we connect first "Acquisition program" with the first "Contact.Acquisition Program"?

      Thanks a lot,

      Emilia

      Mike_Reynolds2
      Mike_Reynolds2Author
      Level 10
      December 19, 2016

      Hi @Emilia Chioncel​

      The mapping is done automatically on the Marketo side as soon as the new fields are recreated. You have to create brand new fields with specific API names in order for it to happen, so once those brand new fields are created and they have the correct API names, Marketo takes over from there and starts the backfill process.

      The friendly label / field name is different. As long as the API name is correct as per the documentation, you could name the fields Hamburgers if you'd like. Lots of customers have been changing the field name to something different so that they can differentiate between the new fields and the old ones and that seems to be working out pretty well.

      Hope that helps!

      Mike

      A
      Anonymous
      January 9, 2017

      I can't rename the old fields so I can't see the difference between old and new. I get an error "This Custom Field Definition is managed, meaning that you may only edit certain attributes." And the label field is grayed out.

      Mike_Reynolds2
      Mike_Reynolds2Author
      Level 10
      January 9, 2017

      Hi @Nancy McGarrity​

      You'll need to create new fields from scratch. The existing fields won't work, they need to be created entirely new with the directions in the doc here.

      In order to differentiate between the new fields and the old ones while the backfill process is still running, some customers are naming the friendly label / field name differently ("Lead Score 2" vs "Lead Score") so that it's easier to tell which one is which. The API name still has to be exactly correct as listed in the doc here, but as long as that API name is correct, you can make the field name whatever you need it to be, then change it back later on after removing the older original fields.

      Let me know if that help.

      -Mike

      Rebecca_Allen
      Rebecca_Allen
      Level 2
      January 11, 2017

      Hello,

      I'm trying to recreate the MLM fields in SalesForce but am having a hard time getting the API name to match exactly with the field map in Marketo. For instance, Inferred City's API name is mkto2__Inferred_City__c but when recreating the field in SalesForce, I'm not able to save the new Field Name with that same API name because of the consecutive underscore at the front (after the namespace prefix). So my questions are - Can I add a namespace prefix to custom fields? If not, then how do I get these API names to match up correctly so that the backfill will kick off? Thank you

      Rebecca

      Mike_Reynolds2
      Mike_Reynolds2Author
      Level 10
      January 12, 2017

      Hi @Rebecca Allen​

      You'll need to create entirely new fields in SFDC using the exact API name specified in the doc above here. If the API names aren't exactly correct, the fields won't remap to the existing fields in Marketo and the backfill process won't initiate at all. The friendly name / field label can be changed, but the API names must be exactly correct as listed in the doc.

      Hope that helps!

      -Mike

        A
        Anonymous
        January 12, 2017

        I created the fields today. How long should I wait to see the results and find out that the fields are syncing correctly?

        Thanks

        Mike_Reynolds2
        Mike_Reynolds2Author
        Level 10
        January 12, 2017

        @Vipula Dhamija​

        Once the fields are created, everything kicks off almost immediately, on the very next sync cycle. As long as you use the correct API name, then on the next sync, these new fields will be automatically mapped to the existing fields in Marketo and the backfill process will initiate. Once that backfill process to push existing data from Marketo up to the new fields in SFDC is completed, you'll get a notification in Marketo letting you know it's completed. However, you can double check that the fields were created properly while waiting for the backfill process and for that notice of completion.

        Navigate to Admin > Field Management, then select on of the fields to highlight it and pull up the details. In the middle you'll see the CRM Field Map, which tells you what API name the fields are syncing to inside of SFDC. All of the old existing fields in SFDC start with mkto2__ but the new fields all have to start with mkto71__. So, if you see that the CRM Field Map still shows the mkto2__ version, then you'll know that the new fields were created in SFDC with the incorrect API names, so the remapping couldn't take place.

        Let me know if you have any other questions at all!-Mike

        Rebecca_Allen
        Rebecca_Allen
        Level 2
        January 12, 2017

        Got it - Thank you for the clarification!!

          Show more replies
          Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

          Loading footer...