Form Pre-Fill Feature Upgrade
With the evolving best practices and awareness around data privacy, Marketo will be upgrading how we handle form pre-fill.
What change is being made?
Starting April 24, 2019, Marketo will only pre-fill form fields if the URL used to navigate to the Marketo landing page contains a valid mkt_tok URL parameter value (which occurs when users click tracked links in Marketo emails). What that means is, any time a person is viewing a Marketo landing page with a form, the URL being used must contain the mkt_tok token in the query string, otherwise the form on that landing page will not be pre-filled. If the URL in the browser window does have a valid mkt_tok tracking token, then the form within the page will pre-fill as expected with data corresponding to the person record associated with that mkt_tok.
Also note that if you are embedding Marketo Landing Pages within other web pages using an <iframe>, the mkt_tok would need to be passed from the parent page to the <iframe> URL if you intend for form prefill to work within the <iframe>
How did it work before?
Previously, Marketo landing pages would rely on Munchkin tracking cookies to identify known person records, and forms would pre-fill based on that cookie. Form pre-fill did not require being linked to a Marketo landing page from a tracked email link.
Why is this changing?
This upgrade is being made to provide a more consistent and more secure experience with Marketo’s forms. We have identified that, in the past, people have experienced scenarios where data pre-filled into a form didn’t always correspond with the actual person viewing the page. For example, people using a shared computer or those who may have been cookied incorrectly by clicking through a forwarded email, could end up viewing incorrect data associated with a different person.
To provide a more consistent customer experience, and as a security enhancement, Marketo is upgrading the conditions under which the form pre-fill will display known customer information. In short, pre-fill will only work when users clickthrough links in Marketo emails, demonstrating that they have ownership of the email address associated with the known person record. Below is a list of different scenarios and how form pre-fill will work moving forward.
Please note, these changes to form pre-fill will not affect any other functionality of Marketo Forms, including the progressive profiling feature.
| Scenario | Will the form pre-fill? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Clicking a tracked link in a Marketo email to a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled | Yes | The email link must have mkt_tok enabled. Links that are not tracked or that have mkt_tok disabled will not work. |
| Navigating directly to a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled | No | A direct link to the landing page will not have the mkt_tok present in the HTTP request. |
| Refreshing a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled | No | The mkt_tok is stripped from the URL after Marketo Landing Pages load so refreshing the page will not include the mkt_tok in the URL. As a result, pre-fill will not work. |
| Clicking a link in a sample email to a Marketo landing page with a form which has pre-fill enabled | No | The sample email will not have a valid mkt_tok attached to the link and so will not pre-fill the form. If you wish to test form pre-fill you will need to use a real email from a Marketo campaign. |
Navigating to a non-Marketo page that includes an embedded Marketo form which has pre-fill enabled | No | This behavior does not change with the upgrade. Pre-fill has never been supported for Marketo forms that are embedded on non-Marketo pages. |
| Navigating to a non-Marketo page that includes an <iframe> pointing to a Marketo Landing Page that includes a form with pre-fill enabled | With custom implementation | The form within the Marketo Landing Page that is being loaded in the <iframe> will pre-fill if the mkt_tok value from the original HTTP request is passed along to the <iframe> URL |
| Visiting a Marketo page with a mkt_tok that is not associated with the same person record as an existing Marketo Munchkin cookie currently stored on the browser | No | This will prevent the wrong person’s information from being displayed in cases where a computer is shared, or an email with a mkt_tok tracked link is forwarded to another person that may already be cookied as a known person in your database. |
| Copying a Marketo tracked link from an email and sharing/pasting it externally (email, blog, chat, social media post, etc.) that enables another individual to click the tracked link | Yes | The tracked link in a Marketo email will redirect to a URL with the mkt_tok included, so anyone clicking this link will reach a page and see pre-fill data associated with the known person record from the “to” line of the email. |