Salesforce Sync Error: Daily API Limit Reached

Very interesting! We are going to be doing some batch updates on both the SFDC side and Marketo side, which is going to be pushing leads in volume across the API. If we update something in Marketo and want to push to SFDC in a way that bundles updates, what's the best way to do this if not "Sync to SFDC" flow step?

Hi Amy,

Great question! The best way is to do the updates, and let the background sync take care of syncing them across. The background sync bundles 200 record updates into a single API call, so it is much more efficient.

I hope that helps!

David

That's very helpful! Does it bundle the 200 record updates in both directions? i.e. is it also 200 per update from SFDC?

Can someone explain why we should use Salesforce assignment rules to route leads and contacts rather than using Marketo to update lead ownership?

We find it easy just to copy and paste email domains to assign lead ownership in Marketo. Is there a way to copy the list and paste the list in SFDC?

A couple of notes

• Essentially always use campaign sync if you can
• Set up back up batch sync flows in general
• Avoid using "sync to sfdc"and "sfdc campaign sync" flow steps back to back, this can result in up to 3x api calls.
  --> API Call 1: Lead is synced to sfdc
  -->API Call 2: if the former lead was new, depending on system speed, a duplicate will be created.
  Why? Depending on system speed, marketo may have finished sending the info to SFDC, but It can happen that Marketo will start the next sync step before the Salesforce returns the SFDC ID. The result is not only an extra API call but also a duplicate record.
  --> API Call 3: The actual Campaign Sync.
• Triggers are great but keep in mind triggered Syncs and Webhooks are 1:1 Lead:API. If you leverage campaign sync or set up a batch campaign you will run 200:1 Leads:API (this could have changed but that.s what it was a year ago)
• Know your SALESFORCE API LIMITS TOO:
  Enterprise instances have 1000 api calls/day/purchased license -- if you hit that limit you not only hit your marketo limit but your sales team may lose critical real time info like external lead distribution rules, financials etc. Ask your SFDC Admin to set up a daily API Report. That is a rolling 7-day report and only accessible by super/full admins

If you are interested in more details on campaign sync and selective syncing: I wrote up a reply in another post here --> Re: Syncing campaigns/programs with SFDC but not all of its members​

PS: I believe SFDC pages the incoming into 20 leads per call, but that may be totally wrong -- something I heard a former SFDC Admin mention in passing.

Ownership and responsibility. There are some cases especially when Lead Queues are involved that you will want to use Marketo to assign/alert the owner.

In most cases, It is best to let the sales org (or business operations) handle the lead routing as it can be quite complex, and have the marketing side of the house own the lead scoring and flow. The key is to make sure we as marketers correctly identify and ensure the required fields and details are included to make that routing as simple as possible. It's also up to you (as a marketer) to assert control over lead flow and quality to create a balanced system that can easily scale. With that said, if you have limited resources and minimal SFDC experience. Do it in Marketo. I'd suggest leveraging the revenue cycle model feature to keep things simple.

As a side note: it's also important that your marketing team control the thresholds that could result in varied distribution paths. Sales org's often look at lead score as an indicator, but its only part of the story. I find it better to have a Lead Score Rating or Lead Rating that take both Behavior and Demographics into account. Then you can adjust the thresholds for those ratings based on your scores and other inputs to keep a good grip on lead flow and lead quality. Regardless of how you distribute your leads, make sure that both Sales and Marketing leadership are involved in the creation and review of your ratings and distributions. Also be sure to consult/bring in your Demand Generation, Partner Marketing and select on the ground reps review the process before rolling it out to the greater team. Clarity grants sanity.

I hope this helps!

Does anyone know of a way to identify records that were in the process of going through a flow when the API limit is reached in SFDC? We are trying to find a way to isolate them so we can set up a new triggering action for the lead to go through the flow again. If anyone can share a scalable way to manage this, it would be much appreciated. Thank you!

I'm looking for the same option as Maritza. When trying to re-run a campaign to affect just those that failed to go through the first time (based on some error), how can those people be isolated and run through?