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Milena_Volkova
Milena_Volkova
New Participant
October 26, 2021
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Embedded forms and Marketo program names

  • October 26, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 2320 views

Our web team is switching to hosting all assets in WordPress now. I am using the same Marketo form and route data into the right Marketo program by the combination of that form fill trigger and the referrer URL, which is always unique. I don't want to create endless copies of the same form for each asset. Is this the best practice? 

 

The operational issue I have though is how will I be able to know which program is the asset in <URL> part of? When we used Marketo LPs, the program name was automatically part of the URL, like lp.companyname.com/Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX. So if I needed to troubleshoot I just copied the  Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX part and I'd know where the Marketo program is and what the SFDC campaign is. Now the URL will not contain the program/SFDC campaign name. 

 

The question can be "I submitted this <non-Marketo reg page URL> form and did not get the asset" or "How many people got the asset in this <non-Marketo asset page URL>? I'd need to check the Marketo program for that, but how would I find it if I only have one of those non-Marketo URLs?

 

Does anyone else is using the same Marketo form for all assets? How do you know which asset URL and which registration page are part of which Marketo program? Is there a tool for that? Can we enter Marketo program name in the HTML of the page as comments? I cannot search in Marketo by the URL used, can I?

 

I cannot rely on the naming convention because we have a ton of assets with similar-sounding names; Marketo program names are unique. 

 

If nothing else, I can submit a test form and see which program it goes to, but (1) I don't like to create test record clutter if I can avoid it, (2) I hope there can be a faster/more efficient way, (3) this works if I have the reg page, but if someone asks me about the asset URL even this method will not work, (4) if a trigger campaign got deactivated this method will not work either. 

 

Thank you!

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Best answer by SanfordWhiteman
I don't want to create endless copies of the same form for each asset. Is this the best practice?

Using a single global form is absolutely the way to go. Maintaining infinite copies of the form is madness!

 

When we used Marketo LPs, the program name was automatically part of the URL, like lp.companyname.com/Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX.

It’s not automatic. You have to choose to accept the URL structure — an LP can have any unused URL, regardless of its program. So it’s actually just a naming convention/process like any other.

 

Now the URL will not contain the program/SFDC campaign name. 

The pathname will not contain the program name, that’s right. But you can just add it to the query string.

 

For example, if you output a CMS variable for program name into the page...

<script> var relatedMarketoProgram = "Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX"; </script>

 

... then you can always add that value to the URL...

https://www.example.com/somepage.html?p=Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX

 

and you’d be able to match that in your Referrer constraint. Note the code to add the query param needs to run before (i.e. above) the forms library (forms2.min.js). This is because the library caches the document URL, so you want to make sure it’s fixed up first.

1 reply

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhitemanAccepted solution
New Participant
October 26, 2021
I don't want to create endless copies of the same form for each asset. Is this the best practice?

Using a single global form is absolutely the way to go. Maintaining infinite copies of the form is madness!

 

When we used Marketo LPs, the program name was automatically part of the URL, like lp.companyname.com/Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX.

It’s not automatic. You have to choose to accept the URL structure — an LP can have any unused URL, regardless of its program. So it’s actually just a naming convention/process like any other.

 

Now the URL will not contain the program/SFDC campaign name. 

The pathname will not contain the program name, that’s right. But you can just add it to the query string.

 

For example, if you output a CMS variable for program name into the page...

<script> var relatedMarketoProgram = "Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX"; </script>

 

... then you can always add that value to the URL...

https://www.example.com/somepage.html?p=Webinar-2021-10-EMEA-WebinarX

 

and you’d be able to match that in your Referrer constraint. Note the code to add the query param needs to run before (i.e. above) the forms library (forms2.min.js). This is because the library caches the document URL, so you want to make sure it’s fixed up first.

Milena_Volkova
Milena_VolkovaAuthor
New Participant
October 27, 2021

Hi Sanford, thank you so much for the prompt response! Do you know if the recommended solution might have any ramifications to SEM/SEO? Our web team does not want the campaign name in the URL. 

I would be fine if the program name is visible somewhere in the code; if needed, I could do "inspect code" and look for it. Do you think that would work or am I missing something? 

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhiteman
New Participant
October 27, 2021
Hi Sanford, thank you so much for the prompt response! Do you know if the recommended solution might have any ramifications to SEM/SEO? Our web team does not want the campaign name in the URL.

The campaign name won’t actually be “in” the URL from an SEO standpoint. If you wanted to make extra-sure, copy it to the hash instead of the query string. It will not be crawled in the hash.

 

I don’t understand how using the browser’s Inspect function could help w/this. Seems like a nightmarish workload. Would far sooner use a Sheet to centralize the mapping between URLs and Program Names.

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