MCE progress bar: 80%
Marketo offers a plethora of tools for marketers to use, and it is important to understand all of them. Implementation and Operations is one of the largest categories on the Marketo Certified Expert (Adobe Certified Expert – Marketo Engage Business Practitioner) exam. That’s why we are going to do a deep-dive into it here.
The topics are going to range from admin functions down to local program-level execution.
Keep in mind that studying the documentation Marketo provides is still a great idea. Use this study guide as a tool for when you need to learn the more granular details.
Implementation & Operations
Understand operational emails versus promotional emails
Operational emails are transactional and do not require an unsubscribe link. Operational emails are emails that are explicitly solicited in response to a requested service. Some examples of operational emails include: an order confirmation email, a webinar registration confirmation email, or an appointment reminder email.
Promotional emails are emails that could arguably be considered unsolicited. This even includes emails that people have signed up to receive as part of ongoing updates. Promotional emails require an obvious and functional unsubscribe link. Promotional emails are subject to regional anti-spam laws. For more detailed information, check out CAN-SPAM and GDPR.
Know the difference between Marketo and an ESP
ESP = Email Service Provider
- ESP are not scalable
- They can do mass email blasts
- Will give you open rates of emails
- No scoring or multi step campaigns
- Not much sophistication
Know how Marketo handles soft bounces versus hard bounces
Hard Bounce:
A hard bounce can render a person’s email address invalid when a mail server tells Marketo that the person’s email is undeliverable.
Soft Bounce:
A soft bounce means something went wrong in delivering the email to the person. This usually gets resolved automatically within a few days.
Know the value of an email’s text version
Some people choose to only receive text versions of emails. These emails contain only links and the copy. No HTML elements such as images or pictures will be displayed in these emails. Marketo has copy to text functionality that will let you copy html to text easily.
Know what marketing suspended is for
This status blocks a person from mailings for 24 hours after a hard bounce occurs. After 24 hours, the person will become mailable again.
Know what a local asset is (in a program) versus a global asset (in Design Studio)
Local Asset is local to the program and only available to that program.
Global assets can be accessed by any program as long as the work spaces align.
Know where to find progressive profiling in the form UI
Progressive Profiling is turned on in the form settings when editing a form. Refer to product documentation for setup instructions.
Be able to select which program type to use for a live event hosted by the company
The program type would be an event, which is one of the program types available.
Reference product documents for a look at all the program types that are available.
Know that you need to activate the content in an engagement program before you can launch it
Emails must be activated before they are selectable in smart campaigns or nurture streams.
Know about the connection between snippets and segmentations
Segmentations can be used to create dynamic sections. These sections may be dynamic directly in an email or landing page or via a snippet.
Snippets are global assets that can be used to replace editable zones in templates. These are really good for things like privacy statements that need to be translated into many different languages.
Know about the connection between segmentations and dynamic content
Segmentations are how to create dynamic content.
Know what Munchkin code does
Munchkin code tracks visits, clicks, and form fill-outs
Does not track duration of visit on the web page
Know what communication limits are
Communication limits can be set in the admin section (admin access required). They are a system-level limit that prevents people from receiving too many emails. There is a daily limit and a weekly limit. The limit does not apply to operational emails, only promotional emails.
Know about stored values for a picklist
Stored values are what get added to the lead’s record if chosen in multi-select boxes on forms.
The picklist value is what is seen by the user.
Know about hidden fields
Hidden fields are available in forms. They can be used when you want to populate values if a user fills out a specific form. There are many ways hidden fields can be used.
They do not require the user to fill out the field.
Know about lightbox options for embed forms
Lightbox is a functionality that will give a timed pop up to ask for a user’s information. This is a selectable option in embed forms functionality.
Know how to edit the URL of a landing page
This can be done in the Edit URL settings on a landing page at the local program level.
Identify a scenario when an unsubscribe link is not needed
Operational emails don’t require unsubscribe links.
Identify the use of operational and nonoperational emails for event invitations, confirmations, and reminders
Invites can be classified as promotional.
Confirmation emails are operational.
Identify the differences between using local vs. global landing pages
A local landing page is built in Marketing Activities under a program.
Global pages can be built in the Design Studio under Landing Pages.
Given a scenario about a form, identify how to determine the leads who filled out the form on a specific page
A landing page performance report will give the total number of form conversions.
To get a list of every lead who has filled out the form create a smart list with a filter of “filled out form” and the constraint of on specified landing page.
Given a scenario with form visibility rules, identify how the form should be set up so dependent fields show appropriately
Field visibility can be set in the form editor.
Rules follow conditional statements and can be used to show fields if a lead selects a certain value. For instance, if the Country field is USA, we can show a picklist of states as a follow up display. This can be done many times in a form.
Identify the purpose and value of using progressive profiling
Progressive profiling can be used if a lead is going to fill out a form multiple times. A new field can be displayed to that known lead if the value in the lead record is blank. This functionality can be setup in the edit forms section.
Identify how to display thank you pages using choices that are based on information collected on a form
Advanced thank you page routing can be handled in the forms. If a lead selects a specific criterion they can be routed to a different thank you page URL.
Given a scenario where a company web page exists and a Marketo form needs to be deployed, identify the available options
Embed form can be used in this instance.
Given a scenario about receiving new leads, identify the ways in which acquisition can be assigned
Acquisition is automatically assigned to all new leads that come in through a program
Given a scenario about the need for an email in which consistent and repeatable content is required across all emails and maintained in a single location, identify the tools required
Using dynamic content and tokens can help streamline the delivery and standardize the process for this type of email delivery. Tokens can be great at keeping key values consistent through programs.
Given a scenario that includes using tokens for scoring, identify the appropriate token
The Scoring token can be used for this.
Given a scenario of a company with international prospects, identify the sender’s legal requirements for opting-in or unsubscribing
Spam Laws at this point are the following
US is Opt-Out
Europe is Double Opt-In
Canada is Opt-in
Given a scenario about the need to display a value in a form and the requirement to input it into the database using a different value, identify the steps to complete this
This is accomplished through what the stored values are for the picklist in the form
Identify the benefits of having both text and HTML email versions
This ensures people who receive only text versions of email will not be blocked from delivery.
Given a scenario about having unstandardized data, identify the features that can be used to remedy this situation
Data management smart campaigns can be used to standardize data and how it enters Marketo. This is also referenced in previous pages. Smart campaigns are what allow this to be possible.
