Self-Service List Imports

With the purpose of increasing efficiency through the use of automation, Marketing Operations has developed a self-service process for list imports, to be used by campaign managers when they have lists from events/other campaigns or to update the member status on field marketing events.

The objective of this process is to reduce the amount of time it takes to import a list, allowing leads to be followed up as soon as possible by SDR/BDR teams while minimising the busy work of the various teams involved.

How it Works

1. A google drive folder has been created for list import uploads. This folder is listening for any new CSV that is created.
2. Once a CSV is created, it is processed through one of our systems and each record is individually validated to ensure data integrity. Certain corrections are applied like transforming country and state codes to country and state names, deleting white spaces, converting well known mistaken values to their correct form, etc.
3. The process will activate the Interesting Moments campaign in the Marketo program so that the Interesting Moment is correctly applied.
4. Each record is added to the Marketo program according to the program status specified in the import file.
5. At the end, a slack alert is sent on the #event_list_upload channel with a report containing information regarding created, updated and failed leads.

Video Explanation of list upload process

How to use

Step 1 - Before the import

Confirm you have access to the import folder, called List Import Automation. If you do not have access to the folder, open an AR request with the Marketing Operations team seeking access to both the List Import Automation and the Report Folder.

At time of upload, a program should already exist in Marketo . Campaigns are to be created by the campaign owner. For a running list of program templates, go here.

Make sure that the campaign’s tokens are filled in, which are found under the My Tokens tab in the main campaign. Tokens are used via Smart Campaigns to apply Last Interesting Moments to all leads whom appear in the campaign. The minimum tokens that should be used relate to the campaign’s Event Name, Event Date and Landing Page URL. Without these filled out, Last Interesting Moments will fill in permanently blank. This does not mean your upload will fail or not complete. It just means in the LIM field you will see blank datapoints, for example: Attended {{my.event name}}, which starts on {{my.event date}}. Location: {{my.event location}} instead of Attended Developer Conference, which starts on May 29, 2025, Location: San Francisco.

Please note, the Last Interesting Moments and the My Tokens associated with them are separate from Last Event Notes. Tokens do not communicate with Last Event Notes and uploads from other columns in the list upload sheet. To ensure these are loaded correctly please make sure the SFDC campaign and the last event notes are filled out on your import sheet, Columns N and O. This will be explained more in the data cleaning steps below. Again, if this information is left blank it does not mean your import will fail, it will just be missing that information in the leads record.

Step 2 - Add your lead data to the spreadsheet

Go to the import template Google Sheet and make a copy of the document. This spreadsheet template allows for quick edits and faster data checks, refer to the below instructions for data cleanup advice. It is the responsibility of the person submitting the list to clean the list utilizing the import cleaning template.

Step 3 - Download the CSV

After you populated your spreadsheet with lead data, Download the leads tab as a CSV. Go to File>Download>CSV.

Step 4 - Drop the CSV in the Google Drive folder

1. Go to the Google Drive folder called List Import Automation.
2. Drop your CSV containing lead data into the folder
3. An automated process will pick up your CSV and start processing each record in your file, validating the data.

Step 5 - Go to the #event_list_upload slack channel

When the import finishes processing in Marketo, it will send a slack message with information about:

1. Report link
2. Marketo program link
3. Records created
4. Records updated
5. Failed records

If you want to receive these notifications you can subscribe to the import complete notification labels.

Pubsec field marketers need to use List Upload Complete - PubSec label on either list import issue or another event related issue if no list upload issue is made. This is optional for private sector uploads, which use List Upload Complete - Private Sector. SDR/BDR/Sales can subscribe to this label to get notifications when the import is complete

Step 6 - Review the report

1. Congrats! The import is complete. Review the information passed in the slack alert.
2. If there are failed records, review the report linked in the message. The first column, Status, contains useful information regarding the reason a specific lead failed to be imported.
3. If there are failed records, you can review the errors and correct them in the same report. You can then delete the first column, Status message, download the CSV again and reimport after correcting the errors.

Common errors

1. Country or State Failed Validation: We check the country and state values against a strict picklist. Having wrong values in those fields results in Salesforce refusing to accept to sync a new lead.
2. Missing email, last name, company, program status or marketo program name: Those fields are all required for a successful import. Missing any of them will result in an error.
3. Program status does not exist: The program status in the import file must match exactly the value in the Marketo Program. See list here. We strive to catch and correct errors before the import happens but edge cases will result in an error.
4. Wrong value for Opt-in: This field only accepts TRUE/FALSE or YES/NO. Any other value will result in an error.
5. Missing CRM Partner ID: This field is required for joint partner or MDF Campaign type, and if missing, you’ll be prompted with an error.

Data Cleaning Instructions

Reference values for picklists

FAQ

Q: I made a mistake on my upload: Loaded to the wrong campaign, had field values in the wrong column, uploaded with the wrong status, etc. What do I do?

A: Before re-uploading the correct list or trying to fix the error, please get in touch with MOps in the #mktgops Slack channel. Instructions will be provided. If you uploaded to the wrong program, we need to revert that prior to the new list being loaded, otherwise it will cause issues with lead scoring and be more challenging to correct.

Q: Why do my interesting moments show Attended {{my.event name}}, which starts on {{my.event date}}. Location: {{my.event location}}?

A: Your tokens were not filled out before the time of the import. A new batch campaign will need to be created to update this information.

Q: I haven’t received a notification that my import is complete, how can I check its status?

A: If you have access to log into Marketo, navigate to the campaign and you can see the number of leads that have been loaded. Check these numbers against your CSV file to see its progress. Refresh this page periodically to see if those numbers continue to increase. If they seem to have stopped and don’t match your final numbers you can notify mktgops and we can check for any failures.

Q: Can I use this system to update information on a list that already exists? (Ex: I need to change their opt-in status or their employee bucket numbers.)

A: Yes, you can create a CSV list with the members email and the column data you want to update and import the same way, this will update the records.

Q: What’s taking so long?!?

A: Workato is running the leads through all the processing needed to add leads, update fields, and sync to SFDC. Due to Workato and Google Workspace’s integration, there is a built-in delay to prevent the API from being over-taxed and canceling the job halfway through. With larger lists, the process can take some time but we do not expect the process to go over the 24 hour SLA. As an example; we have seen lists of non english leads of upwards of 800+ taking close to 14 hours to fully complete.

• Example: Uploaded at 1:20PM -> Progress check at 3:00PM: (467 members added so far out of the 807 total) -> Import Complete Message at 3:14AM.

Q: Is there a size limit for lists?

A: So far we have tested list sizes primarily around 1,000 leads in size. We have no reason to believe there is a limit but the list size does seem to affect processing time. If the list is 2,000 or more, consult MktgOps as this may affect processing time.

Q: What happens after my list is loaded?

A: Leads will be added with the requested program status to Marketo, then scored and run through our operational processes in Marketo. Once that completes, they will be added to the SFDC campaign and the lead/contact is synced to SFDC. For details on routing, visit the Lead & Contact routing page.

Q: Tell me more about the Follow up Requested status.

A: With a record marked as Follow Up Requested, this will score the record with 100pts, as noted here, which will then in turn show up in the Sales Dev’s team S1 (Priority 1) view. The Sales Dev team is happy to have potential irrelevant records routed to them in an effort to speed up the records getting to them.

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