The Sync Strikes Back: Tales from the MOPs Trenches

Milwaukee Marketo Engage
User Group
November 2025
Raven McFarlane| raven.mcfarlane@gmail.com

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The Sync Strikes Back: Tales from the
MOPs Trenches

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Taking Down Dupe Armies
Marketo Duplicate Handling
• Marketo De-dupes based on email address*
• If there is more than 1 dupe per email address, Marketo chooses the most recently updated
record ID to append the activity to.
• De-duping works when record is created through: List import, Marketo Form, Directly in Database,
API (exceptions apply)
Marketo/Salesforce Duplicate Considerations
• Records created within Salesforce will not be de-duped automatically like Marketo. You need
to work with SFDC Admins to create rules to prevent duplicates from being created. Duplicates
created within Salesforce will all be synced into Marketo, unless you have a custom sync filter
in place.
• Records pushed into Marketo from Salesforce upon initial sync, will also not be de-duped. This
is why database should be cleansed before implementation.
Duplicate Impact
• Bad data compounds and prevents accurate reporting and planning
• Vendor costs
• Poor customer/prospect experience as marketing & sales can be tapping into the same segments
of people with mixed messaging

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Taking Down Dupe Armies
Strategize
• Map all entry points for data (i.e.: CRM, Import, Sales, Form), define which sources are
permitted and who can create records
• Work with 3rd
party systems admins to define similar rules and processes for identifying dupes
Protect
• Consider working with a Salesforce Admin to implement
• For larger databases (over 1MM) consider purchasing a 3rd
party tool to help deduplicate
existing database or help de-dup the record before creation in SFDC
• Use automation in your source of truth platform, to tie unique ID keys across 3rd
party systems
before creation in Salesforce
• Implement rules and processes that prevent Sales from creating duplicate records – and
review how well they are working
• Avoid implementing custom sync filters so all records flow between Marketo and Salesforce
• Work with Marketing to create templates that standardize the list import process and ensure this
is integrated into their daily workflows
• Define, document, and centralize what data and the data types accepted per field
• Not all duplicates can be avoided, define acceptable thresholds of your database and set up
regular database reviews to help catch new sources

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Field Management Battle Guide
• Work with your SFDC Admin to implement Field-level security (FLS) for the profile assigned to the
Marketo Sync User to prevent newly created sales fields from being exposed to Marketo
• Ensure the Profile assigned to the Marketo Sync user has the correct Create, Read, Edit, Delete (CRED)
permissions for fields
• Set up a process to review FLS for the Marketo Sync user regularly to ensure no expected changes were
made (i.e.: accidental overwrite when pushing updates from SFDC Dev > Prod)
• When creating new fields:
• Ensure field is created in Salesforce
• Marketo Sync User Profile has the correct FLS
• The field is correctly mapped to all anticipated objects upon conversion (i.e.: Contact for person-
level data, Account for company-level data)
• If you create a field in Marketo first, then create it in SFDC, the field will not be de-duped; it will be
created with a (L) suffix.
• If you have migrated to the new Marketo Identity Management System, you have the option to
now Merge Fields within Marketo. Read this Article from Marketo Champion Chris Willis on how to
use this feature and considerations
• This alternatively can be resolved with a Marketo Support Request
• Reduce the number of fields Marketo has visibility to; common best practice is to keep this under 300
for optimized performance
• Any custom field created in Salesforce will contain __C in the Marketo field API Name

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Sync Behavior Battle Guide - Leads,
Contacts
Record Type Owner Details
Sync Person to SFDC Flow
Step Details
Expected Behavior
Marketo Record Not in
SFDC
N/A
Sync using Auto-Assignment
Rules
Creates a new Lead record in
Salesforce
Existing SFDC Lead Owned by SFDC User or
Queue
Sync using Auto Assignment
Rules
Updates existing Lead record
Owned by SFDC User or
Queue
Sync to User Changes Owner
Owned by SFDC User Sync to Queue Changes Owner to the Queue
Existing SFDC Contact
Owned by SFDC User
Sync using Auto-Assignment
Rules
Updates existing Contact
record
Owned by SFDC User Sync to User ERROR
Owned by User Sync to Queue
Creates net new Lead record
(duplicate) assigned to the
Queue

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Sync Behavior Battle Guide - Campaigns
Record Type Sync Action Expected Behavior
Marketo Record Not in SFDC
Flow Step: Add to SFDC Campaign
1. Creates a new Lead record in Salesforce
2. Adds the Lead record in Salesforce to the
specified Salesforce Campaign with the appropriate
status
Flow Step: Change Status in SFDC Campaign
1. Creates a new Lead record in Salesforce
status
Flow Step: Remove from SFDC Campaign Nothing happens!
Marketo Program & SFDC Campaign Sync:
Marketo Program Status Change
1. Marketo Program Status Change immediately
creates new Lead record in Salesforce
status

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Sync Behavior Battle Guide - Campaigns
Existing SFDC Lead or Contact
Flow Step: Add to SFDC Campaign
1. If NOT already in the SFDC Campaign: Adds the
Lead / Contact record in Salesforce to the
specified Salesforce Campaign with the
appropriate status
2. If already in the SFDC Campaign: Nothing
happens!
Flow Step: Change Status in SFDC Campaign
1. If NOT already in the SFDC Campaign: Adds the
Lead / Contact record in Salesforce to the
appropriate status
2. If already in the SFDC Campaign: Changes the
Status of the Lead / Contact in the SFDC
Campaign if different from the current status
Flow Step: Remove from SFDC Campaign
1. If NOT already in the SFDC Campaign: Nothing
happens!
2. If already in the SFDC Campaign: Removes the
Lead / Contact from the Salesforce Campaign
1:1 Marketo Program & SFDC Campaign
Sync: Marketo Program Status Change
Marketo Program Status Change immediately
adds the Lead record in Salesforce to the
appropriate status
Record Type Sync Action Expected Behavior

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Lightspeed Sync Strategy
Rules of the Galaxy:
• The Marketo and Salesforce sync will check for updates from Salesforce and send updates from
Marketo to Salesforce every 5 minutes for standard objects in SFDC: Lead, Contact, Account,
Opportunity, Campaign, Event, Task, Email
• All requests made during this interval leverage the Salesforce API and are processed in bulk (your
performance tier determines possible throughput/hour)
• Sync runs approx. 10k record updates per hour, per object and some objects can have different
batch sizes
• Marketo syncs schemas and objects in a very specific order (see article here); if multiple objects
are updated at the same time, sync will process update one object at a time
• Using the “Sync Lead to SFDC” flow step will always take priority over the standard sync
cycle
• Custom objects will be synced last
• Sync determines which records need to be evaluated for an update based on the Last Modified
Timestamp (system mod stamp). This timestamp is updated any time there is a change written to
any field (excludes formula and lookup fields in SFDC)
• The creation of a new lead record or object is called an insert action. The initial sync of a new record
from Marketo to Salesforce must occur with “Sync to SFDC” flow step. This insert action is direct API
call per record to Salesforce and can take 2-5 seconds to complete, per record (this doesn’t account
for any workflows you may have running in Marketo)

Confidential.
Defeating Sync Villains: Lightspeed Sync Strategy
Guide for optimal sync performance
• Try to leverage native sync intervals in process flows more often than flow steps (i.e.: Sync Lead to
SFDC, Add to SFDC Campaign)
• When building automations in Marketo, evaluate which fields can trigger data value changes in
Salesforce, gain clarity on when those action can occur, and the objects that will be updated to
understand impact to sync
• Ensure Marketo Sync User only has visibility to fields in SFDC needed to support marketing workflows
• When possible, leverage the Salesforce/Marketo Program Sync to reduce API calls made for
campaign-level tracking
• Actively monitor your sync backlog to identify trends and review these with your SFDC admin to help
understand what is influencing any backlogs
• If working with a new Marketo instance, calculate estimated time needed to sync SFDC database to
avoid downtime during migration periods
• Schedule bulk data value changes in Marketo to occur during non-business hours to reduce potential
impact to sync
• Increasing batch sizes only increases time required to complete that sync cycle—it doesn’t impact
how much can be processed/hour in an optimally designed instances

The Sync Strikes Back: Tales from the MOPs Trenches

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