MERGE Solves Complex Challenges Syncing Marketo to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

We all agree on the importance of syncing sales and marketing data, the insights gained, and alignment it brings internally. But what happens when that sync goes awry?

A quick search in the Marketo community illustrates the frustrations marketing operations staff are experiencing, particularly when trying to sync Marketo with Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

- “We have recently ran into a sync issue that has resulted in almost 55,000 (!!) duplicate leads having imported into Marketo that weren’t supposed to!”
- “The data in our CRM doesn’t match what is in Marketo.”
- “The sync is very slow...sometimes it takes 2-3 hours!”
- “I keep getting a FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION error!”

The challenges are real.

Enterprise Hospitality Company Use Case Example

Not too long ago, a large hospitality company was referred to MERGE as they had purchased Marketo a year ago but have been unable to use it. Their challenges included a complex data model, difficulties with the Marketo/Dynamics sync, and pressure from management to deliver a return on their investment, to name a few.

Prior to working with MERGE, this client had attempted to sync their data 2-3 times unsuccessfully— sometimes resulting in crashing their CRM altogether. With mounting pressure from management to show a return on their MarTech investment, the client had first contacted Marketo to help solve their problems. Again, they continuously ran into challenges due to their complex data model. Some of the complexities included:

- Marketing to contacts while the sales team worked off the lead record
- Intentional duplicates, based on prospect interest
- Data dispersed across entities
- Customer data that wasn’t populating correctly

That’s when they came to MERGE.

Marketo to Dynamics Solution

MERGE's team of solution architects proposed a data model for connecting Marketo and Microsoft Dynamics CRM that worked with their customized sales process, implemented a sync filter to prevent unwanted duplicates, recommended CRM changes to ensure data quality in Marketo, and helped resolve field and object mapping issues that were preventing the sync from working correctly.

In less than four months, MERGE's team was able to fix their challenges. Customer information is now available on all records. The initial sync was throttled, to prevent crashing their CRM, as had happened in the past. And, MERGE was able to deploy the client’s first mass email using Marketo, according to their specific use cases. Most importantly, the client’s frustrations have been alleviated and they are now using Marketo efficiently.  #VisionAccomplished