Blocked Field Data Change Alerts

There are many times when you want to block field updates in Marketo so that the initial value doesn’t change, like when capturing lead source information. However, you may have to do a batch cleanup, during which you will need to unblock a field for a period of time. Life gets busy, and you get distracted, forgetting to re-block the field updates (not that I’ve ever done that). Now, you must find all the changed fields and try to revert them to the original value.

I'm going to share a simple tip that will save you frustration and help you diagnose this issue right away.

Alert Email

The first step is to create an email for each blocked field, as we’ll send ourselves an alert. The email content can vary since it's for personal use, but here’s an example:

Subject: Alert! Lead Source Changed

Body: The person source for {{lead.Email Address}} has changed. Visit field management in the admin section to block updates to this field.

Create an operational data management program if you don’t have one already, and add a folder called “blocked field alerts.” Next, create a smart campaign for each field with blocked updates. In this example, I'll use "Person Source," but the same logic applies to any field you wish to monitor.

Smart List

Use the "data value changes" trigger and select the field you want to monitor as the attribute. Then, click "Add Constraint" and choose "Previous Value," ensuring it's set to "is not empty."

Flow Step

Add the "Send Alert" action step, choose the email you created (e.g., op-data management.alert-lead source changed), and set "Send To" to None. Add your email in the "To other emails" field.

Schedule

Set the schedule to run once daily to keep updates manageable.

Now, you'll have one less thing to worry about.