ZapBounce and Eloqua
Eloqua has a pattern its users call the contact washing machine: a program that takes contacts, normalizes their data and returns them. Verification belongs inside that pattern.
Bolting on a separate batch job duplicates infrastructure that already exists and runs on a schedule somebody already maintains.
A separate job duplicates a program that already runs
Eloqua programs already move contacts through cleansing steps: country normalization, job title standardization, deduplication. Adding verification as a separate process means two schedules and two failure modes.
It also means the verdict arrives out of step with the other cleansing, so a contact can be normalized and unverified or verified and un-normalised depending on timing.
A cloud app step inside the existing program keeps everything in one flow with one schedule.
How the data moves
Add verification as a step in the existing program
A cloud app action or a custom integration step, placed alongside the other cleansing steps.
Write the verdict to a contact field
Eloqua contact fields drive segment rules, so the verdict becomes usable in segmentation immediately.
Route on the verdict inside the program
Eloqua programs branch. Invalid contacts go to a suppression step; unconfirmable ones go to a different nurture.
Use the bulk API for the initial backfill
One import of existing contacts, then the program handles everything from then on.
Setting it up
- Create a contact field for the verdict and one for the check date.
- Add a verification step to the existing contact cleansing program.
- Branch the program on the verdict rather than writing the field and moving on.
- Route invalid contacts to a suppression step within the program.
- Backfill existing contacts once through the bulk API.
- Build segment rules on the verdict field for campaign targeting.
Eloqua: common questions
Where does verification belong in Eloqua?
Inside the contact cleansing program you already run, not as a separate batch job with its own schedule.
Should the program branch on the verdict?
Yes. Writing the field and moving on leaves the decision to whoever builds the next segment, which is how a verdict gets ignored.
How do I backfill?
The bulk API, once, outside the program. Then the program handles new and changed contacts.
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