> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.getmobly.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.getmobly.com/help-center/integrations/marketing-automation/write-behavior.md).

# Write behavior

Your marketing automation tool is your team's source of truth for how leads get treated. Some fields — a curated persona, a scoring value your ops team set, a nurture-track assignment — you don't want Mobly to overwrite with enriched data, no matter how confident the enrichment.

**Write Behavior** lets you decide, field by field, whether Mobly can overwrite the value in your MA tool or should leave it alone if a value is already there. Set it once on the Mapping tab and every future sync respects it.

## The two settings

For each mapped field, you pick between:

* **Overwrite** *(default)* — Mobly writes its value to your MA tool every time, replacing whatever was there. This is the historical behavior and stays the default for backwards compatibility with existing mappings.
* **Write if Blank** — Mobly writes its value only if the target field is empty. If your MA tool already has a value, Mobly leaves it alone.

Both settings still run enrichment as usual — the difference is only what happens at sync time.

## Configure Write Behavior

1. Open your MA integration in the Hub and click into the **Mapping** tab.
2. Find the field you want to protect and click the **gear icon** on the right side of that field's row.
3. A settings panel slides open below the row. The **Write Behavior** row shows a button for the mapped object (Marketo Person, Pardot Prospect).
4. Click the button to toggle between **Overwrite** and **Write if Blank**.
5. The setting saves as soon as you click; no separate save button on the Mapping tab.

## When to use each

**Overwrite** — fields where Mobly's enrichment is more reliable or more current than what's in your MA tool. Common picks:

* Company size, revenue, industry (Mobly's enrichment refreshes; MA records may be stale)
* LinkedIn URL, headshot
* Address fields when your enrichment is your primary source

**Write if Blank** — fields your team owns and edits by hand or through other integrations. Common picks:

* Job title, seniority, or persona fields your ops team has curated
* Score-adjacent fields your MA tool calculates
* Segment or program-membership fields your MA workflows write to
* Personal email / phone that came in from a nurture campaign

## Scope and behavior notes

* **Available on every connected MA tool** — Marketo and Pardot both use the same Mapping tab and honor Write Behavior identically.
* **Applies to future syncs only.** Changing a field from Overwrite to Write if Blank doesn't restore previously-overwritten values. Those are already there. The setting only affects what happens next.
* **Default is Overwrite for existing mappings.** Every existing field mapping was created before this feature shipped, so all of them start as Overwrite. No customer's sync behavior changes without a deliberate configuration.

## Related articles

* [Field mapping](/help-center/integrations/marketing-automation/field-mapping.md) — the how-to for mapping Mobly fields to your MA tool's fields
* [Sync modes](/help-center/integrations/marketing-automation/sync-modes.md) — Automatic vs Manual sync
* [Reconciliation](/help-center/integrations/marketing-automation/reconciliation.md) — what happens when a sync fails