As a Pardot Consulting shop we are often asked questions about when a Pardot prospect should be created in Salesforce. Historically, many marketers would prevent prospects from being synced with Salesforce until they have qualified them. This was a good strategy for building confidence in the data that they were sending to the sales team. However, with the ongoing melding of the Pardot and Salesforce platforms, a strong case can be made for sending all prospects directly into Salesforce.
Consider these:
1. It’s essential for tracking more than the first touch Campaign that generated an Opportunity
If a Prospect is not created as a Lead or a Contact in Salesforce, the only Campaign activity you will capture is the prospect’s first interaction with your brand. If the prospect is also a record in Salesforce, you can use completion actions to send the prospect to a Salesforce Campaign, thereby capturing every marketing touch for that prospect.
2. Pardot reporting – not so great; Salesforce reporting – Fantastic!
With the new Engagement Report types and Customizable Campaign Influence report types in Salesforce, data for emails opened, links clicked, forms completed, etc. is more than just static information — you can report on that marketing activity right in Salesforce, alongside your campaign and opportunity data. This level of reporting allows for deep insights into which marketing initiatives are creating the most revenue.
3. Critical for reporting on full lead life-cycle reporting
If a prospect is created as a Lead in Salesforce and is added to Campaigns, or has sales generated activities all of this activity history will follow the Lead upon conversion which allows for a 360 view of all activities that turned that net new prospect into a customer. If you do not send your prospects to Salesforce you will not see all historical marketing data in one place, namely, Salesforce.
4. Minimal downside as you can hide “non-MQL” leads from sales
By assigning all net new Leads to a Queue in Salesforce and by using list view filters, you will prevent these Lead records from being accessed by sales. Once the prospect has become MQL, use Salesforce Process builder to re-assign the Lead to a Sales User so that they appear on their “call today” list. Don’t forget to send an email to the new owner letting them know that a hot lead is coming their way!
5. Minimal downside – Your Salesforce cost will not increase
Pardot’s billing model is based on the number of mailable prospects. The Salesforce billing model is based on edition, license, and feature, not by the number of Leads and Contacts you have in your crm.
Bottom line.
The level of reporting and insight gained by sending prospects directly into salesforce and the ease of management of the Leads from queue to sales owner make this decision a no-brainer.
For more Pardot tips or help in optimizing your investment in Pardot /Salesforce, reach out to your Pardot consultants here at Invado Solutions.
