Eliminate Form-Fill Burnout with Account Engagement Progressive Profiling

Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Progressive Profiling is an out-of-the-box functionality and a powerful solution for B2B marketers who want to get detailed prospect data without overwhelming them with a large number of form fields to complete.

This advanced form feature allows marketers to gather additional information about prospects over time, without creating lengthy forms. On one hand, it helps the marketers gain higher conversion rates, while on the other it enhances the user experience and reduces form fill burnout.

How does Progressive Profiling work?

Through Progressive Profiling, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement replaces the form fields for which data is already collected with new fields.

So when a prospect visits your progressive profiling enabled form, it will only present the fields they haven’t

filled out before, unless the ‘Always display even if previously completed’ setting is enabled. By doing so, you gradually collect more information about your prospects over multiple interactions.

  • When a prospect first interacts with your marketing content, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement should display a short form with essential fields such as first name, last name, email address, and company name. The goal is to capture basic prospect data to initiate the engagement.
  • Upon subsequent engagement, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement flips previously completed fields with new ones. For instance, if the prospect has completed the Company Name field, the next time they interact with a form, it could be replaced with the Job title field.
  • Through every interaction, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement will ask the prospect to provide additional data beyond what is collected already.
  • Gradually you can build a comprehensive profile of your prospects, and it can be used to tailor your marketing campaigns to cater to their specific needs and preferences.

Key Benefits of Progressive Profiling

  • Progressive profiling ensures that quality prospect data is collected, as the risk of data entry errors is minimized due to this gradual approach of presenting fields.
  • Since the number of fields displayed at a time is limited, it makes the form submission exercise seamless, reduces burnout and increases the likelihood of getting more form submissions.
  • Segmentation and targeting of prospects also becomes a lot more easier and effective as more and more prospect data is collected.
  • Through better segmentation, marketers can send personalized content to the prospects and improve the chances of conversion.
  • Collecting additional information regarding the needs and preferences of the prospects can aid marketers in channelizing marketing efforts in the right areas.

How to set up progressive profiling in Account Engagement

  • Create Custom Fields:

Before setting up progressive profiling, you need to ensure the custom fields to collect the incremental prospect data are created.

  • Create your Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Form:

This feature requires you to first create the forms you intend to use for capturing prospect data. Create a form and either add new fields or use the existing ones such as First Name, Last Name, Email and Company.

  • Enable progressive profiling for your form:
    • In the form editor, click on the pencil icon adjacent to the form fields you seek to progressively profile.
      (The screenshots below show the example of progressive profiling on the ‘Department’ field, which will be displayed only when the ‘Job Title’ field is already completed.)
  • Then, in the form settings dialogue box, switch to the ‘Progressive’ tab and enable progressive profiling by checking the checkbox labeled as ‘Show this field only if the prospect already has data in the following field(s)
  • When adding multiple progressive profile fields, you can also manage the sequence in which they are displayed.
  • Remember to save the changes you made to the form settings, and click the ‘Confirm and save’ button before exiting the form editor.

Conclusion 

Overall, progressive profiling addresses the issue of form fill burnout by creating a dynamic, user-friendly and incremental approach to collect prospect data. It ensures quality data is collected and aids segmentation and targeting. 

This approach also ensures that marketers respect their prospect’s time and effort in the form completion process, while increasing engagement and prospect data quality. When using this approach remember to maintain a balance between asking information and honoring the prospect’s preferences.

Need help creating sophisticated prospect profiles and segmentation strategies? Reach out to the team at Sercante to get the conversation going.

Original article: Eliminate Form-Fill Burnout with Account Engagement Progressive Profiling

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Eliminate Form-Fill Burnout with Account Engagement Progressive Profiling appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-09-18T20:26:13+00:00September 18th, 2023|Categories: Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, Pardot, revive, Setup & Admin|

Coding Basics: A Marketer’s Friendly Guide to HTML

Marketers often overlook code literacy, outsourcing anything code related to website or email developers. But understanding some coding basics, such as HTML, benefits the everyday marketer more than they realize.

By learning the fundamentals of HTML, you can:

  • Better communicate your vision to the web developers
  • Understand how web pages are designed and where pieces of code need to go
  • Create richer, more engaging email and website content
  • Improve their search engine rankings

“But I don’t need to know how to code. It’s scary.”

That’s where we come in!

HTML coding basics for marketers

Hypertext markup language, aka HTML, is the code that tells your web browser what it should show when you go to a website. When you go to a webpage, your browser reads through the HTML tags and then presents it visually. This blog page even uses HTML to display its design and content to you in a way that is easy to read and understand.

With even the most basic knowledge of HTML code, you can better break up your page’s content in a way that will better engage your audience.

Code formatting

Each HTML tag you add must have a matching set of open and close tags. Without a close tag, any code you write will cause errors in how the info is displayed.

If we were to use the standard paragraph code, <b>, we would need to add </b> after we’re done.

<b>This tag makes text bold!</b> becomes This tag makes text bold!

HTML page structure

These tags will be utilized on every webpage. While you may not need to write them yourself, they are important to know and understand.

<head>

Any additional code for a page will go inside of the tag. This covers everything from general page design, additional styling, or Javascript code. Most tracking codes will go here as well.

<body>

This will be the main content for your website page.

<link>

If your page needs to link to a Cascading Stylesheet Sheet (CSS), it will do so inside of a tag.

<title>

Each page needs a title. What you place in the title tag will appear in search engine results as well as the name of the browser tab.

<div>

This is a structural element that goes inside the tag. Web pages and emails can be broken down into a series of nested tables. Div tags act as a single cell inside of this high level structure.

Building richer, more readable content

A main way marketers effectively use HTML is breaking up walls of text into something that is easier for a reader to sift through.

Content is meant to be read — not just for search engines to crawl. The more readable your landing page or email, the better your customers will understand the message you’re trying to convey. 

With HTML, you add rich text formatting to make key points stand out or build a list of reasons why your product is awesome.

Here are some important tags to spice up your copy!

Tag Write It Show It
<a> <a href=”(URL”)>Click me!</a> Click me!
<img> <img src=”(image URL)” />
<p> <p>A separate paragraph</p> A separate paragraph
<ul> <ul>
<li>A bullet point list!</li>
<li>No numbers!</li>
</ul>
A bullet point list!
No numbers!
<ol> <ol><li>A numbered list!</li>
<li>No bullet points</li>
</ol>
A numbered list
No bullet points
<b> <b>Bold</b> Bold
<i> <i>Italicized</i> Italicized
<u> <u>Underlined</u> Underlined
<h1> <h1>Fancy Title</h1> Fancy Title
<h2> <h2>Secondary Title</h2> Secondary Title
<br /> A line break<br />for readability A line break
for readability

Coding basics for stronger search engine optimization

SEO is the name of the online content game. Marketers are always on the lookout for ways to improve their search engine rankings. But HTML provides some simple ways to gain a boost – no hard thinking required.

The importance of alt tags

Google can do a lot of things except look at images. So how does it know what photos to show as relevant when I search for something online?

Alt text! Alt tags, also known as alt descriptions or alt text, describe the images you post to the search engine. They also allow customers who require certain accessibility tools to enjoy your more visual content. 

And if an image is taking a while to load (or doesn’t load at all), the alt text will display.

To add an alt tag to an image in HTML, you would use the following format:

<img src=”(Image URL)” alt=”A meme with the text Hello… is it alt-tags you’re looking for? over a photo Lionel Richie’s face”>

Use HTML header hierarchies

Search engines like it when pages lay out what is most important. When you utilize H1, H2, etc. tags on your page, you are laying out a table of contents of what content is connected and how important each piece is.

By placing a keyword in an H1 tag, compared to an H4 tag, you tell Google that the keyword in the H1 tag is one of the most important pieces of context about what is on your landing page.

All header tags can be stylized to make the most important ones stand out visually, which assist with readability.

Let’s get meta with meta tags

Meta tags may not directly impact your SEO rankings, but by adding in appropriate meta descriptions, this tells search engines like Google know what to display on their search results page. The more accurate and correct the meta description on the results page, the higher the chance someone will click on your website’s link because your result looks more relevant to the searcher.

If you don’t set a meta description yourself, Google then gets to guess what content to put here based on what exists on your page. Also another reason why header hierarchy is vital.

These type of tags usually fall under the main <head> tag for a page and look like the following:

<head>

<title>Let’s Get Meta</title>

<meta name=”keywords” content=”HTML, Meta Tags, Meta Description, Metadata” />

<meta name =”description” content=”Answering all of your questions about meta tags!” />

</head>

Basic coding is not so scary, right?

Simple coding doesn’t have to be scary. Knowing the basics of HTML makes a difference when it comes to having stand out landing pages and email copy. And understanding how code works will help you communicate with your web developers.

If you want to learn more about code that helps marketers, check out Code School for Marketers, a 6-week interactive online course to give you the tools to improve your code literacy!

Original article: Coding Basics: A Marketer’s Friendly Guide to HTML

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Coding Basics: A Marketer’s Friendly Guide to HTML appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-07-03T18:50:47+00:00July 3rd, 2023|Categories: Emails & Templates, Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, revive, Setup & Admin|

5 Easy Ways to Increase Pardot Form Submissions

A form on a landing page or your website is often the final step in a nurturing process and represents the crucial point of conversion. According to Manifest, 81% of people will abandon a form after beginning to fill it out. And of that 81%, more than half (67%) will not return to complete the form. 

So how do we, as marketers, improve our game and increase conversions while decreasing form abandonment? By using five native tools at your disposal within the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) forms tool.

Five Ways to Increase Pardot Form Submissions and Decrease Form Abandonment

When marketers first start using forms within Pardot, they’re probably inclined to keep things simple and have a primary focus on collecting information they see as required or important to their sales process. However, you can leverage a few things within Pardot to decrease form abandonment and up your marketing game. 

  1. Use Dependent Fields

Keep the form simple and limit the number of fields using dependent fields. When you are seeking relatable information based on specific field values, dependent fields are the best way to capture that additional insight.

For example, if you are a global company, you can ask for the user’s country. And if they respond with the United States, then you can ask for their state. Or if they respond with Canada, you can ask which province they are from. Whereas, if they respond with the United Kingdom, no additional information is required. 

Dependent fields eliminate unnecessary questions, shorten the form, and personalize the experience for each Prospect.

  1. Set Up Progressive Profiling

Another great way to help shorten your forms, but still collect the required information is through progressive profiling. This tool enables you to ask new questions based on each return to a form, eliminating previously completed questions from prior form fills. 

For example, if you already know their company, the next time they return to the form, you can now ask for a job title to dig in further. This is one of the best tools at your disposal as a marketer because it ensures a positive user experience for the Prospect and helps keep the sales team happy by collecting details for lead assignment, segmentation, and increased nurturing via targeted Engagement Studio Programs.

  1. Have Clear Calls to Action

Calls to action are the short persuasive text used on the form button to close the deal. You want to be straightforward while keeping it short and simple. I would recommend starting with a verb and following up with an adverb or subject thereafter. 

For example, a clear call to action could say:  “Download Your e-book Now” or “Subscribe Today.”

Ultimately, use language that promises them the delivery of something your reader wants. 

Form submission thank you page example
  1. Use Autoresponders

Creating an experience for Prospects is crucial in seeing them return to want more. This can be accomplished by ensuring that you follow through on your delivery when a form is completed through autoresponders and/or thank you pages. 

Take advantage of the redirect and follow-up by creating a personalized experience by offering them a thank you message, a downloaded asset, and/or highlighting similar content they may be interested in. 

By directing them to additional content, you can use your Progressive Profiling and they can gain additional insight into your organization and how you can help solve their issues.

  1. Enable Completion Actions

Completion Actions are similar to your Autoresponders, as they are unseen heroes of the form experience but play a critical role in delivering what was promised. A Completion Action is an action that Pardot will automatically make on your behalf as soon as the form is completed. 

Actions could include:

  • Delivering gated content
  • Adding to subscription lists
  • Notifying users
  • Adding prospects to nurture programs
  • Creating a task to follow up with the prospect

It’s the final touch to the entire experience and will keep your prospects returning for more.

Create Better Pardot Forms to Get More Conversions

With these out-of-the-box Pardot tools at your disposal, you can easily decrease form abandonment and increase Prospect engagement, growing your pipeline and improving your nurture game. 
Interested in learning more about how to get started or how to expand your Pardot form game? Contact us today!

Original article: 5 Easy Ways to Increase Pardot Form Submissions

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post 5 Easy Ways to Increase Pardot Form Submissions appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-23T21:06:51+00:00January 23rd, 2023|Categories: Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, Pardot, revive, Setup & Admin|

Boost Conversions: Best Practices for Landing Pages

With Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot), you have the power to drive conversions through Landing Pages. This is a crucial tool in your marketing toolbox to help drive sales goals, but it needs to be used effectively in order to be successful. Providing a great first impression to win over your customer begins with you ensuring specific qualities are in place to drive expected performance and engagement.

What is a landing page?

Landing pages are targeted web pages built by marketing teams to drive traffic from campaigns, including email links, social media posts, or digital ads. The key difference between a landing page and a standard website is that a landing page focuses on a single action with the end goal of generating new leads through targeted confersions. 

Website vs. Landing Page

Key differences, in addition to the call-to-action, between a website page and a landing page include:

  • Single CTA – Websites have multiple points of navigation and include several points of conversion, whereas a landing page often has no navigation and focuses on one singular point of action.
  • Focused message to convert – Websites tend to be content heavy and filled with information from a multitude of channels, including company details, business offerings, careers, etc. A landing page uses a single persuasive message to convert a specific subset of your target audience to do something.
  • Keep visitors on the page – Websites link to additional pages, social sites, or sign ups for email communications. Landing pages typically don’t have standout links that would potentially drive traffic off its page.

Why use a landing page?

A landing page is used to convert new leads in exchange for them receiving something they find valuable. Such valuable items could include:

  • Offer Codes or Discounts
  • White Papers or Articles
  • Newsletter Registration
  • Webinar or Event Attendance
  • Free eBooks, Blogs, or Infographics
  • Free Software Trials
  • Online Course Enrollment
  • Pre-Orders or Interest Levels

Best Practices

Now that we have a better understanding of what a landing page is and how it can be used to drive conversions, let’s review a few best practices when it comes to building a landing page.

Focus on One Point of Conversion

A landing page should have one singular focus or goal for the visitor to take action on. When you have more than one item to focus on, the chances of hitting a conversion drops. That’s why we recommend:

  • Limited, if any navigation on your landing page
  • Social icons should be reserved for the footer rather than called out in copy
  • Your conversion point, whether that be a button or a form, should be located at the top of the page to draw the visitor’s attention to it from their initial landing.

Use Consistent Language

When driving traffic from an outside source to your landing page, you want to keep mirroring that language in both locations. 

What you promise with your ad, should be delivered on the landing page. Without consistency and not keeping your “promise,” you may lose trust and a potential customer. 

Use Inspiring Calls to Action

Ensure that your CTA button is obvious to your visitors by putting it in a well-placed position, using contrasting colors to make it stand out, and by using action words. Remember, visitors are seeking a solution to their problem and the CTA should be that solution! 

Not only should the words be clear and concise, but you should ensure the CTA is above the fold of the page. Here’s a blog post that dives deeper into CTA best practices.

Consider Interactive Elements

Entice your visitors and drive them to a central point of action using interactive elements, which include:

  • Videos
  • Illustrations
  • Gif images
  • Bright colors
  • Quizzes
  • Polls
  • Calculators

These offer engaging content, eye-catching art, and allows you to collect additional insights about your audience, all while showing off your organization’s unique personality.

Design for All User Experiences

As of November 2022, studies have shown that 59.5% of all web traffic is coming from mobile devices. Despite this, several organizations are still not building their websites and landing pages to be responsive. This results in a very poor user experience. 

Instead, take the time to build responsive landing pages that adapt automatically to each user. If not, you will lose valuable leads.

Pardot user? Use these templates to build your landing pages.

Be Considerate of Forms

Let’s say you get traffic to your landing page and the page looks great, but the form has 6+ required fields with invasive questions. This will drive that traffic OFF of your page. 

Instead, you should aim to have your form have no more than 5 fields and target more basic details, such as first, last name, company, and email.

From there, enable Progressive Profiling, to continuously ask more questions of your customers. In addition, whenever asking an open-ended question, try to do so using drop-down menus, radio buttons, or checkboxes, rather than open text to create a better experience.

Thank You Content is a Must

Redirecting your landing page traffic to a thank you page not only wraps up the present and puts a bow on the experience, it also allows you, as the marketer, to retarget them and drive additional traffic to like-minded content. For example, you can drive them to additional product pages, resources, engage on social media, or drive them to contact a sales team member immediately.

Need additional help? Contact Sercante today for help with templates or strategy!

Original article: Boost Conversions: Best Practices for Landing Pages

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Boost Conversions: Best Practices for Landing Pages appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-18T21:48:43+00:00January 18th, 2023|Categories: Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, revive, Setup & Admin|

Forms Are Great, But Confirmed Opt-In Is Better

Are you spending hours upon hours curating engaging, click-worthy content, only to notice that you have low engagement, high unsubscribes and spam complaints? A list of opted-in prospects is great, but what happens when they input false or incorrect contact information, or sign up on a whim. By setting up Confirmed Opt-In (also known as Double Opt-In), you can be at ease knowing you’re collecting email addresses from a valid and monitored inbox, and of prospects who want to receive and read your content.

What is Confirmed Opt-In?

A Confirmed Opt-In (COI) is a process where a marketer obtains explicit consent from prospects to receive marketing emails. 

Setting it up adds a few more steps to the Single Opt-in process but is generally easy:

  1. A contact fills out your form and selects the consent check-box (single opt-in)
  2. They receive the opt-in confirmation email, open it and click the button to confirm.
  3. Their record is updated as an opted-in contact, along with other important details like when they confirmed their opt-in.

It may be a regulatory requirement in certain regions, so make sure you do your research to understand whether your prospects require a COI. It’s currently required in Austria, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Norway (source).

Benefits of COI for Email Marketing

While it can take more time to set up, the payoff is worth the effort:

  • Higher email engagement rates (opens/clicks): Prospects are interested in receiving your marketing emails and are more likely to purchase your products/services.
  • Lower bounce rates/spam complaints and a better sending reputation: No fake emails entering your database and causing high bounce rates or spam traps that end up harming your sending reputation. 
  • A well-documented record of opt-in: With this auditable trail, if a recipient reports the email as spam, you will have proof to support your list’s opt-in integrity.
  • And generally a good, clean database. 

Setting up Confirmed Opt-In

There are a number of ways to set up COI. Here’s a basic overview of how to set it up in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) instance. 

  1. Create two lists to capture opt-ins
    • Confirmed Opt-in
    • Not confirmed Opt-in
  2. Create a landing page that a prospect is directed to once they confirm their opt-in.
  3. Create a custom redirect link that sends prospects to the landing page above
    • Add the following completion actions to the custom redirect:
      1. Remove prospect from Not confirmed Opt-in list
      2. Add prospect to Confirmed Opt-in list
  4. Set up an auto-responder email to capture COI
    • Add the custom redirect link (identified in the above step) to the call to action button to capture the COI
  5. Add the following completion actions to the form/form handler that captures consent to receive Marketing Communications:
    • Add prospects to the Not confirmed Opt-in list 
    • Send auto-responder email to capture their COI

Quality or Quantity

COI is a great way to level up your email marketing strategy; ensuring a healthy database full of ‘real’ and engaged prospects. And with sales and marketing always looking for quality over quantity, COI will ensure it gets you there.

What questions do you have about Confirmed Opt-in? Let’s hear it in the comments below.

Original article: Forms Are Great, But Confirmed Opt-In Is Better

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Forms Are Great, But Confirmed Opt-In Is Better appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-05T17:28:14+00:00January 5th, 2023|Categories: Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, Pardot, revive, Setup & Admin|

How to Integrate Your Blog With Pardot

Your website is one of your most important demand generation assets and a blog is a great way to increase your online presence by making you more visible on Google. It’s also a great way to bring prospects into your database to expand the top of your funnel. 

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set up your blog with a Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) form, how to create a blog welcome email, and tips to automate blog digest emails.

How do you want your blog readers to subscribe?

There are many ways you can get your readers to subscribe to your blog. Some companies use a popup form when you visit a blog post, which has proven to be effective and other companies make it more subtle. Here are some different methods which will give you inspiration on how you should add the form to your blog.

Example 1: In a sidebar 

Pardot lets you subscribe to their blog by entering in your email address in the sidebar.

Example 2: At the end of each blog

Hootsuite adds their blog subscription form to the bottom of each blog post. They also only ask for your email address and have some nice icons, so it’s clear what you’re signing up for.

Example 3: In the footer

Engagio has a “sticky footer” at the bottom of their blog page, as well as on each blog post to get readers to subscribe. The bold yellow color also draws your attention to the subscription form without being too invasive and they provide you with a close button to hide the form.

Example 4: With an automation

Asana uses a subscription form that slides out at the bottom when you scroll down about 80%. I like how the animation captures the attention of the readers and how they incorporate Facebook and Twitter buttons beneath the email sign up.

Example 5: In multiple spots

Shopify uses two slightly different methods for capturing their blog subscribers. When you visit their main blog page you can subscribe right from their header.

They also have a subscription form in the sidebar of each post. I like that they include some social proof in the subscription form in the sidebar and it’s clear what I can expect them to send me if I give them my email address.

What fields should you capture?

Standard fields

The shorter the form the more likely you will get your readers to subscribe to your blog. Most blogs only ask for an email address, but some also will ask you for your first and last name for more personalized blog digest emails.

Hidden fields

Your standard source fields should be on your blog subscription form, just like every Pardot form you create.

If you opt to have a subscription form on every blog post, I also like to add hidden fields for blog post title and blog post category. With my blog, for example, I have a subscription form at the bottom of each post and I use custom code in WordPress to automatically populate the hidden fields with the post title and post category. This way I can pull reports in Pardot to see what type of content is generating more blog subscribers and what posts have generated the most blog subscribers.

Here’s an example of populating hidden fields with WordPress blog information. Note: This method is only possible while using Pardot Form Handlers.

<input type="hidden" name="post-category" value="<?php the_category(); ?>" />

<input type="hidden" name="post-category" value="<?php single_post_title(); ?>" />

The Pardot implementation

Now that I’ve given you some examples of what form fields to include in your form and some methods for blog subscription forms, it’s time to show you how to build it out in Pardot.

Pardot Form Handlers vs. Pardot Form embed

There are some advantages and disadvantages for each form method. Embedded Pardot forms allow you to update the form directly in the Pardot form editor and the changes are live on your site as soon as you save the form. However, they also are embedded on your site using an iFrame, which means that certain functionality might not be available. Pardot form handlers are much more flexible and allow you to use your own HTML code to send data to Pardot.

When integrating your blog with Pardot the best form method to use, in my opinion, is Pardot form handlers, for a couple of reasons:

  • Changes don’t need to be made to the blog form regularly
  • It’s easier to have the form match your website/blog
  • Many blogging platforms have plugins you can use for blog subscription forms that will work well with Pardot form handlers

Create a campaign dedicated to blog subscribers

Create a campaign to attribute your blog as a lead source for any new subscribers. Your form and new subscribers should be assigned to the campaign in Pardot and/or Salesforce, depending on your lead attribution processes. 

Create a Pardot Form or a Form Handler

In this tutorial, I will be using a Pardot form handler. You can also use a regular Pardot form if you prefer.

Create a Pardot form handler with a descriptive name. I called mine “Blog Subscription Form.” Select your new campaign, map the fields that you want to add to the form and click save. Note: Completion Actions and some other settings will be updated later on.

Add the form to your blog

There are many tools that allow you to add forms to your blog, but it depends what platform you use. Here’s a list of some popular plugins that will help you add your Pardot form to your blog.

  • PopUp Domination can be used to create a popup subscription form on your blog. You can use any HTML you want, which means it will work perfectly with your Pardot form handler. 
  • Sumo is another option that will work on any type of blog platform. They also offer many different ways to display the subscription form on your blog.

While I’m a big fan of these tools, if you have a developer available the best option is to get them to implement your Pardot form on your blog using custom code. Depending on the method you choose it should be pretty easy for a developer to implement your form and it means you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee for using these tools.

Create a Thank You page

The next step is to create a Thank You page that the form will direct to when someone subscribes to the blog. I recommend that you create it on your website (instead of a Pardot landing page), to ensure it has the same look as your blog.

Once your Thank You page is created, copy and paste the URL into the Success location in the Pardot form handler.

Create a blog welcome email

A blog welcome email is a great way to promote more of your blog content. Choose a couple of your popular posts or create a digest of curated content your readers might be interested in.

When a reader subscribes to my blog, I send them a welcome email with some of my top Pardot blog posts. Click here to see what it looks like (and feel free to copy and paste the HTML to create your own welcome email).

Once you have your blog welcome email created add a completion action to your Pardot form to send an autoresponder email.

Emailing subscribers: Automated vs. Manual

Now that your form is set up on your site and your welcome email is ready, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to send notification emails when there’s a new blog post. There are two ways you can send out blog posts: 

  1. Automatically using a third-party application, or 
  2. Manually, since Pardot doesn’t have an RSS feed integration.

For my blog, I send out all my blog digest emails manually, since I like to have control over what’s sent. However, I only post about once or twice a week, so it’s pretty manageable.

Automated blog posts using Feed Otter

If you opt to go with the automated route, Feed Otter provides a full RSS integration with Pardot. You can quickly build, schedule, and email your blog subscribers notifying them of a new post, a weekly digest, or a monthly newsletter.

Manual blog post emails

Manual blog post emails require you to create an email each time there is a new blog post, or if you post a lot during the week, you can do a digest of all the new posts, once a week. It can be time-consuming, but if you have a good email template setup and a defined process the whole thing doesn’t take very long. If you’re going to go the manual route, here are some tips:

  • Create a simple, one-column email template, so you don’t have to spend time messing with formatting. This is the template I use for my blog posts.
  • Create an email that you can copy each time you need to send a blog email. This will contain all the settings (from address, list, etc.) you need to send the blog email.

Questions?

Send me a tweet @jennamolby or leave a comment below.

Note: This post was originally written in November 2016 and updated January 2023.

Original article: How to Integrate Your Blog With Pardot

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post How to Integrate Your Blog With Pardot appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-04T19:34:16+00:00January 4th, 2023|Categories: Emails & Templates, Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, Pardot, revive, Setup & Admin|

How to Integrate Your Blog With Pardot

Your website is one of your most important demand generation assets and a blog is a great way to increase your online presence by making you more visible on Google. It’s also a great way to bring prospects into your database to expand the top of your funnel. 

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set up your blog with a Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) form, how to create a blog welcome email, and tips to automate blog digest emails.

How do you want your blog readers to subscribe?

There are many ways you can get your readers to subscribe to your blog. Some companies use a popup form when you visit a blog post, which has proven to be effective and other companies make it more subtle. Here are some different methods which will give you inspiration on how you should add the form to your blog.

Example 1: In a sidebar 

Pardot lets you subscribe to their blog by entering in your email address in the sidebar.

Example 2: At the end of each blog

Hootsuite adds their blog subscription form to the bottom of each blog post. They also only ask for your email address and have some nice icons, so it’s clear what you’re signing up for.

Example 3: In the footer

Engagio has a “sticky footer” at the bottom of their blog page, as well as on each blog post to get readers to subscribe. The bold yellow color also draws your attention to the subscription form without being too invasive and they provide you with a close button to hide the form.

Example 4: With an automation

Asana uses a subscription form that slides out at the bottom when you scroll down about 80%. I like how the animation captures the attention of the readers and how they incorporate Facebook and Twitter buttons beneath the email sign up.

Example 5: In multiple spots

Shopify uses two slightly different methods for capturing their blog subscribers. When you visit their main blog page you can subscribe right from their header.

They also have a subscription form in the sidebar of each post. I like that they include some social proof in the subscription form in the sidebar and it’s clear what I can expect them to send me if I give them my email address.

What fields should you capture?

Standard fields

The shorter the form the more likely you will get your readers to subscribe to your blog. Most blogs only ask for an email address, but some also will ask you for your first and last name for more personalized blog digest emails.

Hidden fields

Your standard source fields should be on your blog subscription form, just like every Pardot form you create.

If you opt to have a subscription form on every blog post, I also like to add hidden fields for blog post title and blog post category. With my blog, for example, I have a subscription form at the bottom of each post and I use custom code in WordPress to automatically populate the hidden fields with the post title and post category. This way I can pull reports in Pardot to see what type of content is generating more blog subscribers and what posts have generated the most blog subscribers.

Here’s an example of populating hidden fields with WordPress blog information. Note: This method is only possible while using Pardot Form Handlers.

<input type="hidden" name="post-category" value="<?php the_category(); ?>" />

<input type="hidden" name="post-category" value="<?php single_post_title(); ?>" />

The Pardot implementation

Now that I’ve given you some examples of what form fields to include in your form and some methods for blog subscription forms, it’s time to show you how to build it out in Pardot.

Pardot Form Handlers vs. Pardot Form embed

There are some advantages and disadvantages for each form method. Embedded Pardot forms allow you to update the form directly in the Pardot form editor and the changes are live on your site as soon as you save the form. However, they also are embedded on your site using an iFrame, which means that certain functionality might not be available. Pardot form handlers are much more flexible and allow you to use your own HTML code to send data to Pardot.

When integrating your blog with Pardot the best form method to use, in my opinion, is Pardot form handlers, for a couple of reasons:

  • Changes don’t need to be made to the blog form regularly
  • It’s easier to have the form match your website/blog
  • Many blogging platforms have plugins you can use for blog subscription forms that will work well with Pardot form handlers

Create a campaign dedicated to blog subscribers

Create a campaign to attribute your blog as a lead source for any new subscribers. Your form and new subscribers should be assigned to the campaign in Pardot and/or Salesforce, depending on your lead attribution processes. 

Create a Pardot Form or a Form Handler

In this tutorial, I will be using a Pardot form handler. You can also use a regular Pardot form if you prefer.

Create a Pardot form handler with a descriptive name. I called mine “Blog Subscription Form.” Select your new campaign, map the fields that you want to add to the form and click save. Note: Completion Actions and some other settings will be updated later on.

Add the form to your blog

There are many tools that allow you to add forms to your blog, but it depends what platform you use. Here’s a list of some popular plugins that will help you add your Pardot form to your blog.

  • PopUp Domination can be used to create a popup subscription form on your blog. You can use any HTML you want, which means it will work perfectly with your Pardot form handler. 
  • Sumo is another option that will work on any type of blog platform. They also offer many different ways to display the subscription form on your blog.

While I’m a big fan of these tools, if you have a developer available the best option is to get them to implement your Pardot form on your blog using custom code. Depending on the method you choose it should be pretty easy for a developer to implement your form and it means you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee for using these tools.

Create a Thank You page

The next step is to create a Thank You page that the form will direct to when someone subscribes to the blog. I recommend that you create it on your website (instead of a Pardot landing page), to ensure it has the same look as your blog.

Once your Thank You page is created, copy and paste the URL into the Success location in the Pardot form handler.

Create a blog welcome email

A blog welcome email is a great way to promote more of your blog content. Choose a couple of your popular posts or create a digest of curated content your readers might be interested in.

When a reader subscribes to my blog, I send them a welcome email with some of my top Pardot blog posts. Click here to see what it looks like (and feel free to copy and paste the HTML to create your own welcome email).

Once you have your blog welcome email created add a completion action to your Pardot form to send an autoresponder email.

Emailing subscribers: Automated vs. Manual

Now that your form is set up on your site and your welcome email is ready, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to send notification emails when there’s a new blog post. There are two ways you can send out blog posts: 

  1. Automatically using a third-party application, or 
  2. Manually, since Pardot doesn’t have an RSS feed integration.

For my blog, I send out all my blog digest emails manually, since I like to have control over what’s sent. However, I only post about once or twice a week, so it’s pretty manageable.

Automated blog posts using Feed Otter

If you opt to go with the automated route, Feed Otter provides a full RSS integration with Pardot. You can quickly build, schedule, and email your blog subscribers notifying them of a new post, a weekly digest, or a monthly newsletter.

Manual blog post emails

Manual blog post emails require you to create an email each time there is a new blog post, or if you post a lot during the week, you can do a digest of all the new posts, once a week. It can be time-consuming, but if you have a good email template setup and a defined process the whole thing doesn’t take very long. If you’re going to go the manual route, here are some tips:

  • Create a simple, one-column email template, so you don’t have to spend time messing with formatting. This is the template I use for my blog posts.
  • Create an email that you can copy each time you need to send a blog email. This will contain all the settings (from address, list, etc.) you need to send the blog email.

Questions?

Send me a tweet @jennamolby or leave a comment below.

Note: This post was originally written in November 2016 and updated January 2023.

Original article: How to Integrate Your Blog With Pardot

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post How to Integrate Your Blog With Pardot appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-04T19:34:16+00:00January 4th, 2023|Categories: Emails & Templates, Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, Pardot, revive, Setup & Admin|

Inspiration: Using Pardot for Event Registration

Recently, I was challenged with creating a landing page for event registration using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot). The event had 15+ roundtable sessions in the morning (within 2-time slots) and an option to register for the afternoon session (keynote, happy hour etc). Here’s a sneak peek into how I built it along with some code if you want to try building something similar for your next event.

VIEW DEMO

How it Works

Before we get into the details, here’s a high-level breakdown of how the page works.

  • A user clicks on the ‘register’ button to sign up for a roundtable, the roundtable name is populated in a hidden form field.
  • A user clicks on the ‘register’ button to sign up for the conference, a hidden form field is set to TRUE
  • A user then enters their information into a form. The data is sent to Pardot using a form handler.
  • Users who signed up for at least one roundtable are sent a Pardot email that contains a “thanks for registering” message, the name(s) of the selected roundtable(s) and a calendar invite.
  • Users who didn’t sign up for any roundtables, but signed up to attend the conference, are sent a “thank you” email with a calendar invite.

Pardot Setup

Field Creation

First, I needed to create a couple of new fields in Pardot:

  1. Roundtable Name 1: This field will contain the name of the roundtable the attendee selects for the first time slot.
  2. Roundtable Name 2: This field will contain the name of the roundtable the attendee selects for the second time slot.
  3. Registered For Conference: This field is a checkbox (true or false) which will indicate that the attendee has selected to attend the conference.

Form Handler Setup

I opted to use a form handler instead of a Pardot form, so I could easily customize my form.

Field Mappings

I added all the standard fields to the form handler (first name, last name, company name, job title, opt-in, and email address). I also added the 3 new custom fields (roundtable name 1, roundtable name 2, registered for conference) and marked them as not required since the attendee doesn’t have to go to all 3 events.

pardot-form-inspiration-field-mappings

Completion Actions

I added 2 completion actions, the first one is to sync the prospect to an SFDC campaign with the status of “registered”, the second completion action is to send me an email alert when someone registers. The email notification helped me easily determine which roundtables are most popular.

Thanks for registering email confirmation

I created 2 ‘thanks for registering emails’ and set them up to be sent via an automation rule.

  1. Conference Only: This email is sent out to everyone who didn’t select to participate in any of the roundtables.
  2. Roundtables: This email is sent out to everyone who registered for at least one roundtable session.

Conference Only Email

The conference only email was pretty simple. It contained a thank you message along with calendar invites.

The email was sent using an automation rule that checks if “conference only” is true and if both roundtable fields are empty.

pardot-automation-rule-conference-only

Roundtable Email

The roundtable email contains a thank you message as well as the name(s) of the roundtables the user has selected to attend. The names of the roundtables are dynamically added to the email using a variable tag.

roundtable-selection-pardot-inspiration

The email was sent using an automation rule that checks if the roundtable 1 field is not empty OR the roundtable 2 field is not empty.

pardot-completion-action-send-roundtable-email

Building the Landing Page

Building the landing page was the difficult part. I didn’t want to include the roundtable names in a drop down menu in a form, so I came up with the idea to make the registration process like a shopping cart.

VIEW DEMO

The HTML

I used Bootstrap as my framework for the landing page and used Bootstrap Panels for a clean way to display the roundtable names and descriptions.

<div class="panel panel-default">
    <div class="panel-heading">
      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 1</span></h3>
    </div>
    <div class="panel-body">
      <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-9">
          Pellentesque tempus aliquet nisi in sollicitudin. Aliquam tempor ligula vel mattis cursus. Cras lacus est, facilisis feugiat rhoncus ac, condimentum a ex. Aliquam elementum, nisi non dapibus dapibus, neque mi mattis libero, nec mattis tortor elit ut sapien. Donec nisi nulla, feugiat non dignissim aliquet, efficitur eget lorem. Proin id pellentesque ante.
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

Since there were 2 time slots for the roundtables, I wrapped each of the sections in a DIV with a class of first-session and second-session.

<div class="sessions first-session">
  <div class="panel panel-default">
    <div class="panel-heading">
      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 1</span></h3>
    </div>
    <div class="panel-body">
      <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-9">
          Pellentesque tempus aliquet nisi in sollicitudin. Aliquam tempor ligula vel mattis cursus. Cras lacus est, facilisis feugiat rhoncus ac, condimentum a ex. Aliquam elementum, nisi non dapibus dapibus, neque mi mattis libero, nec mattis tortor elit ut sapien. Donec nisi nulla, feugiat non dignissim aliquet, efficitur eget lorem. Proin id pellentesque ante.
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
        </div>
      </div>
      
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="panel panel-default">
    <div class="panel-heading">
      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 2</span></h3>
    </div>
    <div class="panel-body">
 	<div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-9">
     	Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas lacinia, dolor scelerisque commodo sodales, augue lectus luctus turpis, id pharetra mauris libero at urna. Vestibulum in magna aliquam, interdum diam eu, pretium odio. Curabitur a porta metus, eget porttitor nibh. Maecenas porta condimentum lacus, in bibendum augue euismod sit amet.
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
        </div>
      </div>
   	
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="panel panel-default">
    <div class="panel-heading">
      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 3</span></h3>
    </div>
    <div class="panel-body">
 	<div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-9">
          Phasellus nec neque scelerisque, semper odio a, fringilla leo. Sed cursus lectus non purus cursus tempus. Cras eu blandit lectus. Proin sodales justo et felis consectetur, sed ultrices nibh imperdiet. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed aliquam congue feugiat. Nam elit orci, congue et maximus sed, commodo quis arcu. Suspendisse iaculis eros viverra consectetur pretium.
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
        </div>
      </div>
   	
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="panel panel-default">
    <div class="panel-heading">
      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 4</span></h3>
    </div>
    <div class="panel-body">
      <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-9">
          Cras sapien leo, sodales vitae congue quis, semper ac ligula. Integer molestie fermentum suscipit. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla odio ligula, aliquam eget leo eget, sollicitudin fringilla ante.
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
        </div>
      </div>   	
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Sticking with the ‘add to shopping cart’ feel, I wanted to add a “your agenda” section to the bottom left corner of the page that populates based on the sessions you select. This can be done using my slide out lead generation form with a couple modifications.

<div class="slideout-form">
  <div class="slideoutform-header">
    <h3>Your Agenda</h3>
    <div class="close">X</div>
  </div>
  <div class="slideout-content">
      <div class="session-name-1"></div>
      <div class="session-name-2"></div>
      <div class="text-center">
      <a href="#registration" class="btn btn-white">Register</a>
      </div>
  </div>
</div>

Finally, I added the form to the bottom of the page, which uses a Pardot form handler and hidden fields for roundtable name and conference registration.

<div class="panel panel-default">
  <form action="" method="post" id="regForm">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label>First Name <span class="required">*</span></label>
            <input class="form-control" name="firstname" required/>
        </div>
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label>Last Name <span class="required">*</span></label>
            <input class="form-control" name="lastname" required/>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label>Email Address <span class="required">*</span></label>
            <input class="form-control" name="email" required/>
        </div>
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label>Company <span class="required">*</span></label>
            <input class="form-control" name="company" required/>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-sm-6">
            <label>Job Title <span class="required">*</span></label>
            <input class="form-control" name="jobtitle" required/>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-12 optin-container">
            <input type="checkbox" name="optin" /> Opt-in to receive communications from Sample Company including exclusive event invites, product and company updates and more
        </div>
    </div>
    <input type="hidden" name="roundtable1" />
    <input type="hidden" name="roundtable2" />
    <input type="hidden" name="eventreg" />
  <div class="footer-reg text-center">
    <input type="submit" class="btn btn-register btn-large" value="Register" />
  </div>
  <div class="required required-msg">
 
  </div>
  </form>
</div>

JavaScript

I used jQuery to add some logic to my page. There was a fair bit of logic to consider for the roundtable registration, including:

  • Changing the button style when a session is selected.
  • Hiding the rest of the ‘register’ buttons within that time slot, so the attendee can only select one session.
  • Displaying the name of the selected roundtable in the agenda section.
  • Populating the hidden fields with the name of the selected roundtable.
 // Show the Agenda
  $('.btn-select, .btn-conference').click(function(event) {
    $('.slideout-form').slideDown();
  })
  // Session Selection Session 1
  $('.first-session .btn-select').click(function(event) {
      event.preventDefault();
      $(this).addClass('session-selected');
      $(this).removeClass('btn-select');
      $(this).text('selected');
      $('.first-session .btn-select').hide();
      var selectedsession1 = $(this).closest('.panel').find('.rountable-name').text();
      $('.session-name-1').html('<div class="agenda-item"><h5>9:00am - 11:00am</h5><div class="agenda-content">' + selectedsession1 + '</div></div>');
      $('input[name=session1]').val(selectedsession1);
  });
 
  // Session Selection Session 2
  $('.second-session .btn-select').click(function(event) {
      event.preventDefault();
      $(this).addClass('session-selected');
      $(this).removeClass('btn-select');
      $(this).text('selected');
      $('.second-session .btn-select').hide();
      var selectedsession2 = $(this).closest('.panel').find('.rountable-name').text();
      $('.session-name-2').html('<div class="agenda-item"><h5>11:00am - NOON</h5><div class="agenda-content">' + selectedsession2 + '</div></div>');
      $('input[name=session2]').val(selectedsession2);
  });

The entire HTML code

I created a new landing page in Account Engagement to host the registration page. All the CSS, JavaScript and Bootstrap files were also uploaded in Account Engagement to keep everything in one place.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta content="IE=edge" http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible"><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" name="viewport">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://jennamolby.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/favicon.ico" />
<!-- The above 3 meta tags *must* come first in the head; any other head content must come *after* these tags -->
<title>Pardot Event Registration Inspiration</title>
<!-- Bootstrap -->
<link href="bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="pardot-registration-inspiration-styles.css" rel="stylesheet">
 
<!-- HTML5 shim and Respond.js for IE8 support of HTML5 elements and media queries --><!--[if lt IE 9]>
      <script src="https://oss.maxcdn.com/html5shiv/3.7.2/html5shiv.min.js"></script>
      <script src="https://oss.maxcdn.com/respond/1.4.2/respond.min.js"></script>
    <![endif]-->
    </head>
    <body>
      <div class="header">
        <div class="container">
          <div class="row">
            <div class="col-sm-12 text-center">
                  Example Pardot Registration Page
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
        <div class="container">
          <div class="row">
            <div class="col-md-9 centered-columns">
              <h2> 9:00am - 10:00am</h2>
              <div class="sessions first-session">
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 1</span></h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                      <div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                          Pellentesque tempus aliquet nisi in sollicitudin. Aliquam tempor ligula vel mattis cursus. Cras lacus est, facilisis feugiat rhoncus ac, condimentum a ex. Aliquam elementum, nisi non dapibus dapibus, neque mi mattis libero, nec mattis tortor elit ut sapien. Donec nisi nulla, feugiat non dignissim aliquet, efficitur eget lorem. Proin id pellentesque ante.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 2</span></h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                 	<div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                     	Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas lacinia, dolor scelerisque commodo sodales, augue lectus luctus turpis, id pharetra mauris libero at urna. Vestibulum in magna aliquam, interdum diam eu, pretium odio. Curabitur a porta metus, eget porttitor nibh. Maecenas porta condimentum lacus, in bibendum augue euismod sit amet.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 3</span></h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                 	<div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                          Phasellus nec neque scelerisque, semper odio a, fringilla leo. Sed cursus lectus non purus cursus tempus. Cras eu blandit lectus. Proin sodales justo et felis consectetur, sed ultrices nibh imperdiet. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed aliquam congue feugiat. Nam elit orci, congue et maximus sed, commodo quis arcu. Suspendisse iaculis eros viverra consectetur pretium.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 4</span></h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                      <div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                          Cras sapien leo, sodales vitae congue quis, semper ac ligula. Integer molestie fermentum suscipit. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla odio ligula, aliquam eget leo eget, sollicitudin fringilla ante.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>   	
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <h2>11:00am - Noon</h2>
                <div class="sessions second-session">
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 5</span></h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                      <div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                          Donec aliquet arcu at risus consequat mollis. Morbi suscipit ipsum commodo posuere faucibus. Mauris dui lacus, accumsan sed sollicitudin eget, placerat a velit.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title">Session 6</h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                      <div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                          Nam congue quam non elementum placerat. Vivamus egestas, ante sed imperdiet fermentum, tortor libero fermentum magna, nec bibendum mauris lacus vitae ante. Donec eu leo volutpat, consectetur libero eu, porttitor dui. Mauris nec ornare ligula. Morbi et massa viverra, malesuada velit id, faucibus metus. Duis consequat tincidunt blandit.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <div class="panel-heading">
                      <h3 class="panel-title"><span class="rountable-name">Session 7</span></h3>
                    </div>
                    <div class="panel-body">
                      <div class="row">
                        <div class="col-md-9">
                          Sed turpis nisl, efficitur pharetra hendrerit ac, gravida id mi. Duis elementum velit nec risus aliquet congue et non dolor.
                        </div>
                        <div class="col-md-3 btn-row">
                            <a href="#" class="btn btn-register btn-select">Select</a>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                   	
                    </div>
                  </div>
              </div>
          <div class="slideout-form">
          <div class="slideoutform-header">
            <h3>Your Agenda</h3>
            <div class="close">X</div>
          </div>
          <div class="slideout-content">
              <div class="session-name-1"></div>
              <div class="session-name-2"></div>
              <div class="text-center">
              <a href="#registration" class="btn btn-white">Register</a>
              </div>
          </div>
        </div>
         	<h2 style="background-color:#49c5c8;">Register</h2>
            <div class="sessions conf" id="registration">
                  <div class="panel panel-default">
                    <form action="" method="post" id="regForm">
                      <div class="row">
                          <div class="col-sm-6">
                              <label>First Name <span class="required">*</span></label>
                              <input class="form-control" name="firstname" required/>
                          </div>
                          <div class="col-sm-6">
                              <label>Last Name <span class="required">*</span></label>
                              <input class="form-control" name="lastname" required/>
                          </div>
                      </div>
                      <div class="row">
                          <div class="col-sm-6">
                              <label>Email Address <span class="required">*</span></label>
                              <input class="form-control" name="email" required/>
                          </div>
                          <div class="col-sm-6">
                              <label>Company <span class="required">*</span></label>
                              <input class="form-control" name="company" required/>
                          </div>
                      </div>
                      <div class="row">
                          <div class="col-sm-6">
                              <label>Job Title <span class="required">*</span></label>
                              <input class="form-control" name="jobtitle" required/>
                          </div>
                      </div>
                      <div class="row">
                          <div class="col-md-12 optin-container">
                              <input type="checkbox" name="optin" /> Opt-in to receive communications from Sample Company including exclusive event invites, product and company updates and more
                          </div>
                      </div>
                      <input type="hidden" name="session1" />
                      <input type="hidden" name="session2" />
                      <input type="hidden" name="tractionforcereg" />
                    <div class="footer-reg text-center">
                      <input type="submit" class="btn btn-register btn-large" value="Register" />
                    </div>
                    <div class="required required-msg">
                    </div>
                    </form>
                  </div>
              </div>
            </div>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
   	
      <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
      <script src="pardot-registration-inspiration.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    </body>
</html>

The Entire JavaScript

$(document).ready(function(){
 
  // Show the Agenda
  $('.btn-select, .btn-conference').click(function(event) {
    $('.slideout-form').slideDown();
  })
 
  // Session Selection Session 1
  $('.first-session .btn-select').click(function(event) {
      event.preventDefault();
      $(this).addClass('session-selected');
      $(this).removeClass('btn-select');
      $(this).text('selected');
      $('.first-session .btn-select').hide();
      var selectedsession1 = $(this).closest('.panel').find('.rountable-name').text();
      $('.session-name-1').html('<div class="agenda-item"><h5>9:00am - 11:00am</h5><div class="agenda-content">' + selectedsession1 + '</div></div>');
      $('input[name=roundtable1]').val(selectedsession1);
      console.log(selectedsession1);
  });
 
  // Session Selection Session 2
  $('.second-session .btn-select').click(function(event) {
      event.preventDefault();
      $(this).addClass('session-selected');
      $(this).removeClass('btn-select');
      $(this).text('selected');
      $('.second-session .btn-select').hide();
      var selectedsession2 = $(this).closest('.panel').find('.rountable-name').text();
      $('.session-name-2').html('<div class="agenda-item"><h5>11:00am - NOON</h5><div class="agenda-content">' + selectedsession2 + '</div></div>');
      $('input[name=roundtable2]').val(selectedsession2);
      console.log(selectedsession2);
  });
  // Conference Selection
  $('.btn-conference').click(function(event) {
   	event.preventDefault();
      $(this).addClass('roundtable-selected');
      $(this).text('selected');
    var selectedSession3 = $(this).closest('.panel').find('.rountable-name').text();
 	$('.roundtable-name-3').html('<div class="agenda-item"><h5>NOON - 8:00pm</h5><div class="agenda-content">' + selectedSession3 + '</div></div>');
    $('input[name=eventreg]').val('true');
  });
  // Close button for the Agenda
  $('.close').click(function(event) {
      event.preventDefault();
      $('.slideout-form').slideUp();
  });
  // Smooth scroll for the register button
   $(function() {
    $('a[href*="#"]:not([href="#"])').click(function() {
      if (location.pathname.replace(/^\//,'') == this.pathname.replace(/^\//,'') && location.hostname == this.hostname) {
        var target = $(this.hash);
        target = target.length ? target : $('[name=' + this.hash.slice(1) +']');
        if (target.length) {
          $('html, body').animate({
            scrollTop: target.offset().top
          }, 1000);
          return false;
        }
      }
    });
  });
});

VIEW DEMO

Note: This post was originally published in April 2016 and updated in January 2023.

Original article: Inspiration: Using Pardot for Event Registration

©2023 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Inspiration: Using Pardot for Event Registration appeared first on The Spot.

By |2023-01-02T17:10:00+00:00January 2nd, 2023|Categories: Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, Pardot, revive, Setup & Admin|

Sync Error Workaround: Dynamic Dependent Picklist Fields and Pardot Forms

An issue faced by many marketers using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) is how to find a workaround for dynamic dependent picklist fields and Pardot forms that will reduce sync errors in Salesforce. Specifically, Pardot admins are often looking for ways to collect and sync values from Pardot forms and form handlers to Salesforce restricted picklist fields. 

Out of the box, Pardot’s handling of dependencies between fields is virtually non-existent. This leads to sync errors when values passed from Pardot cannot be accepted by Salesforce. 

The workaround described below aims to mirror the dependencies between dynamic picklist fields so that values can be passed cleanly to Salesforce without error.

The Challenge: Syncing Dynamic Dependent Picklist Values

Using dynamic dependent picklists in Pardot is a great way to cut down on otherwise lengthy lists of values from which your audience can choose. Here’s an article from Marcos Duran that describes how to set up this use case for dynamic dependent picklists. So how do you sync this data to Salesforce CRM?

Example: Country and State Global Picklists

One very common example of this type of dependency is found between the Country and State global picklists in Salesforce. For example, a country of the United States may only accept values matching one of 52 allowable states, while the country of Canada may only accept one of 13 provinces or territories. 

If a Pardot prospect has a country of Canada and a state other than one of those 13 allowable values, a sync error will result — even if the state value matches one of the 52 allowable U.S. states.

Example: Dependencies Between Custom Salesforce Fields

Another common example involves dependencies between custom Salesforce fields. For example, dependencies can exist for product lines and SKU. 

In this example, a candy company might sell products that fall into one of 3 product lines: 

  1. Chocolates
  2. Hard Candies
  3. Gummies

Within the Chocolates product line, available SKUs include chocolate bars, truffles, and hot chocolate. Each SKU can belong to only one product line — in other words, a chocolate bar can only belong to the chocolate product line, and cannot qualify as a hard candy or gummy. 

Requirements for Setting Up Dynamic Dependent Picklists in Pardot

For the purposes of this blog, I will focus on the candy company’s use case, described above. The below solution assumes that a prospect can only belong to one Product Line at a time and that a prospect cannot be interested in multiple SKUs within that Product Line simultaneously.

Salesforce Dependencies

The candy company’s Salesforce org utilizes two restricted picklist fields:

  • Product Line (Product_Line__c)
    • Data type: Picklist
    • Values: Chocolates, Hard Candies, Gummies
  • SKU (SKU__c)
    • Data type: Picklist – dependent on value selected on Product Line field
    • Values: Chocolate Bar, Truffle, Hot Chocolate, Lollipop, Candy Apple, Mints, Gummy Bears, Gummy Worms, Wine Gums

A dependency has been set on the “Product Line” field to control which “SKU” values can be accepted under each Product Line: 

An excel document showing how to edit a field dependency in Salesforce using an example of a list of products in two columns.

Pardot Dropdown Form Fields

The candy company’s marketing team is using a Pardot form to collect new leads. That form collects both “Product Line” and “SKU” values:

An image of a product line drop down field with a check mark selected.
A SKU dropdown field showing a list of candy products and a check mark symbol.

Because the prospect fields in Pardot are not dependent on one another, a prospect is able to select any SKU value regardless of the Product Line selected. This is resulting in sync errors when a newly generated prospect tries to sync from Pardot to Salesforce with a SKU value that does not align with their selected Product Line.

The Solution: Custom Fields + Dependent Fields + Engagement Studio Program

To help the candy company solve their data syncing woes, we will use a combination of tools available within Pardot. We will create custom Pardot prospect fields, dependent fields on the Pardot form, and an Engagement Studio program to translate values from one Pardot field to another. 

The entire solution should take less than 2 hours to implement.

STEP 1: Create new custom prospect fields in Pardot

Create a new custom prospect field for each of the three “SKU” value subsets. These will be Pardot-only fields and should NOT sync to Salesforce:

  1. SKU1_Chocolates
    • Data type: Dropdown
    • Values: Chocolate Bar, Truffle, Hot Chocolate
  2. SKU2_Hard Candies
    • Data type: Dropdown
    • Values: Lollipop, Candy Apple, Mints
  3. SKU3_Gummies
    • Data type: Dropdown
    • Values: Gummy Bears, Gummy Worms, Wine Gums

STEP 2: Update your Pardot form to include the above fields

  1. Edit the existing “Product Line” field on your Pardot form to display dependent fields based on the criteria shown below. 

During this step, you can allow Pardot to automatically create the 3 dependent fields by following the prompts provided:

An image of a dependent field in Pardot.
  1. Edit each of the 3 new “SKU#” dependent fields to display as dropdowns and load in your pre-defined SKU values by clicking the “Load Default Data” button.
  2. Add a completion action to your form to add prospects to a static list on form submission.

    NOTE: You will need to create the static list before completing this step.

  3. Save your new form — and voila! The new dependent “SKU#” fields will now appear or disappear based on the “Product Line” value selected.
A candy company dropdown form showing a SKU2 Hard candies drop down with a selection of candies and a check mark.

STEP 3: Create an Engagement Studio program

  1. Create a new Pardot Engagement Studio Program. This program will translate the SKU# values collected via your Pardot form into the SKU values that will sync to Salesforce.
  2. Edit the program’s “Start” step – add the static recipient list referenced in Step 2 as your “Recipient List.”
  3. Add a “Rule” step to check for each of the available SKU# values, as below.

    Note: based on the candy company’s defined requirements, you will need a total of 9 Rule steps:

    • “SKU1_Chocolates” is Chocolate bar, or
    • “SKU1_Chocolates” is Truffle, or
    • “SKU1_Chocolates” is Hot Chocolate, or
    • “SKU2_Hard Candies” is Lollipop, or
    • Etc…
  4. On the YES branch beneath each Rule, add an “Action” step to update the prospect field “SKU” based on the value found on the SKU# field – for example:
    • If “SKU1_Chocolates” is Chocolate bar, then change prospect field value “SKU” to Chocolate bar
    • If “SKU1_Chocolates” is Truffle, then change prospect field value “SKU” to Truffle
    • Etc…
  5. Add an “Action” step just above the End step on your program to remove the prospect from your recipient list. This will allow us to re-enter the prospect into the program at a later date, if desired. 
  6. OPTIONAL: Add an ‘ELSE’ condition on the leftmost NO branch to catch any prospects whose SKU# value cannot be translated. This is a failsafe to catch any prospects who might have entered this program by accident or who were not able to be processed. 
    • In the example below, I have added a step to notify a specific user (i.e. the Pardot admin) who will then review and update the records that could not be processed via the Engagement Studio. 
    • I also added an additional “End” step following this ‘ELSE’ action so that prospects who cannot be processed by the Engagement Studio will remain on the recipient list for review by the Pardot admin.
  7. Start your Engagement Studio Program!
A chart of a step by step custom program in Pardot Engagement Studio.

Solve Your Salesforce Sync Error Woes

That’s it! You’ve created custom and dependent fields and set up a new Pardot Engagement Studio Program. Now the source of your sync errors should be resolved! 

Continue to monitor your sync error queue over time to determine whether adjustments to your Engagement Program are needed. For example, does the program need to repeat for returning prospects and, if so, how often?

And if you still have troubles, reach out to the team at Sercante for guidance.

Original article: Sync Error Workaround: Dynamic Dependent Picklist Fields and Pardot Forms

©2022 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Sync Error Workaround: Dynamic Dependent Picklist Fields and Pardot Forms appeared first on The Spot.

By |2022-09-02T15:18:00+00:00September 2nd, 2022|Categories: Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started|

Getting Started with a Pardot Email Preference Center

An email preference center creates a happy medium for you and your audience. 

It’s a place where your people can let you know what interests them so you can work with them to deliver relevant content. And it also fulfills that all-important duty you have to provide a way for your readers to opt out from all non-operational email communications.

Here are the basics you should know when building your email preference center in Pardot.

Why should you build an email preference center?

In Pardot, any email you send must include either an option to unsubscribe or manage preferences via PML or HML tags (%%unsubscribe%% or %%email_preference_center%% for PML or {{Unsubscribe}} or {{EmailPreferenceCenter}} for HML). Read this post for more on that.

While an option to simply unsubscribe will get the job done, an email preference center will give your prospects the option to limit (or potentially even increase) correspondence from your marketing team rather than opting out entirely. An email preference center allows prospects to select just the correspondence they want to receive.

Depending on whether your company is only getting started with Pardot, you’ve been sending Pardot emails for a while, or you’ve inherited a hot mess of a Pardot org (been there, done that), the process of setting up an email preference center will vary in complexity, but once you see those opt-outs decrease, it will be worth it!  

How Pardot email preference centers work

Let’s go through the basics of a Pardot email preference center and some tips to get you started.

Add subscribe list to existing email preference center

To add a list to an existing email preference center, create or edit a static or dynamic list in Pardot. When creating or editing a list, select the “Public List” checkbox to display said list in your email preference center. 

You can then give your list a label, which is the option that prospects will see on your email preference center, and an optional description that will appear underneath the label. (Prospects will not see the Pardot name for the list; they will only see the label and the description.)

Here is a list’s basic information in Pardot: 

And here is how it appears on the Sercante email preference center: 

Using static and dynamic lists in email preference centers

You can use both static and dynamic lists for email preference centers. But there’s a catch. 

Any prospect will be able to see a static list and opt into or out of that list by checking the box next to that list. Only prospects who are already members of a dynamic list will be able to see a dynamic list on an email preference center. 

If a prospect is a member of a public dynamic list, the prospect will be able to opt out of communication from that list by unchecking the box associated with that list on the email preference center. Prospects cannot opt themselves into a public dynamic list, only opt out. 

When you view a public list in Pardot, you’ll be able to see the opt-in status for each prospect: 

Dynamic list use case for email preference center

Personally, I prefer using static lists on email preference centers, but there are valid use cases for dynamic lists. 

For instance, let’s say you have specific communications, like a newsletter, that you want to send to current clients. You could have a prospect field for “persona” on the prospect record, and then create a dynamic list that looks for everyone with a persona of “current client.” 

You can then use that dynamic list on your email preference center and as your distribution list for client communications. Only those with the persona of “current client” would see the list option on the email preference center and be able to opt out of that specific dynamic list. 

Always follow privacy laws

Of course, regardless of whether you use static or dynamic lists, you must abide by opt-in and privacy laws

This is the part where I tell you I am not a lawyer and this blog post is not legal advice. Consult your lawyer on who you have the right to email, folks.

What preferences should prospects have? 

Now that we understand the basics of list membership, let’s talk about what list options we can provide for prospects. Consider how you typically segment your audiences for email marketing. Do you have blog subscription options? Do you email certain people about certain products? 

Here are a few options you to consider: 

  • Lists by product category (ex., chocolate, cookies, candy)
  • Lists by service offering (ex., private chef, cooking classes, private cooking lessons) 
  • Lists by type of event (webinars, conferences, etc.) 

When you’ve settled on the options you want to include on your email preference center, start building your lists. 

If prospects have opted into specific contact previously, be sure to honor those preferences and only include prospects on lists that respect those preferences. 

How do you honor prospect preferences? 

Once your email preference center is up and running, you need to be sure you can abide by the preferences that a prospect has expressed. That means if they’ve opted out of receiving blog communications, you need to exclude them for all future blog sends. 

The easiest way to do this is to use an EPC list as the send list for your email. If someone is opted out of the list, they will not receive an email. 

However, let’s say you are creating a different send list based on other, more specific prospect criteria because you want to send an email to blog subscribers who have expressed interest in a particular topic. 

You have two options: 1) look for public list opted-in status when creating your send list or 2) create a dynamic suppression list that looks for public list opted-out status. 

Option 1: Look for public list opted-in status when creating your send list

When creating a send list for an email, include the following parameter: 

Prospect public opt-in status > is not opted out > [EPC LIST NAME]

Option 2: Create a dynamic suppression list that looks for public list opted-out status

For this option, create a dynamic suppression list for the relevant EPC list using a single criteria:

Prospect public opt-in status > is opted out > [EPC LIST NAME]

Then, use this list as your suppression list for your email. 

Staying organized and documenting everything 

There are a lot of moving pieces when you stand up an email preference center. If you are not the only person in your Pardot org, or if you just want to do your future self a favor, stay organized and document everything. 

Here are my favorite tips.

Create a spreadsheet to track your list decisions

When working on email preference centers, create a spreadsheet that documents all of the details for every public list. 

Here are the columns I typically include on my own personal tracking spreadsheet: 

  • Internal List Name
  • List Label
  • List Type (static or dynamic) 
  • List Description
  • List URL
  • Notes (Typically, this includes how you decided which prospects to include on this list when initially creating the list)
  • Completion Actions & Automations that Populate List
  • How is consent for list membership handled? 

Make it easy to find your EPC lists 

If your Pardot org is anything like mine, you have a lot of lists. It can be difficult to weed through and find the lists that are included in your email preference center. 

When looking at all current lists, you can quickly sort by “public list” to see any public lists that are included on an EPC: 

However, I like tagging all of my public lists “epc” and all of the dynamic suppression lists mentioned above “epc suppression” so I can quickly see all lists related to my email preference center. 

Create a how-to guide for your Pardot users

Be sure anyone who sends emails in Pardot knows how to honor prospect preferences. If filling out a form or form handler should add a prospect to a public list, instruct your team on the appropriate completion action to use. 

I created an eight-page guide for my team. It’s located in our Google Drive, on our team Asana board, and pinned in our team Slack channel. Is that overkill? Probably. Does it help me sleep at night to know everyone knows the ins and outs of emailing from our Pardot org? Absolutely. 

Email preference center example

We used several elements of the Sercante email preference center in this blog post. To help you pull our examples together, here’s what the Sercante email preference center looks like.

Email preference center example

Get help with your email preference center

Setting up an email preference center can be daunting. There are a lot of considerations, both in terms of marketing strategy (how will I segment my database?) and legal compliance (how do I avoid a lawsuit?). 

Ultimately, by providing prospects with the option to select the communication they want, you’ll limit the amount of prospects that get frustrated by yet another email they’re not interested in and unsubscribe. If you’re thinking about taking the plunge and want support from a team of experts who can also guide you through compliance questions, getting more list subscribers, and designing something on-brand, drop us a line.

The post Getting Started with a Pardot Email Preference Center appeared first on The Spot for Pardot.

By |2022-02-21T21:00:18+00:00February 21st, 2022|Categories: Emails & Templates, Forms & Form Handlers, Getting Started, revive, Setup & Admin|