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Pardot for SMBs
October 30, 2013

Pardot for SMBs

Heather Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Professional

Overall Satisfaction

  • Easy wizard-style walkthroughs for setting up emails, etc.
  • Templates that allow non-technical users to make use of the product
  • Easy to create logic for drip campaigns / automation programs to nurture leads
  • Great support team
  • Ability to see who's browsing your website in real time or in daily reports
  • Good integration with Salesforce
  • Needs a Marketo-like, drag-and-drop landing page wizard. It's too difficult for non-technical marketers to code a layout that looks like their website.
  • Lack of social posting for lowest-level edition
  • More self-service by marketing team - we can do our own emails, our own segmentation and reporting, etc. without help from IT or a designer
  • Better ability to reach prospects with targeted information through drip programs
  • Better understanding of our SEO rankings vs. the competition through the Search Marketing Report
Pardot's pricing is so good that there isn't really another option for a company of our size. We primarily use it for email marketing and drip campaigns, not lead management (we're doing all that in Salesforce), and for what we use it for, the price is right. Customer support is excellent and we don't feel like "just another number" to Pardot.
I would ask "what do you want to use a marketing automation platform for?" If it's for emails and drip programs, then Pardot is as good as any other tool. If it's landing pages and a thorough understanding of the lead-to-opportunity funnel, it isn't as sophisticated as Marketo and others. You'll need to view other products' demos so you can really compare. However, if you're a small business, there's not much to think about - Pardot's pricing is affordable and little training is required to get up and running.

Product Usage

5 - Marketing primarily. Sales uses the daily reports.
  • Regular planned emails - webinar invites, newsletters, etc.
  • Drip campaigns to marketing leads
  • Email opt-out management

Evaluation and Selection

Yes - ExactTarget. We were using it as an email platform back in 2009-2010. It didn't have the additional features we required, like drip campaigns, at the time.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
I loved working with my Pardot sales rep - he really made me feel like he wanted to help our company perform better. Also, price of course was a huge factor.

Usability

The functions that I use are easy - emails and drip programs. Granted, I don't use the product to its fullest extent because we have internal processes in place in Salesforce that make more sense to us.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Setting up emails
  • Drip campaign logic - it's all drag-and-drop