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Pardot isn't for everyone, but if you're the right business, it's perfect
February 22, 2016

Pardot isn't for everyone, but if you're the right business, it's perfect

Trevor Lynn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Ultimate

Overall Satisfaction with Pardot

Pardot is being used across all customer facing teams at Social Tables. We have 21 SDRs, 3 Marketing Communications, 15 Account Executives, 10 Account Managers, and 20 Customer Success Managers using the product. We use it for all customer facing communication, lead generation programs, lead generation program management, and lead generation measurement. All teams have access to create email campaigns at will and it's easy enough to use that everyone can it on their own. This makes us a more agile, dynamic company.
  • Easy to use
  • Direct sync with SFDC
  • Great support team
  • Multi-touch campaign attribution isn't strong
  • Landing page and email customization isn't strong
  • Full lead generation ROI measurement lets us make better decisions as a company
  • Customized customer experiences help us convert and retain at a higher level
We evaluated most other marketing automation products and Pardot was best for us because of the SFDC integration.
100,000 to 250,000
B2B
Pardot is ideal for B2B companies and short-sales cycle businesses. It runs off of first touch attribution which is good if your customers don't need many interactions in order to purchase. If your business relies on email marketing, lead generation from your website and customer facing team enablement, Pardot is what you need.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Feature Ratings

8.1
WYSIWYG email editor
6
Dynamic content
9
Ability to test dynamic content
10
Landing pages
8
A/B testing
6
Mobile optimization
8
Email deliverability reporting
8
List management
10
Triggered drip sequences
8
9.3
Lead nurturing automation
9
Lead scoring and grading
8
Data quality management
10
Automated sales alerts and tasks
10
8.0
Calendaring
8
Event/webinar marketing
Not Rated
Not Rated
Social sharing and campaigns
Not Rated
6.0
Dashboards
7
Standard reports
10
Custom reports
1
8.7
API
8
Role-based workflow & approvals
Not Rated
Customizability
8
Integration with Salesforce.com
10

Using Pardot

30 - Marketing, Sales, Account Management, Customer Success
1 - Our Marketing Operations manager handles everything. It's maybe 5% of his time.
  • Lead generation activity
  • Email marketing
  • Automated email marketing / nurtuting
  • We use Pardot to create users in our software.
  • We democratized the use of Pardot so email marketing isn't centralized in one team. Everyone has access to accomplish their goals.
  • We use predictive lead scoring to influence when leads are sent to our CRM and followed up on.
  • More sales enablement
It's exactly what we need for our business model, company size and marketing automation use case.

Evaluating Pardot and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
The single most important factor for us at the time of purchase was price.
If we did it again, I would more heavily weigh certain feature sets like reporting and multi-attribution campaign tracking.

Pardot Implementation

It's a big lift. Have a designated person manage the project for 2-3 months so you don't have lingering problems.
  • Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal - The more engineering support you can have during implementation the better. Transferring email templates, landing page templates and connecting to your website is time consuming.
  • Tracking on the website for lead generation
  • Creating trial users in our product from their form fields
  • Email template creation

Pardot Support

Staff is incredibly helpful and personable.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
When our email was blacklisted due to an error, Pardot worked with us well into the night and connected us to experts in other companies to help us get off the blacklist in under 72 hours.

Using Pardot

Simple to use and simple to learn. Simple because it's not as robust as other products. That's a trade off you have to choose!
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Automation flows
  • Connecting 3rd party applications
  • Email nurture programs
  • Foldering / information management
  • Landing page editing
  • Email template editing