Listen, we know that Account Engagement (Pardot) can seem pretty overwhelming at times, especially when you’re making your way through Trailhead and noticing multiple tools in Account Engagement (Pardot) that all seem to do the same thing. We know the feeling well, and that's why we put together this handy lil’ cheat sheet on what each one does and when to use them!
Automation Rule
This tool allows you to continually run certain action items that you want to run. For example, every time someone with an open opportunity in the “proposal” stage hasn’t opened an email in 15 days, you can notify the account owner by
creating a Salesforce task telling them to call. Something very important to keep in mind is that Automation Rules are retroactive, and you have the option to have the rule repeat every time the option meets the criteria or just that first time.
Pardot Prodigy Tip: Always run a “preview” of your ruleset. Even those little automations that seem simple on the surface might end up pulling in or leaving out unintended prospects. You’ll want to be sure before you commit to any of those.
Segmentation Rule
Need to create a one-time list of all your prospects that are in Texas? Segmentation Rules are going to be your go-to answer. You might be saying “Why can’t I just create a ‘Dynamic List’ to do that?”, and the answer is that you can,
but your dynamic list is going to run on a continuous basis, which may not be ideal for what you’re hoping to achieve. Segmentation Rules run as a short of “snap-shot” of your current environment, creating a static list that doesn’t change going forward. For example, if you want to create a suppression list of everyone who has ever filled out your form up to today, and use it in all email sends moving forward, a Segmentation Rule would be perfect. If you were to use a Dynamic List, then the list would simply keep growing as more people fill out the form. Segmentation Rules allow you to use automation while still keeping it a static, unchanging list. With Segmentation Rules, you can also add/remove tags in bulk, add to a Salesforce Campaign, add to an existing list, add to a new list, or remove from a list, so it’s pretty versatile once fully established. As with anything, it’s just about picking the right tool for the situation.
Completion Actions
Great to add to assets in Account Engagement (Pardot) (Think forms, form handlers, files, custom redirects and page actions, etc.) these actions only fire immediately after the asset is used and are not retroactive, so they will only apply to prospects
who use the asset after you’ve applied the Completion Action. Here is an example of how it could be used: You want to send an autoresponder email when someone fills out a form, right? Well, If you set up an Automation Rule, everyone who has ever filled out the form would get the email, which might be what you’re looking for in certain situations, but maybe not this one. However, If you set up a Completion Action, only those who fill out the form moving forward would receive the email.
Dynamic Lists
The key to Dynamic Lists is that they apply entrance and exit criteria. These are absolutely amazing for Engagement Studio Drips if you want an easy way for prospects to automatically match with and go into a drip.
A popular example would be to build a Segment for all current customers and another one for current prospects. Since these are ever-changing fields, you could create a dynamic list to make sure that when a prospect has a new closed-won opportunity, they are automatically removed from the prospect list and added to the customer list. That dynamic list would do this for you automatically with no work on your part!
