Auditing Pardot   •   Top Tips

This blog was written before Pardot was renamed to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. You can read more about the name change and what it means here.

If you want your Pardot marketing automation to be continually optimised and configured for success, then you should be auditing your account every quarter. I should point out early on that there’s no need to be intimidated by the audit. It’s a pain-free process that you’ll soon wish you started carrying out as soon as Pardot was implemented!

First off, what’s an audit?

It’s a comprehensive review of your account that shines a light on how the system is currently set up, what areas are being underutilised and provides a platform for you to develop on what’s already built. In most cases, you’ll realise that a lot of processes that were set up are fit for purpose, but not fit for scalability.

This leads nicely into the first reason you should audit your account…

1) It provides a visibility over how the system is set up

Think about a mechanic fixing a car. At first glance, the car might look like it works perfectly because you’re able to physically drive the thing. However, when the mechanic inspects the car he might say that if you carry on the way you’re going, the *insert car part here* is going to fail!

Although a system works at first glance, there are always areas for improvement once you take a good look at every part and Pardot marketing automation is no different.

An audit allows you to visualise every part of the system so that all members of your team can understand what’s going on, regardless of their experience with marketing automation. Everyone understands a diagram, so it makes it much easier for everyone in the team to give valuable input.

2) It’s the automation equivalent of taking a deep breath

Have you ever had so many things on your plate that it almost seemed overwhelming? Simply taking a deep breath and methodically working out what to tackle first in a clear and concise way always seems to allow you to tackle the problem much easier.

An audit is essentially the same thing. It gives you the space you need to look at utilising areas of the system that can provide quick wins.

Where Pardot marketing automation has so much functionality and it’s own quirky way of doing things, it’s crucial to invest time each quarter into understanding how everything is currently working so that Pardot can be optimised.

Click the image above to download our guide to organising Pardot like a pro

3) It produces a whole set of ‘Next Steps’

The most valuable part of the Pardot marketing automation audit is the tangible and actionable recommendations that follow. Essentially you’re creating a snapshot of the current scenario so that you can reconfigure the system to be better aligned with your objectives and campaigns.

Is the current framework fit for purpose?

Is your content taxonomy scalable and coherent?

How can the customer journey be improved?

Are all prospects being nurtured?