Pardot Optimisation Leads to Exceeding Email Fundraising Target by 97%

Introduction

Pieta’s Darkness Into Light campaign is one of Ireland’s most recognised charity initiatives, bringing thousands together each year to raise vital funds for suicide and self-harm prevention. With a small internal team and an ambitious fundraising goal, Pieta needed a smarter, more automated approach to email marketing to maximise engagement and donations, without increasing workload.

By partnering with MarCloud Consulting, Pieta transformed their Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) setup, achieving a 97% increase over their fundraising target and laying the groundwork for sustainable success across future campaigns.

The Challenge

Every year, Pieta’s Darkness Into Light event connects communities through hope, remembrance, and fundraising. But with limited internal resources and ambitious goals, the team faced significant challenges in managing campaign communications efficiently.

They needed to ensure that every email sent was timely, impactful, and accurately targeted, while reducing manual workload and ensuring the supporter experience remained personal and meaningful.

“With a small team and a huge campaign, we needed to make sure our email sends were impactful, timely, and effective, without burning out our staff. Thanks to MarCloud’s optimisations, we exceeded our email fundraising target by 97%.”
– Pieta Team

The Solution

MarCloud began with a discovery phase, diving deep into Pieta’s audience segments, campaign goals, and current Pardot configuration. From there, our consultants focused on quick, high-impact wins, automating repetitive processes, aligning email content with key supporter segments, and introducing clear reporting dashboards for transparency and measurement.

Key actions included:

• Conducting a mini audit of Salesforce Account Engagement to identify optimisation opportunities

• Implementing automation workflows to reduce manual campaign management

• Introducing segmentation and dynamic lists for better targeting and relevance

• Building insightful reporting dashboards to track performance and ROI

• Delivering team training sessions to empower Pieta’s internal marketers to manage future campaigns with confidence

This approach meant Pieta could spend less time on admin and more time focusing on strategy and storytelling.

The Results

The optimised Pardot setup transformed how Pieta executed their Darkness Into Light campaign — leading to measurable and meaningful outcomes.

Beyond the numbers, the partnership gave Pieta’s team the clarity, confidence, and tools to continue scaling their impact year after year.

Beyond the numbers, the partnership gave Pieta’s team the clarity, confidence, and tools to continue scaling their impact year after year.

Looking Ahead

With a mobile-friendly email template, dynamic segmentation, and internal training in place, Pieta is now better equipped to deliver ongoing, data-driven campaigns. Their next step? Leveraging these optimisations to support their No More Silence appeal, continuing to raise awareness and funds through marketing that truly makes a difference.

Marketing That Makes a Difference

MarCloud’s collaboration with Pieta shows how smart marketing automation can directly support organisations doing vital work. When technology and empathy align, the results speak for themselves.

A Compassionate Note

If you or someone you care about is struggling with suicidal thoughts or overwhelming feelings, you’re not alone. Reaching out can feel heavy, but it’s a brave and important first step. Pieta offers free, confidential support to anyone in Ireland who needs someone to talk to during difficult moments.

You can contact Pieta 24/7 at 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444. If you are outside Ireland, please connect with your local crisis support service or a trusted medical professional who can offer immediate help.