Introduction to Pardot Sandboxes [Infographic]

Yes, this may have been the day you’ve been waiting for: Developer Sandboxes for Pardot have arrived. Sandboxes function as test or staging environments, where you can build and test configuration without risking anything going horribly wrong and disrupting business operations.

As soon as the Pardot Summer ’20 features were announced, I launched a Twitter poll to see what Pardot Admins and Consultants were interested in.

The results were overwhelmingly weighted towards one Pardot feature: Pardot Sandboxes.

Which #Pardot feature are you most excited about in the Salesforce #Summer20 release? 🔥 so many great things coming very soon! https://t.co/OyZeYSIGjj

— Lucy Mazalon (@lucymazalon) May 7, 2020

Pardot Sandboxes will, no doubt, become essential in every Pardot Admin’s work.

Here are the facts you need to know about Pardot Sandboxes – the what, how, who and when.

UPDATE: Pardot Sandbox now supports all Sandboxes, not just Full Salesforce Sandbox.

What are Pardot Sandboxes?

Sandboxes are a copy of your ‘live’ Pardot account (production) and function as test ‘staging’ environments. You can build and test configuration and its impact on data without risking anything going horribly wrong and disrupting business operations!

Some examples of things you may want to check before launching them live:

• New automation (eg. Salesforce Flows or Pardot Automation Rules),
• Integrations using the Pardot API,
• User access based on permissions,
• Feature updates (eg. Salesforce User Sync).

How to Create a Pardot Sandbox

Pardot Sandboxes will:

• Function like a Pardot business unit
• Be provisioned from a Salesforce Full Sandbox

Steps to ’Spin up’ a Sandbox:

1. Login to a Salesforce Full sandbox
2. Uninstall and delete the B2BMA managed package
3. Install a Pardot Sandbox managed package
4. Configure the Connected App and Integration User permissions

Find the full instructions linked here.

What They’re Not

Bear this in mind when getting started:

• There are no change sets. You can’t move data or configuration from the live environment into the Sandbox*, or vice versa. You must manually re-create any changes.

*after the Sandbox has been refreshed.

Sandboxes don’t support:

• Email sending
• Salesforce Engage
• B2B Marketing Analytics.

Who: Can I Get a Pardot Sandbox?

While this is big news, don’t get carried away until you’ve read the small print. You will require the following licenses:

• Pardot: Pardot Advanced edition (or Pardot Premium with the v2 connector).
• Salesforce: Unlimited or Performance edition (note: Full Sandboxes available at an additional cost with any Salesforce edition)

Find the considerations linked here.

When Will Pardot Sandboxes be Available?

The Salesforce Summer ’20 release will happen on July 10th & 18th.

Your date depends on your Salesforce instance.

Find our guide linked here.