Organising your Pardot account is something I could preach until I’m blue in the face; it’s not just isolated to Pardot, but is advocated for any Marketing Automation tool.
Some people overlook folders, believing that they’re unnecessary, useless repositories. However, folders could be the unsung hero of marketing organisation; as the cornerstone of account organisation, they will also deliver benefits in the long-run.
The post will list the reasons why you give attention to your Pardot folders, including some of the reasons that are easy to overlook.
1- Setting up Folders doesn’t have to be a chore.
Pardot provides a ‘hand-holding’ option in creating your folder structure during account set-up.
In the ‘Meet Pardot’s Folders’ wizard, you will see an option that says ‘Let someone else do this’. You’ll wind up with Pardot’s default folder structure, which you can edit further as required.
Alternatively, you can opt for the ‘DIY’ option. The Visual Mode allows you to build your structure declaratively (‘clicks not code’) building, or if you prefer coding, use the ‘Advanced Mode’.
2- Find Assets Faster
At the time of writing, Pardot Marketing Assets are not searchable in the Global Search (search box). How to mitigate this? Use Folders. A good backup plan if your naming convention is slipping.
3- Control over Messaging across Business Units
In companies where multiple Business Units are using one Pardot account, folders are needed to keep the chaos at bay. Folders make it clear which assets can be used for which Business Line, Product, Division etc. Don’t get your wires crossed with wrong messaging for the wrong audience.
4- Leverage Folder Permissions
NB: this feature is only applicable for custom user roles, which is exclusive to Ultimate Edition accounts.
There will be some occasions where you don’t want the wrong people messing around with your marketing assets. Or, you may just want to simplify the user interface for users who belong to a certain business unit. Either way, folder permissions are super easy to administer to meet these needs
5- Prevent ‘Uncategorised’ Overload
Every marketing asset (Lists, Campaign, Forms etc.) created in Pardot has to be stored in a folder; however, if your structure is neither purposeful or clear, users will begin dumping into the ‘Uncategorised’ folder.
Whilst you can’t rename or delete the ‘uncategorised’ folder, you need to curtail its usage. One account I saw had 1600 uncategorised campaigns and 835 lists without a proper place in the account.
Be aware: if you are using the ‘Send to Pardot List’ custom link on Salesforce Campaign object, any new lists or campaigns that are created from the Salesforce interface will fall into the uncategorised folder.
6- Scoring Categories
Want to break down your prospects’ overall scores into categories to show where their interest lies? You can achieve this with Scoring Categories, a feature that relies on Folders.
Each category that is set up must be associated to a folder in your Pardot account. This loops back to Point 3 nicely, where you structure your account, with these advanced features in mind.
Summary
I hope this post got you thinking about the importance folders beyond short-term organisational benefits, and further into the longer-term regarding advanced features.
Before I close out, a little piece of advice: ensure your folder structure makes sense for your business and your team’s usage. A complex structure, too many levels deep, will not get adopted by your team. That would be frustrating.
