The Salesforce Release schedule keeps us on our toes! As we close out one decade, what better way to look towards the next than getting a sneak preview into what new Pardot features are around the corner. With a huge amount of technical resource assigned to the Pardot product development, the Pardot deliver plenty of new features with each release cycle – and of course, this announcement is no exception!
The Spring ‘20 preview release notes are now live – all 527 pages! That’s where I come in, to pick out the ones Pardot marketers need to know about.
Spring ’20 Release Dates
The Release Date for Spring ‘20 will depend on your instance of Salesforce, but the main date will be Feb 14th 2020 – but don’t forget sandbox previews either! I highly recommend reading this quick guide to release and pre-release access. Pardot tend to roll-out new features incrementally throughout the release period, so don’t worry if you don’t see all the new features on the main release day; you will be notified as and when by notification banners that appear in your Pardot account.
This release covers the 6+ treats that will be delivered in the first quarter of 2020, with a heavy focus on data relationships and Account-based Marketing (ABM) – a trend that has been around for some time, that Pardot have doubled-down on to continue dominating the B2B Marketing space. I’ve included a couple of items to be aware of to do with B2B Marketing Analytics also.
#1: Prospect and Engagement Activities on List Emails
Over the past few releases, Pardot have made big moves to transform the marketing assets we manage in Pardot (forms, emails, landing pages, campaigns) into Salesforce records. Thanks to Connected Campaigns and Pardot Asset sync, we can display who engaged with List Emails, when and how, effortlessly in Salesforce.
This is especially beneficial for Salesforce users, who now can see engagement from the email level (similar to the ‘Sent Email’ report in Pardot). Of course, you can take this further and use this data to build some awesome Salesforce reports – but more on that another time!
#2: Engagement History Dashboard on Leads & Contacts
Have you added the Engagement History Dashboard to your Campaigns and Accounts? No? Well, make a note to do so!
We will be able to add a similar Lightning component to leads and contacts, where users can drill-down into specific assets or engagement activities (just how the other Engagement History dashboards function).
#3: Account Engagement on Campaigns – plus Stronger Data Relationships
This is a nice addition to the Engagement History Dashboard on Campaigns. Based on which leads and contacts are associated to your campaign as Campaign Members, the chart totals up those activities, and splits them by account (or company, as according to the notes, this is including both leads and contacts). It takes me back to the most engaged visitors on the Pardot dashboard – how we’ve come full circle!
You don’t need to do anything, the chart will be automatically added.
Plus, new related lists will help make connections between accounts and campaigns:
- Which accounts are related to a campaign (on the campaign view)
- Which campaigns are related to an account (on the account view)
It’s a better view for quick insight, rather than having to pull additional reports or scroll through long lists of Campaign Members!
#4: Einstein Behavior Scoring: Explore Factors & New Dashboard
Ever wondered how Salesforce determine your Einstein Behavior Scoring? Now you can find out! CRM Intelligence and data models may have once felt out of your hands, but with Spring ‘20, you will be able to explore what patterns of engagement behavior Einstein is picking up on and using to calculate that number.
Picture this dashboard: an Activity graph shows engagement behavior, eg. email clicks; by drilling down on this graph, a second Assets graph will surface the top performing assets eg. email templates for the behaviour.
See pg. 155.
#5: Account-based Marketing Analytics App Template + Einstein Discovery Predictions (Pilot)
This feature, launching in Pilot, caught my eye because it involves Einstein Discovery, a tool that I have been intrigued by ever since I saw the first demo. Up until now, its affiliation with marketing products and strategy has been sparse, but this looks set to change.
There’s a focus on how to take actions that will maximise and accelerate opportunities in the pipeline. What’s the difference between this and B2B Marketing Analytics? Here’s a quick overview:
“The B2B Marketing Analytics app offers a high-level glimpse into your account-based marketing activities. The complete ABM app template gives you more control over what information to display and how [plus access to a powerful Einstein Discovery story*]”
*An Einstein Discovery story: “helps you explore relationships between a relevant metric (outcome variable) and the possible factors (explanatory variables) that are potential influencers of that metric.”
See pg. 156
#6: Business Snippets
There was a mention of ‘Business Snippets’ in the release notes, but I could not see further information on this. My guess is that this relates to Snippet sharing across Pardot Business Units which was hinted at in the Pardot Roadmap session, but I could be wrong!
I will add more information as and when it becomes available. In the meantime, here’s an introduction to Snippets.
B2B Marketing Analytics – Note Dataset Changes & Retiring Legacy Apps
See pgs. 158-60
Bonus: Sales Cadence Builder – High Velocity Sales Copies Engagement Studio
Scrolling through, I spotted the Sales Cadence Builder. This is an Email Engagement mapping tool that looks very similar to the Engagement Studio canvas and functionality, where Salesforce can listen for Engagement, then choose the next action based on prospect engagement, or lack of!
A good step in getting more people throughout the organisation thinking with a customer journey mindset!
