Selective Sync in Account Engagement (Pardot): How to Align With Salesforce

Selective sync involves pushing prospect records into Salesforce based on the parameters you define. This process takes various forms, but the main goal is to nurture leads and manage them in Account Engagement (Pardot) before sending them to Salesforce. For many marketers, getting this right is critical to prevent overwhelming the sales team with irrelevant leads.

There’s also a strong argument for keeping both systems in sync, which I recommend whenever possible. Aligning Account Engagement and Salesforce ensures a complete view of all communications and activities, allowing for more comprehensive lead nurturing, including channels like SMS or telemarketing.

The Importance of Selective Sync

That said, there are many valid reasons why an organization might choose selective sync. For example, in nonprofit organizations, it’s common to not sync ‘Major Donor’ contacts into marketing automation tools. This is typically because a dedicated person or team manages these relationships on a one-to-one basis, handling communications like donation “thank you” emails or event invitations outside the usual channels. 

Marketers may also use selective sync to ensure that Leads and Contacts from Salesforce are sent to the correct Account Engagement (Pardot) Business Units. For the purpose of this article, this scenario is not covered (further information on this scenario can be found here); however, the steps are the same as outlined in option one. Two different options for selectively syncing will be covered below.

How Can You Selectively Sync?

Option 1: Marketing Data Sharing

This is only available to Account Engagement (Pardot) editions of Premium or Advanced. To configure it, go to the connector settings in Account Engagement Settings and select Marketing Data Sharing. From here, you can select the relevant field on which you’ll sort the data to sync. 

This option works well and is a very clean solution for users who want to selectively sync into one or multiple business units. 

Option 2: Sync Using Zapier

What if you don’t have Marketing Data Sharing as a feature? The ideal solution would be to upgrade, especially if other features in those editions would bring added value. You can refer to this comparison table to explore your options. 

If upgrading isn’t feasible, using middleware to manage the sync is a viable alternative. There are various tools available for this purpose, but for this article, I’ll focus on Zapier. This tool is particularly effective for admins who plan to use it across other integrations. Keep in mind that it’s important to estimate the volume of data you expect to use, as this can affect costs and should be considered when evaluating whether to upgrade your Account Engagement (Pardot) plan. 

How To Use Zapier for Selective Sync

1. What are your criteria for syncing? Define this and understand whether it’s one field value or a combination. Is the criteria the same for Leads as it is for Contacts?
2. Set up the Salesforce connector for Zapier, ideally with a Sandbox first. Even if you don’t have an Account Engagement (Pardot) Sandbox, you can test the Zap itself using a Salesforce sandbox, then connect and test with Prod once that’s confirmed. 
3. Set up the Account Engagement connector. This one’s a bit trickier and may need you to contact Zapier support. 
4. Create a Zap:
   • Your ‘Trigger’ will be a Salesforce record being created or updated that meets your criteria from step one. Ideally, it’d be one field, but if needed, you can add multiple criteria. Try to minimize this as much as possible to avoid unnecessary Zaps firing.
   • Your action will be to ‘Create Account Engagement Prospect’.
   • Duplicate the Zap and edit for Leads if needed.
5. Test by manually updating Lead/Contact records.
6. Once confirmed, make any relevant updates in Production and connect it in Zapier. The Zaps themselves are easy to update, as you can simply swap the environment selected without having to rebuild the entire process.
7. The checkbox ‘automatically create prospects when Leads/Contacts are created in Salesforce’ will have to be unchecked and remain so. 
8. Prospects will be created by Zapier and continue to sync as normal.

Marketing Data Sharing vs. Middleware

Summary

In summary, the ideal option is Marketing Data Sharing, though if this doesn’t meet your organization’s requirements, then using a middleware tool can be a great alternative.

Do you use selective syncing? Let us know in the comments how you achieve this…