by Noorbanu Muraj 
Pardot is a powerful marketing automation platform with multiple features which can be difficult to keep up with. In this post, I am going to share with you some Pardot automation tools you can use to streamline your marketing efforts and decide which is the right tool for you.
Automation Tools
There are 4 automation tools in Pardot that are uniquely suited to help you take action in your account. These include the following:
Completion Actions: Allow you to automate actions directly from a marketing asset, such as a form, file or email. You can add completion actions directly to an asset which will execute every time the prospect takes that specific action.
Segmentation Rules: Allow you to pull a list of prospects and apply a segmentation action based on specified criteria. Segmentation rules only run once, retroactively evaluating your database and matching only the prospects that meet the rule’s criteria. Within a segmentation rule, you have a limited number of actions, including add/remove list, add to CRM campaign and apply/remove tags.
Automation Rules: Allow you to create repeatable, criteria based rules to filter matching prospects and apply actions to. These rules run continuously to match prospects who meet the rule criteria and are retroactive – but any changes made to the criteria will not apply again. By default automation rules will only ever match a prospect once, unless you turn on the Repeat Rule function.
Dynamic Lists: Allow you to create a rule based list that automatically updates when a prospect’s data changes and either adds prospects who match the criteria or removes prospects that don’t. These lists are easy to set up and maintain themselves, making it the best choice for building lists around data that changes frequently.
Match Any Vs. Match All
When creating Segmentation Rules, Automation Rules and Dynamic Lists you also have to select a match type. Pardot has the following two match types:
- Match All – provides you with AND functionality – A prospect must match ALL rule criteria in order for Pardot to take action.
- Match Any – provides you with OR functionality – A prospect must match at least ONE of the rule criteria in order for Pardot to take action.
However, for advanced automation you can even combine the two match types with the rule group option. The example matches prospects based on the following criteria:
- Prospect with a score greater than 100 AND
- Accounts in the Finance Industry AND
- Accounts’ shipping city is either London OR Bristol OR Glasgow
Deciding Which Tool to Use
With different automation tools available it can get confusing when deciding which one is the right one for you. Don’t worry, help is on its way! Follow this flowchart by answering a few questions to direct you to the right Pardot automaton tool to use.
If you’re struggling with implementing any of these automation tools and need help getting set up, please get in touch.