by Nicola Hodd 
Providing your users with Pardot training can make a significant difference to whether you succeed with marketing automation or not.
Unbelievably, 59% of companies* state that they do not fully use the technology they have available to them with organisations citing Lack of an effective strategy (52%), Complexity of the system (42%), Inadequate contact data quality (38%) and Lack of employee skills (32%) as the main barriers to success**.
The result is that only 32% of companies rated marketing automation “Very successful” at achieving important goals like increasing lead generation and improving lead nurturing**.
However, we believe that all of these barriers can be reduced or eliminated with a thorough understanding of the systems in use. Training is the best way to ensure that your users are fully adopting any system to ensure you get that all important return on the investments you make in technology. In addition, organisations that use Pardot effectively are likely to see a 34% increase in marketing ROI and a 34% increase in sales revenue†
We are fortunate to work with a number of businesses on their road to Marketing Automation success and we know that user training is fundamental to them achieving this. See below for the effect that user training can have on the barriers to successfully using marketing technology:
Lack of an effective strategy
- Learn how to set reasonable goals and objectives
- Find out how to get the right people across the business on board with the company’s Marketing Automation journey
- Learn how to report on ROI to measure your performance in order to continually evolve your strategy.
Complexity of system
- Technical explanations of how Pardot works
- Learn how Pardot integrates with Salesforce and other tools
- Find out how to track prospect interactions and engagement across multiple channels
Inadequate contact data quality
- Understanding data flow – where it comes from and how it syncs with Salesforce
- Using Pardot to build your data through forms and progressive profiling (explicit data points) and behavioural touchpoints (implicit factors)
- Using Marketing Automation to cleanse your data and keep it up-to-date
Lack of employee skills
- Learn how to use Pardot and all of the tools available to you
- Learn best practice and how other companies use it
- Be aware of what you can do in order to further enhance your Marketing Automation strategy
Lack of relevant content
- Using Pardot to determine what content prospects engage with and how this indicates where they are in the buying cycle
- Use this insight to invest in additional content more efficiently
Marketing-sales alignment
- Learn how to effectively work with your sales team to define prospects, Marketing Qualified Leads and Sales Qualified Leads
- Learn how to use Pardot to score and qualify your leads
Budget constraints
- Find out how Pardot can help you to accurately measure ROI and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns
- This will help you to justify your marketing budget and the investment in marketing technology
- Realise a 34% increase in marketing ROI and a 34% increase in sales revenue with effective use of Pardot†
In summary, providing extensive Pardot training for your users can have a direct impact on your company’s bottom line. It helps drive user adoption, enhances your digital marketing strategy, helps you to communicate with your audience more effectively and ultimately leads to a higher return on your marketing budget.
So what are you waiting for? Get your teams skilled up and using Pardot more effectively today. We have regular public training days for you to attend or we can arrange bespoke training days on-site with your wider marketing & sales teams. Take a look at our next dates and full agenda here.
*Ascend2 “Marketing Technology Strategy” 2015
**Ascend2 “Marketing Automation Trends Survey” 2016
†Salesforce Pardot Customer Relationship Survey conducted February 2015 – March 2015 on 460+ customers randomly selected