by Ketan Panchal 
In a previous blog, we asked “Does your Pardot Account Need an Audit?”, where we explained what is involved in a Pardot Audit, and how we at Nebula run these for our customers to ensure they get the most out of their investment.
Do I really need a Pardot Audit?
You may be wondering if you really need a Pardot Audit – perhaps it seems like a lot of admin. A Pardot Audit is like your annual car service. It’s about getting under the bonnet of your Pardot Account and reviewing all the nuts and bolts, ensuring that everything is in working order. Optimising the system to work at its full potential.
So here are our 4 benefits of a Pardot Audit…
1. Getting the basics right.
Like your car needs 4 healthy tyres, fuel, and a working engine to get you from A to B. A Pardot Audit, ensures that all the basics are in working order. This includes technical setup items such as ensuring your Website and Pardot Account are tracking visitors, and how users are managed. Even system organisation is important to ensure everything is easy to find and where you expect to find it in Pardot.
Checking the basics ensures that everything is configured correctly and identifies any areas that need attention – for example, Sync errors.
2. Alignment with your Business Operations.
Just like having a 2-seater convertible vehicle wouldn’t be suitable for a family of five. A Pardot Audit enables you to ensure it is set up and aligned with your business objectives.
This isn’t about whether Pardot is the right system or not, it’s about how the system is configured to align with your business operations. This includes reviewing how Lead Generation operates, Marketing and Sales alignment, what campaign reporting looks like, and how your emails perform.
In any business, your operations and KPIs can change. An Audit will ensure that the Pardot setup is always in sync with your business needs.
3. Make the most of new features and developments.
Just like car manufacturers update their vehicles every few years or so, Salesforce and Pardot are both continuously developing with four new feature releases becoming available every year. In fact, Salesforce and Pardot are becoming more and more integrated. Being aware of these new features and the use cases is a great way to embrace the continuous development mentality and continue to enhance your Pardot Account and its value to your business operations.
Here at Nebula, we’re proud of the extensive platform knowledge and capabilities we have. And whether you’re an existing Nebula customer or new to Nebula, we take the time to understand your business and your needs. This also sometimes means NOT recommending a feature. Just because a new shiny feature is released, doesn’t mean it’s right for your business. So with an understanding of your business needs, we recommend the optimal solutions and help you make the best use of new features. And when better to do this than during an audit of your Pardot account?
Want to learn more about the latest features coming to Pardot? We have a blog for that: Winter ’23 release: Account Engagement Preview.
Zoe Fisher
Principal Marketing Automation Consultant
Looking for help with Account Engagement?
4. Remaining compliant
Think GDPR! In a Pardot Audit, we review the opt-out process and ensure your preference journeys make sense to ensure you remain compliant and there are no risks.
Read more in our Blog: Getting your communication preferences right
Sound great but not sure where to start?
Hopefully, by now, our 4 benefits have convinced you of the benefits of having a Pardot Audit. But where do you start? We can help with that…
At Nebula, when we run a Pardot Audit we note our findings into a well-structured working document that highlights items that are set up well, and items that could need some attention. With our combined knowledge of our customers’ business operations’ and Pardot’s expertise. We’ll highlight any opportunities to make use of new features that we feel would benefit your business. This provides a set of recommendations that we’ll discuss with you to create a roadmap of items to address. This ensures your Pardot Account is fully optimised for your business’s specific needs and that you’re getting the most out of your Pardot investment.
How often should you audit your Pardot Account? I’d say as regularly as you require. It depends on your business and the pace of change. There is no set time frame, but if you’ve not done one in a while (or ever) then I’d certainly make it a priority.
So what’s next?
Perhaps I have convinced you or perhaps you already knew you needed a Pardot Audit. Either way, do Get in touch with us as we would love to help you with your Pardot Audit!