As we head into fall, the Salesforce Winter ’21 Release is fast approaching and I believe this is one of the most exciting Pardot new releases. An enormously impactful functionality – email template building – has been revamped with a much easier, more user-friendly interface.
Let’s take a look at that and some of the other great new features of the Pardot Winter ’21 release:
New Lightning Experience Drag-and-Drop Email Builder – FINALLY!
- You can now build emails with drag-and-drop functionality of email components, including images, body text, headers, footers, and more.
- The testing is easier, more intuitive, and can be done from within the new builder, quickly.
- There are “reusable” components across multiple templates: buttons, images, and even HTML.
- Salesforce CMS is one of many places customers might store content assets. In this new builder, you can retrieve those assets and insert them directly into an email template.
- Existing email template reporting is still available for templates built in this new builder.
- There is a different way to find the email template builder. You’ll need to find the “Email Content” app from the app launcher in Salesforce. Each template will be its own record, and you can edit the template, that way.
For this builder, there are some requirements: HML (handlebars merge language) needs to be enabled. Your Pardot-Salesforce connector needs to be verified and working. Connected Campaigns must be enabled.
Email Reporting Enhancements
There is now “smart scanning” functionality embedded in the reporting of emails to track “spammy” behavior.
Additionally, because each email template is now a record in Salesforce, Engagement Metrics – a functionality that used be limited to other records in Salesforce – is now available for each template. Engagement metrics are auto-generated based on the template performance, and include (but are not limited to) items like click–through, delivery, open, unique click/open, soft/hard bounce, opt-out, and spam complaint rates.
WARNING: Pardot User Migration Project – Deadline is Feb 2021
All Pardot users will need to use Salesforce Single-Sign-On (SSO) by February 2021. There are requirements and considerations for turning on SSO in Pardot, and you’ll want to make sure to review them with your Pardot Admin or Consultant before turning on SSO permanently. This change is being made to:
- Provide users with the most up-to-date functionality in both Pardot and Salesforce.
- To streamline user management and accessibility for organizations.
- To maintain security best practices across the organization, including custom password policies, sharing settings, and auth/login settings.
If SSO isn’t set up for Pardot users by February 2021, users will not lose access permanently, but will temporarily until the admin sets up SSO.
And, because Salesforce customers do not necessarily want all Pardot users to have full Salesforce licenses, Pardot is providing 100 “identity licenses” to Pardot customers so no additional investment in licenses is necessary.
Other Updates:
- There is now a more fine-tuned Einstein Analytics attribution for Opportunities when Contacts/Campaigns are not linked to specific Opportunities.
- The Pardot WordPress plugin will now require you to authenticate via Salesforce SSO instead of Pardot Authentication for a more streamlined, administrative experience across all tools.
- NOTE: All existing authentications will be removed in Feb 2021. Please refer to section above titled, “WARNING: Pardot User Migration Project – Deadline is Feb 2021.”
- API V5: The Pardot API has been adjusted with common patterns from the sales cloud API to help with development/code between the two systems.
- Bulk upload is now available for Files and Templates.
- SSL Certificates are now automatically enabled for tracker domains. Admins used to have to do this manually.
Beta and/or Coming in Future Releases:
- For Business Units, Pardot is working on sharing rules instead of just criteria. They are also working on sharing assets across business units and global views (outside of business units) for campaign performance.
- Extra management for custom redirects.
See all of the Salesforce Winter ‘21 Release Notes here: https://releasenotes.docs.salesforce.com/en-us/winter21/release-notes/salesforce_release_notes.htm
If you have any questions about the Pardot new release items for Winter ’21, would like help setting up SSO for Pardot users, want to learn more about the drag-and-drop email builder, or just require basic Salesforce Support, please do not hesitate to contact us here at Revolution Group. We are here to help with your Salesforce and Pardot needs.
