How to use Pardot for scoring B2B Prospect re-qualifications?

[Read Time: 4-6 mins]

Pardot as a B2B Marketing solution has been evolving rapidly over the past few years. There have been some great enhancements and some that are eagerly awaited (Alignment of Pardot and Salesforce campaigns). The difference in definition for Pardot Campaigns vs Salesforce Campaigns often creates a confusion among users. Keeping it short, Pardot campaigns are first touch attribution whereas, Salesforce campaign has a more traditional definition aligning with Marketing program or activity. If you are looking for multi-touch campaign attribution it is Salesforce campaigns and not Pardot campaigns.

Anyway, the point I am making is that Pardot as a platform is still evolving and at times we have to improvise and develop solutions that are not native to Pardot. One such scenario will be, "How to score a prospect and qualify him/her multiple times across lifetime?" For a B2B company, buying cycles can be long and often a prospect who is qualified once may have a need for a different product or service. A linear scoring and qualification model will not be useful.

For example, John Smith (VP - Supply Chain) has been engaged in Pardot and was recently qualified as his score crossed the threshold = 100 pts. He was assigned to Sales Executive - Smith Archer. Following this a lead was created in Salesforce (CRM) and assigned to Smith who was successful in converting the lead and won the deal. John is now active on company micro-sites and downloads occasional white papers (25 points). His Pardot score keeps on increasing due to all these digital engagements (which has now reached 250). The question arises, how does a Sales Exec know when to follow-up with John again? Or, how will Pardot identify John's next need and qualify him? Native Pardot scoring allows a linear single point qualification process, something like below limiting the option to re-qualify.

The solution is to identify buying cycles and reset Prospect score at the end of each buying cycle. For the above case, John's cycle needs to be reset every-time he crosses 100 pts and at the same time Pardot needs to keep a count of number of times he got qualified. Here is how to do it (Technical Steps):

1. Define a Threshold score to qualify your Prospect. The threshold should consider Prospect interactions and count of favorable interaction after which you are going to consider Prospect as "Marketing Qualified". For ex: File download = 25 points each and you consider 4 content downloads as an indication of qualification, then your threshold score = 100. Each Company may define their own threshold based on business cycles.
2. Create Pardot custom fields a) Qualified Flag (Boolean) - Shows current qualification status of prospect. True means qualified. b) Qualification Count (Number) - Counts the number of times a Prospect has been qualified
3. Create an Automation Rule that assigns Prospect to CRM User/ Group once threshold Score (here we assume 100) and a Lead is created in Salesforce. The automation rule will also set the Qualified Flag to TRUE. [For Prospect John: Score=100, Qualified Flag=True, Qualification Count =0]
4. In Salesforce, a Lead is created and assigned to CRM User. There is a custom field Qualified Flag created that sync with Pardot (Sync behavior Most recent). We may keep it hidden from page-layout. [Smith is assigned the Lead-John and Qualified Flag = True]
5. Lead finally get converted to Opportunity or Rejected by Lead Owner. Use a Workflow rule in Salesforce to change Qualified Flag = False when Lead status changes to Converted or Rejected.
6. At this point Salesforce syncs with Pardot and updates the Qualified Flag in Pardot. The value changes from True to False now
7. An Automation rule in Pardot considers the Qualified Flag = False and Resets Prospect score to 0 and at the same time increase Qualification Count by 1. [Now, Prospect John has Score=0, Qualified Flag=False, Qualification Count =1]

As John engages more, his score increase and once again it will reach threshold score and the above solution will ensure he is qualified/assigned to Sales. Considering John had accumulated 250 points in his lifetime as a customer, based on above solution, we would have qualified him 2 times and he will be 50 point away from his next qualification point. [Score=50, Qualified Flag=False, Qualification Count =2]. You can use the Qualification Count to grade your prospects and plan targeted campaigns for your most engaged customer contacts.

Note: You may have to configure similar logic (as Lead) at Salesforce Contact object if, you opt for Task creation for prospects existing in CRM.

Please feel free to reach out to Cognizant if you are considering Pardot to fuel you future B2B Marketing Automation Journey. Cognizant is a Global Strategic partner within Salesforce’s partner ecosystem. We have done it for our own Digital Transformation and can help you do it.