When it comes to engaging customers in the B2B space, email marketing holds special relevance. However, in today’s competitive business landscape, relying totally on email marketing can restrain campaign performance with prospects being overwhelmed with emails daily making it extremely difficult to capture their attention.
Making SMS a part of your marketing automation strategy is indeed a smart move.
By integrating SMS with your Pardot campaigns, prospects can be engaged through another highly effective channel of communication. With an open rate of 90 percent, which is significantly higher than emails, makes them ideal for notifications that are time sensitive.
Whether you are launching a new product, demos, or campaign related to client onboarding, integrating SMS into your Pardot Engagement Studio programs allows you to reach prospects immediately without disturbing your remaining workflows.
Let’s explore through this article how to send text messages from Pardot, integration Pardot SMS integration works, its benefits and the steps involved in implementing it.
Why Integrating SMS to Pardot is Crucial?
Pardot a.k.a. Marketing Cloud Account Engagement shines at email automation, lead nurturing, scoring and campaign management. Since modern customers communicate across multiple channels, pardot sms integration help marketers:
- Increase rates of engagement
- Deliver crucial messages instantaneously
- Enhance event attendance
- Pace up sales follow-ups
- Create omnichannel client journeys
- Reach prospects who might have missed emails
SMS complements email rather than replacing it by sending small, actionable messages that foster urgent responses. When SMS and email work in association with each other, engaging customers becomes easy.
What is Pardot SMS Integration?
Pardot SMS integration connects a Salesforce-native with Pardot (Marketing Cloud Account Engagement). This integration allows marketers to initiate messages based on Engagement Studio actions, prospect behavior, automation rules, completion actions, or Salesforce events.
Rather than sending messages manually, marketers can automate SMS within their existing nurture journeys.
How Pardot Engagement Studio SMS Integration Works
Pardot Engagement Studio SMS integration allows SMS actions to become a part of nurture programs.
A typical workflow looks the following way:
Step 1: Prospect Enrolls Engagement Studio
A prospect downloads an eBook or submits a form.
They enter an Engagement Studio program by default.
Step 2: Email is Sent
Pardot sends an email presenting your product or service.
Step 3: Prospect Behavior is Assessed
Engagement Studio probes several things such as whether the email was opened, the link clicked, was the form completed and was the registration of webinar successful and more.
Step 4: Trigger SMS
Based on the lead behavior, a text message is shared by default.
Step 5: Continue to Nurture
The workflow persists with SMS reminders, tasks for sales reps and CRM updates. This creates an orchestrated, multi-touch engagement journey.
Benefits of Pardot SMS Integration
Higher Client Engagement
SMS messages attain greater open rates than emails - making them one of the most appropriate channels for crucial important communications. Clients are also likely to respond quickly to text messages - enabling faster and more effective engagement.
Better Lead Nurturing
Rather than depending completely on emails sent days apart, marketers can add strategic SMS point of contact to ensure consistent engagement with prospects across the purchase journey.
Faster Sales Follow-Up
Sales teams often miss critical opportunities when response times get delayed. Automated SMS enables companies to engage prospects after key actions demo requests, estimating inquiries, and more. By delivering follow-up implications, it's possible to keep prospects engaged, optimize rates of response, and increase the chances of turning leads into clients.
Improved Event Attendance
Many events such as webinars fail to transform into actual attendance. SMS reminders help bridge this gap by sharing timely notifications to registrants at key intervals, such as one hour, a day or even few minutes before it begins. These properly reminders optimize involvement and decrease no-show rates.
Reduced Manual Work
Without automation, marketers waste their valuable time uploading phone numbers into different SMS platforms, exporting prospect lists and more. With Pardot SMS integration, text messages are triggered by default based on preset logic and prospect behavior, doing away with manual tasks – augmenting efficiency, and ensuring consistent communication.
Better Customer Experience
Customers give importance to timely and relevant interaction throughout their journey. Rather than getting generic email campaigns, they receive tailored SMS updates initiated by their actions and stage in the client lifecycle. This creates a responsive, engaging and seamless experience while fortifying customer relationships.
How to Send Text Message from Pardot
Since Pardot does not have in-built SMS capabilities, marketers wonder how to send text messages from Pardot. Rather, an application integrating Salesforce and Pardot with an SMS App is what companies do.
A typical implementation includes the following steps:
Choose an SMS Platform
Select a solution that amalgamates with Salesforce and establishes marketing automation. Preferably, opt for a Salesforce-native app to minimize intricacy and expand security.
Connect with Salesforce
The SMS platform connects with Salesforce objects - enabling marketers to make the most of CRM data for highly tailored messaging. By leveraging client data stored in Salesforce, it’s possible to send SMS campaigns depending on every prospect's profile, stage in the sales journey and engagement history. This leads to significant interactions and better engagement.
Configure Pardot Automation
Pardot automation should be implemented to initiate SMS messages at the right stage of a client's journey. You can use Conclusion Actions, Automation Rules, Salesforce Flows to send text messages by default depending on prospect behavior, form submissions, campaign engagement, lead status changes, and other CRM events. This confirms tailored messaging discussion without the need for manual intervention.
Build SMS Templates
SMS templates can be re-utilized for common communications regarding discounts, booking notices, event notifications, and more. Besides ensuring steady messaging, templates ensure time efficiency, and tackle campaign execution via Pardot workflow automation.
Test Your Campaign
Make sure to do this prior to launch by formatting of phone number, message delivery, opt-in status, timing and more. End-to-end testing helps figure out issues early to avoid costly failures.
Launch the Journey
Once the testing is done, make sure to activate your Engagement Studio program. SMS messages will be sent by default whenever the preset trigger conditions are met. This ensures timely and customized communication all through the customer journey.
Track Performance
Keep track of key metrics such as delivery rates, CTR, response rates, and more to measure performance of your campaign. Regular assessment and continuous optimization help optimize the efficiency of future campaigns.
Final Words:
Though, email plays a vital role in B2B marketing yet combining it with Pardot SMS creates an efficient engagement strategy. Pardot Engagement Studio SMS integration enables follow-ups, notifications and customized messages. By learning how to send messages from Pardot using a Salesforce SMS platform, businesses can augment engagement, amplify conversions, and provide seamless customer experiences.
