Connecting to Pardot

Relevant to: Demand Acceleration Platform

This article outlines the first steps needed to connect the Demand Acceleration Platform with Pardot, in order to post out leads.

Here you will learn what information is needed from Pardot, where to retrieve the information and how to create a new integration with the Demand Acceleration Platform.

Using this configuration, the Demand Acceleration Platform will send leads to Pardot using an Outbound Form.

What this integration feature can do

Pass data in real-time.
Create new leads in Pardot.
Update and add data to an existing lead in Pardot with the same email address.

Integration setup overview

In Pardot - Create a new Form Handler.
In Pardot - Gather Pardot credentials and field information.
In the Demand Acceleration Platform - Enter Pardot credentials and field details.

You need access to your Pardot system (with a Pardot Administrator role) and your Integrate Demand Acceleration Platform.
When setting up the integration, it is recommended that you are logged in to both platforms and have them open side by side.

Connecting the systems

The Demand Acceleration Platform needs credentials gathered from Pardot in order to send leads into a form. The sections below outline the details needed and instructions to complete this setup in both platforms.

Create a Pardot Form Handler

The Demand Acceleration Platform sends leads to Pardot utilizing Pardot Form Handlers. Pardot form handlers allow third parties to post data into Pardot without having to create a custom integration.

1. In the Salesforce Lightning app, select Content > Form Handlers.

2. Click + Add Form Handler.

Add the required fields to the Form Handler:

Field in Pardot	Required?	Action in Pardot
Name	Required	Name the form handler.
Folder	Required	Choose a folder.
Tags	Optional	Assign any tags to the Form Handler.
Campaign	Required	Choose a Campaign.
Tracker Domain	Required	Select either the default link or another.
Kiosk/Data Entry mode	Optional	Check box. This will tell the form handler to NOT cookie the browser as a submitted prospect, since the lead will be coming from Integrate’s servers.
Enable data forwarding to the success location	Optional	Check the box if the data from the form is forwarded to another service/product, enable data forwarding to a success location. Otherwise, leave this box unchecked.
Disable Visitor Activity throttling and send auto-responder emails after every submission.	Optional	Leave unchecked.
Success Location	Required	Select Referring URL from the dropdown menu. If you turned on the Enable data forwarding option, this is where you input the URL to forward the data to by selecting Specific URL.
Error Location	Required	Select Referring URL.
Completion Actions	Optional	The 'Adjust Score' option will allow you to add/remove points from a lead’s score beyond the default for form handler submissions (which is a 50 point increase by default). You can change the default score increase for Form Handlers by going to Pardot Settings > Automation Settings > Scoring > Edit Scoring Rules - but note, this will change the scoring rule for all Pardot Form Handlers.
Form Fields	Required	Add all the fields to the form that you would like to populate with lead data from the Demand Acceleration Platform. See Add fields to the new Form Handler for more information.

Add fields to the new Form Handler

You need to repeat the following steps for every Pardot field to where you would like to send data from the Demand Acceleration Platform.

Click + Add New Field.

Add the following information:

Field in Pardot	Action in Pardot
External Field Name	Enter a Field Name. The name is specified by the ‘name=’ attribute of the input tag in the HTML of your external form. External field name is case-sensitive. Special characters should not be included in API Field Names.
Prospect Field	Select the relevant field from the drop-down menu.
Data Format	Select the date format from the drop-down menu.
Required	Check the box if a value must be submitted for the field.
Advanced Tab	It can be helpful to edit the Error Message text to indicate which field the error is related to. For example, the default value for the Error Message is "This field is required.", but you may want to change it to "Email is required." to enable easier troubleshooting of integration issues. You can also choose to enable the "Maintain the initial value upon subsequent form submissions" option. This will store the first value for this field and will not allow it to be overwritten/updated.

Click Save changes and repeat this step for all fields.

4. Click Create form handler to finish building the Pardot Form Handler.

Gather required information from Pardot

Once your Pardot Form Handler is established, you need to retrieve the following data points from Pardot.

Data to collect from Pardot

Where to find the data

Endpoint URL

In the Pardot Form Handler, go to Summary.

See section for detailed instructions.

External fields

External Field Names - Special characters should not be included.
Field type - eg. string, currency, date, integer, phone, Boolean.
Picklist field values (if applicable) - Common for fields like state, country, industry, etc.
Field length restrictions - Min/max number of characters.
Field requirement - Whether field is required or optional, plus any other validation requirements.

In the Pardot Form Handler, go to the Form Field Mappings.

See section for detailed instructions.

You can add other fields later if needed.

Use the Connecting to Pardot Template at the end of this article to help capture your details.

Endpoint URL

Find the Endpoint URL in the Summary page. Switch to HTTPS and copy the value.

External Fields

Find the External Fields in the Pardot Form Handler > Field Mapping section.

For each field, note:

External Field Name - Special characters should not be included.
Field type - eg. string, currency, date, integer, phone, Boolean.
Picklist field values (if applicable) - Common for fields like state, country, industry, etc.
Field length restrictions - Min/max number of characters.
Field requirement - Whether field is required or optional, plus any other validation requirements.

Connect Pardot to the Demand Acceleration Platform

Having collected all the required information from Pardot, you can now establish your integration in the Demand Acceleration Platform.

1. In the Demand Acceleration Platform, click the Settings icon.

2. Click on the Integration Hub and scroll to the Integration Library. Click the + button on the Outbound Form tile.

3. The integration configuration modal will appear.

Within the Outbound Form - Configuration modal, complete the following:

Field		Description
Name		Enter a name for your Pardot integration. This will help you identify the integration in the Demand Acceleration Platform and can be anything you like. If you will be connecting multiple instances, use a naming convention to help you distinguish them.
URL		Paste in the Endpoint URL value that was collected from your Pardot instance.
Headers		Leave this as the default.
URL Encode Request		Check this box.
Schema		Add your Pardot External Field Names that you gathered in the previous section of this guide. You can bulk copy and paste these from Excel, with each field on a new line, into this section. These fields will come into play on your Source level integrations to pass over your designated Pardot form data points.

4. Once completed, click the Integrate button to save and create your new integration.

You will now see your Pardot (Outbound Form) Integration as a tile in the System Integrations section at the top of your Integration Hub page.

If any changes need to be made (such as if additional fields are added), you can open this modal to adjust the integration settings. Click the Settings icon.

The Demand Acceleration Platform and Pardot are now connected.
The next step is to add an integration to a Source.

Setting Up an Integration to Pardot

Connecting to Pardot Template

Integrate Template - Connecting to Pardot.xlsx
60 KB Download

In this article

What this integration feature can do

Integration setup overview