Tutorial - How to connect your Mailchimp account with Salesforce’s (Pardot) Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
Illustration by Insight Bundle in collaboration with OpenAI Dall·E
Introduction.
This tutorial shows step-by-step how to integrate Mailchimp and Pardot. To proceed with the walkthrough, you must have the following accesses/accounts:
Mailchimp - This platform allows you to share e-mail marketing campaigns with your audience, clients, or other interested parties.
Salesforce -We are employing a sandbox environment or a production Salesforce instance for our project.
Pardot - This solution allows you to plan and manage your marketing campaigns
Diagram 1 - Architecture of project, flowchart of information.
Table of Contents
Summary
In order to do the integration, we will be breaking the project into numerous steps, the first thing that we need to do is download and install the Mailchimp Salesforce App available on AppExchange. Then we will be configuring this App in order to create a new lead every time we gain a subscriber in our audience.
Later on, we will sign up for a Pardot account and install it, we will be configuring Pardot in order to sync with Salesforce, create and run a program that will let us send emails (customizable) to our audience with the goal of gaining new clients from our audience.
Demo Video
Software used
The integration is done using the following software
Mailchimp
Automated email marketing and newsletter platform, used in the eCommerce industry.
Salesforce
Cloud-based CRM ( Customer Relationship Management) that will help us to track all of our Calendly leads.
Pardot
Salesforces’ Lead Generation and Marketing Solution.
Pricing Plans Used
For this project, we are using a free plan for Mailchimp and Developer Edition on Salesforce.
We can find Pardot within Salesforce because Pardot is a B2B Marketing Solution that Salesforce offers.
Due to the limitations of Salesforce Developer Edition, for the users to receive an email from Pardot, Salesforce needs to be created on a LIVE instance.
This means using any of these plans for Salesforce: www.salesforce.com/editions-pricing/service-cloud/
Image: Pricing Plans for Salesforce
Mailchimp Salesforce App Configuration
We won’t be configuring anything on the Mailchimp website, as Mailchimp has an App in the Salesforce AppExchange (Salesforce’s App Store). We will be installing and using this app in the next section.
mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-for-salesforce/
Mailchimp Salesforce App Installation
To configure the Mailchimp Integration with Salesforce, we have to download and install the Mailchimp Salesforce App directly from AppExchange. (Salesforce’s App Store)
a) Log in to your Salesforce account and click the dots at the top of the page (here you can view all the applications you've installed) and then "View All" at the bottom of the dropdown menu.
Image: App Menu from Salesforce
b) At the top right corner, click on “Visit AppExchange”.
Image: App Launcher from Salesforce
c) Write “Mailchimp” in the search bar and click Enter. After the results are shown, select “Mailchimp Integration App”.
Image: Search Results for “Mailchimp” on AppExchange
d) Click on the “Get it now” button to start the download.
Image: Mailchimp Salesforce App download page from AppExchange
e) This message will pop up; to install it, either create an AppExchange Account or log in with your Salesforce credentials. However, before you can log in, you must first disable your browser's pop-up blocker.
A. Click on “Open Login Screen”
Image: Log in to AppExchange pop-up
f) Click “Allow” to allow Salesforce to access the API.
Image: Allowing Mailchimp to access Salesforce
g) Select "Install Here" in the "Install in This Org" box to install in the current org in which we are logged in.
Image: Selecting Organization to install the Mailchimp App
h) Fill in all the gaps to proceed with the installation, check the Terms and Conditions box and click on “Confirm and Install”
Image: Filling profile information for Mailchimp
i) Choose who has access to the Mailchimp Integration App. This allows them to access the Mailchimp App within the account.
Image: Selecting user accounts to install Mailchimp
j) Now, mark the box in the notification's bottom corner and then click "Continue," which will allow the Mailchimp App to interface with its API components.This step will initiate the installation.
Image: Granting access to Mailchimp to use their API on Salesforce
The installation will take about 3-5 minutes and will notify you when it is finished. You will be able to utilize the Mailchimp Salesforce App after installation is completed.
Image: Installing Mailchimp
Mailchimp Salesforce App Integration
This set of instructions will let us integrate Mailchimp to our Salesforce platform, with the goal of syncing the audience from Mailchimp.
a) Click the dots at the top left corner and type in the box “Mailchimp”. Open Mailchimp for Salesforce.
Image: Searching Mailchimp on the App Menu on Salesforce
b) Select the “MC Setup” tab.
c) Choose the "Login" option and enter your Mailchimp credentials. It will take you to the Mailchimp login page. After logging in, click "Approve."
Image: Tabs of the Mailchimp App
Image: Step 1 of the Mailchimp Install process
d) Once logged in, we will be back at Salesforce. Now we will allow Mailchimp to create leads in Salesforce.
Click on the “I am Ready to Map Fields”
Image: Allowing Mailchimp to create leads in Salesforce
e) In the next step, we will be choosing the Salesforce fields that map to the Mailchimp fields. We will be configuring this later.
Click “Come Back Later”
Image: Step 3, selecting Salesforce fields to map
f) Go back to the “MC Setup” tab and select the “Settings” tab that appears in the menu in the middle of the page.
Enable the buttons just as shown below.
When we turn on these settings, it will start syncing the Data from Mailchimp into Salesforce. And also it will allow Mailchimp to create leads in Salesforce.
Image: Enabling setting buttons
g) Go to the “Audiences” tab.
In “Sync Setting” choose the “Sync Subscriber Only” option.
Enable the “Create Leads from MC” (Mailchimp) button.
These settings will let you sync the subscriber's information and create a lead in Salesforce with the same information.
Once you do these settings, click “Map Fields” on the left in the “Action” column
Image: Choosing audience settings
h) This is where you map the Salesforce Fields with the Mailchimp fields
Modify the mappings by opening the dropdown menu and selecting the fields to map, as shown below.
Feel free to add the fields that you want.
Image: Configuring mappings for Mailchimp Audience
i) Go back to the “MC setup” tag and click “Sync Audience”. This will instantly sync the audience from Mailchimp and create a lead in Salesforce for each subscriber.
Note: The audience will automatically sync every hour.
Image: Pressing the sync audience option
Pardot Configuration
Installing Pardot
a) Sign up for a Pardot account
Image: Salesforce Pardot App
b) Install Pardot using this link, once you open the link, select “Production Environments” and choose “Install for all users”
c) Once it’s finished. We will set up Pardot Business unit. Go to Setup -> Pardot account setup and give Business unit name and assign admin.
Image: Assigning Pardot Admins
d) Now, enable Pardot Lightning App. Go to Marketing Setup as shown in the below image and enable Pardot Lightning App
Image: Opening Marketing Setup
Image: Searching for Setup Assistant
e) Next, Assign Sales or service or CRM permission set to your user So, we are assigning Sales Cloud User permission set to our user. Setup -> Permission set -> Sales cloud user -> Manage Assignment and assign it to your user.
Image: Assigning Sales Cloud User permission
f) Synchronization between Salesforce and Pardot takes around 10-20 minutes.
Adding Connectors
a)Click the dots in the top left corner, click “View All” and search for the Pardot App that has “B2B Marketing Automation” as a description. Then open it.
Image: App Menu from Salesforce
The App should look like this:
Image: App icon
b) Once we are in Lightning Experience with Pardot, select the “Pardot Settings” tab from the menu, look for “Connectors” on the left menu of the page and open the tag.
Select Salesforce and then click “+Add Connector”
Image: Adding a Connector
c) Log in to Salesforce using the connector user’s credentials.
d) After you’re logged in, click Allow to give the connector user access to your account.
e) Choose your connector settings and click Finish.
Add Campaign to Pardot
In this subsection, we will be creating a campaign in which we will be adding prospects, later on, it will be used to send each prospect an email.
a) Click the dots in the top left corner, click “View All” and search for the Pardot App that has no description, then open it.
Image: Pardot app icon
b) Go to the “Pardot” tab, hover over the wand icon (“Marketing”) in the left menu, and select “Campaigns”.
Image: Navigating to Campaigns section
c) Click on the “+Add Campaign” button
Note: Connected Campaigns should be disabled, otherwise campaigns will be read-only and the system will not allow adding any campaign
d) Fill in all the details and click on “Create Campaign”
Adding Prospects to Campaign
a) Go to the Lighting App – Pardot, navigate to the “Settings” tab and click on “Connectors” on the left side of the page.
b) Click on the settings icon of the Salesforce connector and click on “Edit Settings”.
Image: Editing Campaign Settings
c) Select the “Automatically create prospects…” box in Pardot if they are created as a Lead or Contact in Salesforce” Checkbox.
d) Choose a Campaign from the dropdown (All Pardot Campaigns will be shown here).
After this, the prospect will create against all leads created in salesforce and that prospect will add to the chosen campaign.
Image: Choosing a Campaign
Create an Email Template
Now, we will create the email template that it will be sent to each prospect on the campaign created before.
a) Go to the Pardot lightning app and click the “Pardot Email” tab.
· Click Templates
· Click on the “+Add Email Template” button under Published Email Templates
Image: Adding an Email Template
b) A pop-up will appear for the Basic Template Information, fill in the name, the folder where is located, and the campaign that the email template will be used.
c) Check the boxes for your template just as the ones are shown below. And then click “Save”, we will be editing what the template will have in the next steps.
Image: Filling out template information
d) After we created a template, it’s time to edit it.
· Click on the name of the template, this will allow us to see what it contains.
Image: Selecting email to edit
e) Once we open the template we can see its details. Now click the “Edit email template”.
Image: Email Template details
f) Now we are in the editor, write the message you want your email to contain.
· When you’re finished editing the template, go to the “Text” tab.
Image: Email Template content editing
g) Next, click the “Sync From HTML” button, it’s below the editor tab.
Image: Syncing email content
h) Select Sender from the dropdown list on the "Sending" tab. (This will be the sender for all of these emails.)
As needed, create a subject line.
When finished, click "Publish To Template." The template modifications you made will now be visible.
If you do not wish to publish the updated template, you may save it as a draft by clicking the "Save Draft" option. Which you may then post.
Consideration: A link to unsubscribe from promotional communications must be included in the email.
Image: Setting up email template
Create a Segmentation List.
A segmentation list allows you to send emails only to certain groups of prospects or even keep certain prospects from receiving an email.
a) In Pardot Lightning App, go to the “Automations” tab.
b) Click on the “Segmentation Lists” tab in the side menu. Here we can create a segmentation list.
c) Click on “+Add List”.
Note: Don’t worry if you don’t see the same thing on your screen. We have already created a list before.
Image: Adding a Segmentation List
d) Fill in the details of your segmentation list.
Write a name for your List and a Label
Check the “Public List” box, as this will allow the display of it in the email preference center.
Finally, click “Create List”
Image: Fill Segmentation List information
Create Automation rules to add Prospect to the List
In the following section, we will create the automation rules, which will add the new leads to the list to whom we will send an email.
a) In Pardot Lightning App, go to the “Automations” tab, click “Automation Rules” and click the “+Add Automation Rules” button.
b) Fill in this part of the creation of the automation rules.
Image: Adding Automation Rules
Image: Filling Automation Rules description
c) Click on the “+Add new rule” button.
Image: Choosing Match Type and adding new rule button
d) Select Prospect CRM Status
Select Lead (any parameter according to requirement can be selected)
Image: Selecting CRM Status
e) Click on the “+Add new action” button.
Image: Adding new action to the rules
f) Select the “Add prospect to List” action button from the dropdown list, and choose the list created in the previous section.
Mark the check as checked. (this will ensure the automation rules will run in real-time)
Click “Create automation rules” to finish the process.
Image: Setting actions and creating the rules
By creating these automation rules, all prospects that have been created against leads from salesforce will be added to the selected list automatically.
Engagement Program
a) In Pardot Lightning App, go to the “Automations” tab
b) Click “Engagement studio” on the left menu
c) Click the “+Add Engagement Program” button
Image: Adding an Engagement Program
d) Fill in the required details of the Engagement Program
Image: Filling program details
e) We add a Recipient List (This will be a list of leads who will receive the emails. Select the segregation list we created in the previous section)
f) Add Suppression List (This will be a list of prospects who should not receive the email)
g) Select the time to send the email and click “Save”
Image: Adding Recipient and Suppression Lists, and selecting the time to send the email.
h) Now we will start building the program:
Click the “+” icon to add a new step.
Image: Adding a new step to the program
i) Select the “Action” button
j) Search for “Send Email” and select the option that appears.
k) Then, select “Email Template”. Choose when you want to make that action and click on “Save”.
Image: Adding an action to the program
Image: Searching “Send Email” action
Image: Selecting when to send the email
i) Click on the “+” icon below “Send Email” to add another step.
Select “Trigger”.
Then, select “Email Link Click”.
Now, choose the “Email Template” you want to use.
Image: Adding another step
Image: Adding a trigger to the program
Image: Selecting a Trigger
Image: Selecting email link click
j) Click on the right “+” icon and add an “Action”.
Image: Adding an action
k) Following the creation of an "Action," look for and choose the "Change Prospect Field Value" option.
Match the settings displayed below when you click on them.
Select "Save."
Image: Selecting prospect field value
l) When you've completed all of the previous steps, click "Start" in the upper right corner.
Your Engagement Program will be operational following this step.
If you want to edit the program, you must first pause it.
Image: Final view of the program
Conclusion
This project is a demo guiding you through the basics of setting up an end-to-end integration between the leads you capture from an email marketing campaign. Going further, you can set up custom marketing flows using Pardot, sort leads by categorizing them according to their profile, and targeted messages based on the source. We are able to integrate many sources of leads for your email campaigns, here we use Mailchimp as a data source, but we can also use legacy email lists from a text document or other email campaigns.