How to import prospects and create lists in Pardot
First, let’s review the definition of a prospect in Pardot…
“A prospect is a visitor with a known email address in Pardot. A prospect is created when a website visitor submits a form, or when a lead or contact is imported or synced from Salesforce. When you send an email in Pardot, you send it to a prospect.” Salesforce
Pardot and Salesforce are constantly talking to each other. When syncing prospects, changes to prospect records are pushed to Salesforce, and information from Salesforce records is pulled into the corresponding Pardot prospect records. Syncing occurs every 2–4 minutes.
More information about Pardot and Salesforce syncing can be accessed here.
Import Contacts
Prepare your lists. Use columns to identify fields such as Company, Job title, Email, First Name, etc.
📕 Note: You will need to save your files as .CSV
Log in to Pardot — You need Admin rights to upload prospects.
Menu > Admin > Import > Prospects
STEP 1: CHOOSE FILE
Upload your CSV file, click on the compliance checkbox.
STEP 2 MAP FIELDS
⚠️ Remember that the minimum mandatory field is always email address.
You can decide to overwrite data, that means that if you upload a prospect that already exists and the Job title is different, then by checking the “overwrite existing data” box you will make sure you always have the most updated fields.
STEP 3 SELECT CAMPAIGN AND TAG
If you haven’t created a campaign yet, I recommend you create one. I also recommend that the campaign is not changed for existing prospects, that way you always make sure your prospects are tied to the right campaign, that generated the relationship with that prospect.
🏷️ Using tags: Tags are helpful for organising your data and reporting.
STEP 4 SELECT ACTION
What do you want to do with all these prospects? If you want to create a list, select the first option and create a new list on step 4a.
👄 Naming Convention: Use a naming convention that works for you and your team, my recommendation is to use a structure like this:
MARKET_CAMPAIGN*_PURPOSE_DATE
*Campaign or initiative type: Event, Email Campaign, Whitepaper
Examples:
- UK_CannesLions_Invitees_Tier3_IT_APR18
- FR_CannesLions_Reminder_Tier3_IT_MAY19
Other examples:
- RetailWhitepaper_EmailCampaign_JAN15
- RetailWhitepaper_Downloads_JAN30
Keep your lists and activities organised! You can create a specific folder in Pardot for events for instance.
Save your list, then click on next.
Click Confirm and Save.
⏰ You will be notified via email when your prospects have finished being imported.
🔍 Where do I find my list?
Marketing > Segmentation > Lists
How can I use these lists?
These are static lists. A list is a group of prospects that you can use to send list emails or to feed engagement programs. To add prospects to a static list, you can add them manually or use automation rules.
