Automation Rules and Drip Programs

Partner Certification - Silver

When To Use Automation Rules

• Assignments• Based on geographical location• Based on a score or grade reached

• Change a Grade• No Need to manually “thumbs-up or thumbs-down” a

profile criteria• Use simple or complex strategy to issue a grade

• Retroactive actions• Apply an action to prospects even if the action has

already occurred due to the rules being retroactive in nature

Automation versus Segmentation and Dynamic List

• Automation Rules• Only will run on a prospect once. If the prospect does not match the

rules anymore, the action will not un-do. You will need another rule to remove them from the action

• Will continuously match people until rule is deleted or removed

• Segmentation Rules• Only will run on a prospect once. If the prospect does not match the

rules anymore, the action will not un-do. You will need another rule to remove them from the action

• Will match at one time, you will need to re-run rule to match new prospects

• Dynamic List• Will continually look for prospects to add to a list. If prospect no

longer matches the criteria, they will be removed from the list• Only works for adding to list, other actions not available

Real Time Automation Rules

• Allow the automation rule to run before the form or landing page is submitted

• Use Cases• Allows you to assign prospect to have auto-responder to come

from rep• Unsubscribe competitors immediately so they can not gain access

to collateral

• Note: Since real time automation rules run before the form/landing page is submitted, having too many real-time automation can greatly slow the user experience

Rules and Rule Groups

• Automation Rules allow for “and”/”or”, “and & or” statements

• Match All/ Any in a Rule will give you an “and”/”or” statement

• Match All/Any in a Rule Group allows you to use an “and & or” statement

• Example on next slide!

Rules and Rule Groups Example

Rule: (Match Any)Prospect Default Field >> State >> Is >> GeorgiaProspect Default Field >> State >> Is >> Alabama

Action:Assign Prospect >> To John Doe

Rule: (Match All)Prospect Score >> Is greater than >> 75Prospect Grade >> Is greater than >> C+Rule Group: (Match Any)Prospect Default Field >> State >> Is >> GeorgiaProspect Default Field >> State >> Is >> Alabama

Action:Assign Prospect >> To John Doe

Rule Example

Rule Group Example

Prospect can only be from one state, so use a rule and have ‘match any’

You want to make sure they have a high score/grade AND they are from one of the required states

Tips and Tricks

• Don’t over complicate your rules. Keep them simple so it is easy to troubleshoot if needed

• Rules start in the paused position. This gives the visibility to see if the rules have been set up correctly

• Have too many rules? A lot of rules can be replaced by completion actions

• Watch out for the match all/any. This is a common reason rules are not matching as they should

Why are my automations/drips not running?

• Paused? All automation rules and drip programs start in the paused position. Hit resume and it should start firing up

• Time? The automations will not start immediately. Give it about 10-15 minutes

• Matching? Did you check the preview of the rule and make sure that the rule would match anyone

• Blackout periods? If on a drip program, you gave a blackout period, are you in that time allotment?

• Suppressed? Is everyone you sent the drip program to on a suppression list?

Drip Programs – What is required?

• Logic• Need to have a general idea of what you want to drip program to do

and accomplish. • When should prospects get emails and how long between?• If an action takes place, should the prospect go down a different path?

• Emails• You should have at least the first few emails ready to go and place

holders for any future emails• Will allow you to start building the drip program and have the look and

feel ready to go• As long as you have the new email in place before prospects reach the

step, they will get the correct, updated email

• The List• Who do you want to receive the emails?

Sending to List

• Adding/removing people to list• You can keep adding people to list – each prospect takes their own

path on a drip program• If you remove a prospect from a list, they will stop in their place

• Deduping• Pardot will automatically make sure the prospect is sent the drip

once• If more than one list is subjected to a drip, Pardot will dedupe that

list

• Suppression• Keep prospects from receiving emails in your drip program• Use Case: keep an updated customer list to remove from

marketing emails`

Only One Time Down Please…

• A prospect will only go through the drip program once

• A prospect will only get the email template once through drips• If the prospect received the same template in a blast, they will

bypass the step of the email

• If a prospect is removed from the drip program and added back, they pick up where they left off• The prospect will not start over from the beginning

Blackout Periods

• Allows for drip programs to only be sent between 10am – 4pm in the time zone you select

• If the next email is scheduled to go out during the blackout period, it will be queued for the next time the blackout is lifted

• Blackout period do not function against pauses and link/open checks• These will function as they normally would

• Not required for drips

Did the prospect open or click!?

• Use the open/click action to take prospects down different paths if they show interest

• Be smart about the time• Give the prospect enough time to open the email or click the link• 5-7 days is enough time for this• Once a prospect goes down the ‘no’ path, they can not jump into

the yes path

• If you want a followup action to occur before the time period passes (immediately), use a custom redirect on the email or a page action on the email (coming soon!)

Drip Program Tips and Tricks

• If you want to send a simple series of emails and not check for clicks or take additional action, simply use the “Send Email” and “Pause” icons, disregarding the more advanced options.

• A “pause” is required between drip emails. If you remove a prospect from a drip and later add them back to the list, they will resume the drip where they left off (instead of starting over again)

• Prospects can be continually added to a drip program, regardless of what step the other prospects have reached. Every time a new prospect is added to the drip program’s recipient list, they will start at the beginning of the drip.

Reporting

• Drip program reports will give you insight of how many prospects opened, clicked, unsubscribed, etc with your email

• In the drip program overview, the number to the right of the action is how many prospects have passed through the step, not how many are on the current step

• Use reporting to change drip times and emails that are being sent to the prospects

End of Automation/Drips Course

• You have reached the end of the Automation/Drip Programs

• You will now take a test of what you have learned. You must score greater than 85% to pass this portion of the test.

• Good luck!