Pardot Winter 2012 Release Highlights Visual Tools For Campaign Building
- Written by
- Published in DemandGen Reports
Pardot today announced new product features as part of its Winter 2012 release, including an enhanced visual editor and form builder, designed to enable marketers to streamline the creation of lead management campaigns.
"Many marketers today don't have an expert-level knowledge of web design, so we're always trying to make Pardot as user-friendly as possible for our clients," said Adam Blitzer, COO at Pardot. "That is where the wizards and pre-fabricated templates come in handy. We want to empower our users to create rockstar email templates and forms that will drive conversions, all in a few clicks. The new email and form editors are extremely flexible and, most importantly, make it easy to create marketing materials. It's important for marketers to be able to quickly produce very custom assets so that each audience segment or campaign can be targeted appropriately."
Pardot upgraded its email editor with enhancements to visual capabilities. The new visual editor is designed to allow marketers to edit specific sections of their email (header, paragraph, sidebar, etc.) and customize each section. Pardot has also added 36 new, “out-of-the-box” layout templates, including layouts with multiple columns and images that marketers can use to personalize email campaigns.
Additionally, Pardot enhanced its form builder to enable marketers to set individual form fields during the form creation process. Also, fields that are intended for use across multiple forms can be customized accordingly. For example, a form field can be displayed in English one place and in Spanish somewhere else. The functionality is aimed at helping marketers save time and ensure the accuracy of lead data captured.
In January, Pardot launched the Pardot Now training program, providing new as well as experienced Pardot users with a wealth of training courses to enrich their marketing programs. In addition to twice-weekly Pardot Basics sessions, Pardot offers 18 different training courses each month. Each class is focused on a specific Pardot feature and is designed to give users in-depth knowledge and actionable tips that can instantly improve their marketing operations.
"Pardot has always offered free on-going training for all clients in the form of our Pardot Basics courses. These were broad, full product overviews," said Kati Newburg, Pardot's training coordinator. "We had requests from many clients to have more specialized, in-depth training on specific features, so that more seasoned clients could pick and choose the topics they wanted to learn more about. In response to this, we added 18 new, feature-focused sessions so that users can take a deep dive into specific areas of the Pardot functionality and walk away with new tips they can try right away."
The new release builds on a record year of growth for Pardot, where the company reached more than 1,000 customers worldwide, and its client base grew 112% in 2011 according to Raab Associates. Additionally, Pardot’s software was recently named best overall value in marketing automation and easiest to deploy by research firm Gleanster. The Atlanta, GA-based company experienced a 30% year-over-year growth in new customer sign-ups during 2011.