Preparing for Pardot Opt Out Field Sync Changes

Summer ’23 Release Update: With this release, Salesforce is re-allowing the Account Engagement Opt-Out field to be set to “Use Most Recently Updated”. However, We’ll leave this blog post up in case it helps anyone who does want to set their Opt-Out field to “Use Account Engagement’s Value” or “Use Salesforce’s Value”.

Original Blog Post

The Salesforce Winter ’23 release is bringing some changes to the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) “Opted Out” field. After this release, the sync options will change and “Use most recently updated” will no longer be an option for this field. 

Pardot Admins must choose between “Use Salesforce’s Value” or “Use Pardot’s Value” before July 11th, 2023 or this field will stop syncing with Salesforce. All Pardot Orgs created after August 26th, 2022 will default to use Pardot’s Value.

So, how do you keep Pardot and Salesforce Opt Outs in sync between the two systems after this change? Well, it all depends on where your emails are coming from. 

If you are only sending emails from Pardot

If you are only sending emails from Pardot, then Pardot being the system of record should not cause any issues. 

Before you change your Opt Out sync behavior in Pardot, check the permissions of your “Email Opt Out” field on the Lead and Contact Objects. You will want to ensure only the Pardot to Salesforce connector user’s profile can edit this field so Salesforce users don’t incorrectly think they can opt out Leads/Contacts from the Salesforce side. 

1. In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
2. Locate and open the Email Opt Out field
3. Select Set Field-Level Security
4. Ensure Read-Only is selected for any profiles who have visibility to this field except for the connector user’s profile (this will be the “B2BMA Integration User” profile if you are using the B2BMA integration user as your connector user)

5. Select Save
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the Contact Object

Next, change your Pardot Opted Out field to use Pardot’s Value and voila! You are ready for this update. 

But Salesforce Users want to be able to Opt Out Leads/Contacts

If your Salesforce users need to maintain the ability to opt Leads/Contacts out of Pardot Email from the Salesforce side, they can use the “Do Not Email” field going forward. Make sure you go through the “If you are only sending emails from Pardot”  steps above, as well as:

#1 – Create a “Do Not Email” field for Leads/Contacts

1. In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
2. Select New
3. Select the field type Checkbox, then Next
4. Name the field “Pardot: Do Not Email”
5. In the Help Text field, enter “Prevents this Lead/Contact from receive Marketing emails in Pardot”

6. Select Next
7. On the Establish field-level security screen, ensure all profiles that will need update this field have visibility to it especially the Connector user’s profile (this will be the “B2BMA Integration User” profile if you are using the B2BMA integration user as your connector user)
8. Select Next
9. Select the page layouts you’d like to add this field to, select Save
10. Repeat steps 1-9 for the Contact Object 

# 2 – Map the “Pardot: Email Opt Out” field upon Conversion

1. In Salesforce navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
2. Select Map Lead Fields
3. Select the Contact tab
4. Locate the Pardot: Do Not Email field in the Lead Fields column and select the Pardot: Do Not Email  field under the Contact Fields Column

5. Select Save

# 3 – Map the Pardot “Do Not Email” field to Salesforce

1. In the Pardot Lightning app, navigate to Pardot Settings > Prospect Fields > Default Fields > Do Not Email
2. Select Edit default Prospect field
3. In the salesforce.com Field Name drop down, select Pardot: Do Not Email
4. In the Sync Behavior field, select Use the most recently updated value

5. Select Save default field

If you’re sending email out of multiple systems

If you’re sending emails out of Pardot and Salesforce, Marketing Cloud, or various other systems, my recommendation would be to create an Opt Out field for each system then use a Salesforce flow to keep these checkboxes in line. 

For instance, if a Lead/Contact opts out of Pardot emails, you likely want to also opt them out of Salesforce and Marketing Cloud emails coming from the same company or email domain,  otherwise you’re likely to get some SPAM complaints. 

Tell us how Pardot Opt Out Field Sync changes affect you

How are you handling the Pardot Opt Out field sync changes? Do you have any scenarios that are more complex than the examples above? Let us know in the comments!