Those of you who have been followers of The Spot for a few years now know that we have shared our favorite Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) Ideas from the Salesforce IdeaExchange either in blog posts or the Pardashians Slack group.
This tradition started in 2017 with Andrea’s initial post highlighting 8 ideas on the IdeaExchange that Pardot admins should upvote. We’ve seen great features come to life in the most recent Salesforce releases (looking at Conditional Options for Completion Actions), and we’re hoping you can help prioritize ideas for future releases.
Salesforce has three releases throughout the year and uses their IdeaExchange to help drive which features are prioritized in future releases. As a marketer, you have most likely entered a situation where your team is requesting a solution that is currently not available in Marketing Cloud Engagement or Marketing Cloud Account Engagement as a feature.
Your first stop is to see if this feature/solution has been mentioned or resolved via the IdeaExchange. Checking there first is going to help you understand how others have solved it, and then you can add in your own vote to the idea.
What is the Salesforce IdeaExchange anyway?
Back in 2006, the Salesforce #Ideaexchange was born as a way to involve its customers (big and small) in a modern effort to crowdsource ideas for its product roadmap. This ensures the community gets a platform to contribute their ideas and wishes — you know, a place where the margods can go for inspiration if you will as they build the world of tomorrow.
How does one enter their idea into the Salesforce IdeaExchange?
- Come up with an idea and submit it to the exchange
- You then get trapped and spend 2-4 hours going through other people’s ideas (definitely optional, but highly encouraged).
- If your idea gets enough votes (10+ points for you) then a product manager gets involved
- The idea is developed and then delivered, and we all cheer!
Need more details? We wrote a little about the history of the AppExchange.
Top Salesforce IdeaExchange items for marketers
As Salesforce continues to work on improving their marketing automation platforms, our team has put together a list of ideas that we recommend you upvoting and adding to your wish list in hopes of getting them added to the top of the prioritization list.
Here is our current list of Salesforce IdeaExchange items that marketers should check out and upvote.
Salesforce
- Ability to Customize Campaign Member Status Values for all Campaigns
This feature would help with needing to update campaign member statuses for each individual campaign. We wrote about how to fix this with Protected Campaign Member Statuses.
Marketing Cloud Engagement
- Access to a Marketing Cloud Engagement Developer Edition
This feature would help trailblazers gain hands-on experience working within Marketing Cloud Engagement without being a customer.
- Include Dynamic Links in Engagement Split Activity
This feature would ensure Journey Builder engagement splits based on clicks can monitor the clicks on any dynamic link as well as static links.
- Access to a Recycle Bin in Marketing Cloud Engagement
This feature would give Marketing Cloud Engagement admins the same abilities as the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement recycle bin.
- Include the “De-Duplicate by Email Address” Feature in Journey Builder
This feature would give users the same abilities they have when sending a normal email through Marketing Cloud Engagement.
- Allow Data Extensions as Suppression Lists in Journey Builder
This feature would allow marketers to use data extensions for suppression lists in Journey Builder instead of lists.
Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
- Track and Record Direct Replies to an Email Sent from Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
This feature would provide an additional, much needed KPI for marketers to be able to determine which CTAs are working for their emails that do not go directly to links or forms.
- Reduce Errors Post-Sending Email
This feature would allow you to either recall or edit emails that have not been opened yet after an email is sent with an error.
- Allow or Operational Email Sending in Engagement Programs
This feature would bring the operational email checkbox to the entire Engagement Program or individual Email steps to ensure those who need to receive these emails still are even when in an Engagement Program.
- Audit changes to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Assets
This feature would bring a tool similar to what Salesforce Admins have available to them to be able to view all changes made to lists and assets throughout Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.
- Allow Variable Fields in SFDC Tasks
This feature would allow for more variability and customization when creating a Salesforce Task from within Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.
- Notifications for SFDC Connector Errors
This feature would bring forth a notification system for your team to understand when there are Connector errors between Salesforce and Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.
- BRING BACK “PARDOT”
This feature needs no explanation as many people are hoping we can reverse the name rebrand and move back to calling the tool “Pardot” at some point in the future.
Analytics
- Ability to Include Cross Filters in Report Filter Logic
This feature would allow users to be able to use standard filters and cross filters together in a report with filter logic.
- Reporting on Email Activity from Salesforce Inbox or Standard Inbox Integrations
This feature would bring email activity into the Activity records to allow for reporting between emails and other activities.
- Allow Reference Lines on Dashboard Components
This feature would bring an amazing reporting feature to dashboards so marketers can include reference lines on any report chart within a dashboard.
We Want to Hear From You!
While some Pardot admin recommendations get picked up and implemented faster than others, it all depends on community participation and perceived need from the Marketing Cloud product team. In fact, to help drive ideas, Salesforce created a prioritization system where you can see top feature suggestions across the ecosystem battle it out!
Are there any features or functionality you wish you could see? If so, let us know below. With a little bit of luck and support from your Salesforce Ohana, you might also uncover the secrets of the IdeaExchange and get your idea on the scoreboard.Don’t forget to vote for these ideas, submit your own and chat with us on Twitter, LinkedIn or simply subscribe to the blog.
