Improve Email Engagement with Dynamic Content in Pardot

In today's digital landscape, personalized interactions have become the standard.

From ultra-curated social feeds to customized search results pages, the majority of consumers simply take personalization as a standard.

One of the challenges marketers continue to face is how to bring this same level of personalization to email marketing.

Fortunately, Pardot users have a slew of tools at their disposal to increase engagement metrics in their Pardot email campaigns, from personalization tokens to dynamic content. You can use these tools to deliver tailored messages that resonate with specific audience segments, marketers can drive higher engagement and make each email feel more relevant to the subscriber.

Understanding Dynamic Content in Pardot's Capabilities

Pardot’s dynamic content functionality allows marketers to adjust content blocks—like text, images, and calls-to-action—based on recipient data. Instead of a one-size-fits-all message, you can customize your emails in ways that deepen connections and improve account engagement, aligning each email with the specific interests or needs of the recipient.

Common Pardot fields that power dynamic content include score, grade, location, and custom fields that provide unique insights into individual recipients.

What is Dynamic Content?

Dynamic Content is a feature that allows marketers to personalize various marketing assets, such as emails and landing pages, based on specific prospect information. It's based on a subscriber's attributes or data extension column values.

By leveraging dynamic content, you can create multiple variations of a single content block, each tailored to different segments of your audience. This personalization can be driven by data points like interests, demographics, and behavior, ensuring that each prospect receives content that is most relevant to them.

For example

The result? Improved click-through and conversion rates, as prospects are more likely to engage with content that speaks directly to their needs and preferences.

Create Dynamic Content in Pardot

1. To set up dynamic content, you'll want to head into the Dynamic Content area of Account Engagement (Marketing > Content > Dynamic Content). In the Lightning app, select Content and then Dynamic Content.
2. Click + Add Dynamic Content.
3. Enter a name for internal use, and set up the default content that you want a prospect to see if they don't match a variation by clicking on the pencil icon, then creating the content in the editor.
4. Click Save.

Note that you can now add up to 25 variations. To add a variation, select a field that you want your variation to be based on, along with the criteria for the variation. Then, hover over the box and click Edit to add content. Make sure to save when you're done.

The dynamic content is now ready to be added to emails and web pages.

Once your variations are set, you can embed dynamic content into your marketing assets, such as emails or landing pages. This ensures that each recipient sees the content variation that is most relevant to them.

Segmenting Your Audience Effectively for Account Engagement

It's worth noting that the dynamic content feature, even when used in conjunction with Pardot merge fields, is only as good as your contact data, organization, and overall strategy.

A well-executed personalization strategy starts with robust audience segmentation. You can use lists and segmentation rules to group recipients based on criteria that allow for more personalized messaging, helping you move beyond the 25 variation limitation imposed by Pardot.

By focusing on behavior and profile data, you can strategically tailor dynamic content to deliver the most relevant message to each segment, such as:

• Behavior-based groups: Segment based on engagement history, such as downloads, webinar attendance, or recent email clicks.
• Profile-based groups: Use attributes like industry, role, company size, and location to create highly targeted groups.

Creative Ideas for Dynamic Content Blocks in B2B Newsletters

Dynamic content opens up many opportunities to make each email memorable. Setting up default content ensures that even if specific user criteria are not met, the recipient still receives a meaningful message. Here are a few ideas to inspire engagement:

• Customer testimonials or case studies tailored to the recipient’s industry or company size.
• Special offers, updates, or relevant events based on user engagement level or buying cycle stage.
• Varied calls-to-action (CTAs) for different stages of the funnel. For instance, a top-of-funnel prospect might see a “Learn More” button, while a bottom-of-funnel lead could see a “Request a Demo” button.

By making small yet impactful adjustments, these dynamic blocks keep the recipient’s experience both fresh and relevant.

How to Test and Optimize Dynamic Content in Pardot

Testing is essential for any dynamic content strategy. Using a default variation ensures that a meaningful message is always presented, even when specific data is unavailable. Experiment with different versions of your dynamic content to find out what resonates most:

• A/B testing: Test variations within the same email to gauge effectiveness. Consider running tests for headlines, CTAs, and imagery to see what sparks higher engagement.
• Tracking engagement metrics: Use Pardot’s engagement and open rate tracking for each version to refine your approach over time.

Optimization isn’t a one-time effort. By consistently testing and refining, you’ll maximize the impact of your dynamic content.

Dynamic Content Limitations and Workarounds

While Pardot dynamic content is a robust feature, it does come with some limitations. Here are a few common challenges and practical workarounds:

• First Field Matching: If a prospect matches multiple criteria, the prospect sees the first matched variation, which makes it important that you order your variations strategically. For example, you might have two variations: Score > 50 and Score > 100, listed in that order. Prospects with a score of over 100 will see the > 50 content, because it's listed first and they match the criteria.
• Single Prospect Field Limitation: Dynamic content can only be based on one prospect field at a time. To work around this, you can use automation rules and custom prospect fields to combine multiple field values into a single field.
• Lack of Custom Object Data: Custom object fields are not available for dynamic content. A workaround is to create a Lead/Contact formula field in Salesforce and map it to a prospect custom field in Pardot.
• No ‘Is Empty’ Option: You cannot set dynamic content variations using “is empty” or “is blank” criteria. To overcome this, add a blank value to the field setup, allowing you to create a variation for empty fields.

By understanding these limitations and implementing these workarounds, you can maximize the effectiveness of your dynamic content strategy.

Leveraging FeedOtter and Pardot Together for Newsletter Personalization

Pardot Dynamic Content is only one of many ways to create personalized content for your newsletters—and should be used in conjunction with other options like merge fields, segmentation, etc.

If you're using an external Pardot email builder outside the Salesforce ecosystem, like FeedOtter, you might find that you gravitate more towards using merge fields and segmentation to save time while maintaining a competitive sending calendar.

Best Practices for Using Dynamic Content in Pardot

To ensure that your dynamic content strategy is effective and efficient, keep these best practices in mind:

• Always include fallback options: This prevents awkward blank fields and ensures the content is visually seamless, even if a data field is empty. Effective marketing automation through tools like Pardot enhances lead nurturing by enabling dynamic content that personalizes interactions with prospects.
• Balance personalization and brand consistency: Dynamic content can be personalized, but it should still align with your brand’s overall tone and aesthetic.
• Review content regularly: Data changes, and so should your dynamic content. Regularly reviewing and updating content ensures it remains relevant.

Conclusion: Embracing Dynamic Content to Drive Results

Dynamic content enables marketers to engage audiences on a deeper level, making each email more relevant and impactful. By leveraging Pardot’s powerful tools and integrating FeedOtter to streamline your workflow, you can create email campaigns that drive meaningful results. Take the time to test, optimize, and adjust as your audience grows to make sure your messages continue to resonate.

With these strategies, Pardot’s dynamic content can be your ticket to boosted engagement and more successful email campaigns.