Even though we’re 100% excited to see Salesforce Einstein GPT coming out, let’s not forget about all the other improvements that have been released lately. We carefully reviewed them to analyze the impact on our customers and readers. In this post, we have listed the most important features for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) administrators and users. 

 1. Account Engagement Optimizer is generally available

Account Engagement Optimizer is transitioning from beta to generally available! Optimizer offers convenient ways to clean up your Account Engagement organization by identifying potential issues. With this transition, Optimizer introduces additional metrics, including: 

• Configuration Issues: Identifying problems that block access to features. 
• Performance Improvement Measures: Displaying positive metrics to highlight what’s working well in the Business Unit. 
• Prospect Change Monitor: Understanding which features lead to the most prospect changes for your Business Unit.

2. External actions are coming to completion actions

External actions, the feature that enables Account Engagement to send data to 3rd party applications, is now accessible within completion actions. This means you can effortlessly register a prospect for an event in a 3rd party system as soon as they fill out a form. 

3. Copy Assets Across Business Units 

If you manage multiple Account Engagement business units (BUs), you’re probably well aware of the difficulty in keeping consistent assets across all BUs. But worry no more! The summer ’23 release has a solution in store. Introducing the new capability for Salesforce Flow to replicate assets across BUs. This new feature facilitates the replication of custom fields, email templates, engagement studio programs, files, and custom redirects.  

4. Data Cloud and Account Engagement

One of the most exciting new features in the release is the Account Engagement connector for Data Cloud. Data Cloud, also known as Salesforce CDP (Customer Data Platform), is a platform that helps organizations unify their customer data from various sources, perform identity resolution, and activate the data for marketing and personalization purposes. It enables businesses to have a comprehensive view of their customers and deliver more personalized experiences. 

The good news is that Account Engagement, which is part of Salesforce Pardot, can now leverage the capabilities of Data Cloud (CDP). This integration allows Account Engagement (Pardot) administrators to tap into the unified customer data managed by Data Cloud. By using Account Engagement, businesses can nurture leads, send emails, and market to their customers based on the complete set of interactions and data available in Data Cloud.  

While Data Cloud (CDP) has traditionally been associated with B2C marketing, there is a growing trend among B2B marketing organizations to adopt CDPs. Many B2B marketers struggle with executing account-based marketing (ABM) due to the lack of a unified view of customer data. Profile unification, offered by CDPs like Data Cloud, becomes important for both B2C and B2B marketers to deliver personalized experiences and improve marketing effectiveness. 

5. Opt Out can again be set to “Most Recently Updated”

During the winter ’23 release, Salesforce announced the removal of the “Most recently updated” sync behavior option for the Account Engagement “Opt Out” field. Based on community feedback, this change is being reversed, however. So if you haven’t prepared for this change, your delaying behavior has paid off! Just remember that for new business units created after Oct. 18, 2023, the sync behavior Opt-Out is set to “Use Account Engagement” by default.

6. Convert dynamic Lists to static Lists 

A new and long-awaited feature: the ability to turn dynamic lists into static lists with a simple click of a button. Gone are the days when you were restricted once you set a list as dynamic. This feature is a game-changer for marketers, saving them valuable time and effort. Previously, converting a dynamic list to a static list required manual work through exports/imports or additional automation. But now you can easily convert a list with a single click. Say hello to more efficiency and flexibility in your marketing campaigns! 

A Few other summer ’23 release updates: 

• Tracking cookies are retroactively added when a prospect confirms tracking consent. 

• Trust.pardot.com has moved to status.salesforce.com as of May 1st. 

• Print Count and Forward Count will be removed from the Email Interaction reporting. 

• Lightning Email Builder will evenly align images in columns. 

Do you have questions or doubts about the new releases in MC Account Engagement? Don’t hesitate to contact us!