Salesforce Pardot has been renamed to Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. However, more than just the name has changed in this Software as a Service (SaaS) tool. There are various critical differences between Pardot and Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. This is what confuses many users.
Why This Change in Name?
Pardot is a platform Salesforce created earlier that offers marketing automation. Lately, Salesforce renamed many of its software and tools, and Pardot was one of them.
It was done according to the MC Easy initiative of Salesforce to simplify and make its product portfolio easier to understand.
Here are different software and tools, and on the right is the new name they have been renamed to.
It is obvious that with more relatable names, Salesforce has sought to bring all the products under one umbrella of Marketing Cloud.
Old Software / Tool | New Software/ Tool |
Pardot | Marketing Cloud Account Management |
Datorama | Marketing Cloud Intelligence |
Salesforce CDP | Marketing Cloud Customer Data Platform |
Interaction Studio | Marketing Cloud Personalization |
Marketing Cloud | Marketing Cloud Engagement |
Messaging/Journeys | Marketing Cloud Engagement |
Advertising Studio | Marketing Cloud Advertising |
In this blog, we will explore the features of Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and learn about its prices and editions. However, before that, let us see what Marketing Cloud Account Engagement is.
What is Marketing Cloud Account Engagement?
To begin with, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (MCAE) is a tool to help your business make meaningful connections, build networks, and grow your relationships with clients.
It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) tool that helps companies in lead generation.
Here are a few things Marketing Cloud Account Engagement allows the business to do:
- Track communications with its contacts
- Automate tasks
- Evaluate the effectiveness of different campaigns
- Build and streamline workflows
- Personalize digital strategy and content
The tool allows the company to communicate efficiently with the right people according to their preferences and leverage the information collected through campaigns, forms, and interactions.
Therefore, if you are looking for a suite to grow your business through tailored digital strategies, you might want to check out Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.
B2B or B2C
The main question is, is Marketing Cloud Account Engagement designed for Business to Business (B2B) operations or for Business to Customer (B2C) operations? Pardot was more of a B2B product, and Marketing Cloud was more associated with B2C.
However, Salesforce believes that both platforms can be used by both B2B and B2C users. Therefore, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement strives to eliminate the distinction between B2B and B2C platforms.
However, MCAE continues to be utilized more as a B2B solution instead of a B2C solution.
Features and Functions of Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot)
Let’s explore the different features of Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) and look at its functions.
Here are a few things a business can do with the help of MCAE.
1. Attract Leads
The MCAE tool helps businesses attract high-potential leads. The tool utilizes forms, search tools, social connectors, and landing pages and places them in the right places to attract leads.
2. Score Lead and Grade Them
On the basis of the lead’s engagement with the business, it can score and grade them. This can be done for multiple units or products and includes the factor of their alignment with the ideal customer or the target users.
3. Qualify Leads
Now, lead qualification is done by combining the score and grade to separate out the best sales team you can focus on next time.
4. Automate
Automation is the key to conducting campaigns easily and succeeding in this digital era. With MCAE, the business can define various automation rules and carry out tasks on autopilot.
These tasks include sending personalized messages, scoring leads, personalizing campaigns using the built-in tools, and fetching dynamic content from the sales CRM.
5. Leverage AI
Artificial intelligence allows companies to spot the preferred time and method to contact clients or customers.
Therefore, businesses can utilize the MCAE tools to recognize the top potential clients or customers and spot the leads with more probability of converting.
Moreover, it also helps the companies recognize when the leads are ready to be bought.
6. Integrate
MCAE, which allows companies to integrate products like webinars, bit.ly Pro, Native CRM, Google AdWords, and Eventbrite, among others, and work seamlessly.
Therefore, instead of limiting the company’s capabilities to some technology, the tool opens the gates to unlimited possibilities.
7. Customize Emails
MCAE equips businesses with personalized email marketing tools that send customized emails to various audience segments.
Therefore, boost engagement and convert leads with the help of targeted offers, automated workflows, and A/B testing.
8. Personalize
MCAE uses dynamic content to deliver relevant messages to the contacts and automatically fetch the CRM data.
This allows the companies to personalize the landing pages, forms, emails, and social media messages from the same location.
9. Analyze
MCAE empowers businesses with data analysis and stats tools to determine the ways to maximize sales and marketing results with the help of search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).
Moreover, with proper analysis of past campaigns, the company can recognize where to focus on.
Marketing Cloud Engagement vs. Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
The Marketing Cloud Engagement tool and Marketing Cloud Account Engagement might seem very similar; however, that is not the case.
Let us see how the Marketing Cloud Engagement tool differs from Pardot (MCAE).
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement (Marketing Cloud) | Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot) |
Create seamless customer journeys easily | When the possibility is high and prospects are good, send sales alerts |
Reach customers using their preferred mobile platforms and channels | Automate tasks and personalize campaigns for high-quality leads |
Analyze campaign results and use them to optimize performance | Use AI to support your efforts, such as lead and account scoring |
Usually B2C | Usually B2B |
Understand customer preferences and automate suitable messages using data | As per the engagement, segment the contact base for better marketing |
Use targeted marketing to contact the hottest leads and convert them | Give each department proper visibility into prospect engagement and align sales and campaigns |
Utilize artificial intelligence to save precious time and boost productivity | Utilize predictive insights and connect marketing efforts with ROI |
Deliver ads across several channels and various networks | Optimize marketing touchpoints and connect them to the sales operations |
Optimize email and mobile campaigns in the same place | Align marketing and sales on key accounts using account-based scoring and marketing analytics
|
Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Pricing and Editions
There are four types of prices for the MCAE tool as per the plan you choose. Salesforce offers four plans: Growth, Plus, Advanced, and Premium. Let us know about all these plans in detail.
Growth | Plus | Advanced | Premium |
$1,250 per month | $2,500 per month | $4,000 per month | $15,000 per month |
Allows up to 10,000 contacts to be billed annually | Can be used to bill 10,000 annually | Allows up to 10,000 contacts to be billed annually | Allows up to 10,000 contacts to be billed annually |
Understanding all the Cloud Account Engagement Editions
Let us take a look at different MCAE editions and know the features they offer.
Plan: Growth
MCAE Growth plan is the most basic plan and provides these features:
- Lead Generation, Qualification, and Management
- Email Marketing and Personalisation
Plan: Plus
MCAE Plus plan is an up-gradation of the Growth plan and offers these features:
- Lead Generation, Qualification, and Management
- Email Marketing and Personalization
- Advanced Automation, Personalization, and Qualification
- Advanced Analytics and Reporting
Plan: Advanced
MCAE Advanced has more features than the Plus plan and offers these features:
- Lead Generation, Qualification, and Management
- Email Marketing and Personalization
- Advanced Automation, Personalization, and Qualification
- Advanced Analytics and Reporting
- Business Units and Developer Sandboxes
- Artificial Intelligence for Marketing and Sales
Plan: Premium
MCAE Premium plan is the most upgraded plan and offers these features:
- Lead Generation, Qualification, and Management
- Email Marketing and Personalization
- Advanced Automation, Personalization, and Qualification
- Advanced Analytics and Reporting
- Business Units and Developer Sandboxes
- Artificial Intelligence for Marketing and Sales
- Predictive Analytics and Personalized Product Support
Businesses can choose suitable software according to their requirements and budgets.
Cloud Accounting Solutions – The Era of Cloud Accounting
Cloud technology has become the present and future of the business industry. It gave way to software like –
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement,
- Intuit QuickBooks,
- Sage Business Cloud Accounting,
- Xero, and
- Zoho Books.
Therefore, leveraging cloud technology to carry out cloud accounting, financial analysis, and digital marketing is mandatory.
We encourage businesses to outsource their financial operations to us. This is a step up from carrying out these operations in-house.
Our plans are way cheaper than the cost of maintaining an in-house team. This allows businesses to automate various tasks, use fast software to update accounting data, generate reports, and conduct financial analysis affordably.
Contact our Advisor at +1(800) 580-5375 to learn more about our services and plans.