Pardot and Google Ads Integration for a Software Company
About The Company:
Our client is a leading observability platform for businesses, providing deep insights and analytics to help organizations understand their systems and improve performance. As a company operating in the Software/IT industry, They heavily rely on strategic paid media to attract potential customers and drive sales.
Customer Challenges:
The client faced significant challenges in its paid advertising efforts. Despite investing in strategic-based paid advertising, the conversions tracked needed to be more accurate and aligned with their sales journey. This misalignment posed a risk to their ability to strategize and implement effective advertising campaigns. Inaccurate conversion data could lead to ineffective campaigns and suboptimal use of their marketing budget, ultimately hindering their growth and revenue potential.
Solutions
They partnered with us to address these challenges, and we suggested integrating their Pardot platform with Google Ads, aiming to improve conversion accuracy and align their advertising efforts with their sales journey. Below are the steps we followed during integration.
- Integration Setup
The first thing to do was to set up the Google Click Identifier (GCLID). GCLID is a unique tracking code added to a URL when a user clicks on a Google Ad. This code helps transfer click information from Google Ads to Google Analytics, enabling detailed performance reporting and effective campaign optimization. Pardot was integrated with Google’s tracking code to capture GCLID in ad URLs, allowing clients to pull this data through Salesforce.
- Link Pardot Account to Google Ads
The next step was to link the Pardot account to Google Ads, which was relatively straightforward due to the native integration between the two platforms. This integration enabled seamless data flow between Google Ads and Pardot, ensuring accurate conversion tracking.
- Align Sales Journey and Conversion Values
We worked closely with the client's sales team to understand their standard sales process, from the free tier to the enterprise level. They identified how leads were nurtured along the way and shared the average lead value for a closed deal. This information allowed the team to estimate the value of conversions in the earlier stages of the sales funnel, facilitating quick ROI calculations and campaign adjustments.
- Conversion Goal Import Session
In this step, we conducted an import session to set a conversion goal. We organized a Zoom session with a Google Ads Admin user, the client Sales Manager, and the CRM Director. In this session, we also steered to the ‘conversions’ tab and set up the Pardot conversion actions communicating with the client’s team.
Results
The integration efforts yielded significant results. Within one month of implementation, the client successfully tracked three closed-won deals directly attributed to paid advertising. The lead funnel grew with early-stage conversions such as 'Lead Working' and 'Meeting Accepted.' The client’s long-term goal is to generate 20-25 closed-won deals per month, enabling them to transition to Value-Based Bidding for improved performance. In the short term, they are focused on optimizing their targeting to scale campaigns and gather sufficient data for this bidding strategy.
Technology and Tools used:
Pardot, Google Ads
Final Words
Integrating Pardot with Google Ads has proven to be the best deal for the client. By improving conversion accuracy and aligning their advertising efforts with their sales journey, they have enhanced their ability to strategize and implement effective campaigns. This case study highlights the importance of accurate conversion tracking and the benefits of leveraging CloudCache Consulting’s assistance for powerful integrations to optimize marketing efforts.
The client is now well-positioned to achieve its long-term goals and continue its growth trajectory in the competitive Software/IT industry. We use our rich Salesforce Professional Resources library for integration. You can read our happy client’s review on Fiverr.
