Working in marketing automation can be challenging as it often involves managing multiple issues simultaneously. However, being able to identify and address these problems in such a complex environment can be extremely rewarding. When it comes to understanding the intricacies of the platform, troubleshooting is one of the most effective ways to learn.
If you’re reading this article, chances are you don’t know what is broken. All you know at this point is that a field is not populating as expected or a thousand sync errors that have mysteriously appeared overnight! Here are some tips on how to navigate these scenarios and where to look for clues…
1. The Audits Tab
The Audits tab in Account Engagement (Pardot) is your source of truth and is where the prospect’s activity is recorded in detail. My first recommendation when encountering an issue is to go and look in the prospect record, specifically in the Audits tab – if something isn’t working you’ll likely have one or more prospects affected by the issue.
While it may require a significant amount of time (and effort!), this step could be the key to solving the puzzle. Personally, I like to review each page of the audit logs thoroughly. However, if you’re unable to identify the problem, answering the question ‘what happened when‘ is a critical first step in your investigation.
To access the Audits tab for a specific prospect in the Account Engagement Lightning App, navigate to the Prospects section and select the relevant prospect. Once you are on the prospect’s record page, click on the Audits tab to view the relevant information.
In the top section of the Audits page, you’ll be able to see what has changed in the record and when. The date and time are down to the minute, which is essential for understanding the order in which actions and changes have occurred.
Once that is done, scroll down and analyze the next 3 sections:
- Automation Rules (the prospect has matched): If a prospect matches an automation rule that has since been deleted, it will be marked as ‘[Deleted]’ and you won’t be able to view the associated rules. This can make your investigation extremely challenging. To avoid this issue, it’s a good practice to keep a record of the automation rules you’ve created so you can reference them even after deletion.
- Engagement Studio Programs (your prospect has been a member of): Try finding changes related to the engagement studio steps in your audit log to see when they happened and compare it to the time the error occurred. This helps identify if the Engagement Studio is to blame.
- Imports (to see when and if the prospect has been imported): Importing doesn’t always mean creating a new prospect. The import date may not be the same as the creation date, and one prospect can be imported multiple times. It’s important to review your import history carefully because changes in prospect field values can occur with each import, and these can often be the source of issues.
2. Fields Behaviour and Sync Errors
If you’re experiencing an issue with a field populating differently in Salesforce and Account Engagement (Pardot), you should look in two places:
- Prospect Fields
- Sync Errors
Prospect Fields
To access this section navigate to the Account Engagement Settings tab. Expand the section Object and Field Configuration in the left-hand side panel and click Prospect Fields.
Select the relevant field and – with the help of your Salesforce Administrator – investigate the most common causes of sync issues:
Sync Errors
The good news is that the sync error list tells you exactly what the error is, allowing you to troubleshoot the issue quickly and effectively.
To view your sync errors, dates and reason for errors navigate to the Account Engagement Settings tab. On the left-hand side panel click on Connectors. To access the list, click on the action cog located next to the Salesforce connector and choose Sync Errors from the drop-down menu.
Tip: If you have a long list, export your sync error list or add prospects to a static list using table actions for a better user experience.
3. Automation Rules ‘Match Type’
The usual suspect… Undoubtedly, this is the easiest mistake a user can make – however it is the most significant!
One way you can prevent this is as you build or audit automation rules, recite your rule criteria out loud to see if it makes sense. (This might be entertaining to witness if you are back in an office environment!)
Tip: Remember the Golden Rule! If using multiple criteria with the match any type, and the statement is ‘positive’ (prospect is) use type ‘Match any’ (or).
If your statement is ‘negative’ (prospect isn’t) change the match type to ‘Match All’ (and).
4. Export Your Data in Full
If you’re still having trouble, try downloading a Full Export of the affected data and analyzing it to find the cause of the issue. To do this efficiently, use pivot tables and remove any unnecessary columns.
Final Thoughts
In addition to the points mentioned earlier, remember to ask for help. Depending on the edition of your account, the level of support available to you may vary. However, the team will do their best to assist you and guide you towards a solution.
Last but not least, collaborating with other Account Engagement and Salesforce users internally can often be the most effective approach. As professionals (and humans), we can sometimes become stuck in our thinking and fail to see alternative perspectives, but seeking out the opinions of other users can be key to solving our mystery.
