Export & Send your Pardot Survey Email

Sending beautifully branded mobile friendly emails can be tough for even the most experienced of email designers. Tools like Pardot help - but creating templates is still a manual process. Fortunately, GetFeedback is here to help. We’ve created a great looking email template for Pardot that you can export from your GetFeedback account and used in Pardot to send out survey invitations.

We’ve also included a handy tool which will add your Pardot variable tags into the GetFeedback URL automatically - allowing customer information stored in Pardot to be stored right alongside GetFeedback responses.

If you use variable tags in dynamic content on Pardot forms or landing pages, we recommend you do not upgrade from Pardot's PML syntax to HML (handlebars syntax) at this time.

Getting Started

To get started you’ll want to first create your survey using GetFeedback. The question types you can embed in your email currently are: rating question, NPS (1-10 rating), CSAT, CES, or multiple choice. Check out a list of all our question types.

In this example, we’ve created a NPS survey using our NPS question type:

Then remove the title page if you plan on embedding your first question into the email. We'll go over that a bit more down below, but to do this, hover over the title page and click on the X on the top right hand corner.

Create Your Email Template

Before getting started on your email template, you’ll need to connect your survey to Pardot by navigating to Mappings > Pardot Custom Mappings. If you want to map your results into Salesforce or Pardot, now’s the time to build your Mappings for those integrations as well.

Once that’s done, you’re ready to create your email template. To do this, go to your Distribute > Email, then select > Send from Pardot.

Next, select if you'd like to a embed a survey question, or if you'd like to embed a full email template which includes a greeting field. 

Then choose your Call to Action, and embed the question directly, or add a Call to Action button in the email.

Merge Fields from Pardot

In order to track user information, associate your response with a particular record in Salesforce, and personalize your email - you’ll want to first add in the Pardot variable fields so that they can be included in your URL. You’ll start to add these by using the menu on the left hand side and select the button to add merge fields for Pardot.

Here is where you’ll add all information you need tracked for user tracking, our Salesforce integration, mapping information back into Pardot, and email personalization.

You'll notice here that we automatically include the variable for Pardot Prospect Email. This will always be needed if you're updating an existing Pardot Prospect, so be sure to not remove it.

You can check out a complete overview of Pardot Variable Tags in their help center here.

Please note: If you're looking to update an existing List or Opportunity in Pardot you won't be able to get the List or Opportunity ID via sending a Pardot email. You can manually add a merge field that includes List_ID or Opportunity_ID and the ID of the list or Opportunity you're looking to update, however, this is not something we recommend as you would need to hardcode the ID for each outbound email.

Continue adding as many merge fields as you'd like. We’ll name these fields automatically, but you can customize this information by selecting the Show Details option. You'll not need to worry what you place in the Merge Field Key field as this will just be the name used to track what information is being pulled in.

Personalize Your Email

Once your merge fields are added, you’re ready to complete your email template. If you’d like to personalize your email, click on the blue Personalize button to select which merge field you'd like to pull into your template.

We’ll format the personalization for Pardot automatically. Once your merge fields are added and email is built, you’ll be ready to export to Pardot!

Export Your Email HTML

When your fields are in place you can now press the Export button at the bottom left hand side of your screen to get your HTML code.

You can then copy the HTML and paste this into the HTML section of your Pardot email section for sending.

Once your code is copied, go into your Pardot instance and create a new email template from via Marketing > Emails > New Email Template.

Make sure to clear out all other existing HTML within that section before pasting in the code from GetFeedback.

Follow the instructions in the pop up modal, making sure to copy and paste the whole code into the HTML source area of your Pardot builder.

Create Your Mappings in GetFeedback

If you haven't done so already, before you send out or test your email, you'll want to make sure your mappings are in place in your GetFeedback account. Mappings will tell us where to place the information that comes in via a survey responses. We have some great documentation on how to get started creating your Pardot mappings.

Creating a Transactional Survey in Pardot

When your email is complete, you can now create your Engagement Studio Program within Pardot by using the palette builder or by simply creating a regular program from scratch.

Your program will be unique to both how you’d like for your email to go out and who you’d like it to go out to. If you have a Pardot administrator on staff, we recommend working closely with them to put this into place.

Test Your Merge Fields

Before sending a transactional email in Pardot, you’ll always want to test your merge fields to make sure that you’re bringing in the information correctly and also that your mappings all work back into your Pardot instance.

To test your email and merge fields, open your email template in Pardot and select the Testing tab in your upper navigation bar. You’ll then be asked to where you’d like the preview sent and which contact, account, or case you’d like to use as your fake data for testing.

If your merge fields come in successfully within GetFeedback and your mappings also worked, you’re all set to turn on your Engagement Studio Program and begin sending transactional emails with whatever Rules and Triggers you’ve specified.

Send Your Email

Once your template is copied over to Pardot, make sure to save the code, preview your email, and test your variable tags to make sure that everything is pulling in correctly.