Uploading Emails Into Pardot
THE HOW-TO GUIDE
Building An Email
We build our emails in Postcards with finishing touches in Dreamweaver. Once the email design has been approved by the client, the designer will host all the images used in the email in the client’s Pardot, update the image links in the code, and export the html file for you. You’ll find the html file in the “EXPORT for Dev” subtask under the same Parent task as the “BUILD & TEST” subtask that’s assigned to you.
Creating An Email In Pardot
- When uploading an email to Pardot, you’ll first need to know whether your email is a list email or an email template. The Asana task for testing the email should say in the task title. (I.e. for email templates, the title would be “Email Name Email Template Testing” and for list emails, it would be “Email Name List Email Testing.”
TEMPLATE
If it’s a template navigate to
Marketing > Emails > New Email Template
LIST
If it’s a list email navigate to
Marketing > Emails > New List Email
Pro-Tip: The difference between a template and a list email is a list email is meant for a one time send, whereas an email template is meant to be used over and over again.
Once you’ve selected the type of email it will be, you’ll want to name it according to this naming format: SLX_Project-Name. For the Project Name part, use the same wording used in your Asana task title to make it easy for others to find.
- You’ll also need to select the campaign your email will be associated with. By default you will select the “SLX” campaign from the partner’s campaign list, unless otherwise instructed in the task description. You do not need to worry about selecting a Folder even though it has a red asterisk next to it. This asterisk is a Pardot lie.
- There are several features you won’t be using for every email, but you should be aware of nonetheless.
One-To-One Email Checkbox: This feature allows the Pardot email template to be used in Salesforce.
A/B Testing Checkbox: This feature allows you to create two slightly different versions of the same email to send to a testing pool of recipients before using the metric of your choice to send the most successful version to the bulk of the recipients.
If your testing subtask does not instruct you to enable either of these features, you can go ahead and save your email draft and skip the select template screen that comes next. This will bring you to the Email Building Wizard. - The next step is to add your code:
1. In Emailify, once you’ve added your image links and preheader text, and previewed on both Desktop and Mobile resolutions, export your email by clicking on the Export HTML button in the top right of the Emailify plugin.
2. The default option selected is HTML Email. Click this dropdown in the top left and scroll all the way to the bottom and click Custom Webhook URL in order to prepare for uploading to Pardot.
3. In the URL to POST Payload field, paste in this URL: https://ark.slxbox.com/api/webhook/emailify
4. Also, change the secondary dropdown to the right of Custom Webhook URL, and select Pardot.
5. Select the checkbox next to the correct email from the list at the bottom, and enter in the Subject Line and Preheader text.
6. Next, click the POST button in the top right. This will send all of the files to https://ark.slxbox.com/, specifically in the emails folder. Find the exported folder in Ark, and move it to the correct client’s folder (click the 3 dots in the top right of the folder, and select Move).
7. Lastly, find the folder that you just moved, click the .html file, select Edit mode, enable Dev Mode, and click Apply All Fixes.Now the HTML is ready for Pardot.
- Next, in the Pardot email builder navigate to the HTML tab, highlight all the existing code, and then paste your code from Ark (completely overwriting what was there).
- Next, Pardot will give you a red warning about fixing issues with the email. Don’t be alarmed, you will be fixing this next. Click back to the “Editor” tab, scroll down to the email footer, and select the Manage Preferences text. In the text editing box on the right, highlight the “Manage Preferences” text, click the add link button, and under Link Type, select “Email Preferences Page” and “Default Email Preferences Page” (unless instructed to use something else- some clients have multiple preference pages they use depending on who they are sending to). Click OK, and in most cases you’ll see the text turn blue and become underlined. Select the text and choose the add link button again, and this time under “Underline” select “no,” and under Link Color, paste the appropriate hex code to restore the text to its original color. Sometimes this process is buggy and will have to be done a couple times to get it to stick. Once you’ve successfully added the preferences page link, the red warning should disappear.
- Next, check all links against checklist provided by AC, including image links. You can do this by hovering over hyperlinked content in the email Editor preview.
- Update the subject and preheader text as specified by the AC in the task description. The subject is edited from the email Editor tab when there is no specific element selected, while the preheader text is updated by going into the code under the HTML tab, and finding the hidden span immediately after the CSS that contains it. You will often see placeholder text like
“This is preheader text, some clients will see this text as a preview.” Overrite it with the correct preheader text and click Save. - Next, make sure to optimize the text version of the email by navigating to “Text” in the Email Builder. Make sure the first line of text is your preheader text, then remove extra spaces and line breaks until all content is evenly spaced and left aligned. Look for any characters that may be displaying strangely, such as ampersands turning to & in the text version. Remember, the text version does not update/sync automatically, so if you are asked to make a revision during the testing process, you’ll need to make the update to both the html version and the text version separately.
A QUICK CHECKLIST:
Link your email preferences section in the footer of your email. Make sure to check the Peer-To-Peer task for what preferences center you will be linking here.
Create a text email with the text tab. Align everything left and remove any additional spaces & links that’s aren’t required. Also check spelling and grammar, updating anything you update in the text in the HTML email.
Add the send information based on the Peer-To-Peer task. I.e. Sender name, email, & subject line.
Testing An Email
Testing is an important step to take once your email has been built out in Pardot. Upon finalizing the build-out steps you’ll want to go to the testing tab in Pardot.
- Under the Testing tab, use the Preview as Prospect tool to test variable tags and dynamic content. Click any prospect name from the drop down to preview how the email will look for them when it’s sent. If your email contains dynamic content or variable tags, you should screenshot this to share with your teammmate(s) so they can see that it is functioning properly.
- Next up, testing! Keep in mind the key differences between sending an individual test email and sending a live test email using a test list. Dynamic content and variable tags will not display for individual tests, but should show when sent to a test list.
- Send an individual test email to yourself, and click EVERY LINK to make sure they are all working properly and all linked content is displaying properly.
- Email On Acid is the software SalesLabX uses to test our emails on different platforms. To send a test to Email On Acid you’ll want to go to the test tab and paste the email address testing@saleslabx.com into the “Individual Emails” bar. You’ll then log in to Email On Acid using the login information in LastPass. (If for some reason that email address does not send a test, you can use SLX2020.runme.0.all@previews.emailonacid.com as a backup).
What To Check When Testing An Email
Once the email has been received by Email On Acid you’ll want to look over each browser email test to make sure everything looks good. You’ll be looking for things like images loading, correct spacing, as well as any other larger divergences from the original design. Make sure you pay special attention to Outlook and Dark Mode for errors.
If an email does have issues you’ll want to troubleshoot until you’re able to fix them. Make sure to open up the email code in Dreamweaver as that can make any code edits you’re making much simpler. If for some reason you run into an issue you’re not sure how to fix, make sure to reach out to your Creative Director for assistance.
After your testing through Email On Acid has been completed you’ll want to email yourself the test to check it in your own inbox. Making sure to click each link to ensure it works correctly. You’ll also need to check your email against the information provided in the Peer-To-Peer task to make sure it matches. Once you’ve done that you can send a test email to the person the Peer-To-Peer task has been assigned to and get approval from them or make any updates.
FINAL CHECKLIST BEFORE SENDING TO PARTNERS
Check that all links are working and noneredirect to example.com
The text version of the email has been cleaned up to be left-aligned without large extra gaps
Responsiveness has been tested in EOA and any updates needed have been made
The subject line and preheader text has been updated according to the Peer-To-Peer task
All information matches the Peer-To-Peer task
Once the checklist above is completed you can send a test email to the email’s partners and to the Account Coordinators. This can be done by selecting the test list “SLX_POC+AC” from the drop-down menu in the test list section of testing in Pardot.
Final Notes
The steps above should be followed for every email to ensure that SalesLabX provides the most accurate and beautiful emails to partners every time. If you have any questions about this process please reach out to your Creative Manager & they can answer any questions.
Good Luck With Your Email Creation Process!
