6 Ways to Manage Lead Assignment in Pardot and How to Determine The Best Option

There are many different ways to assign your prospects within Pardot. You can manually assign prospects or utilize automation rules or completion actions to assign prospects based on their activity or information. In this post, I’ll dive into 6 different ways to manage lead assignment in Pardot and how to determine what the best option is for you.

1. Assign to user

Assign to user assigns a prospect to the specified user when the requirements of the rule are fulfilled.

How to use it

Completion Action

Assign to user can be set up as a completion action for your forms, form handlers, files, custom redirects, emails and page actions, by selecting “Assign to user” and selecting the user’s name from the dropdown

Automation Rule

Assign to user can be set up as an action within an Automation Rule. This is a great way to assign leads if you have criteria the lead needs to be meet before assigning the prospect to Sales. For example, if you want to only assign leads to Sales that meet a certain scoring threshold, use an automation rule.

Engagement Program

Assign to user can also be set up as an action with an Engagment Program, by selecting add element > action > assign to user.

Why this is a good method Great if you don’t have many users Can be used without the Salesforce integration

Things to consider Assignment actions don’t reassign prospects who have an owner Difficult to manage if you have many users Difficult to figure out where the “assign to user” action is being used within your Pardot assets

2. Assign via active Salesforce assignment rules

Assign prospect via Salesforce active assignment rule pushes a prospect to your Salesforce active assignment rule when the rule’s criteria is met. The prospect syncs to Salesforce without an owner. The assigned user is synced to Pardot when the active assignment rule determines who to assign it to.

How to use it

First, you will need an active lead assignment rule set up in Salesforce. This should include all the criteria for your lead assignment as well as a default user to assign the lead to if the lead does not meet any of the criteria.

Completion Action

Assign via active Salesforce assignment rules can be set up as a completion action for your forms, form handlers, files, custom redirects, emails and page actions, by selecting “Assign prospect via Salesforce active assignment rule”.

Automation Rule

Assign prospect via Salesforce active assignment rule can be set up as an action within an Automation Rule.

Engagement Program

Assign prospect via Salesforce active assignment rule can also be set up as an action with an Engagment Program, by selecting add element > action > assign prospect via Salesforce active assignment rule.

Why this is a good method All lead assignment is set up in one place No need to update completion actions or automation rules in Pardot if you have an assignment update action Assignment can be based off complex criteria and based on any lead field within Salesforce Great if you have many Sales reps who should receive leads

Things to consider You must have the Salesforce integration set up Any users assigned to a lead in Salesforce need to have a corresponding Pardot user to track ownership correctly in Pardot Requires the “View Setup and Configuration” permission in Salesforce in order to make assignment updates

3. Assign to group

Assign to group, assigns a prospect to a user in a specific group via round-robin lead assignment, when the requirements of the rule are met.

How to use it

First, create a group in Pardot (Admin > User Management > Groups > Add User Group).

Navigate to the user you should belong to the group (Admin > User Management > Users) and click Edit Groups. Select the group to add the user.

Completion Action

Assign to user can be set up as a completion action for your forms, form handlers, files, custom redirects, emails and page actions, by selecting “Assign to group” and selecting the user’s name from the dropdown

Automation Rule

Assign to group can be set up as an action within an Automation Rule.

Engagement Program

Assign to group can also be set up as an action with an Engagment Program, by selecting add element > action > assign to group.

Why this is a good method Allows for round-robin lead assignment Can be used without the Salesforce integration Great if you don’t have many users to assign prospects to

Things to consider Difficult to manage if you have many users Difficult to figure out where the “assign to user” action is being used within your Pardot assets Prospects must be assigned via round-robin, unless you create groups with only one user

4. Assign via advanced lead assignment rules in Salesforce

If you have more complex business rules, assigning leads via an app on the Salesforce AppExchange might be a good option. Most apps offer a visual way to view lead assignment rules and some advanced functionality, including auto-merging duplicate leads and lead to account matching. I currently use Traction Complete to manage lead assignment for my Global Sales Development Team.

Why this is a good method Great if you have many users and complex assignment rules Visual view of lead assignment rules Ability to assign leads via round robin Can automatically match leads to accounts Can filter records by advanced criteria (using fields from the leads or matched account) Automatically can convert leads from a matched account into a contact Auto-merge duplicate leads

Things to consider Most apps on the AppExchange come at an additional cost It is another application to manage Not ideal if you have a small sales team or straightforward assignment rules.

5. Assign to a lead queue in Salesforce

Assign to queue assigns a prospect to the Salesforce lead queue when the rule’s criteria are met. Prospects assigned to a queue are considered assigned to an owner and aren’t reassigned.

How to use it

First, you must have a lead queue set up in Salesforce.

Automation Rule

Assign to queue can be set up as an action within an Automation Rule.

Engagement Program

Assign to a queue can also be set up as an action with an Engagment Program, by selecting add element > action > assign to Salesforce queue.

Why this is a good method Queue members can jump in to take ownership of any record in a queue Easy to prioritize, distribute, and assign records to teams who share workloads

Things to consider This action can not be used if your connector is set up for Pardot to syncs to contacts instead of leads You can assign only leads to Salesforce lead queues Does not assign prospects to specific owners

6. Assignment via Prospect list actions

Prospects can be assigned to a User or Group via prospect list actions.

How to use it

Navigate to the prospect table, select the prospects you want to assign and select one of the options from the drop down menu.

Why this is a good method Good for one-off lead assignment Will re-assign prospects who are already assigned

Things to consider Not automated, has to be updated manually

Still not sure what lead assignment method is best?

Run through this flow chart to see what the recommended option is for you.

view flow chart in a new tab

Questions?

Send me a tweet @jennamolby, leave a comment below, or book a Peer Chat.