In Pardot

Creative Ways to Spice Up Your Pardot Forms: Part 1

3 Mins Read

Looking for some creative ways to spice up your Pardot forms? In this post, I will show you how to implement the popular floating label technique in three easy steps. I will also show you how to turn your long drop down menus into user-friendly, searchable dropdowns.

This is part 1 of the 3 part series. Check out part 2 here.

1. Floating labels

You have probably seen this technique before. The label appears as placeholder text and when you click on the field the text moves out of the way and allows you to type. This technique can be applied to your Pardot forms in three steps.

Here’s an example of what it looks like. Click on the field to see the effect.

See the Pen Pardot form floated labels (Styled) by Jenna Molby (@jennamolby) on CodePen.



Adding this effect to your Pardot forms

Step 1: Edit your layout template

In order for this to work the labels within your forms must be placed below the fields. By default, the labels are above the form fields. To modify this, you will need to edit the layout template, click on the form tab and replace everything within the editor with the code below. 




%%form-opening-general-content%%

%%form-if-thank-you%%
	%%form-javascript-focus%%
	%%form-thank-you-content%%
	%%form-thank-you-code%%
%%form-end-if-thank-you%%

%%form-if-display-form%%

	%%form-before-form-content%%
		%%form-if-error%%
			
Please correct the errors below:

		%%form-end-if-error%%
		
		%%form-start-loop-fields%%
			

				
				%%form-field-input%%
				
					%%form-if-field-label%%
				
				%%form-end-if-field-label%%
				%%form-if-field-description%%
					%%form-field-description%%
				%%form-end-if-field-description%%
	
				
			%%form-field-if-error%%
				
%%form-field-error-message%%

			%%form-field-end-if-error%%
			

		
		%%form-end-loop-fields%%
		
		%%form-spam-trap-field%%
		
		
		
		
		

			
		

	%%form-after-form-content%%
	
%%form-end-if-display-form%%

%%form-javascript-link-target-top%%


Step 2: Add the CSS

Add the CSS below to your layout template. This will create the effect of the floating labels for all form field other than radio buttons and checkboxes.


Step 3: Add the Javascript

In addition to the CSS, this method uses some Javascript. Place the code below within your layout template as well.


The result

Here’s what the floating labels look like after implementing all the code within the layout template.

See the Pen Pardot form floated labels (Simple) by Jenna Molby (@jennamolby) on CodePen.



2. Searchable dropdowns

I came across this technique when I was registering for a webinar recently. When I went to select my Country from the drop-down, I was greeted with a search feature for the drop-down. I immediately started Googling what JavaScript plugin they were using to see if I could use it on Pardot forms. It turns out, you can and not only is it super easy to implement, but it also makes long drop-down in your Pardot forms more user-friendly.

Demo

Here is what a searchable drop down looks like in action.

See the Pen Chosen.js Demo (Single Select) with Pardot Forms by Jenna Molby (@jennamolby) on CodePen.



Adding this effect to your Pardot forms

Navigate to your form and click edit form. Go to step 3: Look and Feel, click on the below form tab, click on the HTML icon and paste this code:

Update country with the name of your drop down field. Optionally, you can update the no_results_text to what ever you want to display when the no results are found for the searched term.

Questions?

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

Author

I'm a Freelance Marketing Operations Consultant With 15 years of experience in Marketing Operations, I’ve worked with a wide range of tools including Salesforce, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot), Marketo, and many other sales and marketing platforms. I help teams optimize their tech stacks, improve processes, and get accurate, actionable reporting. Whether it’s setting up your Marketing Automation Platform, building Salesforce reports, managing lead lifecycles, tracking attribution, or integrating your tech stack, I ensure everything is aligned to drive real results.

52 Comments

  1. Kyle Reply

    This is a neat trick! Is there any way this could be done for a multi-select? Can’t seem to get it to work for that field type.

  2. Ali Reply

    Hello, Thank you for sharing this trick about forms, In the Pardot form can we add mobile number with country code in Dropdown, Please share your view or it will be great if you share blog on it.

    • Jenna Molby Post Author

      Hi Ali, I haven’t tried it myself, yet, but I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to do that. Thanks for the suggestion! Cheers, Jenna

  3. Lori Reply

    Hi Jenny, love your site! I am using a Pardot form handler:














    But the form all shows up as a paragraph. I want to borrow your Floating Labels styling above. But I don’t know how to add the CSS to the code that I copied above. I’m not a coder! I’m good with copying and pasting and then can figure out how to make small modifications. Can you please assist me?

    • Jenna Molby Post Author

      Hi Lori, This CSS is for embedded Pardot forms only since the HTML structure is always the same. It’s possible to modify the CSS to match the HTML for your form handler, but it would require quite a bit of tweaking. Cheers, Jenna

  4. Maxime Reply

    Great tips Jenna Thank you!
    And when do you think the 3 other parts will be published?
    Thank You!

    • Jenna Molby Post Author

      You’re welcome! Part 2 is coming soon 🙂

  5. Martin Gabriel Reply

    Great Blog Post
    But you can also use it (floating labels) with the labels before the inputs simply change the js code to

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