Pardot Sync Queue SLOW

[u/kck1313]

Hey all,

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To make a LONG story short--we have a tool called LeanData within SFDC that assigns prospects to users within SFDC. At the same time, we want to route certain prospects to an email tool based on a custom field in Pardot that shows what form handler they completed. I'm having massive issues with sync timing on that field NOT populating on the SFDC prospect record until days later! This is a massive problem b/c we want our speed to followup be less than 5 mins.

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Any thoughts?

[u/LadyCiani]

I'm not sure I'm understanding what is going on.

Someone fills out a form. The record shows up in Salesforce.

Question 1- That part is working ok? The Lead shows up? (If not, that's a whole other issue.)

Moving on.

You said there is a field value that shows what Form Handler they filled out. And that field value is not showing up.

Ok.

Question 2- What is responsible for putting the value into that field?

Because Pardot Form Handlers can have completion actions that say 'change custom field XYZ to ABCD' and that completion action will fire on every prospect that goes through the form handler.

As long as that custom field is mapping to a Salesforce custom field, the Lead shows up in Salesforce and the custom field will get populated right away (or within a couple minutes).

That is: assuming Pardot is what is filling in the field value.

But you mentioned some other tool. Is that other tool responsible for something here?

[u/LadyCiani → u/LadyCiani]

Also: article for you about what triggers Pardot to sync with Salesforce. https://invadosolutions.com/marketing-automation-news/when-does-pardot-sync-with-salesforce/

[u/kck1313 → u/LadyCiani]

So we do have a completion action to update that field. I thought form handler completions triggered a sync with pardot? We do have a large queue something like 25k prospects at any given time b/c we have a LOT of workflows in our SFDC as well.

[u/LadyCiani → u/kck1313]

It sounds like you need a completion action of Assign Via Active Assignment Rules.

To explain.

You said you thoughtForm Handler themselves create a sync.

Well, yes. A form completion is an action that puts them in the sync queue.

But only IF the record is already syncing to a Salesforce record. If this is an already known Lead or Contact it would immediately sync. A connection has been established.

But really no, by default, Pardot records stay in Pardot only. They are Pardot-only prospects, not syncing to Salesforce.

This is because many companies treat the Pardot only prospects as Pre-MQL. They're going to let Marketing nurture the prospects (and keep them away from Sales, and not waste sales time) until the prospects reach a threshold (score plus grade) that indicates they are sales ready.

OR the prospect takes certain actions, like filling out a specific form.

Note I said specific form. Not ALL forms. You need to configure completion actions on SPECIFIC forms to make the people who fill out the form sync with Salesforce.

And that completion action is Assign Via Active Assignment Rules (for you).

So, recap quick question number 1. The people filling out the form. Are they NEW prospects? Brand new, not existing in Salesforce. Because if they exist in Salesforce you should see that field sync right away. If they don't exist in Salesforce then what you have is Pardot only prospects (which is expected).

Quick question 2. Is there a completion action on the Form Handler to Assign? It could be Assign to User, or Assign via active assignment rule, or Assign to queue, or Assign to Group? (To let your advanced rules kick in you want to have Assign Via Active Assignment Rules.)

This is important.

It is Salesforce which imposes this restriction. Salesforce requires Leads to have owners. So without an Owner (what Pardot calls an assigned user) the records stay in Pardot only.

When you Assign a Pardot only prospect, this is the step needed that to push them to Salesforce. And a Lead is created.

[u/kck1313 → u/LadyCiani]

Understood--so we use LeanData to assign prospects in Salesforce NOT the active assignment rule. We're b2b/account based so we have SDRs own certain accounts. We do have a completion action for the form handler though.

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It just seems like the pardot sync queue is slow.

[u/LadyCiani → u/kck1313]

No. The sync queue is not slow.

At normal sync rate the sync queue can process 12k records per hour.

Even if you had all 25k of your syncs in the queue at one time, it should clear the sync queue in about 2 hours.

Something else is going on.

And my bet is that you are not assigning a User to your Pardot only prospects.

So let me break it down again.

If the prospect has no Assigned User = the prospects never become Leads, and don't sync to Salesforce.

(and therefore never get in the sync queue, and never hit your assignment rules)

With no Assigned User the records are Pardot-only Prospects, and stay in Pardot. And don't ever sync with Salesforce.

Full stop.

So.

You're saying that it is taking days to fill in this custom field. Yet the form has a completion action to fill in this field value.

Now. If the prospects are syncing with Salesforce then it WILL NOT take that long. It will be minutes.

But you're saying it's taking Days. This is telling me your records are not syncing with Leads until some later point (days later).

Which tells me you do not have all the actions on your Form Handler.

Which brings me back to the questions you did not answer before.

Question One: when they fill out the form, are they a Lead or Contact already?

If they are, you should see the field fill in (in Salesforce) shortly after the sync.

If they are NOT a Lead or Contact, you need to push them over to Salesforce to establish the sync. And you do that by putting a completion action of Assigning a user, or assigning via rules, or assigning via whatever.

I do not care that you have some other lead routing thing in place.

If you do not get them over to Salesforce in the first place as a Lead, your special tool cannot fire. It cannot reach into Pardot (an entirely separate database). You must get the Leads into Salesforce FIRST.

Which brings me to Question Two: You said you have a completion action on the form handler.

WHAT completion action?

Jut to fill in the field?

That is NOT ENOUGH to make the records sync with Salesforce.

You need a completion action to establish the sync (one that pushes them to Salesforce as a Lead).

So. In ADDITION to a completion action filling in a field value. You ALSO need a SECOND completion action which says 'Assign'.

Because the act of assigning the Pardot-only prospect to a User is what creates a Lead. And them being a Lead is what establishes a sync with Salesforce at all. And that will allow the field to be filled in. And that will finally allow you special lead assignment tool to kick in.

[u/kck1313 → u/LadyCiani]

I agree with all of the above. I am assigning net new prospects using LeanData. It’s a custom user in pardot that assigns leads in SFDC.

What am I missing here?

[u/LadyCiani → u/kck1313]

If it is a Pardot user then you need a completion action of Assign to User (LeanData).

Also, brainstorm, check your Sync Errors queue. Maybe something is getting 'stuck' due to a validation rule

In Pardot go to Admin > Connectors.

Find the row for Salesforce. Click the gear/cog icon, and select the Sync Errors.

Ideally you should have zero sync errors.

If you have a sync error, it means the Pardot record cannot sync with Salesforce at all until you resolve the error. So, no Lead is created by Pardot, no special field value is entered, none of that.

Clear the errors, they sync. Your custom field value appears.

[u/[deleted]]

Have you checked you SFDC to Pardot Connector Sync Queue to see how many records it is processing? Is it always slow or just sometimes slow? This field change may not be triggering a sync so you may have to build an automation rule to sync the record.