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Pardot is Salesforce's B2B marketing automation tool, and since 2022 it has been called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement. It is used to capture leads, nurture them with emails and content, score them and hand them to the sales team when they are ready, all connected to the Salesforce CRM. The question we hear most is whether you need Pardot or Marketing Cloud. In this article we explain what Account Engagement does, how it differs from Marketing Cloud Engagement, when to choose each one and how it fits with Marketing Cloud Next.
This is how Account Engagement looks in an account-based marketing strategy:
What Pardot is today: Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
Pardot was born in 2007 in Atlanta as a marketing automation tool that connected to several CRMs. In 2012 it was bought by ExactTarget and, in 2013, Salesforce bought ExactTarget, so Pardot came into Salesforce along the way. In 2022 Salesforce renamed it Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, although almost everyone still calls it Pardot.
What makes it different is how close it is to the CRM. At ShowerThinking we often say Account Engagement is almost an add-on to Sales Cloud: it shares leads, contacts, campaigns and opportunities with Salesforce, and whatever marketing does, the salesperson sees on the customer record.
What Account Engagement does
- Lead capture. Forms, landing pages and form handlers to collect leads from the website. We explain them in Forms in Pardot: Form Handlers vs iFrame Form.
- Email marketing. One-to-one and mass emails, with templates and personalization based on CRM data.
- Engagement Studio. The canvas to build nurturing programs: sequences of emails and actions that change based on what each lead does.
- Scoring and grading. Scoring measures each lead's interest based on their activity, and grading how well they fit your ideal customer. Together they decide when a lead goes to sales.
- Account-based marketing. Campaigns aimed at specific accounts, aligning marketing and sales on the same companies.
- Reporting. The impact of each campaign on pipeline and revenue, measured with Salesforce data.
In the Spring '26 release, Account Engagement can also send approved email, SMS and WhatsApp content from Salesforce flows, which brings it closer to a multichannel tool.
Account Engagement or Marketing Cloud Engagement
Both are Salesforce products and both do email marketing, but they are built for different businesses:
Neither is better than the other: each has its use case. If you want to know Marketing Cloud in depth, we cover it in What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
When to choose each one
- Your business is B2B and you sell through sales reps: Account Engagement.
- Your business is B2C or ecommerce: Marketing Cloud Engagement.
- You already work with opportunities in Salesforce and want to nurture and score leads: Account Engagement.
- You need to combine email, SMS and push with millions of customers: Marketing Cloud Engagement.
- You have to integrate data from many external systems, such as an ERP: Marketing Cloud Engagement.
- Your CRM is not Salesforce: Marketing Cloud Engagement, because Account Engagement is designed to work with Salesforce.
There are mixed cases, such as B2B companies with a very large data volume or many channels, where Marketing Cloud makes sense. The decision depends on your channels, the size of your database and how you sell.
What about Marketing Cloud Next?
Marketing Cloud Next is Salesforce's new marketing platform with AI agents, built on the platform itself with Data 360 as its data layer. It works for both B2B and B2C. For Account Engagement customers, the way in is the Account Engagement+ editions, which give access to Marketing Cloud Next features without migrating. Some use cases need additional credits, so check with Salesforce before budgeting. We explain it in What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next?
How to choose a marketing automation tool
Beyond Salesforce, there are dozens of marketing automation tools on the market. Before choosing, each department should answer its own questions:
- Marketing. Do the features cover the campaigns we plan to run? Can we run it ourselves or do we need a partner?
- Sales. How will the captured leads and opportunities be managed?
- IT. Which databases, website and systems does it need to integrate with? How does it connect to the CRM?
- Legal. Where is the data stored, and does it comply with data protection rules?
- Finance. What does it cost as we grow in contacts, sends or features?
Our advice has not changed: if your CRM is Salesforce and your business is B2B, Account Engagement is usually the simplest option, because marketing and sales work on the same data.
Pardot FAQ
Are Pardot and Account Engagement the same thing?
Yes. Salesforce renamed Pardot to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement in 2022. It is the same product.
Is Pardot going away?
No retirement date has been announced. Account Engagement keeps getting new features in every release, and Salesforce offers the Account Engagement+ editions to add Marketing Cloud Next features.
What is the difference between Pardot and Marketing Cloud?
Pardot (Account Engagement) is B2B marketing automation, natively integrated with Salesforce. Marketing Cloud Engagement is a B2C platform for millions of customers and many channels.
Do I need Salesforce to use Account Engagement?
Yes. Account Engagement is designed to work connected to the Salesforce CRM, on its leads, contacts, campaigns and opportunities.
What is Engagement Studio?
Account Engagement's nurturing program builder: sequences of emails and actions that adapt to each lead's behavior.
Which Account Engagement certifications are there?
Account Engagement Specialist and Account Engagement Consultant. We cover them in Salesforce Certifications.
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How ShowerThinking can help
At ShowerThinking we have been implementing and running Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud for years, and we help you choose the tool that fits your business. See our Account Engagement consulting or get in touch and we will go through it in a 30-minute session.
