Guide to Integrate Pardot Forms and WordPress Plugin

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If your business is using Pardot, there’s also a good chance they’re using WordPress to manage their site. And although there are a number of ways to integrate the two, the purpose of this post is to highlight how you would do so with the Pardot WordPress plugin.

Editors Note: Depending on specific needs and constraints of your website integration, some Pardot admins prefer bypassing the WordPress plugin entirely. I encourage you to read on and determine if the plugin will work for you.

What does the Pardot WordPress Plugin even do?

You’re probably thinking whether or not you should use the plugin, and want to consider what the benefit would be. Specifically, you can accomplish three main things…

1. Add a global tracking code to your website. For some this is sufficient, just add the “Website Tracking” campaign and call it a day. For others though, you can not add specific tracking codes to different pages which presents a problem if you want to get more granular. In that case, the tracking code would need to be placed directly into your WordPress header, or inserted using a tool like Google Tag Manager.

2. Add forms directly into WordPress pages or widget areas. This can be useful for someone who is uncomfortable with HTML and/or WordPress. All you need to do is click the blue “P” button in the page editor, similar to below:

And if you want to add to a widget area, just select the Pardot Forms widget and configure:

Otherwise, there is no real benefit to adding forms this way, because it’s simple enough to just copy and paste the HTML code (image below) into the WordPress editor.

Read More: Determining whether to use a Pardot Form or Form Handler

3. Add dynamic content directly into WordPress pages or widget areas. Again, this can be useful for someone who is uncomfortable with HTML and/or WordPress. Similar to above, all you need to do is click the blue “P” button in the page editor, or select the Pardot Dynamic Content widget in the widget configuration WordPress page.

Pardot WordPress Plugin Support

For reference, the Pardot plugin was most recently updated in October, 2020 as part of the Pardot Winter ’21 Release.

As with all things website related, there are plenty of opportunities for broken code, integrations and plugins. That’s why an experienced developer won’t install plugins that aren’t well documented and supported.

In this case, many think the jury is still out. If you browse the plugin support page, you’ll see a variation of two main issues:

  • Failed authentication – Usually related to Oauth scopes or permitted Users. Basically, you need to create a connected application for the plugin in Salesforce. Instructions can for this can be found in the plugin FAQs.
  • Forms not displaying – Usually related to caching issue. This can be cleared by going to: Settings > Pardot Settings and click ‘Reset Cache’

If you’re reading this and currently seeing an issue, go I’d suggest reviewing posts on the plugin support page mentioned earlier. But don’t expect to be able to post new issues there, there is a stickied post instructing users to contact Pardot Support rather than post on that thread.

Conclusion

Depending on your specific skills and business requirements, the plugin may work well for you.

For those who may be a little more comfortable adding the Pardot tracking code and iframe codes, the plugin may not make sense. For instance, if the plugin were to break (or unauthenticated) you could risk losing out on tracking data and forms not displaying. Obviously this would be a worst case scenario, but should be considered when weighing the pros and cons of how to integrate Pardot into your WordPress website.

Documentation