ApproveThis manages your Pardot Integration approvals.

When Approval Processes Meet Marketing Automation

Let’s get real: marketing teams move fast, but approval processes often move like molasses in January. That’s where pairing Pardot’s marketing automation with ApproveThis’s approval workflows creates something better than coffee on a Monday morning – actual operational momentum.

Pardot handles lead generation and nurturing. ApproveThis handles the bureaucratic heavy lifting. Together through Zapier, they create closed-loop systems where marketing actions trigger approval requirements, and approvals automatically update marketing operations. No more chasing down VPs in parking lots for sign-offs.

Why This Combo Works for Mid-Sized Companies

Companies between 50-5,000 employees get crushed by two problems: scaling processes without adding bureaucracy, and keeping teams aligned as departments grow. This integration tackles both:

Speed Without Chaos

Example: A 200-person SaaS company uses Pardot forms for webinar registrations. Every submission used to email three managers for approval before syncing to Salesforce. Now, ApproveThis automatically routes submissions based on deal size thresholds, with auto-approvals for small leads. Result: 83% faster lead processing.

Compliance That Doesn’t Require a Police Force

Financial services firms need to audit every marketing touchpoint. With ApproveThis, every Pardot campaign change or prospect list update requires documented approvals. The kicker? Approvers don’t need Pardot licenses – just email access. Perfect for involving compliance officers without bloating software costs.

Three Ways This Integration Actually Gets Used

1. Form Submissions That Don’t Get Lost in the Shuffle

When a high-value lead fills out a Pardot form for a enterprise demo request, ApproveThis can:

• Route to regional sales directors based on territory
• Auto-approve if lead score exceeds threshold
• Escalate to VP after 24 hours of radio silence

Real-world impact: A manufacturing company reduced their RFP response time from 5 days to 9 hours by automating approval routing for inbound inquiries through Pardot forms.

2. Prospect List Hygiene That Doesn’t Suck

Here’s the ugly truth: 25% of B2B marketing data goes bad annually. The integration automatically creates approval requests when:

• New prospects are added to high-value lists
• Existing accounts get tagged as strategic
• Lead scores change significantly

Case in point: A cybersecurity firm eliminated 400 hours/year of manual list reviews by triggering ApproveThis validations whenever Pardot prospects reach MQL status.

3. Campaign Changes That Don’t Require 17 Slack Threads

Marketing teams waste 15% of their time seeking internal approvals. Now, any Pardot campaign edit – from email copy changes to budget increases – can require approvals based on:

• Impact level (using ApproveThis’ calculated fields)
• Department budgets
• Compliance requirements

Bonus: Vacation delegation ensures summer campaigns don’t stall because someone’s at the beach.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Connect Pardot and ApproveThis in under 20 minutes:

1. Create Zapier account (if you somehow don’t have one)
2. Choose Pardot trigger (form submit, prospect update, etc.)
3. Map key data points to ApproveThis request fields
4. Set approval rules (thresholds, groups, escalation paths)
5. Test with actual sales/marketing scenarios

Pro tip: Start with one high-impact workflow like budget approvals before scaling to 50 automations.

Who Actually Benefits From This

Marketing Teams

Stop being the approval process bottleneck. Set up auto-approvals for routine content updates while requiring executive sign-off only for net-new campaigns over $50K.

Sales Operations

Ensure every demo request from Pardot gets vetted by the right AE before hitting Salesforce. Use approval groups to handle regional overlaps without territorial disputes.

Finance

Get automatic alerts when marketing campaigns exceed budget thresholds. ApproveThis’ calculated fields can trigger approvals based on real-time spend vs. ROI data.

IT/Compliance

Maintain audit trails without manual reporting. Every Pardot prospect list change or campaign edit has documented approvals meeting GDPR/CCPA requirements.

The Silent Killer Feature: External Approvals

Here’s what nobody talks about: 60% of marketing approvals require input from people outside your company – agencies, partners, clients. ApproveThis handles this without:

• Forcing external users to learn Pardot
• Paying for extra seats
• Creating security nightmares

Example: A healthcare agency gets FDA review board approvals directly via email before launching Pardot nurture campaigns.

When to Not Use This Integration

This isn’t magic fairy dust. Avoid if:

• Your approval processes change daily (fix that first)
• You have <10 monthly approvals (manual works fine)
• Your team thinks “automation” means Roomba vacuums

Bottom Line

Pardot handles the “go” – ApproveThis handles the “whoa.” Together, they let companies between 50-5,000 employees scale their marketing ops without becoming bureaucratic nightmares.

Next step: If you’ve ever missed a lead because an approval got stuck, or wasted hours explaining Pardot to non-marketers, register for ApproveThis and connect it to Pardot in one afternoon. Or book a demo to see how calculated fields and approval thresholds can cut your process time by 60%.