How to Generate Dynamic List Snapshots in Account Engagement (Pardot)

February 20, 2023
Pardot Segmentation, Salesforce Ben | The Drip

Dynamic lists are a popular Account Engagement (Pardot) feature that add/remove prospects automatically whenever they match/unmatch the criteria you define on the list’s settings. As a result, they continuously update meaning that the list of prospects could look different at any point in time (it just depends on how often your prospect data changes!).

An interesting query was posted on the Trailblazer Community asking if it’s possible to look back at the dynamic list prospects at a specific point in time: “I’m wanting to compare dynamic list membership from different points in time to track list growth and check that data is acting as expected. Is it possible to go back e.g. six months, and see the total number of prospects in the list at that time?” A great question! Unlike the report snapshot functionality in Salesforce, unfortunately we can’t solve this requirement with any out-of-the-box Account Engagement (Pardot) functionality.

This guide will detail a simple solution that will enable you to generate a snapshot in time, however it’s not without manual work and discipline – plus, we’ll see an alternative you can investigate, too.

Dynamic List Snapshots (Simple Solution)

Luckily, static lists do not have account limits imposed on them (no matter which Pardot edition you use) which makes them a feasible solution to use in the snapshot process. This solution requires that you manually generate the snapshot, so setting reminders for yourself are essential.

1. At the point in time you’d like to take the snapshot, navigate to Prospects → Segmentation Lists. Create a new list with the term “snapshot” in the name, plus the date. Do not make the list dynamic because this list is going to be the container for the snapshot data, and so should remain static (i.e. not changing).

2. Navigate to the dynamic list you’d like to snapshot. Select all the prospects in the list by clicking on the checkbox in the header (first column). If your list is more than one page, ensure you have selected all the prospects on further pages that aren’t visible using the hyperlinked text that appears above the table.

3. Click on the dropdown actions under the list, select Add to List, then choose the list you created in step 1.

Now, you have a snapshot of the data currently in the dynamic list that will remain in the static list (i.e. a container of data that won’t change over time).

Dynamic List Snapshots (Other Solution)

The Pardot API offers the ability to query list membership. This means that you can export data that’s not visible to you from the Account Engagement (Pardot) interface – in this case, the list, the prospect associated with the list membership, and the date/time that the prospect was added and/or removed from the list. You can also filter by the isDynamic boolean (true/false) field to identify only dynamic lists, collectively.

While this is untested on my side, this could be a feasible way to automate the snapshot process. You just need the support of a developer to set up the data set export.

Thanks to Zach Terry for the idea!

Note: Pardot (Account Engagement) editions are based on the number of API calls overall i.e. the number of times Pardot “speaks” to a third-party integration, and vice versa.

Summary

This guide has detailed both a simple solution that will enable you to generate a snapshot in time (but not without manual work and discipline), as well as an alternative using the Pardot API list membership object you can investigate, too.

Back to the original query, the requester wanted to check that data is acting as expected in terms of matching dynamic list criteria at the right time. Dynamic lists are great for measuring prospect data quality, so this snapshotting can be used in conjunction with an audit technique, as detailed in the guide below:

Happy snapshotting!

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