Pardot lead scoring: how to set up scoring and grading in Account Engagement
A hands-on guide to the score and the grade in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement: what the defaults are, how to change them, and how to act on both.
Pardot lead scoring is the pair of values that Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, the product formerly called Pardot, puts on every prospect: a score and a grade. In Salesforce’s own words, a score “is based on activities (pages viewed, forms completed, and so on) that a prospect performs,” and grading “reflects a prospect’s persona, fit, or demographic.”
This guide covers how both work and how to set them up, from the default point values to decay and the fields reps see in Salesforce. Every product detail comes from Salesforce Help or Trailhead, linked where it is used. If a menu or edition differs, trust your own account.
Pardot lead scoring at a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where is it? | Lightning app: Account Engagement Settings, then Automation Settings, then Scoring. Classic: Admin, then Scoring |
| What does it score? | Prospects: visitors who have converted and are now identified |
| Two values | Score: a number for activity. Grade: a letter for fit, F to A+, starting at D |
| Several products | Scoring categories, up to 50, each tied to folders of assets |
| Decay | Not built in. A repeating automation rule lowers scores after inactivity |
| AI option | Einstein Behavior Scoring, 0 through 100, listed for Advanced and Premium Editions |
| How reps see it | Account Engagement Score and Account Engagement Grade on the lead and contact |
The Help pages for scoring and grading do not spell out an edition list, so check your account.
Keeping the two apart is the strength of the design. A student who downloads every guide earns a high score and a low grade. A director at a perfect-fit company who has visited once earns the reverse.
Before you start: plan the model
Decide what belongs in the settings on paper first. Write down:
- Three to five fit criteria for the profile, taken from what your won deals have in common. Your ideal customer profile is the source, and our five-step framework for building an ICP scoring model covers how to pick them.
- The activities that show buying interest, such as a demo request, and those that only show curiosity.
- Disqualifiers, such as competitors, students, and personal email domains.
- The cutoffs: the score and grade a prospect needs before sales gets it.
Then check your data. Criteria are matched from prospect fields, so a field that is empty on most prospects cannot move the grade.
How to set up scoring and grading, step by step
Step 1: Read the default scoring rules
In the Lightning app, select Account Engagement Settings, then Automation Settings, then Scoring. In Pardot Classic, select Admin, then Scoring. You will see the default scoring system. Some of the defaults:
| Activity | Default points |
|---|---|
| Form submission, form handler submission, landing page success | +50 each |
| Opportunity created | +50 |
| Video watched 75% or more | +25 |
| Custom redirect click, file access, tracker link click | +3 each |
| Visitor (each time Account Engagement cookies the prospect) | +3 |
| Page view | +1 |
| Email open, webinar registered, webinar attended | 0 |
| Form error | -5 |
| Opportunity lost | -100 |
Every form is worth the same 50 points, whether it is a demo request or a newsletter signup. Email opens are worth nothing by default, which is sensible: Litmus reports that over 50% of email opens come from devices using Apple Mail Privacy Protection.
Step 2: Edit the scoring rules
Following Salesforce’s steps for customizing scoring rules, click Edit Scoring Rules, select a rule, enter a point value, and save. To deduct points, enter a negative number.
Know what happens next. Salesforce states that “when you edit scoring rules, the system rescores all prospects based on all applicable prospect activity.” Rescoring can produce negative scores, resyncs prospects with the CRM, and can affect score-based automations. Make the change once, and warn whoever owns the rules that read the score.
Trailhead’s scoring unit adds a limit: you can change the point values, but you cannot add rules. Anything more specific is done in step 6.
Step 3: Add scoring categories if you sell more than one thing
Scoring categories give a prospect a separate score per product or business unit. Activity on assets in a category’s folder builds that score.
Organize your content under Content, then Folders first. Then, on the Scoring page, click +Add Scoring Category, choose whether to include all historical activity, select the folder, and click Create Scoring Category. Salesforce’s considerations page lists what matters:
- You can create up to 50 scoring categories.
- A folder takes one category, and a category can cover several folders.
- Form and form handler submissions, file downloads, custom redirect clicks, email clicks, and email opens count toward it.
- You cannot edit a category score by hand.
- Category updates sync with Salesforce about every 15 minutes.
A Salesforce knowledge article on category score reports lists the feature for Pro or Plus, Ultimate or Advanced, and Premium editions.
Step 4: Build the grading profile
Grades come from profiles. In the Lightning app, select Prospects, then Segmentation, then Profiles. Edit the default profile, or click +Add Profile, enter a name, enter a criterion name, choose a grade adjustment, add more criteria, and click Create Profile.
Trailhead’s grading unit explains the mechanics. A prospect “can earn anywhere from an F to an A+.” All prospects start at D. The default profile has five criteria: company size, industry, location, job title, and department, each worth two thirds of a letter grade. Adjustments are set in thirds of a letter.
A criterion has three states: “Matches increases the grade. Does Not Match decreases the grade, and Not Known has no impact.”
Step 5: Assign the profile and match its criteria
Assign a profile by editing the prospect record, with the Set Profile completion action on a form, or with an automation rule.
Criteria are matched by hand, with the thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons on a prospect’s Profile tab, or by automation rule. Create one rule per criterion, based on a prospect field, with the action Change profile criteria. If you want poor fits to lose ground, add a second rule that sets Does Not Match.
Salesforce adds one instruction: “Don’t use a single automation rule to assign a profile and also match criteria.” Profile changes take time to apply, so keep them in separate rules.
Step 6: Add score adjustments for the actions that matter
The baseline rules treat every form alike. Two tools fix that.
Completion actions sit on a single asset. Salesforce’s list of available completion actions includes Adjust Score, which “adjusts a prospect’s score by a selected number or resets it to a specific number,” and Adjust Score for Scoring Category.
Automation rules work on criteria across all prospects and, per Salesforce, are in all Account Engagement editions. Open the Automations tab, select Automation Rules, and click + Add Automation Rule. Name it, choose Match All or Match Any, then add criteria and actions. Rules save in paused mode: preview the matches, then resume. Salesforce’s examples include a rule that adds 50 points when a prospect completes a demo request form or attends a named webinar.
Step 7: Add score decay
Account Engagement has no decay setting. Trailhead defines score decay as “reducing a prospect’s score for inactivity” and describes doing it with automation rules.
Salesforce’s own example is a repeating rule: match all of prospect time, last activity days ago, is greater than 30, and prospect score is greater than 0, with the action adjust prospect score by -20. Turn on Repeat Rule when you create it, and decide before you resume: Salesforce notes that you cannot change the repeat setting afterward.
Step 8: Put the score and grade in front of sales
In the default prospect field mapping, Score maps to Account Engagement Score and Grade maps to Account Engagement Grade on the lead and contact. Each maps to a read-only Salesforce field, with Account Engagement as the source of truth, and cannot be remapped.
Add both fields to the page layouts and list views reps work from. Category scores come across as a related object, Account Engagement Category Scores.
A worked example model
Demo data. A B2B software company sells to operations teams at companies with 200 to 1,000 employees. Values are in Account Engagement’s own units: points for the score, thirds of a letter for the grade.
Baseline rules to change: form and form handler submissions from +50 to +10, because most forms are content downloads; visitor from +3 to +1; webinar attended from 0 to +15.
Score adjustments, including negatives and decay
| Tool | Trigger | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Completion action | Demo request form completed | Adjust Score by +60 |
| Completion action | Pricing page custom redirect clicked | Adjust Score by +15 |
| Automation rule | Email is on a personal domain | Adjust prospect score by -25 |
| Repeating automation rule | Last activity over 30 days ago, score above 0 | Adjust prospect score by -20 |
Profile: mid-market operations
| Criterion | Adjustment | Matched when |
|---|---|---|
| Company size | 2/3 | 200 to 1,000 employees |
| Industry | 2/3 | One of three core industries |
| Job title | 2/3 | Director, VP, or C-level in operations |
| Department | 1/3 | Operations or supply chain |
| Location | 1/3 | A country you sell in |
A prospect who matches company size, industry, and job title gains six thirds, which is two full letters: from D to B. Test it on prospects you know.
Thresholds and plays
| Score and grade | Play |
|---|---|
| 100 or more, B or better | Assign to sales and create a Salesforce task |
| 100 or more, C or lower | Check the profile fields, then qualify with a short call |
| Under 100, B or better | Nurture, and notify the owner when the score crosses 100 |
| Under 100, C or lower | Nurture only |
| Demo request submitted | Route to sales whatever the grade |
The cutoffs are a starting point. Salesforce’s best practices for sales users suggest not following up with prospects graded below C, since every prospect starts at D.
Putting the score to work
- Assignment. A rule with score and grade criteria can use Assign to User, Assign to Group, Assign to Queue, or Assign via Salesforce Active Assignment Rule. Assign to User and Assign to Queue do not reassign prospects.
- Tasks and alerts. Notify User and Create Salesforce Task are available actions. The task is not synced until the prospect is assigned.
- Lists. Salesforce’s examples include a rule that adds prospects graded above C+ to a list.
- Views and reports. Put the two fields in the list views reps use, and report on conversion by each.
Einstein scoring in Account Engagement
Einstein Behavior Scoring is the AI counterpart to the score. Salesforce’s page on how it works says it uses machine learning to find the most influential behavior signals and “assigns a score from 0 through 100.”
| Item | What Salesforce documents |
|---|---|
| Data for a tailored model | Six months of engagement data for connected prospects, and at least 20 prospects linked to opportunities |
| Editions | Account Engagement Advanced and Premium with Salesforce Enterprise, Performance, or Unlimited, per the setup page |
| Where it appears | Behavior Scoring component on lead and contact pages, list view columns, a B2B Marketing Analytics dashboard |
Help and Trailhead disagree on the data requirement. Help says six months of engagement data; Trailhead’s Einstein scoring unit says one year. This guide follows Help, so confirm with your account team. Until you have enough data, Salesforce uses a baseline model. To turn it on, search for Einstein in Marketing Setup, select Einstein Behavior Scoring, and activate it.
Einstein Lead Scoring is a separate Sales Cloud feature that analyzes field data on the lead object. Trailhead lists it for customers with Sales Cloud Einstein or High Velocity Sales licenses, and a model built on your own data needs at least 1,000 leads and 120 conversions. Our guide to Salesforce lead scoring covers it.
Common setup mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Leaving every form at +50 | A newsletter signup scores like a demo request | Lower the baseline, add completion actions to high-intent forms |
| Editing scoring rules without warning | All prospects are rescored and resynced | Plan one change and tell the rule owners |
| Assigning a profile and matching criteria in one rule | Criteria can fail to match | Use separate automation rules |
| No decay rule | Last year’s activity still counts | Add a repeating rule for inactivity |
| Routing on score alone | Active poor fits reach sales | Require a grade too |
Our piece on where teams get ICP scoring wrong covers the modeling errors behind several of these.
Limits to know
| Limit | Workaround |
|---|---|
| Baseline rules cannot be added, only revalued | Completion actions and automation rules |
| No built-in decay | A repeating automation rule |
| Score and grade are read-only in Salesforce | Change them in Account Engagement |
| A grade is one letter | Read the matched criteria on the prospect’s Profile tab |
Where BoostIdeal fits
This guide is for teams on Account Engagement, and BoostIdeal is not an Account Engagement or Salesforce tool. It works with HubSpot, or a CSV you upload: you build the model and set the weights by hand, and each score, shown out of 10, writes back to HubSpot properties with its reasons. It is not the right fit if your data is in Account Engagement and you do not want to work from CSV exports, or if you want a vendor to hand over a number you never question.
The principles carry over: keep fit and engagement apart, let old activity fade, show the reasons on the record, and make sure a person owns the weights.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pardot lead scoring?
It is the scoring system in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, formerly Pardot. Each prospect gets a numeric score based on tracked activity, such as page views and form submissions, and a letter grade from F to A+ based on fit with a profile you define.
What is the difference between scoring and grading in Pardot?
Scoring measures interest from what a prospect does. Grading measures fit from what you know about the prospect, such as industry, job title, and company size. Use both before a prospect goes to sales.
What are the default Pardot scoring rules?
The default system gives +50 for a form submission, +25 for a video watched 75% or more, +3 for a custom redirect or tracker link click, +1 per page view, and 0 for an email open. A form error is -5 and a lost opportunity is -100. You can change the values under Automation Settings, then Scoring.
How does Pardot grading work?
Every prospect starts at D. You assign the prospect to a profile, and each criterion that matches raises the grade by the adjustment you set, in thirds of a letter. Does Not Match lowers it, and Not Known has no effect.
Does Pardot have score decay?
There is no decay setting. You build it with a repeating automation rule, such as Salesforce’s example that subtracts 20 points when a prospect has had no activity for more than 30 days.
What does Einstein Behavior Scoring need?
Salesforce Help says a tailored model needs six months of engagement data for connected prospects and at least 20 prospects linked to opportunities. Salesforce lists it for Account Engagement Advanced and Premium Editions.
The takeaway
Account Engagement gives you a sound structure: a score for activity, a grade for fit, and automation to act on both. Revalue the baseline rules once, add points where intent is real, build a profile from your own wins, add a decay rule, and put both fields where reps work. Then check each quarter that prospects above your cutoffs convert better than the rest.