How to use Draftship with Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot)
Pardot is now Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, but the layout templates and HML tokens haven't changed. Here's how to drop a Draftship export into a layout-and-template pair without rewriting the chrome every time.
Pardot, now branded Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, kept the same architecture under the rename: campaigns target prospects synced from Salesforce, emails draw from layout templates plus content templates, and personalization uses Handlebars Merge Language (HML). If you've designed in Draftship, you'll paste once into a layout template and reuse it across every email in that program.
The layout template + email template pattern
Pardot splits emails into two pieces. The layout template holds the chrome (header, footer, unsubscribe block, the table-based shell). The email template holds the per-send content. You paste your Draftship export into the layout once. Each new email picks the layout and only edits content blocks.
To create a layout, go to Marketing → Email → Layout Templates → New. Paste your Draftship HTML. Wherever you want content to be editable, replace the section with %%content%%. That's the slot where each email's body lands.
HML token mapping
| Draftship variable | HML token |
|---|---|
{{ first_name }} | {{Recipient.FirstName}} |
{{ last_name }} | {{Recipient.LastName}} |
{{ email }} | {{Recipient.Email}} |
{{ company }} | {{Recipient.Company}} |
| Unsubscribe link | %%unsubscribe%% |
| View online | %%view_online%% |
Pardot's old token format (%%first_name%%) still works for backward compatibility. Don't use it for new emails. HML supports defaults via the or keyword: {{Recipient.FirstName or "there"}}.
Required tokens and the email validation flow
Pardot won't let you save an email template without three required system tokens somewhere in the body or the layout: %%unsubscribe%%, %%email_preferences%%, and %%account_address%%. The validator runs on save. If your Draftship export doesn't include them, the save fails with a generic error.
The cleanest fix: include them in the layout template's footer. Every email built on that layout inherits the tokens.
What Pardot does to your HTML
Pardot's renderer is conservative. It preserves <style> blocks, conditional comments, and inline styles. Two things to watch for:
- Pardot wraps every link in their tracker by default. The wrap can break URLs containing unencoded query strings. Use the UTM builder to assemble query strings safely before paste.
- Pardot's "Sync with Salesforce" can rewrite recipient lookups during long sends. If the contact's email changes mid-send, the email goes to the new address. This is a feature, not a bug.
Test send checklist
- Use Test Email against a real prospect ID, not a placeholder. Token resolution depends on the prospect record.
- Run the rendered HTML through the size checker before sending to a list.
- Confirm Pardot's link tracker hasn't broken any UTM-tagged URLs by clicking from the test email.
- Verify the unsubscribe footer renders the connected user's account address, not a placeholder.
When to use Pardot's drag-drop email builder
The Lightning Email Builder is fine for marketers who want simple promotional layouts. For anything with complex tables, custom buttons, or strict Outlook fidelity, the layout-and-template handoff with Draftship beats it.
For unsubscribe placement guidance and CAN-SPAM compliance, see Email merge tag fallbacks.