Subscriber and Data Management (26%) - Data Extensions Flashcards
What is a DE?
Similar to a table with columns defining fields and rows displaying records.
What is Contact Builder?
A data management tool for organising data stored in the MC account
What do Data Retention Settings define?
Defines the period for keeping records in Data Extensions.
What is a Primary Key?
A column (or combination of columns) to uniquely identify a row in a DE
What is Send Relationship?
A field used at the send time to identify the email recipient
What is the All Subscribers List?
The master list of all Subscribers records for Email Studio shared by all Business Units.
What is a Subscriber Key?
A user-defined unique identifier for Subscribers in Email Studio to identify subscriber records across the account
What is a Contact Key?
A user-defined unique identifier for Contacts in Contact Builder to tie all contact information together.
What are Subscribers?
An individual who opted in to receive communication via a particular channel.
What are Contacts?
An individual who receives communication via any channel.
The ‘Email Address’ Data Type in a DE…
Verifies email address syntactic for “@” symbol.
“@” field must exist in all email-sending DEs
The ‘Phone’ Data Type in a DE accepts what type of data?
Accepts phone number with or without hyphens but removes non-digit characters
The ‘Decimal’’ Data Type in a DE…
Supports numbers with a decimal point.
Must be specified with precision and scale.
The ‘locale’ Data Type in a DE…
Accepts a minimum of two characters to define subscriber’s country and up to five characters to define the language.
The ‘Boolean’ Data Type in a DE…
Represents logic values: true (1, Y, Yes, true) or false (0, N, No, false)
The ‘Number’ Data Type in a DE supports what data?.
Supports whole number integers but does not accept decimals.
The ‘Date’ Data Type in a DE…
Accepts date values and stores them as MM/DD/YYYY.
MC-generated values are added in CST zone.
The ‘Text’ Data Type in a DE accepts what types of data?
Inserts letters, numbers, and spaces of up to 4,000 characters.
Length can be only increased with field editing.
What does a Data Type in a DE do?
Controls what information can be stored in a given field.
Where are ‘Contacts’ stored?
In the All Contacts List in Contact Builder - to give a centralised view of all Contact records in a MC account.
What does a Contact Record contain?
Attributes gathered for the individual, including detailed information, activities, and channels.
What is a Contact Key?
A user-defined unique identifier for Contacts in Contact Builder. The value ties all contact information together.
What is a Contact ID?
A system-defined number generated for each Contact by MC to serve as an internal unique identifier on the backend.
What is required for Subscribers subscribed to email communications?
A valid email address
What is required for Subscribers subscribed to SMS messaging?
A valid phone number
How are Subscribers added to the All Subscribers List?
They can be imported directly to the All Subscribers List
OR
They are appended to the List after an email message is sent to them.
Do Subscribers belong to individual studios?
Yes, Subscribers belong to individual studios (for example, Email Studio) and are stored in Lists or DEs.
Where are Subscribers stored?
In Email Studio
What is a Subscriber ID?
A system-defined number generated for each Subscriber by Marketing Cloud to serve as a unique identifier on the backend.
What data type should be set for the Subscriber Key attribute?
The Subscriber Key attribute must be set up as a Text field.
How do Sendable DEs map to the All Subscribers List?
Sendable DEs require the creation of a field that uniquely identifies the person to whom the message is sent. This attribute maps to the Subscriber Key on the All Subscribers List.
If Marketing Cloud Connect is enable how should the Subscriber Key be set?
The 18-digit Contact or Lead ID must be set to the Subscriber Key for all records.
Should you use an email address as the Subscriber Key?
No, it is not recommended to use an email address as the Subscriber Key, as each subscriber can exist only once in the database.
How is the Subscriber Key used in Sending?
The Subscriber Key retrieves the correct email address for each record from the All Subscribers List during the send out.
How is the Subscriber Key used during imports?
The Subscriber Key recognises the record to update.
How is the Subscriber Key used for deduplication?
Subscriber Key values are unique and cannot appear multiple times in the database, preventing duplicates.
How is the Subscriber Key used in managing preferences?
All Sendable DEs must be mapped to the All Subscribers List to enable management of subscribers’ preferences.
The Subscriber Key identifies the correct record whenever a subscriber decides to unsubscribe or change their communication preferences.
Are All Subscribers also Contacts?
Yes, all Subscribers existing in Email Studio become Contacts when an email message is sent to them.
Are all Contacts also Subscribers?
No, not all Contacts are Subscribers as they may not have subscribed to receive a message from every channel.
What are the default attributes on the All Subscribers List?
Subscribers status
Email addresss
Subscriber Key
and record profile or preference attributes
How does the All Subscribers List affect Contact Count?
Subscribers existing in the All Subscribers List are counted as Contacts in the All Contacts List and towards license utilisation.
What are the (4) statuses for Subscribers on the All Subscribers List?
Active
Held
Bounced
Unsubscribed
What is an Active Subscriber on the All Subscribers List?
A Subscriber who opted in to receive email communication and no issues occurred.
What is a Held Subscriber on the All Subscribers List?
A Subscriber who had three or more soft bounces after 15 day from the first bounce or had one hard bounce from a trusted domain and are suppressed from future sends.
What is a Bounced Subscriber on the All Subscribers List?
Subscribers had one or two soft bounces or one hard bounce. Status resets to Active when an individual engages with the email.
What is an Unsubscribed Subscriber on the All Subscribers List?
A Subscriber opted out of communication, was manually unsubscribed, or reported an email as spam to an ISP. They are suppressed from future commercial sends.
Which tool should be prioritised for DE creation and maintenance?
Contact Builder should be prioritised over Email Studio for any data management activities in MC, including DE creation and maintenance.
What two ways does MC offer to store and segment subscribers?
Lists and Data Extensions (DEs)
How many subscribers can a List contain?
Up to 500,000 subscribers
What is a Flat Database?
A List is an example of a Flat database - lists do not relate to each other or DEs
Which data model - Lists or DEs is recommended for Email Studio and Contact Builder?
Data Extensions
What is a Relational database?
Data Extensions are an example of a relational database - they can relate to one another (or be independent / standalone)
Advantages of DEs over Lists
Can handle large volumes of data efficiently
Data other than subscriber information can be stored in DEs for personalisation, segmentation, and flow control.
How are DEs used across Studios and Builders in Marketing Cloud (6)>
Email Sendouts
Exclude from Sendouts
Data Import
Personalisation
Dynamic Content
Segmentation
What are the types of DE (3)?
Standard DE
Salesforce DE
Synchronised DE
What is a Standard DE?
Standard DEs store subscriber data. Their configuration, including the setup of properties, retention policy settings, and attributes, must be created from scratch.
What is a Salesforce DE?
Salesforce DEs are available when Marketing Cloud Connect is enabled and are used to send email tracking information from MC to Sales or Service Cloud.
What is a Synchronised DE?
Synchronised DEs are available when Marketing Cloud Connect is enabled. The retrieve data from standard and custom Sales or Service Cloud objects and save them in MC Des. Objects and fields need to be created in MC can be selected during the setup process.
What types of DE are there - based on Sending Context?
Sendable
Non-Sendable
Testable
What does a Sendable DE contain?
Subscriber data, including an email address field, and are used for sending email communication from MC
What does a Non-Sendable DE contain?
Stores additional data such as orders, store information, transactions, or products and can be referenced for marketing purposes
What does a Testable DE contain?
Contains data of internal test users who receive test sends for verification prior to live email sendouts from MC.
What 3 requirements MUST a Sendable Data Extension have?
Must be marked as ‘Is Sendable’ during creation
Send Relationship must be established to identify the subscribers on the All Subscribers List
One email address field must exist.
What knowledge is required to retrieve data from Non-Sendable DEs for personalisation?
AMPscript knowledge
What are Non-Sendable DEs used for?
Storing non-sendable info for email personalisation, segmentation, or flow control in Journey Builder.
How is sending context defined when creating a new DE?
Is Sendable - Sendable DE
Is Testable - Testable DE
Neither - Non-Sendable DE
What is the External Key in a DE?
A value automatically generated by MC that can be referenced in API calls
Do DEs need descriptions?
No, description is optional - but DEs must have unique names
What creation methods are available for creating DEs?
From New
From Existing
From Template
How can a Standard DE be created?
In Contact Builder or Email Studio.
DE is created from scratch with all configurations applied during the setup process.
How can a Random DE be created?
Created in Email Studio based on an existing DE.
Subscribers from the source DE are randomly allocated into a maximum of 12 new DEs
How can a Filtered DE be created?
Created in Email Studio based on an existing DE.
Acquires the configuration of the source DE, including fields and their setup.
Records CANNOT be imported into a Filtered DE - only refreshed in Email Studio.
What are Data Retention Settings?
Data Retention Policy defines the period for which records are kept in DEs. Retention Settings automate the data clean up process.
Must Retention Policies be enabled for all DEs?
No, Retention Policies can be enabled or disabled. When turned on, retention large and time period must be further defined.
What are the Retention Target options in DE Data Retention Policy Settings?
Retention Target specifies the retention settings:
Individual Records
All Records
All Records and DE
What are the Time Period options in DE Retention Policy Settings
The deletion period is set of the retention target:
After (number of days to wait before deletion)
Reset period on import
On (specific data)
Creating fields of new DE: Name
Is the DE column name.
Field names must be unique
Creating fields of new DE: Data Type
Controls the type of information that can be entered in the field.
Cannot be edited once the DE is saved
Creating fields of new DE: Maximum Length
Specifies the maximum number of characters that can be inserted in a field during data import.
Can only be increased once the DE is saved
Creating fields of new DE: Nullable
Flags the attribute if it can be empty or must contain a value on data import.
Field will be marked as required if unchecked.
Creating fields of new DE: Default Value
Populates empty fields
