Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification

Study Notes

Marketing Cloud Email Specialist

Certification Study Notes
Winter ‘16

Ben Edwards
28th October 2015

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Study Notes

Contents
Email Marketing Best Practices 12%

Email Message Design 15%

Content Creation and Delivery 18%

Marketing Automation 5%

Subscriber and Data Management 42%

Tracking and Reporting 7%

External Email Integrations 1%

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Study Notes

Email Marketing Best Practices 12%

Identify the elements that make an email message effective.

● https://www.marketingcloud.com/blog/au/creating-effective-content-for-email-marketing
● Create compelling content
○ A subject line that captures people’s attention
○ Give readers what you promised them in the subject line
○ Tailor your email voice
● Offer readers something of value
○ Offer them useful and helpful information about the things they find difficult or
inconvenient – ‘how tos’ often work well – or give them new insights into an area of
interest. Work towards making yourself a trusted friend and you should see open
rates and sign-ups increase.
● Target your content
○ Deliver different types of content to each group according to what is of the most
interest to them
● At the end of the day, the golden rule of email content is: build trust and credibility and don’t
sell too hard.

Describe global legal compliance guidelines.

● http://www.marketingcloud.com/blog/international-legal-compliance-dont-spam/
Marketing Cloud requires that all messages comply with CAN-SPAM, regardless of the sender or
ation country.
● Marketing cloud servers are based in US, so technically come out of the US
● What does CAN-SPAM mean to me?
● Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003)
It means you shouldn't spam. Spam may be legal, but it also allows ISPs to block it, and all
competent ISPs block as much spam as they possibly can. Your mail is not likely to deliver
well if it's spam.
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/system_g
uides/can_spam_compliance/
○ Requires:
■ Accurately identify the sender in the header information.
■ Use a subject line that accurately represents the content of the email.
■ Identify the message as an advertisement, unless you have express
consent (opt-in) from the subscriber.
■ Include your physical mailing address.
■ Provide a mechanism to opt out. You cannot require a subscriber to log in
or visit more than a single page to unsubscribe.
■ Honor opt-out requests promptly. You must process an unsubscribe request
within 10 days, and your unsubscribe mechanism must be operational for at
least 30 days after the mailing.
○ Cannot:
■ Use a false or misleading 'from name'.
■ Use a subject line that masks the purpose of the email.
■ Harvest email addresses off the Internet.
■ Launch dictionary attacks.
■ Use open relays to send email.
○ What does the new Canadian spam law mean to me?
■ "don't spam" is likely to be the right advice. If you send mail only to
recipients who ask for it, I would be surprised if you were not in compliance

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with the new Canadian law.

● How will the new Dutch B2B email restrictions affect me?
○ As long as you don't spam, they won't affect you negatively. My understanding of
the new requirements is that they close a loophole that allowed treating B2B
addresses different than B2C addresses. It was already against the law to send
unsolicited commercial messages to B2C addresses. Now, any mailings to B2B
addresses must also be sent only to recipients who have opted-in.

Identify ways to improve deliverability.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/email_deliverabilit
y/deliverability_best_practices/
● DO: Use clear and simple signup processes and disclosures
● DO: Use email authentication
○ DKIM, SPF
● DON’T: Keep mailing non-responding addresses forever
● DON’T: Buy lists or use third-party data
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/email_deliverabilit
y/
● Email list capture process and recommendations on opt-in method
● Email From address branding
● Email subject line branding and optimization
● Email content consulting to avoid common words and phrases targeted by spam filters
● List hygiene
● ISP compliance
● Volume filter avoidance via Domain Monitoring
● SMTP log filtering to proactively detect blocking
● IP address warming
● Ensure That All Subscribers on Your Lists Have Given You Permission
● Deal With Bounce Rates Greater Than 20%
● Purge Old or Inactive Addresses
● Manage Frequency and Content
● Authenticate your email to avoid bulk folder delivery
● Mention how the subscriber opted in to receiving your email communications
● Address Book Strategy

Explain acquisition methods to allow potential subscribers to opt-in.

● Be clear in the subject line.

○ Email subject lines like, “Verify your subscription continue receiving [XYZ]” or “Your
subscription will end soon” tend to work well
● Restate your value proposition
○ A simple reminder of what your email program offers
● Use YES and NO options
○ There is something about seeing both options that drives more people to respond.
Maybe these emails seem like less of a gimmick, more genuine, or more serious.
Whatever the reason, the reality is that by including that NO option, you will actually
get more people to click YES. (See the Peppermill Example below)
● Try sending a second request
○ If you have used the YES and NO options cited above, the non-responders are a
prime target for a second request for email permission

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Study Notes

Identify best practices for interacting with potential and active subscribers

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/solution_guides/e
mail_marketing_best_practices/
● Email Marketing Deliverability
○ Play by the Rules of ISPs and Filtering Companies
○ Reduce SPAM Blocking with Permission-Based Email Marketing
○ Use Double Opt-in to Avoid Getting Blacklisted
○ Maintain a Consistent From Address and Subject Line Recognition
● Optimize Your Email Design
○ Email design is vital to the success of your email marketing program
● Grow Your List
○ Important to ensure the subscribers that you acquire are quality subscribers - the
engaged subscribers who want to be on your list.
○ Organic growth
■ Give your customers every opportunity to opt-in to your list after they've
initiated contact with your brand
○ Sell Value
■ Successful email list growth begins with gaining permission from your
subscribers. But you want your subscribers to take the initiative to sign-up
without feeling coerced or trapped.
■ Clearly articulate the value of your one-to-one program
○ Diversify, track, and evaluate
■ Don't rely on a single technique to grow your list. Employ multiple email list
growth strategies and closely track and monitor all of your list sources to
determine your most successful tactic.
○ Don't look for a silver bullet.
■ Many marketers gravitate toward email list growth tactics that promise quick
results. However, these tactics doesn't necessarily bring quality results. And
the quality of, not quantity of, your subscribers should always be your end
goal.
○ Use Technology.
■ Take advantage of Salesforce Marketing Cloud social products to grow your
list via social networks and word-of-mouth. Or try using a mobile text
capture campaign to attract subscribers who prefer mobile interactions.
● Subject Lines
○ Keep it short and sweet.
■ Shorter subject lines generally have higher open rates than long ones
○ Show your style
■ Subject lines are meant to be persuasive, so don't settle for a boring
message. Instead, make it personal and infuse your brand style into the
one-liner
○ Test, test, and test again
■ The best way to find out which subject lines resonate with your audience is
to regularly test different variations
■ Be sure to test various lengths, personalization, and styles to determine
what motivates your readers.
■ Test the following items:
● Front-loading your brand name
● Front-loading your keywords
● Subject line length
● Calls to action
● Styles
● Personalization
■ Avoid spam filters by not including the following characters and terms:

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● RE:
● FW:
● Text in all caps
● Hello
● Exclamation points
● Special Offer

Email Message Design 15%

Describe email design best practices.

● http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/email-design-best-practices/
● https://www.marketingcloud.com/products/email-marketing/email-design-toolkit/
● Images
○ ExactTarget supports JPEG, PNG, and GIF images. Ensure your images are one of
those files types before uploading into your ExactTarget account.
○ Keep your images to a maximum of 600 pixels wide.
○ Images should follow the standard web resolution of 72 dpi.
○ Images should be no larger than 200 KB.
● Header Recommendations
○ Keep your headers to a maximum of 600 pixels wide and no deeper than 150
pixels.
○ Headers should follow the standard web resolutions of 72 dpi.
● Deliverability

Explain how to create an email using Responsive Design in the email application.

● http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/learn-to-design-responsive-emails-like-a-pro/
● https://www.exacttarget.com/products/email-marketing/email-design-toolkit
● When coding a responsive design for email, @media queries are used to activate the
mobile version of the email.
● Generally controlled by CSS.
● Classes are used to adjust, hide, or introduce elements of the email on mobile.
● Mobile email apps (like Gmail and Outlook.com) as well as native email apps (like iOS Mail
and Android email) behave differently.
● For some techniques, responsive code must be placed in <style type="text/css"> as well as
inline.

Explain A/B testing best practices to test different email elements to drive results.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/ab_testing/
● http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/1-easy-way-to-improve-email-performance-ab-testing/
● A/B testing is a method of market testing in which you send two versions (Condition A and
Condition B) of your communication to two test audiences from your subscriber list.
● Things that are generally tested:
○ Subject Lines: See what really catches your subscribers’ attention
○ From Names: Maybe your subscribers are more likely to open an email from a
specific person or department, rather than your company
○ Send dates and times: Depending on your industry, your audience may open their
emails first thing in the morning, or later in the day
○ Variable content areas within your email: This is an ideal way to test the best
location for your call to action.
○ Two entirely different emails: This is how you can test different designs and

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layouts, to see what works best for your audience

○ Preheaders
● Wait at least 24 hours before declaring a winner of your A/B Test.
● After 24 hours, you see that Email A’s click-through rate was higher than Email B’s, making
Email A the winner. Then you send Email A to your remaining subscribers and pat yourself
on the back, knowing that you sent out a more effective email than if you had not performed
the A/B Test.

Describe the available tools to prepare and send an email.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/getting_started/the_getting_
started_guide/create_your_first_email/
● http://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/getting_started/content/
● Create an email via Template Editor:
○ Upload Content to Your Portfolio
■ Upload images and other content
■ Upload single or multiple files using the uploader
○ Create a Template
■ A template controls the header, background color, borders, and layout of an
email. You can use the same template as the basis of multiple emails. It
contains your brand and the layout of information.
■ Standard Template Editor
● The standard template editor provides you with seven predefined
layout options and includes the following required information:
○ "sent by" identification and links to your privacy policy
○ subscription management center
○ profile management center
○ unsubscribe center
■ HTML Paste
● Another option is to create templates by pasting in your HTML
code. If you're experienced with HTML, you can create templates
by pasting in HTML code that you've built outside the application.
■ Save Email as Template
● If you create an email and you'd like to use that email in the future
as a template, you can save that email as a template for future use.
You can define which regions are editable and which should remain
static.
● Insert Content into Email
○ Choose the template you'd like to use for your email and then simply modify each
content area to pull in the appropriate content from your Portfolio. Or bring in
content using the HTML Paste editor.
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/getting_started/the_getting_
started_guide/send_your_first_email/
● Content Detective
○ A tool that helps you identify spam triggers in your email content. This feature
mirrors the logic used by spam-filtering software to identify words, phrases, and
patterns that are likely to trigger filters and then recommends a resolution to each
identified problem
● Email Validate
○ checks for
■ the presence of an unsubscribe link
■ the presence of a physical mailing address
■ correct syntax for attributes used as personalization strings
■ the existence of any content areas defined in the dynamic content rules
● Send Preview

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○ A rendering of an email as it will be sent to a recipient. After the initial preview, you
can proceed through the rest of the recipients on the list to see the preview for
each.
● Inbox Preview
○ Use inbox preview to optimize your emails to appear how you want them to in each
of your targeted email clients
● Test Send
○ Make sure you send a test of your email to yourself before sending it to subscribers.
This allows you to see a sample of your email in your own inbox to get an idea of
what your subscribers will receive.
● Send Email
○ The email send wizard makes it easy to choose the list of subscribers you want to
send to and schedule your emails to go out immediately or at a later day and time

Explain how approvals work in the Email application.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/admin/approvals/
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/content_builder/approvals/
● You can configure your account to require an approver to approve an email before that
email can be sent to an audience.
● Workflow
○ A user creates an email message.
○ That user submits the email to a specific approver for approval (that approver
receives a notification to approve the message, but any approver can ultimately
approve the message).
○ Before an approver approves the email message, the user can conduct test sends.
○ The approver receives notification of the request for approval.
○ The approver reviews the email message and either approves or declines the email
message.
○ If the approver approves the email message, the user can send the message to any
audience in the accounts.
○ If the approver declines the email message, the user must edit and resubmit the
email message until the approver finally approves the message.

Content Creation and Delivery 18%

Explain various ways to customize email messages.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_messages/
● An email message is a type of message delivered to your subscriber's' email client. You can
create user-initiated and triggered email interaction. Email message interactions are also
referred to as Send Definitions
● You can send the email by using a:
○ triggered send
○ data extension
○ scheduled send
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overview/crea
ting/

Given a scenario, identify the optimal ways to customize an email message.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overview/crea

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ting/
● Content Builder: Choose this option if you have access to Content Canvas and Content
Builder. Contact your relationship manager for more information on Content Canvas and
Content Builder.
● Template Based: Choose this option if you already have a template that you'll be using for
this email.
● HTML Paste: Choose this option to type or paste HTML code for an email into the editor.
● Text Only: (This option may not be enabled in your account. To enable Text Only Email
Creation, contact your representative.) Choose this option if you want to create an email
that will display as text only in your subscribers' inbox regardless of their display
preferences. Opens data is never reported for text-only emails.
● Unprocessed HTML Paste: (This option may not be enabled in your account. To enable
this feature, contact your representative.) Choose this option if you want to create an
HTML-based email that you do not want affected by the application. No validation,
personalization strings, or other manipulations are done to the email's content.
● Unprocessed Text Only: (This option may not be enabled in your account. To enable this
feature, contact your representative.) Choose this option if you want to create a text-only
email that that you do not want affected by the application. No validation, personalization
strings, or other manipulations are done to the email's content.
● Simple Automated Email: Choose this option if you want to create an email you send
based on a date attribute. For example, if you want to send your subscribers an email on
their birthday, you can create an automated email.
○ Note: For Enterprise accounts, once you've created an email you can publish it to
your Lock & Publish channel members or send it (immediately or on a schedule).

Describe the available tools to construct email messages.

● Content Canvas
○ Content Canvas permits you to create and store content for use across all channels
within your Salesforce Marketing Cloud account
○ Use Content Canvas to accomplish the following tasks:
■ Create, upload, and store content in your Salesforce Marketing Cloud
account
■ Review and edit existing content to better meet your messaging needs
■ Determine which marketing channels can use specific content, allowing you
to tailor your content for broad or specific usage
■ Sort and review content to find the best applicable content for your channel
needs
■ Tag content for simplified grouping and searching
■ Add pieces of content to campaigns
■ Determine who can access your content and at what times those persons
gain access
● Content Builder
○ Content Builder is a cross-channel content editor that was built on CKEditor, an
open source WYSIWYG editor, that provides a high standard of quality output.
■ With the Content Builder, you can:
● Save time with the easy-to-use interface.
● Create professional message without knowing HTML.
● View changes to content in real time with always-present preview.
● Utilize more intelligent HTML Paste tools such as color coding and
line numbers.
● Insert Email code snippets for common links such as Forward to a
Friend, Open Tracking and more.

Explain the differences between Simple Send, Guided Send, and User-Initiated Send

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Definition.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overview/sen
ding/
● Send Flow
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/send_an_e
mail/send_flow/
○ Send Flow replaces Guided Send for Content Builder emails and guides you
through the necessary steps to send your email.
● Subscriber Preview and Test Send
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/send_
an_email/how_to_send_an_using_subscriber_preview_and_test/
○ Subscriber Preview is a rendering of an email as it will be viewed by a recipient.
After the initial subscriber preview, you can proceed through the rest of the
recipients to see previews for each subscriber and send a test.
● User Initiated Send
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/interactions/e
mail_messages/how_to_send_a_user_initiated_email_interaction/
○ User-Initiated Send sends your email as part of a program.
● Simple Automated Send
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overvi
ew/sending/how_to_send_a_simple_automated_email/
○ Email is scheduled to be sent at a set time and date
● Simple Send
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overvi
ew/sending/how_to_send_an_email_using_simple_send/
○ Execute an email send via pushing a button
● Guided Send
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overvi
ew/sending/how_to_send_an_email_using_guided_send/
○ The Guided Send is a program in the application that guides you through necessary
steps to send your email.
● Test Send
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overvi
ew/sending/how_to_send_an_email_using_test_send/
○ Subscriber Preview is a rendering of an email as a recipient will view it.
○ After the initial subscriber preview, you can proceed through the rest of the
recipients to see previews for each subscriber.
○ The preview feature does not display in a particular operating system or email
client.

Given a scenario, identify the appropriate send method.

● Before you send an email, follow this checklist to ensure that the email meets your
standards before it arrives in subscribers' inboxes:
○ Important! Review the Email Deliverability page to see strategies to ensure that
your email reaches as many subscribers as possible
(https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/email_del
iverability/deliverability_best_practices/ )
○ Run the Spell Check in the content areas in your email.
○ Run the Content Detective on your email (validates it won’t be caught by spam
filters)
○ Preview and Modify Text Versions of Emails (Optional).
○ Run the Validation Tool on your email. Checks for:

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■ the presence of an unsubscribe link

■ the presence of a physical mailing address
■ correct syntax for attributes used as personalization strings
■ the existence of any content areas defined in the dynamic content rules.
○ Perform a test delivery of your email.

Describe various send capabilities in the Email application.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_overview/sen
ding/
● Email Deliverability:
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/email_deli
verability/
○ Deliverability Best Practices
○ IP Address Warming Guide
○ Sender Policy Framework
● Content Detective
○ Checks for spam
● Send Preview
○ A rendering of an email as it will be sent to a recipient.
● Inbox Preview
○ Optimize your emails to appear how you want them to in each of your targeted
email clients
● Validation Tool
○ the presence of an unsubscribe link
○ the presence of a physical mailing address
○ correct syntax for attributes used as personalization strings (eg
%%FIELDNAME%%)
○ the existence of any content areas defined in the dynamic content rules.
● Test Send
○ Previewing the HTML and text versions of the email: Use the View HTML Version
and Edit Text Version tabs of your email editor workspace.
○ Previewing the dynamic content (if used) for attributes: Use the Preview button in
your dynamic content boxes.
○ Previewing the email for a subscriber: Use the Inbox Preview feature.
○ Delivering the email to a test email address:
■ Test send: See How To Send an Email Using Test Send.
■ Test list: Set up a list that consists only of test email addresses. If you're the
sole tester of the email, then set up a list consisting only of yourself. When
you use Guided Send, select this list only as the recipient so that the email
is generated for just the test email address(es).
■ Suppress this send from Reports: This feature allows you to send the email
to all subscribers on the designated list.
■ Redirect all emails to a single email address:
● an email is generated for each subscriber in the lists and groups
that you select in the wizard, but each of those emails are delivered
to a single test address that you specify.

Describe how Send Classifications, Delivery Profiles, and Sender Profiles are used

● Send Classifications
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/admin/send_classific
ations/
○ A send classification lets you define parameters for an email job in a central location
and reuse those parameters for multiple email send definitions

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○ A send classification is made up of a delivery and sender profile

○ You create the delivery profile and sender profile separately before you create the
send classification
○ When you create a send classification you specify the following information:
■ Delivery Profile (see below)
■ Sender Profile (see below)
■ CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and
Marketing) classification
● Commercial
○ any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which
is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a
commercial product or service."
● Transactional
○ facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction
that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with
the sender
● Sender Profile
○ A sender profile is a record where you specify the from information for a message
send in a central location and reuse that from information across multiple message
sends without having to select the information each time.
○ You select a sender profile when you create a send classification. You can override
the sender profile on the send classification when you include the send
classification in a message interaction.
■ Subscriber-Specific From Name
● If you have the Reply Mail Management feature enabled for your
account, you can use a sender profile to include subscriber-specific
From information in the email. For example, an email could appear
to be from each subscriber's account representative.
● You must have created a subscriber attribute or data extension to
contain the subscriber-specific from information before you perform
this procedure
○ The sender profile will contain the name and address that the message appears to
be from in the subscriber's email client.
● Delivery Profile
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/admin/send_classific
ations/#DeliveryProfile
○ A delivery profile is a record where you can specify the delivery information for a
message in a central location and reuse that information across multiple message
sends without having to select the information each time.
○ You select a delivery profile when you create a send classification. You can override
the delivery profile on the send classification when you include the send
classification in a message interaction.
○ When you create a delivery profile, you specify the IP address to use. If you do not
use a private domain, you select the account default. If you use one or more private
domains, you can select the private domain to use here.
○ You choose the header and footer to use on the delivery profile:
■ Header in the delivery profile refers to the text at the very beginning of the
document that, by default, provides a link to the email as a webpage. It
does not include the header graphic that you specify in a template.
■ Footer in the delivery profile refers to the text at the very end of a document
that contains your physical mailing address and unsubscribe link.
○

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Marketing Automation 5%
Given a scenario, explain which automation tool to use.

● Journey Builder
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/journey_builder/
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/journey_builder/what_is_journey
_builder/
○ Used for creating responsive automated multi-channel campaigns.
○ Use Journey Builder to design a communication plan that reaches customers at
every stage of their journey with your brand.
● Automation Studio
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/automation_studio/
○ Execute marketing automations on immediate, triggered or scheduled basis
○ Automations are scheduled, or triggered via a file being dropped into FTP location
○ Activities are executed based on schedule or trigger

Describe the capabilities of Automation Studio.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/automation_studio/using_automation_st
udio_activities/
○ A workflow is comprised of steps and within each step are activities
○ All activities within a single step run concurrently and all activities within a step must
execute successfully before beginning the next step
● Activities:
○ Data Extract - Use this activity to create a file of information for you to use outside
of the application. This activity can also be used to transform an XML file to a
comma-delimited, tab-delimited, or pipe-delimited file for import into your account.
○ Filter - Use this activity to apply the logic of a data filter you select to create a group
or data extension containing records that meet the data filter criteria. Provide a
name, external key, and description to identify and describe the activity.
○ Import File - Use this activity to use the information from an outside file to update a
subscriber list or data extension. You provide information that the activity uses each
time it runs, which gives the specifics of the file to import and the import activity's
behavior while running.
○ Refresh Group - Use this activity to re-apply the rules in a group definition to create
a subset of subscribers in a list. Before you can use a group refresh activity, you
must create a group definition.
○ Report Definition - Use this activity to define the parameters for running a report
once to be used every time the report is run using the activity. You can create a
report activity to run every standard report available in the application, as well as
custom reports in your account.
○ SQL Query - Use this activity to retrieve data extension or data view information
that matches your criteria and include that information in a data extension. You use
SQL to create the query you use in the query activity. You provide name, external
key, and description to identify and describe the activity.
○ Send Email - Use this activity to initiate an email message. You can send the email
in an automation alone, or put it in sequence with other activities and schedule it for
a particular date and time.
○ Send Push - Use this activity to initiate a Push message. You can send the Push
message in an automation alone or in a sequence with other activities.
○ Send SMS
○ Transfer File - Use this activity to upload a file to or download a file from a transfer
location that you specify. The file transfer activity transfers files securely and can

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also unencrypt or uncompress a file.

○ Wait - Use this activity to cause the automation to wait for a specific period of time
before performing the next step.

Subscriber and Data Management 42%

Compare and contrast Lists and Data Extensions and describe when to use them.

● http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/do-i-use-a-list-or-a-data-extension/
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/solution_guides/u
sing_a_list_versus_a_data_extension/
● List
○ A list is a compilation of subscribers that receive your communications. You create
as many lists as you need to segment your subscribers so that you can target your
email communications. See the Lists Feature Guide for more information and
procedures about lists.
● Data Extension
○ A data extension is a table within the application database that contains your data.
You could use a data extension to store sendable subscriber data like Lists or just
to house relational data. See the Data Extension Feature Guide for more
information and procedures about data extensions.
● Use a List when:
○ your lists will contain 500,000 subscribers or less long-term
○ you prefer simplicity over performance
○ you do not require fast import speed
○ you plan to use a limited number of subscriber attributes
○ you use the XML API
○ You prefer to add a single new subscriber at a single time
● Use a Data Extension when:
○ your lists are going to be greater than 500,000 subscribers
○ you support multiple subscriber data sets (with separate definitions)
○ you send global messages
○ you require fast import speeds
○ you implement triggered sends
○ you use the SOAP or REST APIs
○ you prefer a flexible subscription model

Describe profile attributes, including Preview Profile Center.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/profile_and_pref
erence_attributes/
● A profile attribute contains information to characterize a subscriber profile. For example,
each subscriber may be asked to provide their gender, birthdate, and email address. By
default, every account has three profile attributes: Full Name, Email, and User Defined
(which is intended as a generic attribute that you can use as needed). You cannot modify
these attributes.
● A preference attribute characterizes how a subscriber prefers to receive email. These are
specified as "yes or no" choices to a declarative statement. For example: "The subscriber
prefers to receive email as HTML."

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● Use a profile attribute to store information that is important to segregating your subscribers
into lists or groups.
● Use preference attributes to specify preferences for your subscribers. Once specified, you
may build lists and groups based on these preferences.
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/profile_center/
● The profile center is a webpage where subscribers can enter and maintain the personal
information that you keep about them.
○ In the profile/preference management toolbar, click Preview Profile Center, which
opens the web page that subscribers see.
● When you import a list, you can import attribute values for your subscribers that appear
when a subscriber visits the profile center. The subscriber can update their information on
this page and provide additional information. Your subscribers can view their data and their
subscriptions to your communications.
● In the Profile Center, subscribers see all of the attributes that are defined in your account
that you don't mark as hidden. If the attribute is set up as read-only, the subscriber can see
his or her value for that attribute but cannot change it. In compliance with the latest
CAN-SPAM laws, every Profile Center page now includes a global opt-out option.

Given a scenario, describe the relationship between Subscriber Key, Primary Key, Send
Relationship, and All Subscribers.

● Subscriber Key
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/subscrib
er_key/
○ A subscriber key is a text field that contains a value that uniquely identifies a
subscriber in your system. If you use a subscriber key, the system uses this value to
determine:
■ Whether a subscriber you import or create already exists in the system.
■ Whether a subscriber appears multiple times on a list, group, or data
extension to be sent a message. This allows an email address to be
included multiple times related to different subscriber key values.
■ Which subscriber record to update when a subscriber accesses their profile
center or subscription center.
■ Which subscriber record to unsubscribe when a subscriber clicks the
unsubscribe link in an email.
○ Using a subscriber key gives you the ability to identify subscribers with a value that
you choose and have a single email address appear in your database multiple
times associated to different subscriber keys.
● Data Extension Key
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/smart_c
apture/smart_capture_advanced_procedures/add_to_data_extension/
○ The external key of the data extension
○ Used to relate multiple data extensions together
● All Subscribers
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/lists_for
_interactive_marketing_hub/all_subscribers_list/
○ The All Subscribers list is considered the master list of records for the account.
○ Every subscriber in your account appears in the All Subscribers list.
○ If a subscriber is unsubscribed in the All Subscribers list, the subscriber will be
unsubscribed from all lists and groups

Given a scenario, describe the ramifications of various settings when creating a Data
Extension.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/data_extensions

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_and_data_relationships/
● A data extension is a table within the application database that contains your data.
● Usually, the data you keep in a data extension relates to a subscriber but does not fit in the
subscriber profile and preference attributes for one of the following reasons:
○ A subscriber can have varying numbers of values. For example, a subscriber's first
name fits as a subscriber attribute because you will probably refer to a subscriber
by only one first name. On the other hand, a list of the subscriber's transactions in
the last month might not fit well because it is difficult to predict how many
transactions a subscriber will have completed in the last month.
○ The information is related to the subscriber through a third piece of information. For
example, you maintain the subscriber's preferred airport code as a subscriber
attribute, but maintain the name of the airport in a data extension.
● When you create a data extension, you provide the following information for each field:
○ Name
○ Data type
○ Field length
○ Whether the field is included in the primary key of the table
○ Whether the field is required to have a value
● If your account is integrated with a Salesforce account, you can set up your import activity
to create and populate a data extension with the information in a Salesforce Object or
Report.
● You can set a default value for a field when creating a data extension. Default values are
validated to ensure that they satisfy the restrictions of the field. For example, you cannot
have a default value for a primary key field.
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/data_extensions
_and_data_relationships/procedures/
● Type:
○ Used for Sending checkbox - Indicates whether you intend this data extension to
have messages sent to it. This checkbox determines whether the data extension is
available to use as part of sends. Must have one of the following:
■ An email address field type
■ Is linked to the subscriber table via the Subscriber ID
■ Is linked to the subscriber table via the Subscriber Key
○ If you select this value, you must complete the following fields:
■ Relates to subscribers on - If you select the Used for Sending checkbox,
this field determines the field in the data extension that relates to the
Subscriber table.
■ Used for Testing checkbox - If you select the Used for Testing checkbox,
this field indicates whether you intend this data extension to have test
messages sent to it.

Describe what happens when one unsubscribes from Lists vs. Data Extensions.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/system_guides/un
subscribes/
● Unsubscribes are statuses in the Email application that signify a subscriber has either
unsubscribed from your communication or you have unsubscribed them. When a subscriber
clicks the unsubscribe link in an email, their status is set to Unsubscribed.
● An unsubscribed status only affects sends with a Commercial type send definition (or those
with a Transactional type send definition if you configure the system to do so).
● A list unsubscribe is when a user unsubscribes from a list only.
○ For example, if a user unsubscribes from your Monthly Newsletter list, they remain
on any other email lists under which they exist.

Explain how unsubscribe works in each Marketing Cloud Edition.

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● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/resources/system_guides/un
subscribes/
● Know the difference between list, master and global unsubscribe - can’t see much
difference based on editions

Describe the differences between a global unsubscribe and a master unsubscribe.

● A master unsubscribe is when a subscriber chooses to unsubscribe from every email sent
from your company. When a subscriber master unsubscribes, their status is set to
Unsubscribed on all your lists as well as your master list.
○ For example, if a subscriber is on three of your lists and master unsubscribes from
one of your emails, they'll appear Unsubscribed on all your lists.
● A global unsubscribe is an event that occurs when a subscriber chooses to unsubscribe
from every email sent from the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
● The Salesforce Marketing Cloud manages this list, so if someone globally unsubscribes,
their status is changed to Unsubscribed on a global list. This means that none of Salesforce
clients can email that subscriber, regardless from what email send they clicked the
unsubscribe link.

Identify the ways to import, including Import Wizard, API, and Import Activity.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/subscribers1/im
ports/
● Import Wizard
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/data_ext
ensions_and_data_relationships/data_extension_import_wizard/
○ Your account must be configured to use enhanced FTP in order to use the Data
Extension import wizard
○ Before you can import a file, you must create a data extension and create the
import file
○ Your import file must contain a header row and at least one row of data.
○ Your import file must be a comma-delimiter, tab-delimiter or other delimited file. You
can use the import activity or the import wizard to populate your data extension.
● Import Activity
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/interactions/activities
/import_activity/
○ An import is an activity to use the information from an outside file to update a
subscriber list or data extension
○ You can start an import activity each time you want to import a file, or you can
include the import activity in a scheduled program to cause it to import a file at
recurring intervals.
○ If your account is integrated with a Salesforce account, you can use an import
activity to create and populate a data extension with the data from a Salesforce
object or report.
○ If you import to a list using the import activity, the system uses the List Detective
tool to prevent bad email addresses from being imported.
○ If the file you are importing is encrypted or compressed, you can create a file
transfer activity to prepare the file for import.
● API
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/technical_library/web_service_guide/technical_
articles/creating_a_subscriber/
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/technical_library/web_service_guide/technical_
articles/creating_a_list/
○ You can use the web service API to automate the addition of subscribers to your
ExactTarget account as part of activities performed outside the application's user

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interface. For example, you can use API calls to add subscribers from information
gathered from your corporate website.
○ You can use the web service API to create lists (including publication lists and
suppression lists) from within your development environment or other system to
your ExactTarget account.

Given a scenario, explain the optimal way to import data using the user interface vs. using
the API.

● API would be used for automations external to Marketing Cloud, to push data into Marketing
Cloud
● User interface would be used to setting up activities to pull data into Marketing Cloud from
external sources, or manually creating subscribers
● To add a record manually to a data extension, has to be done via API. For lists, it can be
done in the interface

Given a scenario, explain when to use tools to segment data.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/groups_for_inter
active_marketing_hub/getting_started_with_groups/
● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/getting_started/for_marketer
s/segment_your_subscribers/
● A group is a subset of subscribers. There are two types of groups:
○ Filtered Group
■ A filtered group is generated by filtering subscribers by profile attributes,
preference attributes, filters, and measures.
○ Random Group
■ A random group splits up subscribers from a selected list and places the
subscribers into groups.
● Measures:
○ Use subscriber behavior to segment your subscriber base through Marketing
Cloud measures. For example, you can find all subscribers who have opened
an email within the last 3 months.
● Data Filters:
○ A Data Filter is similar to a group, except that data filters can be applied to
Data Extensions and can include and/or statements. A data filter will segment
your subscribers on a list or a data extension, according to the criteria you set.
For example, you could use a Data Filter to find all of your subscribers on a
particular list who own a car OR a motorcycle AND live in the state of Indiana
OR Ohio.
○ When sending to a data filter, segmentation is performed at sending. The send
process may take longer because of it.
● Query Activity:
○ You can use a Query Activity to retrieve Data Extension data or view
information that matches your criteria and use that information to populate a
Data Extension. A query activity uses SQL and AMPscript.
● You can create more narrowly defined Data Extensions based on other Data
Extensions

Describe how to refresh segments manually vs. using automation.

● Automation - Group Refresh Activity

○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/interactions/activities
/group_refresh_activity/

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○ A group refresh activity reapplies the rules in a group definition to create a subset of
subscribers in a list. For example, if you created a group to contain subscribers
whose birthday is today, you would refresh the group every day to have an accurate
list.
● Manual - Refresh a Filtered Group
○ https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/groups_f
or_interactive_marketing_hub/refreshing_a_filtered_group/
○ Newly added or modified subscribers are not automatically added to groups.
○ If the subscriber's profile or preference attributes would make the subscriber eligible
for a filtered group, you'll need to refresh the group so that the subscriber can be
added.
■ Select the checkbox next to the filtered group to refresh.
■ Click Refresh under Actions.
■ Click OK in the confirmation dialog box that appears.

Describe how to use behavioral data to segment data.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/measures/
● Done using Measures
○ A measure is a unit of subscriber behavior that you define in your account. For
example, if you use dynamic from addresses on an email job, the tracking for the
job is all grouped together.
● After you create a measure, you can include the measure as criteria in a data filter to
segment a subscriber list using the measure.
● Available measures include:
○ Bounce - The bounce data for emails sent from your account.
○ Click - The link clicks for emails from your account.
○ FTAF - The information related to email message from your account being
forwarded to a friend.
○ Not Clicked - The information related to email message from your account that were
not clicked.
○ Not Opened - The information related to email messages from your account that
were not opened.
○ Open - The email opens for your account.
○ Sent - The information about jobs sent from your account.
○ Survey Response - The information from subscriber survey responses.
○ Unique Click - The unique link clicks for emails from your account.
○ Unique Open - The unique opens for emails from your account.
○ Unsubscribe - The unsubscribes from email lists in your account.

Explain how data relationships work and their use cases.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/subscribers/data_extensions
_for_exacttarget_marketing_cloud/getting_started_with_data_relationships/
● A data relationship specifies that a column in one data extension contains the same kind of
information as a column in another data extension or in a subscriber attribute.
● Usually, the column is the primary key of one of the data extensions
● Use a data relationship to relate two data extensions based on a common column contained
in both data extensions. You can then apply a filter to the two data extensions and create a
new segment of data.

Explain sharing data across business units.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/enterprise/enterprise_20_ov
erview/business_units/

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● A business unit is a hierarchical administrative structure that controls access to information

and sharing of information.
● A business unit allows you to manage user roles for the business unit, view users who have
access to the business unit, and define filter criteria for subscribers.
● All items created in a business unit are accessible to all users working in that business unit.
● Items can be shared with other users in other business units by placing them into a shared
items folder, located in the Content and Subscribers sections of the applications.
● Business units manage the visibility of data within an account using a hierarchical structure,
which can be organized in any way to match your business needs.
● Business units can mirror workflow processes, demographic and behavioral data about your
subscribers, or your organization's operational structure.

Tracking and Reporting 7%

Explain email analytics terminology.

● http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/7595/The-Ultimate-Glossary-44-Email-Marketin
g-Terms-Marketers-Must-Know.aspx
● This will be things like Click-Through Rate (CTR), Bounce Rate, Open Rate etc.

Analyze individual email performance.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/tracking/reports/single_email
_performance_by_device_report/
● The Single Email Performance by Device report allows you to view email performance on
mobile devices versus desktop devices. Available metrics include number of opens, unique
opens, and clicks by device.

Given a scenario, describe the reporting functionality and capabilities.

● https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/tracking/reports/
● You run a report from the Tracking tab in your user interface.
● You can run reports asynchronously, meaning that you can continue working while the
report runs off-screen.
● Reports that you run asynchronously are delivered to your email inbox or FTP server. For
some reports, you can also choose to run the report inline and have the results appear on
your screen.
● You can use the Report Status and History screen to view a list of reports that have been
requested in your account
● If you use the interactions feature, you can run a report as an activity
● When you run a report, you specify the following information:
○ Report Parameters
○ Report Results Delivery
○ Results File Format
○ Run the Report
● Report file formats:
○ Data File (.csv)
○ Excel spreadsheet (.xls)
○ TIFF Image (.tif)
○ Adobe (.pdf)

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○ XML (.xml)
○ Web Archive (.mht)
● Reports can be delivered to:
○ FTP Folder
○ Email the Report results
○ Display Report Results On Screen
● Relative date ranges are defined as follows:
○ The last full Week
○ The last full Month
○ The last full Quarter
○ The last full Day

● Read the Why Use Reports from the link above

External Email Integrations 1%

Identify where to find information or help on APIs and the Marketing Cloud Connector.

● API - developer.salesforce.com
● Marketing Cloud Connector -
https://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/integrated_products__crm_and_web_an
alytic_solutions/marketing_cloud_connector_v5/

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