In the case of an ecommerce business, a sendable Data Extension would likely be ‘Customer profile’, while ‘Billing information’ and ‘Shipping details’ may be marked as non-sendable but used to display purchase and shipping information within a confirmation email.
be stored separately, is rules around data retention. Each Data Extension has its own data retention policy, allowing you to select a specified duration for storing the data. Not only does this help with compliance but it also helps ensure that your data is automatically kept up to date and clean.
Beyond sendable/non-sendable, there are three sub-types of Data Extension:
Standard - created from scratch using the custom fields and data types you choose.
Filtered - as the name suggests, a filtered Data Extension cambodia phone code is created using rules i.e. all customers in a particular country based on the ‘Country’ field of the Standard (source) Data Extension.
Random - same as the above but rather than specifying rules, records are selected at random from the Standard (source) Data Extension.
The beauty of having these different types of Data Extensions is that you can set them up in whichever way best suits your business and marketing needs.
Where to begin with creating Data Extensions
Hopefully, at this stage, you better understand what Data Extensions in Marketing Cloud are, but this doesn’t mean you’re ready to skip over to your account and start setting them up. Data Extensions are hugely flexible but this also means they require careful planning before implementation.
As a first step, I recommend downloading our more detailed guide to Data Extensions because it covers things like where to manage your Data Extensions, how to create them correctly, and understanding data relationships.
Once you’re feeling confident in your grasp of Data Extensions, create a documented data model plan before you do anything else. This not only helps you get the model clear in your mind it also ensures there’s a written record of your data structure in the event you hand over or share management of Marketing Cloud with colleagues.
Of course, if at any point you’d like expert support from Marketing Cloud specialists, we’re here to help. We have flexible database and support services that can be tailored to your requirements. Simply send us a message and one of our team will be in touch.
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Tom Ryan
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