Before you go setting anything up in your account, there are a handful of expert tips you must know about Salesforce Data Extensions, or else risk facing headaches later down the road.
These tips come from our team of experienced marketers and data scientists; people who work in Marketing Cloud Engagement (and other Salesforce platforms) day in day out.
Follow them, and you can rest assured that the work you do now will better serve your business and marketing needs for months to come, avoiding any hassle of restructuring your entire data model or tackling technical issues during segmentation.
Download the ‘Beginner’s Guide to Data Extensions’ for more detailed instructions on creating and managing your Data Extensions.
Without further ado, here they are…
Tips for Salesforce Data Extensions
1. Map out your data plans before building anything
As you’ve probably discovered, Data Extensions can be quite confusing so it’s important to have clarity on how you intend to create, link, and use these. This isn’t just for your benefit though. It also helps ensure a separate record of your data model so that others coming into the business or sharing account management understand it too.
2. Remember that Data Extensions are not Lists
Lists are best for smaller databases and one-to-one buy telemarketing lists subscriber models, where the data collected is fairly straightforward and unlikely to change often. Data Extensions are highly flexible and ideal for large and one-to-many situations, where you are collecting a variety of data points that may change frequently. They shouldn’t be treated the same.
3. Only create the Data Extensions you need
It seems self-explanatory but you wouldn’t believe the number of accounts we see containing Data Extensions with no real purpose. Before you create Filtered Data Extensions, consider whether you need these, or whether a Standard ‘source’ Data Extension combined with dynamic content could allow you to tailor marketing campaigns without creating dozens of Data Extensions. The more you create, the more you need to manage!
4. Don’t underestimate the importance of data management
Talking of data management, modules such as Journey Builder rely on Data Extensions and issues in your setup can restrict what’s possible. Don’t hamstring yourself by letting your data go stale or failing to properly plan your data model in the first place. It’s worth noting that the larger your database, the more likely you’ll incur unnecessary storage costs, so remember to de-dupe and avoid database bloat.
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