MCE-Dev-201 Questions and Answers

AMPscript is evaluated in the following order before an email is sent:

Subject Line: Evaluates AMPscript in the subject line first.

HTML Body: Evaluates AMPscript within the HTML body of the email.

Text Body: Evaluates AMPscript within the text body of the email.

This order ensures that any dynamic content or personalization logic is correctly applied in all parts of the email.

Salesforce AMPscript Evaluation Order

When a send is initiated directly to a Sendable Data Extension that includes records targeted for deletion, the following behaviors are expected:

Records still in the suppression phase will be excluded from sends (B) - These records are in the process of being deleted and will not be included in the send.

Records that have been deleted will be excluded from sends indefinitely (D) - Once records are deleted, they are permanently excluded from future sends.

To successfully create a TriggerSend object using AMPscript's API functions, the following objects are required:

TriggerSendDefinition (B) - Defines the parameters of the triggered send, including the email to be sent and the associated attributes.

Subscribers (D) - Represents the individual recipients who will receive the email.

These objects ensure that the correct email is sent to the specified subscribers when the TriggerSend is executed.

To remove contacts mistakenly synced from the User_Salesforce object, the recommended approach is to put the synced records into a sendable data extension and use Contact Delete (C). This method allows for the systematic deletion of these contacts from the All Contacts table without affecting other data.

Before importing a compressed file into Marketing Cloud, a File Transfer activity is required to move and decompress the file. The File Transfer activity allows you to specify the source and destination locations and to decompress the file, making it ready for the import process.

Salesforce File Transfer Activity

Exclusion Scripts are used to exclude subscribers from email sends based on specific criteria. This functionality can be applied in various sending scenarios within Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Journey Builder Send Email Activity: In Journey Builder, exclusion scripts can be applied to Email Activities to ensure specific subscribers are excluded based on the business rules.

Salesforce Journey Builder Email Activity

Content Builder Send Flow: When sending emails through Content Builder, exclusion scripts can be used to filter out subscribers who meet the exclusion criteria.

The LookupRows function retrieves rows from a data extension where specified criteria are met. In an Enterprise 2.0 account, the data extension name in shared data extensions should be prefixed with 'Ent.' to indicate it is in the shared space.

Example:

SET @rows = LookupRows('Ent. Inventory', 'InStock', 'true')

Salesforce AMPscript LookupRows Function

For a data extension to be selected for journey entry in Journey Builder, it must be configured for sending. This configuration ensures that the data extension is recognized as a source for sending communications.

Configure for Sending: When creating or editing a data extension, ensure that it is set as "Sendable." This involves specifying the appropriate fields for sending, such as Subscriber Key and Email Address.

Salesforce Journey Builder Data Extension Configuration

The RedirectTo AMPscript function prevents link href values from getting recorded in tracking (C). When RedirectTo is used, it bypasses the standard link wrapping and tracking process, causing the link click not to be captured in the tracking data.

Regarding Populations in Contact Builder:

Populations need to be added to an Attribute Group (B) - This is necessary to define the relationship between the population and the associated data extensions and attributes.

No more than three Populations should be created (C) - Creating more than three populations can lead to performance issues and complexity in managing contacts.

To select a subset of records that contain a phone number, the field that ensures the phone number is valid and non-blank should be used.

ValidPhone Field: The ValidPhone field is a formula field that evaluates to 'true' if the phone number is valid. This ensures that only records with a valid phone number are included in the synchronization.

Salesforce Data Synchronization

Automation Studio provides tools for extracting tracking data from the Marketing Cloud. This can be done using the Data Extract Activity, which allows you to extract various types of tracking data such as email send, open, and click information.

Salesforce Automation Studio Data Extract Activity

After using the messageDefinitionSends REST API endpoint to send a triggered send email, and receiving a 202 (success) response code, the developer can validate if the email was successfully sent by using the messageDefinitionSend/key:(key)/deliveryRecords REST endpoint with the GET method. This endpoint provides delivery records and allows verification of the email's delivery status.

When preparing data to be used in Contact Builder, the following factors should be taken into consideration:

Assigning data relationships and primary keys across all channels (A) - This ensures that data is linked properly and can be utilized across different marketing channels.

Verifying data address marketing needs (B) - Ensuring that the data aligns with the marketing goals and requirements.

Normalizing data to reduce redundancy (E) - Organizing the data to eliminate duplicate entries and improve efficiency.

In AMPscript, the valid syntax for comments is /* comment */. This allows you to add comments within your AMPscript code for documentation or clarification purposes.

Salesforce AMPscript Syntax Guide

When using the REST Authorization Service to obtain an OAuth access token, the standard method to include this token in subsequent API requests is by adding it to the Authorization header with the Bearer scheme.

Correct Method: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN

This format is a standard practice for OAuth 2.0 token usage.

Salesforce Authentication and Access Tokens

In an Enterprise 2.0 account, when querying shared data extensions from a child business unit, the data extension name should be prefixed with 'ENT.' to indicate it resides in the shared data extensions folder.

Correct Query:

SELECT * FROM ENT.MemberData WHERE State = 'NY' AND US = 1

Salesforce Shared Data Extensions

To optimize the performance when retrieving a large number of rows from a data extension via the API, the following solutions can be used:

Use the REST API instead of the SOAP API (A) - The REST API generally offers better performance for data retrieval operations compared to the SOAP API.

Use the ContinueRequest feature (C) - This feature allows for the pagination of results, enabling the retrieval of large datasets in manageable chunks.

To create a Call-To-Action (CTA) link in an email that will display personal information about the subscriber on a landing page, the developer should use the AMPscript CloudPagesURL function (A). This function generates a URL for a CloudPage and can include parameters such as SubscriberKey or EmailAddress, which will be passed to the landing page securely.

Example usage:

rectTo(@url)=%%">View Your Information

This ensures that the SubscriberKey is securely passed to the CloudPage without exposing it directly in the URL.

To add new customers to a cross-channel welcome campaign when they register on the company website, the Journey Builder API (D) should be used. This API allows you to programmatically inject contacts into a journey, triggering personalized marketing interactions across multiple channels.

To avoid data loss and ensure reliable data transfer to Marketing Cloud data extensions, follow these best practices:

Handle 'Not Authorized' Errors: If a 'Not Authorized' error occurs, it is likely due to an expired or invalid access token. Request a new access token and retry the API call.

Retry on Server Errors: If a server error occurs, it might be a temporary issue. Ensure the server is available and retry the call.

Token Expiry Management: Store the expiry time of the access token and request a new one before the old token expires to prevent authorization issues.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud API Best Practices

The AMPscript function that returns the number of rows in a specified data extension is DataExtensionRowCount (B). This function provides the count of rows within a data extension, which can be used to dictate what is displayed on a landing page.

Example usage:

SET @rowCount = DataExtensionRowCount("MyDataExtension")

To inject contacts into a journey using the REST API, the correct endpoints involve the event definitions and events.

POST /eventDefinitions/key:{key} or /eventDefinitions/{id}: This endpoint allows you to interact with event definitions by key or ID, which is essential for managing journey events.

POST /interaction/v1/events: This endpoint is used to inject events into the journey, thus adding contacts to the journey based on the defined event.

Salesforce Journey Builder API

A developer should request a new token once an hour when making multiple API calls in v1. Salesforce Marketing Cloud access tokens are typically valid for one hour, and refreshing them every hour ensures that the API calls are authenticated.

The outdated subject line variable could be located in the HTML body which is processed after the subject line (D). This is because AMPscript variables declared in the HTML body can affect the overall email content, including the subject line, and if not updated, they can cause discrepancies in the displayed subject line.

The best Data Type to use for the Purchase_Price column, which includes values ranging from '$.05' to '$100', is Decimal(9,2) (C). This data type ensures that values are stored accurately without data loss, allowing for precision up to two decimal places.

Using the RaiseError AMPscript function allows a developer to handle errors when necessary data for building an email is missing. The possible outcomes of using this function include:

The send fails (A) - The entire email send can be stopped if a critical error is encountered.

The email is not sent to the particular subscriber (B) - The send can be aborted for specific subscribers who do not have the necessary data.

In Marketing Cloud, the Contact Key should be represented as a Text data type, even if it is a numeric value. This is because using the Text data type avoids issues related to numeric value formatting and allows for greater flexibility in handling the values.

Salesforce Contact Builder Best Practices

To retrieve daily JSON data from a customer's API and write it to a data extension, the developer should use the following set of Server-Side JavaScript activities:

Platform.Function.HTTPGet(); - To make the HTTP GET request to the customer's API and retrieve the JSON data.

Platform.Function.ParseJSON(); - To parse the retrieved JSON data.

Platform.Function.UpsertData(); - To upsert the parsed data into a data extension.

Example code snippet:

var response = Platform.Function.HTTPGet("https://api.customer.com/data "); var jsonData = Platform.Function.ParseJSON(response); Platform.Function.UpsertData("DataExtensionName", ["PrimaryKeyField"], jsonData);

The Contact Delete feature can be used within an Enterprise 2.0 account from the Parent account (B). This ensures centralized management and compliance with organizational data governance policies.

The Contact Delete process in Marketing Cloud removes contact data from the contact model but does not remove records from the data extensions themselves.

Contact Delete Process: When you perform a Contact Delete in Contact Builder, it removes the contact data from the contact model but leaves the actual rows in the data extensions intact.

Salesforce Contact Deletion Process

To analyze the Send, Click, and Open Data Views and transfer the data to the SFTP, the developer should build the following activities:

Query Activity - To query and gather the data from the Send, Click, and Open Data Views.

Data Extension Extract - To extract the queried data from the data extension and prepare it for transfer to the SFTP.

Synchronous REST API calls to Marketing Cloud have different timeout limits based on the type of operation:

300 seconds for tracking and data retrieve operations: These operations involve more extensive data processing, hence the higher timeout limit.

120 seconds for non-tracking operations: Standard non-tracking API calls have a shorter timeout limit.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud API Timeout Limits

To determine the best identifier for subscribers across all channels, Contact Key (A) should be recommended. The Contact Key is a unique identifier that can be used consistently across all channels, ensuring a unified view of the subscriber's interactions and data.

When configuring an automation to import files placed on the SFTP, and starting the automation based on a file matching a specific naming pattern, the substitution string that represents the name of the file is %%TRIGGER_FILENAME%%. This substitution string is used to reference the filename of the triggering file in the File Import Activity.

To securely pass parameters between CloudPages without exposing them, use the CloudPagesURL function within a form action. This method encodes the parameters and securely posts them to the target CloudPage.

CloudPagesURL: Encodes and includes parameters securely.

Form Method: Using the post method ensures parameters are sent in the request body, adding another layer of security.

Salesforce CloudPagesURL Function

The HTTPGet2 and HTTPPost2 functions in AMPscript allow you to include additional headers, such as an OAuth token, in your HTTP requests. These functions provide more flexibility for specifying custom headers compared to the standard HTTPGet and HTTPPost functions.

Example:

SET @header = 'Authorization: Bearer your_oauth_token' SET @response = HTTPPost2("https://example.com/api ", @header, "data=example")

Salesforce AMPscript HTTP Functions

To create a query that aggregates clicks grouped by the language of the recipient, the developer needs to use Data Views that store subscriber and click information. The required Data Views are:

_Subscribers (A) - This Data View contains information about subscribers, including their profile attributes such as language.

_Click (D) - This Data View contains information about click events for email messages, which can be used to aggregate clicks.

The query would join these Data Views on a common identifier (e.g., SubscriberKey) and group the results by the language attribute.

The tracking data views in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, such as _Sent, _Open, and _Click, store data for a limited period.

Data Retention Period: Salesforce Marketing Cloud retains tracking data for up to six months in the data views. This means that developers can query up to six months of tracking data using these views.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Data Views

The "View Email As Web Page" (VAWP) link relies on the original email content being available. If the email used at the time of send was deleted, updated, or moved, the link will not be able to retrieve and display the content, resulting in the error message.

Salesforce VAWP Documentation

To manage the data model programmatically and access the Attribute Group schema, the REST API should be used. The REST API provides endpoints to interact with and retrieve information about Attribute Groups and their schemas.

Salesforce REST API

To ensure that contacts relate across different channels in Marketing Cloud, you need to link the unique identifier used across channels to the Contact ID in Contact Builder. This involves creating Attribute Groups and establishing the relationships between the unique identifier and the Contact ID.

Link the Numeric Field Value: By linking the numeric unique identifier to the Contact ID in Attribute Groups, you ensure that each contact is uniquely identified across channels.

Create Attribute Groups: Attribute Groups in Contact Builder allow you to map the relationships between different data sources and the Contact object, ensuring that the unique identifier is connected correctly for each channel.

Salesforce Contact Builder Documentation

Before using the 'contacts/' route of the REST API to update records in a data extension, the developer should verify that the data extension should be linked in an AttributeGroup in Contact Builder (D). This ensures that the data extension is part of the contact model and can be accessed and updated using the REST API.

The error message "Cannot Perform 'Post' on objects of type 'SentEvent'" indicates that the SentEvent object is not updatable via the SOAP API. The SentEvent object is typically read-only and is used for tracking purposes.

Read-Only Object: The SentEvent object is used to log events and is not designed to be modified via API calls. This is why attempts to perform POST operations on it will result in an error.

Salesforce SOAP API Error Codes

To get a list of subscribers who were sent an email within the past 12 months, you should query the Job and Sent data views. These data views contain detailed information about email sends and can be used to filter subscribers based on the send date.

SQL Query Example:

SELECT s.SubscriberKey FROM _Sent s JOIN _Job j ON s.JobID = j.JobID WHERE j.SendDate >= DATEADD(month, -12, GETDATE())

Salesforce Data Views

To populate a data extension with the date of the most recent click for each subscriber, the developer should use the following SQL query:

SELECT c.SubscriberKey, MAX(c.eventDate) AS eventDate FROM _Click c GROUP BY c.SubscriberKey

This query selects the SubscriberKey and the maximum eventDate for each subscriber from the _Click Data View, ensuring that the most recent click date is retrieved.

To ensure that clicks are tracked for a dynamic link created using AMPscript, the developer should wrap the link variable in a RedirectTo function and include an alias attribute for tracking purposes.

RedirectTo Function: This function helps ensure that the link click is properly tracked by Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC). The function takes a URL and ensures that tracking parameters are appended correctly.

%%[ SET @dynamicLink = "http://example.com/?id= " + AttributeValue("SubscriberID") ]%% Click Here

Salesforce AMPscript Functions - RedirectTo

Alias Attribute: Including an alias attribute provides a way to label the link, which assists in tracking and reporting.

Click Here

The Output function in AMPscript is used to include the result of interpreted code within a code block in the rendered content. This function ensures that the evaluated result of the code is included directly where the Output function is called.

Example:

ampscript

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%%[ SET @message = "Hello, World!" ]%% %%=Output(@message)=%%

Salesforce AMPscript Output Function

When configuring an API integration component in an Installed Package, it is best practice to select the minimum required scope for the integration. This approach ensures that the integration has only the necessary permissions, enhancing security by limiting access to only what is required.

Minimum Required Scope: Selecting only the scopes that are necessary for the integration helps maintain a secure and controlled environment.

Salesforce API Integration Best Practices

When creating a Server-to-Server Installed Package and associated API Integration in Marketing Cloud, it is essential to grant specific scopes (permissions) to the API Integration component. This ensures that the integration has the necessary access to perform its tasks without granting unnecessary permissions.

Salesforce Installed Packages and API Integrations

To implement a custom profile center using SOAP API, the relevant SOAP API methods are:

Describe (B) - This method is used to retrieve metadata about objects, such as their fields and properties. It is useful for understanding the structure of the data you are working with.

Update (C) - This method is used to update existing records in Marketing Cloud. It is essential for modifying subscriber data in the custom profile center.

To configure a File Drop Automation with a filename pattern that allows for timestamps and starts with the month and day, the developer should use:

Begins With operator (D) - This ensures that the automation triggers when the file name begins with the specified pattern.

%%Month%%%%Day%% (C) - This is the correct syntax to match the month and day in the file name. For example, if the file name is "MAY15", the pattern will be %%MMMM%%dd.

In AMPscript, comments can be added within a code block using the /* comment */ syntax. This allows developers to include notes or explanations without affecting the execution of the script.

Example:

ampscript

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%%[ /* This is a comment */ SET @var = "value" ]%%

Salesforce AMPscript Syntax Guide