MCE-Dev-201 Salesforce Certified Marketing Cloud Engagement Developer Questions and Answers

When batch deleting large volumes of contacts, it is important to consider the following factors:

Batch Deletion Limits: Up to one million records can be deleted in each batch. This helps manage and control the deletion process without overwhelming the system.

Suppression Status Visibility: The suppression status does not show for individual contacts until the entire batch processes. This means that you will not see the status updates for individual contacts until the deletion batch is fully processed.

Salesforce Contact Deletion Process

To ensure a blank email will not be sent when creating a complex dynamic email with multiple sections and content blocks, the developer should confirm every version has default content (D). This practice ensures that if any dynamic content fails to load or meet the conditions, the default content will be displayed, preventing a blank email from being sent.

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 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.

The Event Notification Service (ENS) in Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides real-time event notifications, such as email opens and clicks. Using ENS, Northern Trail Outfitters can trigger follow-up messages based on real-time engagement data.

Salesforce Event Notification Service

To track the performance of dynamically created content via AMPscript in an email, the following steps should be performed:

Request the Impression Tracking feature be enabled on the account: This feature must be enabled to track impressions of dynamic content.

Include the functions BeginImpressionRegion and EndImpressionRegion: These functions are used within the AMPscript code to mark the beginning and end of the content region that needs to be tracked.

Example:

ampscript

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%%[BeginImpressionRegion('DynamicContent')]%%

%%=v(@DynamicContent)=%%

Salesforce AMPscript Functions for Tracking

To aggregate monthly energy usage data stored in variables for each month, you should use the ADD function in AMPscript to sum up the values. The ADD function can be nested to handle multiple values.

AMPscript Example:

%%[ SET @total = ADD(@jan, ADD(@feb, ADD(@mar, @apr))) ]%%

Salesforce AMPscript Functions - ADD

Data extension functions in AMPscript, such as LookupRows, LookupOrderedRows, and UpdateDE, can most negatively impact send processing because they involve querying and manipulating data extensions. These operations can be resource-intensive and time-consuming, especially when dealing with large data sets.

Salesforce AMPscript Functions

To programmatically inject Contacts into a journey via the REST API, the recommended route is /interaction/v1/events. This endpoint allows you to trigger an event which can be configured to start a journey for the specified contacts.

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

To optimize a SQL Query Activity in Automation Studio that is experiencing timeouts, the developer should use intermediate tables to break queries into smaller parts (B). This approach helps in managing complex queries by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable steps, thus reducing the likelihood of timeouts.

When using the REST API to send emails to customers after a purchase, the developer should make a token API call and re-use the token until the token expires (D). This approach optimizes API usage by reducing the number of token requests, ensuring that the token is reused until it naturally expires, after which a new token can be requested.

The error stating that the application cannot insert a duplicate value for the primary key in the data extension occurs because the InsertDE function cannot be used at send time. The InsertDE function is designed to insert records into a data extension, but it cannot handle the transactional nature of email sends where records might be added simultaneously.

To retrieve multiple records associated with a particular customer from the OrderDetails data extension, the LookupRows and LookupOrderedRows functions are suitable. These functions return a rowset containing the records that match the specified criteria.

LookupRows: Retrieves a rowset of records based on specified criteria.

Example:

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SET @rows = LookupRows('OrderDetails', 'CustomerID', @customerID)

LookupOrderedRows: Retrieves a rowset of records based on specified criteria and allows for sorting.

Example:

SET @rows = LookupOrderedRows('OrderDetails', 0, 'OrderDate DESC', 'CustomerID', @customerID)

Salesforce AMPscript LookupRows

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.

When logging unsubscribe events from a CloudPage using the LogUnsubEvent Execute Call, it's crucial to capture and provide both the SubscriberKey and the JobID. The SubscriberKey uniquely identifies the subscriber, while the JobID identifies the specific email job from which the subscriber is unsubscribing.

SubscriberKey: Identifies the subscriber in the Marketing Cloud.

JobID: Identifies the email job that triggered the unsubscribe event.

Salesforce LogUnsubEvent Documentation

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

To successfully create a TriggeredSend object using AMPscript's API functions to send a confirmation email when an email is texted into their shortcode, the following objects are required:

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

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

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

To convert a string payload in JSON format to a JavaScript object on a CloudPage, the developer should use the ParseJSON (B) function in Marketing Cloud Server-Side JavaScript (SSJS). This function parses a JSON string and returns a corresponding JavaScript object.

Example:

var jsonString = '{"key1":"value1", "key2":"value2"}'; var jsonObject = Platform.Function.ParseJSON(jsonString);

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

The Describe method in the SOAP API provides metadata about the objects available in the system, including Profile and Preference Attributes. This method can be used to dynamically retrieve and display these attributes in a custom profile center.

Describe Method: This method returns the schema of the objects, including fields and their properties, which can be used to dynamically generate forms and interfaces.

Salesforce SOAP API Describe Method

When the subjectLine variable is declared in multiple locations throughout the email, the value used at the time of deployment will be the last value assigned to the variable. In the provided declarations, the last assignment is:

%%[ SET @subjectLine = 'Enjoy 20% off today' ]%% was declared within the Subject Line

Therefore, the subject line used at the time of deployment will be "Enjoy 20% off today" (C).

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.

A 401 Unauthorized HTTP status message indicates that the request was not authenticated properly. This error commonly occurs when the access token is missing, invalid, or expired.

Access Token Issues: The most common cause of a 401 error in REST API requests is related to the access token. The request must include a valid access token in the authorization header.

Example Authorization Header: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN

Salesforce API Access Tokens

To transform the date and time 'Data_Enrolled' from Daylight Savings time and fall back one hour, the developer should use the following AMPscript function:

%%=DateAdd(Data_Enrolled, -1, 'H')=%%

This function subtracts one hour from the 'Data_Enrolled' date and time.

To control the rendering of unique and default content based on the presence of subscriber data in a related data extension, the best practice is to use the RowCount function and an IF statement:

%%[ VAR @rowCount SET @rowCount = RowCount(LookupRows("RelatedDataExtension", "SubscriberKey", _subscriberKey)) IF @rowCount > 0 THEN /* Render unique content */ ELSE /* Render default content */ ENDIF ]%%

This approach checks if there are any rows in the related data extension for the subscriber and conditionally renders the appropriate content.

When importing data files to Marketing Cloud, the supported file encryption options are:

PGP encryption (A) - Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption is supported for securing files.

AES encryption (D) - Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption is also supported for file security.

To automate the process of importing encrypted files from an external CRM, the following actions should be included:

File drop to the SFTP Import directory: Place the encrypted files in the SFTP Import directory to trigger the automation.

File transfer activity to the Safehouse for decryption: Move the encrypted files to the Safehouse for decryption, ensuring the data is securely handled.

Import definition to the necessary data extension: After decryption, import the data into the relevant Data Extension for use in marketing sends.

Salesforce File Drop Automations

Salesforce File Transfer Activity

Salesforce Import Activity

To configure a data extension to store data for six months, you should update the data extension configuration to include data retention settings.

Data Retention Settings: You can configure data retention directly within the data extension settings in Email Studio to specify how long data should be retained. This ensures that data older than the specified period is automatically deleted.

Go to Email Studio -> Subscribers -> Data Extensions.

Select the data extension you want to configure.

Click on "Properties".

Under "Data Retention", set the retention period to six months and define the retention settings accordingly.

Salesforce Data Extension Retention Settings

A Contact can be reintroduced into the system only after the deletion is fully complete. The Contact Delete process in Salesforce Marketing Cloud is designed to ensure that all references and data associated with the contact are thoroughly removed. Reintroducing the contact before the process is fully complete would disrupt this cleanup process and potentially lead to data integrity issues.

To accurately identify subscribers who have unsubscribed from any of the child business units in an Enterprise 2.0 account, it is necessary to create data extracts of all subscribers within each child business unit. This approach ensures that unsubscribes specific to each business unit are captured.

Data Extracts: By creating data extracts within each child business unit, you can gather comprehensive unsubscribe data for all subscribers specific to each unit.

Salesforce Enterprise 2.0 Account Management

A Query Activity in an Automation can fail for several reasons, including:

The query takes more than 60 minutes to run (A) - Long-running queries are subject to timeouts, which can cause the query to fail.

The query results in duplicate rows not allowed by the primary key (C) - If the query attempts to insert duplicate rows into a data extension that has a primary key constraint, it will fail.

The query is inserting a value that is larger than the size of a field (E) - If the query attempts to insert data that exceeds the field size limits, it will result in an error.

To validate that a parent-level data extension can be accessed by a child business unit, the developer should ensure that the data extension is in the Shared Data Extensions folder and the query includes the ENT. prefix (A). This setup allows shared data extensions to be accessible across different business units.

The Sent data view contains records of all emails that have been sent, including details such as JobID, EventDate, and other relevant information. To gather the required information about emails deployed in the last seven days, the Sent data view should be used.

Query Example:

SELECT JobID, EventDate, COUNT(*) as SentCount FROM _Sent WHERE EventDate >= DATEADD(day, -7, GETDATE()) GROUP BY JobID, EventDate

Salesforce Data Views

The first step in using the Transactional Messaging API to send emails is to authenticate and obtain an access token. This is done by making a POST request to the /v2/authorize endpoint with the client credentials.

Salesforce Transactional Messaging API Authentication

To collect a representative sample from a larger data set, the developer should use the NTILE (C) SQL function. The NTILE function is used to distribute rows into a specified number of approximately equal-sized buckets or tiles, which can be useful for sampling purposes.

Example usage:

SELECT * FROM ( SELECT *, NTILE(10) OVER (ORDER BY SomeField) AS TileNumber FROM LargeDataSet ) AS Sample WHERE TileNumber = 1

This query divides the dataset into 10 tiles and selects rows from the first tile, effectively providing a sample.

The "Overwrite" import operation is used when you want to completely replace the contents of a Data Extension with the contents of the import file. This operation adds new records from the file and removes any records that are not present in the file.

Overwrite Operation: This will ensure that the Data Extension contains only the records present in the CSV file. Any existing records in the Data Extension that are not in the file will be deleted.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Import Activity

To ensure the MobileConnect Contact is tied to the Email Contact when making a QueueMO call for an existing email subscriber, the parameter to include is emailaddress. This ensures that the MobileConnect Contact is correctly linked to the existing Email Contact.

To reference subscriber, system, and sendable Data Extension attributes for content personalization using SSJS, the correct syntax is . This tag allows you to dynamically insert the value of an attribute into the email content.

Tag: This tag is used to insert the value of an attribute from a Data Extension or subscriber attribute into the content. The name attribute of the tag specifies which attribute's value should be used.

%%[ var @firstName set @firstName = AttributeValue("FirstName") ]%% Hello, !

Salesforce SSJS Guide

This syntax ensures that the correct personalization attributes are pulled into the email, enabling dynamic and personalized content based on subscriber data.

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.

To ensure the security of Client ID and Client Secret credentials, they should be stored securely and not exposed in the application source code or URL parameters.

Environment Variables: Setting credentials as environment variables in the application platform is a secure way to handle sensitive information. This method ensures that the credentials are not hardcoded in the source code and can be managed securely by the application platform.

Environment Variables

Key Management System (KMS): Storing credentials in a key management system (KMS) provides an additional layer of security. KMS solutions are designed to securely store and manage sensitive information such as API keys, passwords, and other credentials.

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

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

In Salesforce Marketing Cloud, you can use either AMPscript or Server-Side JavaScript (SSJS) in email messages. Both languages are supported and can be used to manipulate data, create dynamic content, and perform other server-side operations.

Salesforce Programming Languages in Emails

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

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.

To trigger an email send in Marketing Cloud when a purchase is made on a website, you can use either the REST API or the SOAP API. Both APIs provide methods to send triggered emails.

REST API: The REST API can be used to trigger emails by making a call to the /messaging/v1/messageDefinitionSends/{key}/send endpoint.

SOAP API: The SOAP API can also be used to trigger sends by utilizing the TriggeredSend object.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API

Salesforce Marketing Cloud SOAP API

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 optimize the performance when retrieving a large number of rows from a Data Extension via the API:

Use a SimpleFilterPart to retrieve small sets of relevant data (A) - This approach helps in fetching only the necessary data by applying filters, thus reducing the amount of data transferred and processed.

Use the ContinueRequest feature (C) - This feature in the SOAP API allows for pagination of results, making it possible to handle large sets of data in manageable chunks.

Switching to Tenant Specific Endpoints (TSEs) provides the benefit of improved API performance (D). Tenant Specific Endpoints are designed to provide optimized performance by ensuring that API calls are routed through endpoints that are dedicated to a specific tenant, reducing latency and potential congestion issues associated with shared endpoints.

To set a variable to use a field from a Sendable Data Extension in an AMPscript block, the following options can be used:

SET @firstName = %%First Name%% (B) - This syntax directly references the field value within AMPscript.

SET @firstName = AttributeValue('First Name') (C) - This function retrieves the value of the specified attribute (field) for the current subscriber context.