Data Extensions

What is a Data Extension?

Think of a Data Extension (DE) as a spreadsheet with a list of email addresses. This spreadsheet will live in Marketing Cloud and will be used as an email send list. An email can be sent to this list in addition to, or instead of, a campaign or report list.

DEs are used for send lists that cannot be gathered in PACE - This may be because you are targeting a specialty group, or using info relevant to the group that is not available in PACE. 

Level up!
DEs can also be used to customize info for each recipient in the email (e.g., A First Name greeting, a unique url per person, a promo code, etc).
If you would like training on using a DE for email customization, please contact your Marketing Cloud Admin ([email protected])

1. Create A Send List in Microsoft Excel

Add Emails to your Excel worksheet

  1. In a Microsoft Excel worksheet, label the first column "Email Address"
  2. Collect email address and add them to the first column, under the "Email Address" label


Clean Your email List

  1. Ensure NO recipients in this list have Opted-out of UDAR communications
  2. Confirm all emails are properly formatted. Salesforce will NOT import email addresses with any of the issues listed below, which can result in undelivered email:
  • Delete extra spaces at the beginning or end of the email address (this is often hidden if you did a copy/paste into Excel)
  • Check for misspellings (.co instead of .com, @ucff.edu instead of @ucsf.edu, etc.) 
  • Check for extra punctuation ([email protected], @ucsf..edu, etc.)
  • Remove duplicates

Save Your Spreadsheet

Save your Excel worksheet as a Tab Delimited Text file (.txt) or a .csv file

2. Create a Data Extension in Marketing Cloud

  1. From the Marketing cloud main menu, select EMAL STUDIO > EMAIL
  2. Go to tab [SUBSCRIBERS]
  3. Dropdown to Data Extensions
  4. Select [Create] (button in top right).
  • The system will walk you through the setup at this point.Select: Standard Data Extension
  • The system will walk you through the setup at this point.
  • Select [OK] button at bottom right

3. Define DE Properties

  • Input a NAME you will use for this DE
  • EXTERNAL KEY WILL AUTO POPULATE
  • DESCRIPTION: Optional - input a description for your own benefit
  • Check Box > Is Sendable? YES
  • Check Box > Is testable? YES
  • [NEXT →] button at bottom right

4. Define Data Retention Policy

  • NO changes needed to this section. This is automatically set to the correct retention policy. 
  • [NEXT →] button at bottom right

Name and create Field Names that match your spreadsheet documents

  • Email Address - Data type = EmailAddress ; Length = 254
    1. Check box for PRIMARY KEY
  • Send Relationship = "EMAIL" relates to Subscribers on "Subscriber Key"
  • [Create →] button at bottom right

5. Upload your list to Marketing Cloud

Locate your Data Extension in MC 

  1. From the Marketing cloud main menu, select EMAL STUDIO > EMAIL
  2. Go to tab [SUBSCRIBERS] tab
  3. Dropdown to Data Extensions
  4. Locate your Data Extension > Click the DE name to open it


Upload your Email List to the DE Records

In the Data Extension select the [Records] tab
Click the [Import] button (top left)

  1. Click the [Browse...] button > Locate the file on your computer

  2. In Delimiter, select the file type.

  • Select Comma for a .csv
  • Select Tab for a .txt (Tab delimited)
  • Import type = Add and Update

             3. [NEXT →] button at bottom right
 

   3. Configure Mapping document column labels to DE column labels

  1. If the rows don't automatically map correctly, MAP MANUALLY, and select the correct labels to match the header labels in your csv/txt document
  2. [NEXT →] button at bottom right
     

    4. Review and Import

  1. Review the info for your import. 
  2. [IMPORT] button at bottom right

     5. You will receive an email when the import is finished.