If I am creating a master sendable Data Extension to hold all of our email subscribers, and our account uses a person's email address as their Subscriber Key, does my data extension need to contain both Email Address and Subscriber Key columns? If so, does Email Address need to be the "Email Address" data type and the Subscriber Key the "text" data type? Finally, which column needs to be the "primary key" to relate to my All Subscribers list in order for unsubscribes to be processed correctly? Thank you.
[SalesForce] Email Address as Subscriber Key in Data Extensions – Data Types and Primary Key
Related Solutions
We had to create an automation to do this as contacts injected into a journey have to be added to all subs first.
The automation runs a query that pulls all contacts we want to add from various DEs and overwrites our "AddToAllSubs" DE every hour. It just contains Email, SubscriberKey, Status, but you can import whatever fields you have setup on your subscriber profile.
The automation then runs "Data Extract", "Transfer File", and "Import File" activities to create a csv, move it to the import folder of the ftp, and Import it to the All Subscribers List.
It's a little hacky, but it's been working for us.
Yes this is frustrating but "expected behavior".
It's not unique to importing Salesforce records either. If you have a Sendable Data Extension and complete a Guided Send Email, then repeat this again at a later date with updated email addresses in the in the Sendable DE, the emails will be sent to the previous Subscriber. The email address in the Sendable DE is only used when the Subscriber Record is initially created.
Salesforce assume all subscribers are using the built-in profile centre to update their email address. But this is often not the case.
The solution isn't great, but its really the only way around this. You will need to create a Scheduled Automation in Automation Studio that runs at a regular interval (e.g. daily) and performs the following tasks:
- SQL Query Activity to identify updated email addresses from your Salesforce DE
- Export Target DE from Query Activity to Enhanced FTP Account using File Transfer Activity
- Import the file exported in step 2 to the All Subscribers list using Import File Activity (refer to screenshot below)
Best Answer
It depends on what data is contained in your SubscriberKey. The SubscriberKey is how SFMC keeps track of a Subscriber's status. In most cases it's the email address, but if you have any kind of integration (e.g. Marketing Cloud Connect), the SubscriberKeys are typically not email addresses.
To configure a sendable DE, you'll have to define the relationship of the DE data to All Subscribers so the status can be maintained. You don't need both email address and SubscriberKey if your SubscriberKey is email addresses. If they're different, I recommend having both.
Primary Key is to define uniqueness of a row, so no two rows can have the Email Address + SubscriberKey combination, then those two fields should be set as Primary Key.
If you want to use a Query Activity to update a Data Extension, you'll need to define the Primary Key fields.