Data Views in SFMC

As businesses increasingly leverage digital technologies for marketing activities, the importance of deriving actionable insights from customer data cannot be overstated. One tool that has made this easier for marketers is Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC), renowned for its comprehensive suite of digital marketing tools. Among its powerful features are Data Views, a system-generated treasure trove of customer data that is a gold mine for marketers. In this article, we explore all the data views available in SFMC, how to use them for segmentation, and the benefits they provide.

Overview of All Data Views in SFMC

Data views in SFMC are a unique set of system tables that store invaluable data about subscribers and their interactions with your emails. Each data view serves a different purpose and offers unique insights into customer behavior. Here is an overview of some of the most important data views:

• _Subscribers: Contains data about all subscribers in an account, including subscription status, email address, and date of unsubscription if applicable.
• _Sent: Provides information about all messages sent to subscribers.
• _Open: Stores information about email open events, helping you identify which subscribers opened your emails and when.
• _Click: Contains data about the clicks in your emails, indicating which subscribers interacted with your content.
• _Bounce: Provides data about bounced emails, indicating which messages didn’t reach their intended recipients and why.
• _Unsubscribe: Holds information about unsubscribe events, helping you understand who unsubscribed from your emails and their reasons.
• _Job: Provides details about each send job, such as its ID, send time, and email subject.
• _ListSubscribers: Contains information about list subscriptions for each subscriber.
• _Journey and _JourneyActivity: Stores information related to Journey Builder sends, allowing you to understand the effectiveness of your customer journey touchpoints.

How to Use Data Views for Segmentation

Segmentation is the backbone of personalized marketing, and data views in SFMC can be a powerful resource for creating meaningful customer segments. By querying these system data tables using SQL, you can derive actionable insights about your customer base. Here’s how you can use some of these data views for segmentation:

• Engagement Segmentation: By querying the _Open and _Click data views, you can segment customers based on their engagement with your emails. This allows you to target highly engaged subscribers with specific campaigns or attempt to re-engage those who aren’t interacting with your content.
• Bounce Segmentation: Querying the _Bounce data view can help you identify subscribers whose emails are bouncing regularly. This information can be useful for list hygiene and to investigate potential deliverability issues.
• Unsubscription Segmentation: The _Unsubscribe data view can help you understand the reasons behind customer unsubscription. This can inform your strategies for reducing unsubscribe rates.
• Journey Segmentation: Using the _Journey and _JourneyActivity data views, you can segment customers based on their journey interactions and customize future journey touchpoints accordingly.

Benefits of Data Views

Data views in SFMC offer a range of benefits that can significantly boost your marketing efforts. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Deep Customer Insights: Data views provide granular insights into customer behaviors, preferences, and interaction histories. These insights can inform your marketing strategies and ensure your efforts resonate with your audience.
• Improved Segmentation: As discussed earlier, data views enable precise customer segmentation, leading to personalized marketing campaigns that yield better results.
• Better Performance Tracking: Data views allow you to track your email marketing performance on various metrics, such as send rate, open rate, click rate, bounce rate, and unsubscribe rate. This can help you understand what’s working and what’s not, enabling continuous improvement.
• Enhanced Deliverability: By monitoring bounce and unsubscribe data views, you can identify potential deliverability issues and address them proactively, ensuring your emails reach your subscribers’ inboxes.

The Power of Data Views in Salesforce Marketing Cloud

As we delve into the era of data-driven marketing, tools like Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s data views are no longer a luxury but a necessity. They offer deep customer insights, enable precise segmentation, and provide robust tracking capabilities that can significantly boost your email marketing efforts. By understanding how to leverage these data views, marketers can create more effective, personalized campaigns that resonate with their audience, drive engagement, and ultimately contribute to business growth.

A seamless integration of Data Views in Activation Studio for SFMC

At Activation Studio we understand the value of Data Views for segmentation and scoring. We have integrated the system Data Views directly in our Add on for Marketing Cloud.

Curious? Check out our demo or contact us below.