Free Practice Questions for Salesforce Marketing-Cloud-Consultant Exam

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The correct answer is A — Set up and pull data from a SendLog Archive Data Extension.

To keep SendLogs manageable, best practice is to archive older data periodically to a different data extension.

This allows marketers to pull data for analysis without affecting the live SendLog performance.

Queries can then target the Archive DE based on email address for troubleshooting.

❌Why others are wrong:

B: Filtering on a massive SendLog DE without archiving is inefficient and slow.

C: Data Views (_Sent, _Subscriber) only store general send tracking data, not full SendLog personalization snapshots.

D: Tracking Extracts are for broader system tracking (sent, opens, clicks), not detailed troubleshooting with personalization.

Exact Extract from Salesforce Official Documentation:

Salesforce Help — SendLog Management Best Practices:

"To maintain optimal performance, implement archiving for SendLog data by moving old records to archive Data Extensions at regular intervals."

(Source:https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_es_sendlog_best_practices.htm )

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Knowing if the file is a delta (only new/updated records) or historical (full set) impacts how imports and updates should be configured (A).

Consistency of the file drop time affects whether to use Scheduled or File Drop Automations (D).

Error notification is critical to quickly address any issues with file import (E).

File size over 5,000 rows (C) is not a problem — Marketing Cloud handles millions of records per automation. Data Relationships (B) are more relevant to segmentation after import, not the automation itself.

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Exact Extracts from Salesforce Documentation:

Source: Salesforce Help – File Import Automation Planning

→ "Determine if files are incremental or full to properly set import methods. Confirm expected file timing to design scheduled or triggered automations."

Source: Salesforce Help – Automation Studio Best Practices

→ "Always configure error notifications on Import Activities to ensure prompt action in case of import failures."

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This requirement involves:

File Drop Automation to start automatically when the web analytics file arrives.

Import File Activity to bring the file into Marketing Cloud.

Verification Activity to check that the file is not empty before continuing.

Query Activity for file one (web analytics + customer reference join) and file two (5-day delay DE usage).

Then Data Extension Entry to push qualified customers into the journey.

This matches the flow outlined in Option B exactly.

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Exact Extract from Salesforce Documentation:

Source: Salesforce Help – File Drop Automations

→ "Use a File Drop automation to trigger an automation when a file is dropped on your Enhanced FTP server."

Source: Salesforce Help – Verification Activity

→ "The Verification Activity checks conditions before continuing an automation. For example, you can verify if a data extension has at least one record."

Source: Salesforce Help – Automation Studio Activities

→ "Query Activities allow you to join, filter, and transform data between data extensions before sending contacts into Journeys."

The best solution for fast, transactional emails like password resets is the Transactional Messaging API.

It is optimized for speed (near real-time delivery).

It supports notification of status via response payloads and optional callbacks.

Triggered Send Definitions are older and not as real-time or robust. Journey-based API entry methods (C and D) introduce unnecessary delays for critical transactional messaging.

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Exact Extracts from Salesforce Documentation:

Source: Salesforce Developer Guide – Transactional Messaging API Overview

→ "Transactional Messaging API provides fast, secure sending of transactional messages like order confirmations or password resets, with near real-time delivery."

Source: Salesforce Help – Transactional Messaging vs. Triggered Sends

→ "Transactional Messaging APIs are designed to deliver messages as quickly as possible, whereas classic Triggered Sends and API Event Journeys are better suited for marketing campaigns."

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Tokenized Sending allows PII (such as email addresses) to stay external until send time; however, once pulled in via personalization strings, PII can still be displayed within emails.

Since Tokenized Sending relies on live API calls to an external database during sends, Salesforce Marketing Cloud's normal service-level guarantees (e.g., send speed and reliability) no longer apply because they now depend on third-party system response times.

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Exact Extracts from Salesforce Documentation:

Source: Salesforce Help – Tokenized Sending Overview

→ "Tokenized Sending retrieves sensitive customer data at send time, reducing Marketing Cloud's data storage liability. However, if personalization strings reference retrieved fields, PII can still be displayed in the email."

Source: Salesforce Help – Tokenized Sending Limitations

→ "Marketing Cloud does not guarantee service levels for sends that rely on external Tokenized Sending lookups."

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To prevent duplicate Contact records, the customer needs to update the current All Subscribers list and Contact model by migrating the Subscriber Key to match the Sales Cloud ContactID or LeadID (B).

Uploading a CSV with the new Subscriber Keys mapped appropriately will ensure that existing records are updated (A).

Simply continuing as normal (C) will not prevent duplicates because Email Address is not unique enough across Salesforce objects. Full purge (D) is unnecessary and risks data loss.

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Exact Extracts from Salesforce Documentation:

Source: Salesforce Help – Subscriber Key and Contact Key Best Practices

→ "When integrating Sales Cloud, update existing Marketing Cloud subscribers to match the Salesforce ContactID or LeadID as Subscriber Key to prevent duplicate contacts."

Source: Salesforce Implementation Guide – Marketing Cloud Connect Setup

→ "Migrating existing contacts requires careful key management to align records across systems without duplication."

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Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

The correct answer is B — Use an automation with Tracking Extract.

Tracking Extract Activity in Automation Studio can pull detailed send status data, including ‘Not Sent’ reasons (bounces, held status, validation errors).

From the extracted tracking file, you can create reports or data extensions specifically identifying Not Sent contacts.

❌Why others are wrong:

A: No built-in standard report in Salesforce Marketing Cloud specifically called “Subscribers Not Sent to.”

C: Discover reports focus on aggregate metrics, not granular send statuses.

D: _Sent Data View records only successful send attempts; 'Not Sent' contacts are not logged in _Sent.

Exact Extract from Salesforce Official Documentation:

Salesforce Help — Tracking Extract Activity Overview:

"Use the Tracking Extract Activity to extract detailed subscriber-level data including message not sent events, undelivered messages, and reasons for failure."

(Source:https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_as_tracking_extract_activity.htm )

An Auto-Suppression List is designed exactly for this use case. It automatically excludes specified subscribers from email sends across multiple campaigns or sender profiles. It can also be dynamically updated, such as through SQL queries and Automation Studio activities.

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Exact Extracts from Salesforce Documentation:

Source: Salesforce Help – Auto-Suppression Lists Overview

→ "Auto-Suppression Lists automatically exclude email addresses from specific sends, business units, or sender profiles, and can be updated dynamically."

Source: Salesforce Help – Managing Suppression Lists

→ "Suppression lists are used during sending; however, Auto-Suppression Lists are configured per sender profile or business unit and maintained separately."

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To accomplish the requirement of diverting contacts in a birthday journey based on whether they have redeemed a promotional code (stored in a separate transactional data extension), NTO needs to use aDecision Split Activity using both Contact and Journey Data.

Decision Split Activity: In Journey Builder, the Decision Split Activity evaluates conditions to direct contacts down different paths. It can compare attributes from the journey’s entry source (Journey Data) and related data extensions (Contact Data) linked via Contact Builder.

Journey Data: This refers to the data from the entry source data extension (e.g., the customer data extension used for the birthday journey, containing the customer number).

Contact Data: This refers to data from other data extensions related to the contact, such as the transactional data extension containing promo code redemption details, also linked by the customer number.

Attribute-to-Attribute Comparison: The requirement specifies comparing the customer number field between the journey source and transaction data extensions. This comparison is achieved by configuring the Decision Split to evaluate both Journey Data (from the entry source) and Contact Data (from the related transactional data extension).

Why this solution works:

The Decision Split Activity allows NTO to check if a customer number in the journey’s entry source matches a customer number in the transactional data extension where a promo code was redeemed. If a match exists, the contact can be diverted to a different path, avoiding reminder emails.

Using both Contact and Journey Data ensures the comparison spans the two data extensions, which is necessary since the transactional data is stored separately.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Einstein Split Activity: Einstein Splits use AI-driven predictions (e.g., likelihood to open or purchase) rather than direct attribute comparisons. They are not suitable for comparing specific fields like customer numbers across data extensions.

B. Decision Split Activity using only Contact Data: Using only Contact Data would limit the comparison to attributes in related data extensions, excluding the journey’s entry source data (Journey Data), which contains the customer number from the birthday journey. Both data sources are needed for the comparison.

D. Decision Split Activity using only Journey Data: Using only Journey Data would restrict the comparison to the entry source data extension, ignoring the transactional data extension where promo code redemption data is stored.

Exact Extract from Salesforce Documentation:

Journey Builder Decision Splits: "Decision Splits evaluate attributes from the entry event data (Journey Data) or related data extensions defined in Contact Builder (Contact Data). To compare fields across these datasets, configure the split to use both Contact Data and Journey Data."(Source:Salesforce Help - Journey Builder Decision Splits)

Contact and Journey Data: "Journey Data is dynamic and tied to a specific journey instance. Use Journey Data when evaluating data related to a specific event. Contact Data includes attributes from related data extensions linked via Contact Builder."(Source:Salesforce Help - Journey Data vs Contact Data)

For integrating Marketing Cloud with Sales Cloud via Marketing Cloud Connect, the API user in Marketing Cloud should have the "API User" checkbox selected.Additionally, assigning both the "Administrator" and "Marketing Cloud Administrator" roles ensures the user has the necessary permissions to facilitate the integration effectively.​