Send customer profiles to Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Note

This topic contains information about configuring a destination that sends query results to Salesforce Marketing Cloud using orchestrations. To configure a destination that sends audiences to Salesforce Marketing Cloud using campaigns see this topic .

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a provider of digital marketing automation and analytics software and services.

Amperity can be configured to send CSV files to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

How this destination works

Amperity can send CSV files with contact data to business units in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. The CSV files are uploaded to Salesforce Marketing Cloud using SFTP, after which the Marketing Cloud SOAP API is used to manage data extensions and to move contacts data from the CSV files into the data extensions.

A Salesforce Marketing Cloud destination works like this:

	Optional. Configure a data extension in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. What is a data extension? A data extension is a table that stores data about your contacts. The fields that are available from your data extension match the columns and/or attributes that are sent from Amperity. Within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, use the data in the data extension as a data source. Run queries, pull a subset of contacts from the data extension, and then send offers to that subset of contacts. This step is optional because Amperity will manage the data extension as part of its workflow. If the data extension does not exist, Amperity will add it. If the data extension does exist, Amperity will update the contact data in that data extension.
	Configure permissions for the installed package to allow business units to read from and write to the data extension. When does Amperity use an API? Amperity uses the Marketing Cloud SOAP API to manage the installed package and manage the import definition process, which gets the contact data from the CSV files that were sent from Amperity and then either adds a data extension or updates an existing data extension. Note You may configure Amperity to send CSV files to Salesforce Marketing Cloud using only SFTP. This will place the CSV files in the configured SFTP location, but will require configuring the data extension and import definition, along with any process that moves that data from the SFTP location to the data extension.
	Use a query or segment to build a list of contacts. The fields that are sent from Amperity must match the fields that are defined in the schema for the data extension in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
	Configure the Salesforce Marketing Cloud destination in Amperity. Why does Amperity use SFTP? Amperity uses SFTP to transfer data to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has strict rate limits when using their APIs to manage contact data. These rate limits generally exceed the number of contacts that are in the lists that you will want to send to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Amperity uses SFTP to ensure that your contact lists can be successfully updated in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, after which Amperity uses the Marketing Cloud SOAP API to make that list of contacts available to the configured data extension.
	Send a test from Amperity. Important Be sure to send all fields from Amperity that will be required by the data extension in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
	From within Salesforce Marketing Cloud verify the data that has been loaded to the data extension is correct and that you can run a query against it.

Get details

Review the following details before configuring credentials for Salesforce Marketing Cloud and before configuring Amperity to send CSV files to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

	Credential settings Credentials for Salesforce Marketing Cloud require a “username” and “passphrase”. Set the hostname to “[hostname].ftp.marketingcloudops.com”. API client ID and client secret The client ID and client secret for your brand’s instance of the Marketing Cloud SOAP API. API authentication subdomain The authentication subdomain for your brand’s instance of the Marketing Cloud SOAP API. The authentication subdomain for the SOAP base URI is represented by a 28-character string that starts with the letters “mc”, such as “mcabc123…”.
	Data extension configuration Within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, configure the installed package to allow business units: Apply Read and Write permissions to the data extension. Apply Read, Write, and Execute permissions for Automations. Important Each installed package is configured to have access to one business unit or multiple business units, depending on the desired workflow. Configure a data template for each busines unit to which you want to send data. When a single installed package has permissions to multiple business units, you must configure a data template for each business unit. Amperity cannot send data to a shared business unit in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
	Business unit configuration For each business unit to which data will be sent: the account ID for the business unit, the import location, and selecting the field to use as the primary key. Note The account ID is also referred to as the member ID within Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Important Review the Marketing Cloud File Location Guide to configure a File Transfer Location with Location Type “Marketing Cloud Enhanced FTP Site Import Directory”.
	The subscriber key for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. (The use of the subscriber key is recommended.) Important A subscriber key is configured as the “primary key” for the destination. There are two options: using the Salesforce Marketing Cloud subscriber key or using email. One of these options must be specified before the destination can send data to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
	Review the Marketing Cloud SFTP Guide to answer questions about configuring and managing Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Tip Configuration details for Salesforce Marketing Cloud are available from within Salesforce. For the installed package, click Setup > Platform tools > Aps > Installed packages. For SFTP, click Setup > Administration > Data management > FTP accounts.

Subscriber key

The subscriber key is an identifier in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. All data that is sent to Salesforce Marketing Cloud must be associated to a subscriber key. Use the primary key field while configuring Salesforce Marketing Cloud to specify the subscriber key to use for this destination.

The use of the subscriber key within Amperity will vary, depending on if the subscriber key is made available to Amperity as field provided by a Salesforce Marketing Cloud data source:

When a subscriber key is available, ensure that it is made available to the Customer 360, Queries, and Segments pages and that it may be included in queries and segments that will be sent to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Use a customer key semantic tag (e.g. “fk-salesforce-subscriber key”) to identify the subscriber key in your data sources. Tip Use an email address as the subscriber key if the subscriber key identifier is unavailable.

The primary key field must be set to subscriber_key or email as part of the configuration of the data template that is used for this destination. Caution A mismatch between the primary key in Amperity and the subscriber key in Salesforce Marketing Cloud will cause duplicate records to be created.

SFTP password expiration

The SFTP password for Salesforce Marketing Cloud may be set to periodically expire. The default for SFTP passwords is 3 months. The SFTP password is configured in Salesforce Marketing Cloud at Setup > Settings > Security > Security Settings > Password Policies > Exclude FTP Users From Password Expiration.

Configure credentials

Configure credentials for Salesforce Marketing Cloud before adding a destination.

An individual with access to Salesforce Marketing Cloud should use SnapPass to securely share “username”, “hostname”, and “passphrase” details with the individual who will configure Amperity.

To configure credentials for Salesforce Marketing Cloud

	From the Settings page, select the Credentials tab, and then click the Add credential button.
	In the Credentials settings dialog box, do the following: From the Plugin dropdown, select Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Assign the credential a name and description that ensures other users of Amperity can recognize when to use this destination.
	The settings that are available for a credential are determined by the credential type. For the “sfmc-sftp” credential type, configure settings, and then click Save. API client ID and client secret Required The client ID and client secret for your brand’s instance of the Marketing Cloud SOAP API. API authentication subdomain Required The authentication subdomain for your brand’s instance of the Marketing Cloud SOAP API. Hostname Required Required. The hostname for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. For example: “[hostname].ftp.marketingcloudops.com”. Passphrase Required The passphrase that is associated with the username. Username Required Required. A username with access to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. This username must be allowed to write data to the remote folder to which Amperity will send data.

Add destination

Use a sandbox to configure a destination for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Before promoting your changes, send a test audience, and then verify the the results in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. After the end-to-end workflow has been verified, push the destination from the sandbox to production.

To add a destination for Salesforce Marketing Cloud

	Open the Destinations page, and then click the Add destination button. To configure a destination for Salesforce Marketing Cloud, do one of the following: Click the row in which Salesforce Marketing Cloud is located. Destinations are listed alphabetically and you can scroll up and down the list. Search for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Start typing “sales”. The list will filter to show only matching destinations. Select “Salesforce Marketing Cloud”.
	Select the credential for Salesforce Marketing Cloud from the Credential drop-down, and then click Continue. Tip Click the “Test connection” link on the “Configure destination” page to verify that Amperity can connect to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
	In the “Destination settings” dialog box, assign the destination a name and description that ensures other users of Amperity can recognize when to use this destination. Configure business user access By default a destination is available to all users who have permission to view personally identifiable information (PII). Enable the Admin only checkbox to restrict access to only users assigned to the Datagrid Operator and Datagrid Administrator policies. Enable the PII setting checkbox to allow users with limited access to PII access to this destination. Restricted PII access is enabled when the Restrict PII access policy option that prevents users who are assigned to that option from viewing data that is marked as PII anywhere in Amperity and from sending that data to any downstream workflow.
	Configure the following settings, and then click “Save”. Account ID The account ID for the business unit in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Import location The directory within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud SFTP server into which data should be added. This is also the location from which the Marketing Cloud SOAP API will get the CSV files. Folder name The directory within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud SFTP site from which the Marketing Cloud SOAP API will get CSV files. Primary key Set to one of the following: “subscriber_key” or “email”. Use “subscriber_key” when a field can be mapped directly to the subscriber key in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or else use “email”. Subscriber field Recommended. The subscriber key for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. A subscriber key is configured as the “primary key” for the destination. There are two options: using the Salesforce Marketing Cloud subscriber key or using email. One of these options must be specified before the destination can send data to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Append data Enable this option to upsert new rows to the data extension and update existing rows. When not selected, data in the data extension is deleted, and then is updated to match the rows sent from Amperity. Data extension name (Required at orchestration) The name of the data extension in Salesforce Marketing Cloud that is managed by Amperity. For campaigns, use the {campaign_name} and {group_name} campaign template variables to assign campaign and treatment group names to your data extension. Important The name of a data extension must be unique within Salesforce Marketing Cloud. For orchestrations, assign a name to the data extension that will be added (or updated) by Amperity. Important The name of a data extension must be unique within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, should use underscores ( _ ) instead of spaces, and may not contain any of the following characters: ! @ # $ % ^ * ( ) = { } [ ] \ . < > / " : ? | , &
	After this destination is configured, users may configure Amperity to: Use orchestrations to send query results Use orchestrations and campaigns to send audiences Use orchestrations and campaigns to send offline events to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.