Salesforce Marketing Cloud Administrator cheat sheet

Every Business Unit is identified by a unique numeric Member ID (MID); APIs, FTP folders, and tracking data use the MID to route to the correct business unit.

Enterprise accounts contain multiple Business Units; Enterprise 2.0 adds shared folders and shared Data Extensions so BUs can reuse content and audiences while keeping subscriber data separate by default.

Users receive permissions through roles: a role bundles permissions, a user can hold different roles in different Business Units, and effective permissions are the union of assigned roles in the current BU.

An Installed Package's API Integration component generates a Client ID and Client Secret and defines the API scopes the external application may call.

Server-to-Server API integrations sign a JWT with a public key registered on the package, exchange it for an access token, and require no interactive user login.

A Sender Authentication Package (SAP) authenticates a branded sending domain with SPF and DKIM, optionally includes a dedicated IP, and enables Reply Mail Management for that domain.

A Sender Profile stores From Name, From Address, Reply Address, and Send Classification; it can be overridden at send time only when the account and send allow it.

Login security controls include minimum password length, complexity, expiration, failed-login lockout, IP allowlisting, and forced password change at next login.

SSO uses SAML 2.0 with metadata exchanged between the identity provider and Marketing Cloud; SSO users still need a Marketing Cloud user record with a matching username.

The All Subscribers list is scoped to one Business Unit and is keyed by Subscriber Key; when no key is supplied, the email address becomes the Subscriber Key.

Subscriber statuses are Active, Held, Unsubscribed, Bounced, and Deleted; Unsubscribed and Held records are excluded from sends by default.

An unsubscribe at the All Subscribers level suppresses every send in that Business Unit, while a publication-list unsubscribe affects only that publication list.

Contact Builder links a Contact (identified by Contact Key) to Attribute Groups, Data Extensions, and channel addresses such as email and mobile numbers.

A sendable Data Extension must map one field to Subscriber Key and one field to Email Address; non-sendable Data Extensions can still feed imports, journeys, and queries.

Data Extension types include Standard, Filtered, Random, and Synchronized; Filtered and Random types derive their records from a source Data Extension.

Imports can target All Subscribers or a Data Extension and can run from a file on Enhanced FTP or through an Import activity in Automation Studio.

Deleting a subscriber from All Subscribers does not delete the Contact Builder record; Contact Delete removes the contact and its linked channel addresses.

Publication Lists let subscribers opt in or out per list; they are separate from the global All Subscribers unsubscribe and typically pair with a profile center.

Send Classifications determine whether an email is Commercial or Transactional; Commercial sends require a physical mailing address and an unsubscribe link.

Reply Mail Management works only on a domain authenticated through a Sender Authentication Package and can forward, auto-reply, or route replies to a mailbox.

MobileConnect maps keywords to responses and actions; opt-in keywords subscribe a mobile number and opt-out keywords unsubscribe it.

MobileConnect supports short codes and long codes; short codes require carrier provisioning and generally deliver higher throughput.

MobilePush requires an app configured with APNs credentials for iOS and FCM credentials for Android, plus tags and attributes used for targeting.

A Triggered Send combines a Triggered Send Data Extension, a Triggered Send definition, and an email, and fires from an API call or an interaction.

Content Builder folders are either local to one Business Unit or shared across Business Units in Enterprise 2.0 accounts.

Journey Builder entry sources include Data Extensions, API events, Audience Builder audiences, and Salesforce Data; a contact enters a journey once unless re-entry is configured.

Many administrative settings are Business Unit specific and must be configured separately for each MID, while enterprise-level admins can manage all BUs and shared assets.

The Audit Trail records user logins and configuration changes, can be reviewed by administrators, and can be exported for investigation.

Enhanced FTP provides separate folders per MID and is used for imports, extracts, and file drops that Automation Studio File Transfer activities move automatically.

Data retention policies purge Data Extension records or tracking data after a defined period to control storage and support data-handling requirements.

IP warming gradually raises send volume on a new dedicated IP over days or weeks to build sender reputation with mailbox providers.

Marketing Cloud Connect links a Salesforce org to Marketing Cloud and enables Synchronized Data Sources, send tracking in Salesforce, and Journey Builder Salesforce events.

API call limits apply per account and per installed package, and usage reports plus the system status page show send volumes, API consumption, and service incidents.

A user's Business Unit access determines which BUs they can switch into; users see data and settings only for BUs where they hold a role.