Data Extensions Features in Marketing Cloud

Data Extension is a table which has columns and fields like a database. We can import or export our data in Data Extension.Data Extensions can belong to one business unit or multiple business units. Data Extensions that belong to multiple business units are called Shared Data Extensions.

Create a Data Extension in Marketing Cloud

To create a data extension in Marketing Cloud Email Studio followed by:

Step 1: Click Subscribers.

Step 2: Click Data Extensions.

Click create and choose an option:

 There are three types of data extension in Marketing Cloud.

 Standard Data Extensions are used for building a custom set of fields.

Filtered Data Extensions are used to create a subset/segment from an existing 

Data extension.       

Random Data Extensions allow you to randomly select subscribers from a source dataextension.

Enter information in the Properties section:

• Name : The Name (Name of the data extension) is used to identify the data extension in Email Studio.
• External Key :  A unique value is to identify the data extension with an API callout. The system generates an external key automatically when the user should not provide it.
• Description -The description is used to identify the further data extension in the Email studio

Complete  information in the Fields section for each field. Click Add to create a new field in the data extension.

• Name – The name of the column
• Data Type – The data type of the contents of the field. Valid values include:
  • Length – Maximum number of characters, including spaces, you can import into this column. If you select the Decimal data type, you specify both the total maximum number of characters and how many of the total appear after the decimal point. For example, if you define a decimal field with a length of 18,2, the two characters that appear after the decimal point are included in the 18 character total limit.
  • Primary Key – Determines whether the system considers this field to be the primary key of the table. If you select this checkbox, the system requires a unique value so it can use this field to uniquely identify a row. If you select this checkbox for more than one column, then the combination of the values in the columns must be unique. If you do not select this checkbox, the system does not require the value in this field to be unique.
  • Nullable – Determines whether this column can be empty. If you select this checkbox, you can import a NULL (empty) value for this column. If you do not select this checkbox and you try to import a NULL value for this column, the system responds as you specify in the Skip Rows with Bad Data field on the import definition.

Click Save.

Final Output