Differences between Data Extension and Subscriber List in Marketing Cloud

0:00 Introduction - Difference between Data Extension and Subscriber List
0:34 What is a Subscriber List?
1:20 What is a Data Extension?
2:32 The main difference between the Data Extension and Subscriber List
3:30 Our recommendation
4:12 Goodbye and subscribe!

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In this video we’re going to discuss the practical differences between using a Data Extension and a Subscriber List in Marketing Cloud. Knowing when, where and how to implement these tools will help you optimize your data management and business model within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud platform.
Let's review how to get the most out of Marketing Cloud and clear up any doubts about when to use a Data Extension or a Subscriber List when uploading contacts or managing the data model for your business in Marketing Cloud.

What is a subscriber list?
A list of subscribers in Marketing Cloud is a way to group the contacts that receive your communications. Subscriber lists were designed to be used for email marketing campaigns where we keep a contact’s information and their consent, that is, if they want to receive information from our company along with their specific communication preferences.

Lists contain the most basic information which means that you will not be able to include additional detailed information about the subscriber, for example, their name, address, or specific segment, for example, a VIP customer. But you can create as many lists as you want, with the ability to segment the subscribers in whatever way you prefer.

What is a Data Extension?
A Data extension is an evolution or an improvement of a subscriber list. A Data extension allows you to work on an e-commerce site, for example. Imagine that you have an online store and you need to send information to your customers about the products they have purchased. How can you store this information? In this case you need a data extension where, in addition to the contact information, you can use a related data model of the products purchased by those customers. Think of an excel with different tabs, each of them would be a data extension. In one of them you keep the contact information and in another the products that each customer has purchased.

In general, a data extension is a table in Marketing Cloud that can be used to store a list of contacts, at the same time that it stores any type of information related to the customer, such as the products that have been purchased, history of contracting services, etc.

Simply put, a data extension can be used to store subscriber information or to store related data for these subscribers.

So what is the main difference between the two?
Data extensions are very similar to relational tables in a database. There are usually several tables that are related and whose purpose is to house complex information about your contacts.

A subscriber list on the to her hand is the easiest way to store contacts. You can think of it as a simpler, previous step to using a Data Extension.
Imagine you need to keep only contact information to use in Email Studio, for example, name, surname, email, company, and communication references. You can do this with a Data Extension or a List. If you need something more advanced, or if you want to connect Marketing Cloud with your CRM in Sales Cloud, you must use Data Extension because you will need to create several related tables.

My recommendation is that if you are starting a new project, Data Extensions are a safe option and the recommended method for storing data. Remember that a Data extension is also essential in the following 5 cases:

-If you plan to increase the number of contacts in the future
-To keep relational information about your subscribers
-To use an API to enter or query data in Marketing Cloud
-If you want to use Journey Builder
-Or if you need to integrate Marketing Cloud with Sales Cloud

Although lists are easier to use, if you want to get the most out of Marketing Cloud, you should consider using Data extensions.

[carolynperricelli]

Thank you so much! Best explanation I have found.

[Kahnysis]

Thank you for this explanation. I wasn't sure if we should use subscriber lists in our data model. Because we are utilizing custom activities and we also integrated sales cloud and marketing cloud, data extensions look to be the best way to set up our data model.

[nagarajuvadlamudi]

Thank you very much 🙏🙏🙏.. Expecting more videos regarding Marketing cloud topics like Email studio, mobile studio, Social studio, advertising studio, web Studio and interaction studio, journey Builder contact builder and audience builder

[lidwinayeghanfontar]

do you offer training in salesforce marketing cloud

[skim]

Would it be possible to share a case study with data extensions?