How Does SFMC Integrate with Advanced CDPs?
Unite Salesforce Marketing Cloud with your enterprise CDP for real-time audiences, governed identity, and closed-loop measurement—without breaking consent or deliverability.
SFMC integrates with advanced CDPs (e.g., Salesforce Data Cloud, Adobe RTCDP, Segment, mParticle, Tealium) via identity & consent sync, audience/segment export (batch & streaming), and event feedback for measurement. The CDP resolves who and what they consent to; SFMC orchestrates when & how to message across email, mobile, and journeys.
Key Integration Patterns
SFMC ↔ CDP Integration Playbook
Use this sequence to keep identity consistent, audiences fresh, and consent enforced across SFMC and your CDP.
Align → Map → Ingest → Activate → Listen → Optimize → Govern
- Align identity & keys: Choose a durable person ID as ContactKey; map CDP identifiers to SFMC SubscriberKey & channel fields.
- Map consent: Normalize purposes/channels/topics; define truth source and bidirectional sync rules (create/update/delete).
- Ingest audiences: Contract master DE schema; validate rows, reject missing keys, and checksum counts vs. CDP.
- Activate journeys: Use CDP traits & events to enter Journey Builder; throttle, prioritize, and respect frequency caps.
- Listen & learn: Stream SFMC engagement events back to the CDP for suppression and next-best-action models.
- Optimize cadence: Test segment freshness, send-time, and channel mix; measure lag from CDP decision to SFMC send.
- Govern & retain: Apply retention on staging/event DEs; audit sharing & field access quarterly.
Integration Capability Maturity Matrix
| Capability | From (Ad Hoc) | To (Operationalized) | Owner | Primary KPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | Email as key; duplicates | Unified person ID; governed ContactKey | RevOps/CRM | Duplicates/1k, Send Errors |
| Consent | Manual updates | Real-time + nightly sync; topic-level prefs | Compliance/MOPS | Complaint Rate, Opt-out SLA |
| Audience Delivery | CSV uploads | API/streaming + scheduled batches with contracts | Data Eng/MOPS | Freshness (hrs), Failure Rate |
| Feedback Events | Partial engagement data | Full send/open/click/unsub feed to CDP | Analytics | Attribution Coverage, Model Lift |
| Governance | No retention | Policy-based retention & minimization | Security/Legal | Audit Pass, PII Exposure |
Client Snapshot: Real-Time Audiences, Safer Sends
By centralizing identity in the CDP, syncing consent to SFMC, and streaming engagement back, a global brand cut duplicate sends and increased relevance at speed. Explore results: Comcast Business · Broadridge
Pair CDP identity with SFMC orchestration. Govern data with The Loop™ and scale outcomes with RM6™.
Frequently Asked Questions about SFMC + CDP
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