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Marketing Cloud
Salesforce
eComm Specialist Resources

Your Guide to Salesforce vs. Marketing Cloud Data

April 8, 2026 by melanie.jones@cu.edu

Not sure where to look for email data? There are many places where similar data exists across Marketing Cloud and Salesforce, but each serves a different need and is available for varying amounts of time. Check out the different options along with common use-cases and a comparison chart to see which is best for your end goal.

Marketing Cloud Tracking

  • Confirm if an email was delivered (up to 2 years ago) and dig into Subscriber data for (who received the message, bounced, opened, clicked, etc). View a visual representation or chart of click activity for specific links (click percentage, total clicks, unique clicks).
  • Compare emails aggregate data (opens/open rate, clicks/click rate, unsubscribes/unsubscribe rate).

Marketing Cloud Intelligence Reports

  • For one or many emails (sent in the last 2 years), aggregate data (opens/open rate, clicks/click rate, unsubscribes/unsubscribe rate), and include totals.
  • Can be filtered on date sent, email name, Marketing Cloud Campaign, etc.

Marketing Cloud Einstein

  • Get marketing recommendations based on generalized subscriber engagement and behavior trends (analyzed by AI). View data on audiences, send time, engagement, and copy to improve your marketing communication efforts.
  • Einstein can be automatically applied to future sends (eg, using Send Time Optimization in a Journey).

Salesforce Email Send

  • Analyze or compare email success over time (eg, our open and click rates have increased each year).
  • Aggregate data for one or many emails (opens/open rate, clicks/click rate, unsubscribes/unsubscribe rate, etc) sent since April 2019.
  • Confirm an email delivered and view engagement rates.

Salesforce Aggregate Link Level Detail

  • Find overall engagement for specific links in one or more emails within 90 days of the email send date.
  • Address questions like "what links are most popular?".
  • Curate a population of subscribers interested in a particular link or a more general topic (eg, sports, politics, campus news, etc). 

Salesforce Individual Email Result (IER) & Individual Link Level Detail

  • Identifying who engaged with an email (received, opened, clicked, unsubscribed, etc) or a particular link for emails sent in the last 90 days. 
    • Mass subscriber data older than 90 days (but less than 2 years) can be found in Marketing Cloud Tracking (unless the Business Unit has been deleted).
    • Mass subscriber data older than 2 years is not accessible. See details for 'Snowflake (Archived IERs)' below.

Snowflake (Archived IERs)

  • Confirm if one or a small group of individuals received/opened/clicked a particular email since Aug. 2022 by submitting a ticket.
    • Unable to export data for a large number of subscribers or an entire email send.
  • Most often used to 'prove' an important communication (legally required to retain data for 3-7 years) was received.
  Marketing Cloud
Tracking		 Marketing Cloud
Intelligence Reports		 Marketing Cloud
Einstein		 Salesforce
Email Send		 Salesforce
Aggregate Link Level Detail		 Salesforce
Individual Email Result (IER) &
Individual Link Level Detail		 Snowflake
(Archived IERs)
Access To View SFMC User SFMC User SFMC User SFMC User SFMC User SFMC User System (submit request)
Access to Report SFMC User SFMC User SFMC User SF Report Creator SF Report Creator SF Report Creator System (submit request)
Data Retention 2 Years 2 Years 2 Years April 2019+ 90 Days 90 Days August 2022+
Filtering Options Limited (single email, compare numerous in the same folder) Extensive Limited (timeframe, Marketing Cloud Campaign, Business Unit) Extensive (any Salesforce Email Send field) Moderate (Salesforce Email Send fields or link name/URL) Extensive (Salesforce Email Send fields, IER engagement, or link name/URL) Limited (Subscriber ID)
Aggregate Overall Email Data (Opens, Clicks, Unsubscribes) Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Aggregate Link Detail Yes No No No Yes No No
Individual Email Data Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes
Individual Link Detail Yes Yes No No No Yes No
Generalized Subscriber Engagement & Behavior No No Yes No No No No
Recommendations (for Future Emails) No No Yes No No No No
Effort To Use Individual Contact Data For Next Email (after Initial Setup) Lots of effort - export and import needed Lots of effort - export and import needed Not possible Not possible Minimal effort - after initial setup Minimal effort - after initial setup Not possible

Need to add Aggregate Link Level Details to this wiki: https://www.cu.edu/blog/ecomm-wiki/salesforce-individual-email-results-iers. Need to link to this wiki from this wiki: https://www.cu.edu/blog/ecomm-wiki/salesforce-email-send-data 

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