Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) has updated its engagement data retention policy, with significant changes effective May 15, 2025. Here’s an in-depth look at the current policy, upcoming changes, their benefits and drawbacks, and guidance on how to update your data retention settings.

  Current Engagement Data Retention Policy:  

• Email Opens, Clicks, Bounces, Unsubscribes, and Other Tracking Data
  • Stored indefinitely unless an organization implemented a custom data retention policy.
  • Some accounts had a default retention period of 6 months (180 days), but this was not strictly enforced.
• SMS/Mobile Push Engagement Data
  • Retained indefinitely unless manually deleted.
• Journey Builder Tracking Data
  • Retained for up to 6 months by default. However, some enterprise clients had extended storage based on their contracts.

Upcoming Policy Changes:

1. Retention Period:

• Engagement Data: All subscriber engagement data, including email opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes, will be retained and accessible for 180 days.
• Send Logs: Retention policies for send logs remain unchanged; they are retained indefinitely unless a specific data retention policy is applied.

2. Applicability:

• This policy applies to all Marketing Cloud Engagement editions.
• Contracts Dated Before April 10, 2024: For these customers, a copy of send and engagement data older than 180 days is retained.
• Contracts Dated On or After April 10, 2024: For these customers, send and engagement data is retained for up to 180 days.

3. Enforcement Date:

• Beginning May 15, 2025, engagement data older than 180 days will become inaccessible for all customers.

What Type of Data is affected?

The following engagement-related data will only be available for 180 days before being removed:

• Email sends
• Opens
• Clicks
• Bounces
• Unsubscribes
• SMS messages and responses
• Mobile push notifications
• Other tracking data related to customer engagement

This applies to all SFMC Marketing Cloud Engagement editions.

Benefits of the Updated Policy:

1. Improved System Performance: Regular data purging enhances system efficiency and reduces storage costs.
2. Enhanced Data Security: Limiting data retention minimizes exposure of sensitive information, aligning with data protection best practices.
3. Regulatory Compliance: Adhering to defined retention periods helps organizations comply with data privacy regulations that mandate limited data storage.

Drawbacks of the Updated Policy:

1. Limited Historical Data Access: Organizations relying on long-term engagement data for trend analysis or reporting will need to adjust their data management strategies.
2. Increased Operational Overhead: Implementing processes to export and store data externally may require additional resources and infrastructure.
3. Potential Data Loss: Without proper data management practices, there’s a risk of losing valuable historical engagement data.

What Should You Do?

To Update Data Retention Settings in SFMC:

To manage your data retention policies effectively:

1. Access Data Extensions:
   • Navigate to Email Studio > Email > Subscribers > Data Extensions.
2. Edit Retention Settings:
   • Select the desired data extension.
   • Click Edit in the Data Retention section.
   • Enable retention settings by selecting On next to Retention Setting.
3. Configure Retention Periods:
   • Define the retention period for your data based on organizational needs and compliance requirements.
4. Save Settings:
   • After configuring, click Save to apply the new retention policy.

Automate Data Extraction

• Set up regular data exports using Marketing Cloud’s Data Extract Activity or APIs to ensure you retain older engagement records.

Modify Reports & Dashboards

• If you have reports or automations that depend on engagement data older than 180 days, update them to align with the new retention limits.

Use Journey Builder & Einstein Features

• SFMC’s Einstein AI features and Journey Builder are designed to analyze recent engagement trends, so focus more on real-time data.

Recommendations:

• Regular Data Exports: Schedule regular exports of engagement data to an external storage solution to preserve historical information beyond the 180-day window.
• Review and Update Policies: Periodically review your data retention settings to ensure they align with evolving business needs and regulatory requirements.
• Leverage Privacy Center: Utilize Salesforce’s Privacy Center to manage data retention, allowing you to copy records to an external data store while masking or deleting them within SFMC.

By proactively managing your data retention policies and implementing robust data export practices, your organization can adapt to SFMC’s updated engagement data retention policy effectively.