# Activations: targets, membership and contact points

*Data 360 Consultant Study Guide · Data Activations and Utilization · Last updated October 16, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/data-360-consultant/data-activations-and-utilization/activations-targets-membership-and-contact-points*

How a segment reaches a channel: activation targets, Unified Individual as activation membership, contact points per target and source priority order, full versus incremental refresh, waterfall subsegment activation, calculated insights and related attributes in the payload, and activation filters.

- Certification: Salesforce Data 360 Consultant
- Exam section: Data Activations and Utilization
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/data-360-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Publish Activations within Data 360.

## What the exam expects

- Name the activation target types and what each receives.
- Choose Unified Individual as activation membership and explain the inflated count when Individual is chosen.
- Match contact points to targets and their required mappings, and predict the value that source priority order sends.
- Choose full or incremental refresh, including the first-publish rule and exclusion options.
- Activate waterfall subsegments, calculated insights and related attributes, and pick activation filters over segment filters for personalization.

Key terms:
- **Activation:** the process that publishes a segment to an activation platform.
- **Activation target:** the stored connection to one platform that segment data is sent to.
- **Activation membership:** the DMO whose fields are grouped for the activation, normally Unified Individual.
- **Contact point:** a field or set of fields used to reach a person, such as email or phone.
- **Source priority order:** the ranked sources and types used to pick one contact point value.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Membership with identity resolution | Must be Unified Individual | [Activation for Segments](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.c360_a_activation_for_a_segment.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Non-Unified membership | Includes all contact points; duplicates in count | [Unified Individual for Activation Membership](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_unified_profile_activation.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| MAID and OTT | External platforms only; Device mapping required | [Contact Points](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_contact_points.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Engagement default priority | Engagement Primary, then Any | [Contact Points](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_contact_points.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Removing Any | Lower population count | [Contact Points](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_contact_points.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| First publish | Always a full refresh | [Activation Refresh Types](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation_publish_types.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Incremental to full | Can't revert after switching | [Activation Refresh Types](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation_publish_types.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Audience DMO TTL | 30 days | [Activation Refresh Types](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation_publish_types.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Activation targets | 300 per org | [Limits and Guidelines](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_limits_and_guidelines.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |
| Non-aggregatable metric | Needs one or more dimension filters | [Calculated Insights in Activation](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_calculated_insights_in_activation.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- Why does choosing Individual as activation membership inflate the count?
- When should an incremental activation be replaced by full refresh?
- Which incremental options send only newly added profiles?
- Which contact points can a Marketing Cloud Engagement activation receive?

## Sources

- [Activation for Data 360 Segments](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.c360_a_activation_for_a_segment.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Activation Targets in Data 360](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation_targets.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Unified Individual for Activation Membership](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_unified_profile_activation.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Contact Points and Source Priority Order](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_contact_points.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Activation Refresh Types](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation_publish_types.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Activating Subsegments in a Data 360 Waterfall Segment](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activate_waterfall_segment.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Calculated Insights in Activation](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_calculated_insights_in_activation.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Segmentation Filters vs. Activation Filters](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation_vs_segmentation_filters.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Data 360 Limits and Guidelines](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_limits_and_guidelines.htm&language=en_US&type=5)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 13 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Data 360 Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams