Programmatic Languages35% of the exam
Exclusion scripts at email send time
Where exclusion scripts live (journey email activities, triggered and user-initiated sends, Send Flow), how to write the true-means-excluded AMPscript expression, code snippets for complex logic, performance alternatives, and how excluded subscribers show up in NotSent data.
Given a customer scenario, determine how to programmatically exclude a subscriber at email send time.
~7 min read · 18 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Identify every place an email send accepts an exclusion script, and what to do when the option is missing.
- Write an AMPscript expression that is true exactly for the subscribers to exclude, using row counts, string checks and OR or AND joins.
- Choose the right identifier (
emailaddr,_subscriberkeyor AttributeValue()) and the right lookup case sensitivity. - Move complex logic into a code snippet, and choose pre-filtering or suppression lists when a script would slow the send.
- Find excluded subscribers after a send and work through a triggered send that returned success but delivered nothing.
- Key terms: exclusion script (AMPscript evaluated per subscriber; true excludes);
emailaddr(the address being rendered for the send); NotSent data extract (skipped subscribers with a reason); Excluded by Send Time Filter (the NotSent reason an exclusion script leaves).
Key facts
Script result
- Detail
- True (1) excludes the record, no suppression list needed
Journey Data in a script
- Detail
- Read with AttributeValue(); personalization strings can't
emailaddr in a journey- Detail
- Resolves from the journey's Default Email Address
Several conditions
- Detail
- Separate the lines with OR
Option missing
- Detail
- Contact Marketing Cloud Engagement Support to enable it
LookupRows()
- Detail
- Up to 2,000 rows; case-insensitive; LookupRowsCS() is case-sensitive
Large or complex filters
- Detail
- Pre-filter, else prefer suppression lists
Excluded subscriber records
- Detail
- Not on SendLog; in NotSent as Excluded by Send Time Filter
Triggered build errors
- Detail
- Default error threshold of 10 before API calls are disabled
Queued triggered send messages
- Detail
- Not sent after 3 days in the queue; ExceededExpirationPolicy error
Triggered send queue removal
- Detail
- Subscribers queued more than 14 days are removed from the queue
Sources for this section (5)
- Exclusion Script for Journey Builderhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Triggered Email Interactionhelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- LookupRows()developer.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Triggered Send Not Senthelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- Email Limitshelp.salesforce.com (opens in a new tab)
- When does a triggered email interaction use the Triggered Send Managed List?
- When a paused triggered send definition is restarted after a week, why don't subscribers queued on its first day get the email?
- Where in Email Studio can you view, export or clear the subscribers added to a paused triggered send?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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