How to Retrieve Active Subscribers in Child BU with Unsubscribes?

Question

When working with Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC), retrieving accurate subscriber data from a specific Child Business Unit (BU) can be difficult, especially when considering unsubscribe statuses. This challenge arises because ent._Subscribers aggregates records across Parent and Child BUs, which means it doesn’t accurately reflect unsubscribe statuses for a specific Child BU. So, how can we efficiently retrieve all active subscribers in a Child BU while respecting the unsubscribe statuses at the BU level?

Answer

Using the BusinessUnitUnsubscribes Data View for Accurate Results

The recommended approach for retrieving accurate data is to use the BusinessUnitUnsubscribes data view. This view was specifically designed for cases where “Subscribers will be unsubscribed from this business unit only” is enabled. By querying this data view with the MID (Member Identification) of your specific Child BU, you can retrieve the unsubscribe statuses that are tracked at the Child BU level.

Example SQL Query

SELECT SubscriberKey, Status
FROM BusinessUnitUnsubscribes
WHERE BusinessUnitID = 'your_child_business_unit_id'

This query pulls all the active subscribers’ statuses within the specified Child BU, ensuring that you are accurately capturing their unsubscribe statuses without being affected by Parent BU data. Unlike the _Subscribers data view, which aggregates across all BUs, BusinessUnitUnsubscribes provides a BU-specific unsubscribe status.

Key Considerations for Efficient Data Extraction

It’s essential to note that the BusinessUnitUnsubscribes data view differs from the older event-style data views, like _unsubscribe, where each unsubscription event is stored as a separate row. In the BusinessUnitUnsubscribes data view, it is more of a “status” table—only those subscribers who have unsubscribed will appear in the results. This makes the data view a much more efficient and scalable solution for retrieving the unsubscribe status of subscribers in a Child BU.

To summarize, avoid using the ent._Subscribers data view for BU-specific data extraction, as it provides aggregated data that may include inaccurate unsubscribe statuses. Instead, leverage the BusinessUnitUnsubscribes data view to ensure that you retrieve the correct unsubscribe status for subscribers within a specific Child BU.

Advance Your Career with Salesforce Training in Hyderabad

Our Salesforce Online Training, our program includes personalized mentorship, exam preparation, and interview coaching to help you stand out in the competitive job market. You’ll gain access to comprehensive study materials, practical exposure through live projects, and continuous support throughout the course. Upon completion, you’ll be well-prepared for certification exams with the skills and problem-solving abilities employers value. Start your Salesforce career today and seize exciting opportunities! Join our FREE demo class now!

Beyond Salesforce training in Hyderabad offers an engaging, hands-on learning experience that prepares you with the essential skills needed to excel in the CRM industry. Covering key topics such as Salesforce Admin, Developer, and AI, the course combines theoretical knowledge with practical, real-world experience. By working on live projects and assignments, you’ll gain the expertise to solve complex business challenges using Salesforce solutions. Our expert instructors provide both technical guidance and valuable industry insights to ensure your success.

Launch your Salesforce career and explore great job prospects! Sign up for a FREE Demo today!