Seven Types of Data Extensions We Use on SFMC Projects

Salesforce Marketing Cloud supports several data extension types, each designed for a specific job in email and journey operations.

Common types include Sendable, Lookup, Filtered, Random, Shared, and Send Log data extensions, plus retention-managed DEs.

Each type behaves differently for sendability, filtering, sharing across business units, logging, and data retention.

Picking the wrong DE type can cause send failures, stale audiences, reporting gaps, or cross-BU data problems.