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Marketing Cloud Next
Sandbox Testing for Marketing Cloud Next

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Sandbox Testing for Marketing Cloud Next

Marketing Cloud Next uses the Salesforce Platform sandbox infrastructure, which means that you get truly isolated environments for lifecycle development. Learn about the types of sandboxes and their recommended uses, how sandboxes can be used to test email sends, how sandboxes consume credits, and other considerations.

Required Editions

View supported editions.

User Permissions Needed
To create a sandbox:

Manage Dev Sandboxes (Developer or Developer Pro only)

OR

Manage Sandboxes (all sandbox types)
To deploy Data 360 objects: Data Cloud Architect

Use a sandbox for:

  • Training and product support—Bring new employees up to speed, and respond to urgent issues faster with data in testing and development environments.
  • Parallel development—Create and collaborate with multiple teams that build and test in their own environments.
  • App development and org customization—Modify objects, content, flows, decisions, forms, and so on. If a test fails, it fails in a safe environment.
  • App testing and automation—Conduct user-acceptance testing, staging, and integration to make apps more robust.
  • Feature implementation—Set up a new channel, third-party app, or integration, or create a proof of concept and customize it for your team’s workflow and business needs.

Considerations for Marketing Cloud Next in a Sandbox

Refer to these considerations when creating a sandbox and deploying changes from a sandbox in Marketing Cloud Next.

Billing
Business Units

When copying business units from production to a sandbox, the behavior of CMS workspaces depends on the sandbox type.

  • Full Sandbox: CMS workspaces are replicated. Therefore, the relationships between business units and CMS workspaces are preserved and copied automatically.
  • Other Sandbox Types (Developer or Partial): CMS workspaces aren’t copied. In these environments, workspaces must be manually re-created, and their relationships with business units must be re-established.
Unified Messaging
  • When testing an SMS campaign in a sandbox, don't use the same sender code that you use in production. Instead, in your production org, acquire a dedicated sender code for sandbox testing. Then, to use the new sender code in your sandbox, refresh the sandbox. See Set Up an SMS Unified Messaging Channel.
  • A sender code can be active in only one org at a time. You can activate or deactivate a sender code from within each sandbox.
  • Email, mobile app messaging, and WhatsApp require unique configurations in each sandbox. For example, a sandbox requires its own authenticated domain and From addresses for email, as well as its own tracking domains, WhatsApp number, and blockout windows. These settings can't be deployed from one org to another.
Marketing content
  • Due to storage limits in Developer, Developer Pro, and Partial Copy sandboxes, content and digital assets in the CMS Marketing workspace aren’t copied over when a sandbox is created or refreshed. To move content, use change sets or create an import.
  • Workspaces are deployed in the Digital Experience Bundle component. Content and digital assets related to content (such as images) are deployed in the Digital Experience component.
  • To make the content records easier to find in the Digital Experience component, enter a descriptive API name when creating content on the Content tab or through Connect API. Otherwise, the system automatically populates the field with a system-generated content key, which can't be changed.
  • To deploy content, the target org must have a workspace. You can deploy the workspace with its content, or deploy the workspace first and then its content.
  • You can’t deploy a folder by itself. However, when you deploy a folder’s content (such as an email template), the entire folder path deploys with it.
  • To deploy an image, make sure it's related to an email, MMS message, RCS message, WhatsApp message, or landing page. If an image isn't related to content, it isn’t available to add in the Digital Experience component.
Tests with customer engagement data To test custom reports or event-based flows, add behavior and messaging events to your sandbox. Create a CSV file with the necessary fields mapped to Data 360 DMOs, and import it by using the File Upload data stream. See Ingest Data by Uploading a File.

Recommended Uses for Each Sandbox Type

To learn more about Salesforce Platform sandboxes, see Sandboxes: Staging Environments for Customizing and Testing.

Sandbox type What it copies What it's best for
Developer sandbox Your production org’s configuration (metadata) Building and testing basic flow logic and segment rule definitions using test data
Developer Pro sandbox Your production org’s configuration (metadata), with more data storage than a Developer sandbox Testing integrations and segmentation logic, and user acceptance testing with moderate amounts of test data
Partial Copy sandbox Your production org’s configuration (metadata) and a sample of your production org’s data as defined by a sandbox template User acceptance testing and segment testing using a sample of production data
Full Copy sandbox Your entire production org, including all data and metadata Stress and load testing, and testing for complex, multichannel flows and agents

Use Sandboxes for Email Testing

You can send emails from a sandbox after an admin has configured the required email settings. Sending emails consumes message credits unless you turn on Blackhole for Email. With Blackhole turned on, you can send test emails to up to five selected domains. All other test email sends are suppressed. In Marketing Cloud Next, suppressed email sends don’t consume message credits. See Set Up a Sandbox Blackhole for Email.

You can also send test SMS messages, WhatsApp messages, and mobile push notifications from sandboxes. These sends also consume message credits unless they’re suppressed using Blackhole.

  • Environments and Limitations for Sandboxes in Marketing Cloud Next
    When you create a sandbox, most Marketing Cloud Next features are available for customization and testing. If an object isn’t replicated from the production org, you can re-create it in the sandbox org.
  • Set Up a Sandbox in Marketing Cloud Next
    A sandbox is a copy of your Salesforce org that you can use for development, testing, and training without compromising the data and apps in your production org. Marketing Cloud Next supports every sandbox type: Developer, Developer Pro, Partial Copy, and Full Copy.
  • Set Up a Sandbox Blackhole for Email
    When you test email in a sandbox, a blackhole prevents the accidental sending of test messages to real customer email addresses. Use a blackhole to test high-volume email sends, flow executions, or complex, multichannel campaign builds without consuming message credits.
  • Deploy Sandbox Changes in Marketing Cloud Next
    After you make changes in a sandbox, deploy those changes back to the production org or to another sandbox by using Salesforce Platform DevOps features.
 
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