Cohort-Based Technical Training

Advanced SQL for
Segmentation & Insights

Graduate from “building lists” to “building solutions.”

LEVEL   Advanced
AUDIENCE   Developers & Data-Focused Marketers
FORMAT   Live Cohort
DURATION   32 Hours

This course is for the person everyone already turns to when a segment needs to get built — and it's built to make sure the answer is right, not just fast. Over four weeks, we move past basic list-pulls into the SQL patterns that let you answer real business questions directly inside Marketing Cloud: multi-table joins across a real data model, scoring and cohort logic, and datasets built to survive being handed to someone else. This is a hands-on, code-along course — expect to write SQL in every single session.

Prerequisites: Comfortable writing basic SQL query activities in Marketing Cloud — single-table filters, simple WHERE clauses. Completed Segmentation & Data Extensions or equivalent experience recommended.
  • Multi-table joins across complex data extension relationships
  • Subqueries and CASE-based segmentation logic
  • RFM-style scoring and cohort analysis queries
  • Techniques for optimizing query performance on large data extensions
  • Reporting-ready dataset design
Week 1 — Rebuilding the Foundation
01
Revisiting the data model — relationships, keys, and where basic segmentation starts to break down
02
Multi-table joins — inner, left, and right joins across a real marketing data model
Week 2 — Conditional & Cohort Logic
03
Subqueries & CASE logic — building conditional segmentation that holds up under edge cases
04
Cohort-based segments — signup date, first purchase, and lifecycle-stage groupings
Week 3 — Scoring & Identity
05
RFM-style scoring — recency, frequency, and monetary-value queries
06
Deduplication & identity resolution — patterns for reconciling records at scale
Week 4 — Performance & Capstone
07
Query performance — indexing behavior, avoiding timeouts, working with large data extensions
08
Capstone project — building one complete, reporting-ready segmentation dataset from a messy, multi-table scenario