Good afternoon everyone, hope you are doing well.
I would like to ask a few questions regarding sandboxes in MARKETING CLOUD NEXT, which came up as I started on a new project. To give you some general context, this client basically wants to do all the development in the sandbox, and once everything is validated and tested, deploy it to production—which is totally fine.
However, here are my questions:
1 - Regarding WhatsApp: Can I perform the setup configuration, warming, and testing all within the sandbox? My concern is whether I will need to replicate this entire process in production later on. If there is an ideal scenario or best practice, I would like to understand how to proceed with this step.
2 - Regarding Email: Similar to the WhatsApp situation, my main question is about the domain/subdomain in the sandbox. When doing all this setup, do I need to perform the IP/domain warming normally? Is it necessary to create a domain/subdomain to work in the sandbox as well, and then repeat the same step for production? Or is the process different for a sandbox?
In short, these are my main questions, but just to reiterate: this client wants everything to be developed and tested in the sandbox, and we will only deploy to production once everything is validated.
Because of this, I have these questions so I can understand the best way to move forward.
Thank you.
#Trailhead #Salesforce Developer #Salesforce Admin #Salesforce #TrailblazerCommunity #Marketing Cloud
Hi Guilherme, good questions. Building and testing in a sandbox is the right approach for journeys, segments, content and flows, but treat channel setup as per-org configuration rather than something you deploy.
1. WhatsApp: The WhatsApp sender is tied to a phone number registered with Meta under a WhatsApp Business Account, and a number can only be active in one place at a time. Use a separate test number (or Meta's test setup) in the sandbox for development and testing, and plan to connect the real business number directly in production. You will repeat the channel connection and template approval steps in production, so document them as a go-live runbook.
2. Email: Sender domain/subdomain authentication (SPF/DKIM records) is configured per org, so you set it up again in production. For the sandbox, use a dedicated test subdomain so test sends never touch your production sending reputation. IP/domain warming only matters where you send real volume, which is production. Sandbox sends are low volume to internal test addresses, so there is nothing to warm there.
3. What does deploy: segments, journeys/flows, content and data model changes can move through your normal deployment path (change sets, DevOps Center or a CLI pipeline), but check the current Marketing Cloud Next documentation for which components are supported metadata, as coverage has been changing release to release.
Tip: build a go-live checklist early that lists every manual production step (WhatsApp number connection, template approvals, domain DNS records, consent/compliance settings, warming plan). DNS changes and Meta approvals can take days, so start them in production in parallel with sandbox testing rather than after sign-off.