Salesforce Marketing Cloud Data Views: _Complaint

The _Complaint data view in Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) provides visibility into spam complaints submitted by subscribers. Monitoring complaint activity is critical for protecting your sender reputation, ensuring compliance with anti-spam regulations, and maintaining high deliverability rates.

This blog provides a complete breakdown of the _Complaint data view, including field descriptions, business use cases, and practical SQL queries to help you monitor and reduce complaint rates.

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What is the _Complaint Data View?

The _Complaint data view logs instances where a subscriber marks your email as spam. These records are stored for up to six months and are crucial for identifying and addressing issues that lead to disengagement or regulatory concerns.

Key Benefits of _Complaint Data View

• Protect Deliverability: Identify high-complaint content and campaigns.
• Regulatory Compliance: Stay aligned with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR.
• List Health Management: Identify contacts who should be suppressed or removed.
• Content Optimization: Understand what messaging drives complaints.

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Fields in _Complaint Data View & Their Uses

Field	Type	Description & Use Case
AccountID	Number	ID of your Marketing Cloud account. Needed for multi-account tracking.
OYBAccountID	Number	Parent account ID for enterprise-level tracking.
JobID	Number	Unique identifier for the email send. Joinable with other data views.
ListID	Number	ID of the list used in the send. Helps identify problematic lists.
BatchID	Number	Batch ID from the send job. Useful for large or segmented sends.
SubscriberID	Number	System-generated subscriber ID.
SubscriberKey	Text(254)	Unique identifier for the subscriber. Often the email address or contact ID.
EventDate	Date	Timestamp when the complaint was registered. Useful for time-based analysis.
IsUnique	Boolean	Indicates whether the complaint is unique for that subscriber and job. Filters duplicate complaints.
Domain	Text(128)	Domain of the email address that submitted the complaint. Useful for ISP-level reporting.

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When and Why to Use _Complaint Data View?

When to Use?

• After each send to track spam complaint activity.
• During performance reviews to assess content or frequency issues.
• To identify repeat complainers for suppression.
• When segmenting by domain for deliverability audits.

Why Use It?

• Protect Your IP Reputation: High complaint rates can cause your emails to be blocked.
• Diagnose Issues: Determine which campaigns or lists are generating complaints.
• Take Action: Suppress or remove complaint-prone contacts.
• Compliance: Track spam feedback loop activity from ISPs.

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10 Example Scenarios and Queries

1. Retrieve All Complaints in the Last 30 Days

SELECT SubscriberKey, EventDate, Domain 
FROM _Complaint 
WHERE EventDate >= DATEADD(day, -30, GETDATE())

Use Case: Review recent complaint activity.

2. Count Total Complaints by Domain

SELECT Domain, COUNT(*) AS Complaints 
FROM _Complaint 
GROUP BY Domain

Use Case: Analyze complaint behavior by ISP.

3. Unique Complaints Only

SELECT SubscriberKey, EventDate 
FROM _Complaint 
WHERE IsUnique = 1

Use Case: Focus on first-time complaint events.

4. Complaints by Job ID (Campaign)

SELECT SubscriberKey, EventDate 
FROM _Complaint 
WHERE JobID = 345678

Use Case: Evaluate feedback from a specific campaign.

5. Repeat Complaints by Subscriber

SELECT SubscriberKey, COUNT(*) AS ComplaintCount 
FROM _Complaint 
GROUP BY SubscriberKey 
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1

Use Case: Identify contacts who have marked multiple emails as spam.

6. Daily Complaint Trends

SELECT CAST(EventDate AS DATE) AS ComplaintDate, COUNT(*) AS Total 
FROM _Complaint 
GROUP BY CAST(EventDate AS DATE)

Use Case: Spot spikes in complaint volume.

7. Build Suppression List from Complaints

SELECT DISTINCT SubscriberKey 
FROM _Complaint

Use Case: Remove complainers from future sends.

8. Complaints by List ID

SELECT ListID, COUNT(*) AS TotalComplaints 
FROM _Complaint 
GROUP BY ListID

Use Case: Evaluate list performance.

9. Complaints by Batch ID

SELECT BatchID, COUNT(*) AS Complaints 
FROM _Complaint 
GROUP BY BatchID

Use Case: Diagnose segment-based issues.

10. Join with _Sent for Full Complaint Context

SELECT s.SubscriberKey, s.EventDate AS SentDate, c.EventDate AS ComplaintDate 
FROM _Sent s 
JOIN _Complaint c 
ON s.SubscriberKey = c.SubscriberKey 
WHERE c.EventDate >= DATEADD(day, -30, GETDATE())

Use Case: Review what was sent before a complaint was filed.

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Conclusion

The _Complaint data view is a vital part of any responsible marketer’s toolkit in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Monitoring and managing complaint data helps preserve your domain’s sender reputation, ensures regulatory compliance, and leads to better engagement and trust with your subscribers.

Use _Complaint alongside _Sent, _Open, _Click, _Unsubscribe, and _Bounce to build a comprehensive deliverability and engagement reporting framework.